OUR LOVELY LIFE ON THE ROAD

Nearly a decade ago they decided to take a caravan trip across South Africa - and they're still at it!

- JACO HOUGH-COETZEE

THEY call themselves the Grey Nomads and it’s easy to see why. Their roving lifestyle means they travel from place to place every month or two and they’re, well, pretty grey.

Retirees Hendrik and Glynis Hollenbach decided to sell their home, get rid of their belongings and pack up their caravan to permanently hit the road in 2016.

And they’re still loving it, the couple say when we catch up with them at the home of their eldest son, Jan Hendrik, in Roodepoort, Gauteng.

Their journey started in 2013 when Hendrik retired from his job as national sales manager for a large bakery brand. He was 55 and knew that he wanted to leave behind the demands of his career. Glynis resigned from her job as a teacher at a primary school in Randburg, Gauteng, because they’d always wanted to retire together.

“What are we going to do now?” Hendrik asked her in December 2013.

The couple decided to go on an extended caravan tour the next year. They’d spent many years camping with their three sons and hopped into the caravan at every opportunity while they were still working so it made sense to do more of it now that they had the time.

“When the three boys were young, the choice of caravan parks usually involved locations with swimming pools and super tubes,” Hendrik (64) recalls.

“Once they’d left home, Glynis and I increasingly started camping in game reserves and remote camping grounds, but with her still working, we were limited to school holidays.”

But that initial trip opened up a new world – they enjoyed their newfound freedom so much they locked up their Roodepoort home to go camping for extended periods.

They did this for three years then decided to make their nomadic existence permanent.