The bucket list has a lot to answer for up north. Many grey nomads’ desire to tick off places on their bucket lists has contributed to a massive increase in hospitalisations of older travellers across northern Australia.

Many want to see Broome before they die. But the effort of getting there is often too much, says Dr Sue Phillips, the senior medical officer at Broome Health Campus in Western Australia. A week ago, three seriously ill elderly patients, who had come to Broome in pursuit of their bucket lists, were hospitalised and waiting to be evacuated by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

“They work really hard to drive here in their caravan – ‘I’ve got to get to Broome, got to get to Broome, got to get to Broome!’ – and then they promptly decompensate and have their [heart attack] as they are coming down the Broome Highway," Dr Phillips said.

Emergency rooms in hospitals across the Savannah Way, the 3700 kilometre route that links Cairns to Broome, are filled with grey nomads who have headed north in campervans and caravans for the warm weather.

Broome's 60-bed hospital had an increase of 287 per cent more patients aged 70 to 79 from April to August than the rest of the year, and 233 per cent more people aged 60 to 69 years. South of Broome, Exmouth Hospital's emergency department sees 50 per cent more older travellers at this time of year. On the other side of the continent in Cairns, another bucket list destination, the emergency room also has to deal with growing numbers of grey nomads who have driven north for sun and adventure.