ANZAC long weekend saw us take the van out for possibly the last time before winter. We decided a short trip to Eldorado would be a nice break from the hustle and bustle 
We have been to the Gemstone Caravan Park in Eldorado a few times now and every time the park is the same, Clean, well maintained and quiet. We really love that its only 10 mins from the Hume Highway yet seems to be virtually unknown and therefore relaxing.
From Eldorado its only a short 30min drive to either Beachworth or Wangaratta, both of which we visited over the weekend. Brown Brothers Winery is also only a short drive away and stock a great Tokay only available at the cellar door.
Right behind the caravan park is the Reedy Creek where alluvial gold can be found along with various gemstones. With my renewed miners right and my pans and sieves i did manage to spend some time fossicking however not much was found other than some well worn glass and a couple of flakes of Gold. The gold did not photograph to well so you will have to trust me the stones i found did but no cutters like last time 
Also Nearby to the caravan park is the Swinging Bridge and the Eldorado Dredge. Looking at the photos around the town and in the pub its amazing what this dredge did to the valley in the search for Gold
Sara’s parents, who also came along, have just purchased a Minelab Xterra 705 metal detector and they were keen to have a look around also however there was no real expectation of finding a nugget here. They did have fun learning the machine and digging up other peoples waste 
Mostly the weekend was about relaxing and we did plenty of that with the park providing firewood and portable camp fires, one of which found a permanent spot outside our van.
We also spent one afternoon taking the parents out to the old Chinese gardens in search of relics we got to play with the car in 4WD but no relics were found
That will probably be it for a while with the van now due to a good clean and then the covers will go on.
