Tiktok, Instagram and loyal online fans — they're no longer things reserved for suntanned 20-somethings in bikinis.
An elderly couple from News South Wales who document their travels around regional Australia have amassed thousands of followers cumulatively on their social media accounts.
They said they were been inspired by other elderly influencers like 93-year-old performance artist Baddie Winkle, who boasts millions of Instagram and more than 170,000 Twitter followers.
Merril DeFiddes and her 70-year-old husband John Gourley recently visited Karijini, Kalbarri, Leonora, and Kalgoorlie and were on their way to Esperance.
"The history of these towns regional Australia is incredible," Ms DeFiddes said.
While COVID-19-locked borders posed a challenge to the couple's appetite for travel, it inspired them to pivot and explore Australia.
She wants their social media presence to promote tourism in regional Australia.
“Hopefully other people can see how fascinating this kind of journey is and spend their money in Australia," she said.
The 67-year-old retiree said their most active fans were people from their retirement village.
"They'll comment and say 'I remember we were over there at that time' or 'I didn't realise the wildflowers were so beautiful."
Originally the couple were going to focus on writing a travel blog but it was too time consuming compared to the short captions and pictures required on social media.
"We were too busy sightseeing, so I basically just do Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, " she said.
Clicks can bring help
Helen Avaient, 59, earns a full time wage documenting her travels around Australia on her blog Mature Solo Traveller and social media pages.
"I have thousands of people reading each article," she said.
Ms Avaient said some are surprised with some of her mediums of choice.
Helen Avaient's 60-plus audience has requested more video content.
"I think people want to watch rather than read so I do a couple of YouTube videos too," she said.
But the reality of life on the road at a mature age is not all smiles.
Ms Avaient rolled her car and caravan on her way to Kalbarri in WA.
This year while exploring Tasmania, she was rushed to emergency surgery after telling her doctor, during a regular procedure, of symptoms she was experiencing.
The doctors found a tumour in her colon.
While Ms Avaient felt vulnerable being sick away from home, she said her social media community had been essential to recovery.
During Helen Avaient's hospital stays she reached out to a Facebook group for single female travellers.
"I posted on the group 'could anyone bring me a t-shirt and a hairbrush?'," she said.
Ms Avaient was amazed at the response she received.
"It's such an amazing story of total strangers helping you."
Ms Avaient still needs more surgery and is hoping to get an exemption to get back into her home of WA.
In the meantime, she will continue to remind Tasmanian locals about interesting things to do around their state.
