The Australian TV series A River Somewhere exemplified my personal attitudes toward camping, travelling and fishing. Although Rob Sitch and Tom Gleisner were keen fly fishos, they showed that the art of fishing was secondary to the travelling experience. I, too, have a river somewhere. This secluded little piece of Eden is a great treasure, particularly as it’s only a hop, skip and a jump from Melbourne.
The rolling hills of the central highlands give way to the tree-lined edges of one of Victoria’s most important resources, the Goulburn River. It was the ideal destination for a few days away, especially since the trout season had just opened.
It is all too easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day grind of our modern lifestyles. Enter the Goldstream Storm, one of the latest offerings from this innovative and successful Melbourne-based RV manufacturer.
Design and Construction
Make no mistake; the Goldstream Storm is no bitumen-based show pony. This is quite a serious unit with reasonable offroad credentials. The unit we took on the G2G adventure only had the "bush pack" option with leaf springs and it performed admirably. However, the Storm’s offroad pack has full Cruisemaster trailing arm, shock absorbed independent suspension with coil springs, 12in electric brakes and a Hyland 3500kg towing coupling. It all flowed really well both on and off the road, with a strong Duragal chassis and chunky Goodride MT Radial tyres on 15in Sunraysia-style rims.
Storage
It is obviously a rather large unit when compared to the compact size of many camper trailers so its extreme bush credentials are somewhat limited. But you will be delighted with its overall capabilities as a short or long term, and even longer, distance tourer.
Out front, we found a full-width stoneguard with replaceable mesh, as well as mounting brackets for two 9kg gas bottles. It is all mounted to a nice strong 100x50mm Duragal V-section drawbar.
The front face of the van itself has a nice large storage boot where long items, hoses and all the day-to-day attachments and tools are stored, plus more. The entire wear surface is checkerplate aluminium to eliminate stone fatigue and damage to the double-ply composite panels.
Interior Layout
As you enter the doorway, there’s a cabinet with a sink with pressurised water to the left that also houses a Daewoo microwave oven. Immediately opposite the door are the oven and cooktop, as well as the pantry and a 93L three-way Thetford fridge.
As you walk toward the rear of the camper there is a long set of cabinets running all the way to the bed on the kerb side, and a large club lounge or dinette with removable table to the driver’s side. The dinette table drops down to convert to another fair sized berth for large families. The upholstery is a good, hard wearing, almost corduroy material that will probably see out the long life of the camper, and will be quite easy to keep clean.
We also had the luxury of a Truma heater unit to keep us warm on the cold and foggy nights. The unit is mounted under the dinette seat. The LED lighting is very good all round and the ceiling boasts a wind-out vent as well as a pressure hatch to suck through any dust on the offroad models.
THE WRAP
The Storm is an ideal sized traveller that is available in a number of configurations on a very well presented base. I would personally prefer the optional Storm RL layout where you walk in the door to the club lounge and the kitchen is toward the rear.
However, I would be more than pleased to own a Storm in any configuration and the offroad pack is a terrific benefit for any serious traveller that likes to get away from the populace.
Hits & Misses
I liked
- Ease of assembly
- Storage and bench space
- Club lounge big enough for big blokes!
I would have liked
- A different internal colour choice
- A less-tedious clamping device on the Hyland coupling
More Camper Trailer Australia reviews and tests
Check out the full review in issue #82 November 2014 of Camper Trailer Australia magazine. Subscribe today for all the latest camper trailer news, reviews and travel inspiration.