Ted Nobbs and Nancy Knudsen, together with Charlie Jack Russell, are roaming Australia without a plan. This is their second escape from the ‘real world’, having roamed the oceans for six years in a world circumnavigation on their Peterson 46 sailing yacht, Blackwattle. Unlike their sailing, for which they had plenty of prior experience, neither have any knowledge or experience about what it is like to be a ‘silver nomad’. Watch this space!
About Ted:
Ted Nobbs spent his working life as an architect, working on commercial and domestic projects in London, Wellington, Sydney Jakarta and Hong Kong. He spent his non-working life as a sailor, starting as a child and participating in some of the greatest races in the world, including 10 Hobarts, the Admiral’s Cup and a Sydney to Rio via the Horn, just to name a few. After many years skiing, he learned to fly, flying twice from Sydney to London and back, including the organisation of the Bicentennial London to Sydney Air Race. He changed from racing sailing to cruising in order to sail around the world with Nancy.
About Nancy:
Nancy Knudsen spent her working life as a mother of two beautiful children (and now two equally beautiful grandchildren), a television announcer and actor, followed by many years in the business of tourism and travel, then as a journalist, the editor of a sailing magazine. Her favourite non-working activity was cruising sailing. She has written two books, Shooting Stars and Flying Fish, an account of their round world sailing, and Accidentally Istanbul, an account of their life in Istanbul.
Together:
Both Ted and Nancy were obliged to leave “real life” in order to embark on sailing around the world together. They have again left “real life” to embark with the same spirit of free roaming, this time on land. Blackwattle has been their emblematic name since they lived on Blackwattle Bay in Sydney and took over the iconic name of Blackwattle Studios for their business, after the famed eponymous warehouse on Blackwattle Bay was destroyed in favour of home units.
Oh yes, then there’s the Vehicle:
While we have started our roaming with a borrowed vehicle, the vehicle we will then be using is a Trakka built Mercedes Sprinter 4×4, a self-contained RV, chosen after hundreds, if not thousands of hours in painful research.
Blackwattle Roaming 