Loving resort living

They say running a resort like the one nestled among the trees and beside the Deni golf course has been their dream for at least three years.

They hope to contribute to Deniliquin’s tourism economy through increased overnight stays, which means expanding on what the resort offers.

‘‘We believe Deniliquin is a destination and there are so many different kinds of people you can approach to get them to come here,’’ Iain said.

‘‘We are already building a great relationship with the Deniliquin Golf Club and will continue to expand on this, but also want to market to the mountain bikers because there are tracks in the forest next door, the twitchers because bird watching is awesome in this place and to families who want to come on holiday because we have family rooms and units and a beautiful pool.

‘‘We have found there is so much to do in Deniliquin. You can come here on a holiday for a week and you would be busy every day doing different things, plus the river is close by,’’ Jaryd added.

‘‘We want to grow on what this place was originally built for, because it has immense potential.’’

The Goodways had been living in Sydney for 13 years after immigrating from South Africa.  

Iain, 62, has a 45 year background in IT and Debi, 53, is still working as sales support for a managed services provider in Sydney, but now remotely from Deniliquin.

Jaryd, who is 20, is taking a break from studying business at university.

Iain said the dream of becoming a tourism operator started after he stayed in Glenrowan, in a motel that was for sale at the time.

‘‘I had never been in a motel in Australia before, as we had always stayed at caravan parks, Airbnb’s and hotels,’’ Iain said.

‘‘The place was actually for sale and I was chatting to the owners. They were telling me the price, and I thought ‘it can’t be, houses are more expensive than that in Sydney’.

‘‘To them it was a nice pre-retirement kind of business because it gave them a country lifestyle and a place they could sell again if they wanted to.

‘‘That sort of piqued my interest and I investigated that one specifically before investigating about 40 or 50 different motels.

‘‘We did a lot of research and spoke to a lot of people, and about mid last year we finally came to the conclusion that we want to do this. 

‘‘We put our house on the market and sold it at the end of last year, before COVID-19. That gave us the finance to look at it seriously, and then we found this one in Deniliquin.’’

From the 40 to 50 motels the family looked at, Deniliquin stood out for multiple reasons.

‘‘We wanted to move to country New South Wales; that was our quest,’’ Iain said.

‘‘We loved the area (Deniliquin), we loved the lifestyle it can give you, and especially in terms of the actual accommodation.

‘‘The thing that was different about this one was the residence; it is way better than anything we had seen before. When you have to live at work you want to live comfortably.

‘‘Also, this is just beautiful. Most motels are on a highway so there is road noise and all the passing traffic, but here it is peaceful, quiet and beautiful, and at night you can see the stars, not truck headlights and things like that.’’

And the family is keen to be a part of the community, having been blown away by the hospitality of Deniliquin locals already.

‘‘It is absolutely amazing to us how friendly people in Deni are,’’ Debi said.

‘‘We will go to town on a Saturday morning and we are already starting to bump into people we have already met. They recognise and greet us in the street; that doesn’t happen in the city.

‘‘We have made it our mission to see what there is in Deniliquin, so we are exploring. We get up early on a Saturday morning, go to town and see what there is to see.

‘‘It also has everything you need in a town. People are incredibly helpful, they make time for you and we are really loving living in country New South Wales, the Riverina and especially Deniliquin. We love it here,’’ Iain said.