"Surviving on the tourist trail" a Bingara Travel Page by iandsmith

Bingara is one of those country towns spaced at a day's coach travel length from the next nearest towns.
That was fine until someone invented the motorcar and then someone else invented good roads. While farming was labour intensive all was well, but after WWII mechanization came to the farms, properties became larger, rural towns declined.
Some went meekly, some reinvented themselves. Bingara was suffering until the tourist bus came. The Oz Explorer bus now brings tourist through regularly from overseas for their "rural Australia" experience. Here they do their horse riding and spend a night in a country pub.
All this activity serves to awaken the locals to what they might have in the area and a different attitude prevails.
Thus Bingara, on the banks of the beautiful Gwydir River, is showing slight signs that it's not going to die without a fight and, if I can do my bit, well and good.
It's only a small town on a road called by the cynical "Poverty Way" due to the decline of towns along the route but, apart from getting booked for speeding by police one Melbourne Cup day, I have fond memories of the place.
It has all the shops you need for essentials and, within comfortable driving distance, there are some lovely scenic attractions such as Copetoun Dam, the Nandewar Ranges and MacIntyre Falls.