Now to the primary purpose of this blog which is to brag, I mean diarise, our travels in our recently purchased Goldstream caravan (aka Goldy).
Having picked up the new van in June 2015, we were really eager to try it out and our first jaunt was a quick trip out to York. We’d been through York a number of times in the past but had never stayed there so our plan was to camp a couple of nights, sample the local food, and do some exploring. First things first however, after arriving and setting our van up at the York Caravan Park our first activity was to share a celebratory cold beer, being the first of many future ‘start of trip beers’ we hoped to share on our upcoming journeys in the van. Cold beer done, check.
Dinner was in the dining room of the Castle Hotel and it was pretty good, unlikely to win any Michelin Stars, but certainly reasonable value for money and a good feed. Following dinner and the accompanying bottle of wine, we retired to van for that tried and true activity of many a traveler, Travel Scrabble (Tony 1, Jules 0).
Saturday opened bright, sunny and very crisp, it’d dropped to zero degrees (C) overnight. Thank goodness for the little fan heater given to us by Jules’s dad, Frank. The plan for today was to explore the local area. Our travels took us down through Beverly and then in a loop around and back through Quairading, however mid journey we came across the little Yenyening Lakes Nature Reserve and an old, now abandoned, farm house ruin (see some pics below). Great spots to explore and we were the only people for miles around. On the way back into York we visited the Mount Brown lookout which has 360 degrees views over the town and surrounding county side, it’s well worth a visit.
Dinner Saturday night was at The York, a beautifully restored hotel which now has a range of accommodation options and a nice restaurant. Friendly staff, nice atmosphere and good food, however as you’d expect slightly more expensive, (but not unreasonably so), than the Castle Hotel.
Sunday morning was spent browsing the local markets before heading back home. All in all a wonderful little trip where we got to test out the new van, sample some nice food and wine and feel like adventurers at the little, out of the way locations we found whilst driving around.
Nice panoramic view of farmland on the way out to Yenyening Lakes.
Abstract shot of some old tree roots, exposed and cured over time by the salt on the shore of the Yenyening Lakes.
What’s left of an old horse drawn cart at the abandoned farmhouse
More old parts from the abandoned farmhouse
