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Welcome to the Gold Nugget Tourist Park
There we were. Xmas 2003 and Linda and I were back again for our annual 2 weeks holidays with the van, the kids and some mates at the Mt Buffalo Caravan Park, Porepunkah.
After 20 years, you’d expect we could have found a different caravan park, but Porepunkah was a tradition … the mountains, the rivers, the tranquillity. The park itself was and remains nothing special … an old toilet block, few amenities but lots of good friends and of course, perfectly located at the junction of the Buckland and Ovens rivers.
So there we were, sitting by the river in the pleasant sunshine, appreciating the peace and tranquillity … when along comes the park owner who declared “The park’s for sale, if you’re interested”. This at a time when we were ready for a sea change …
Life in the suburbs of Melbourne had become a chore.
We were chained to a mortgage and working ‘for the man’ to support it. Life was a frenetic merry-go-round of making ends meet, in the face of ever increasing traffic jams, queues for everything and the noise of the freeway 200 metres from home.
The traffic meant being the taxi driver to get the kids to school & sports etc was a real chore. And the queues! Life seemed to be a series of queues. Queuing to get on the freeway, queuing to get off it, queues at the supermarket, queues to get into parking areas, queues to get out. Yes, we were ready for a sea change, and the opportunity of owning a caravan park appealed.
For the next two weeks, we had rebuilt the Porepunkah Park 5 times. We had tennis and basketball courts, a
swimming pool, new amenities and much more. Finally we went and saw the Real Estate agent only to discover that it didn’t make any money and, given the seasonal nature of the area, probably never would. So much for the sea change!
Anyhow, one thing led to another and we finished up buying the Gold Nugget in Bendigo.
This is the park where we would have liked to take our kids when we went caravanning. This is the park we dreamed of creating. This is the park with the tennis court, heated pool, jumping pillow, games room, mini golf, free wireless Internet and more.
Yet it also a park the grey nomads will be pleased with.
It offers reasonable prices with clean, modern and air conditioned amenities. The BBQ / Camp Kitchen area is fully equipped and is fully enclosed in winter yet open and spacious in the summer. The grounds and gardens are always well kept and manicured.
We take great pride in our park; we are always looking to improve it. Our greatest satisfaction and reward comes when our guests return over and again. We work on the principle that getting you here the first time is difficult but getting you back is easy.
Colin & Linda Johnston
Park Owners
