The touring party really took to Bingara, which is a neat small town that appears to be well serviced. We drove and trekked around the township and its surrounds and engaged in numerous conversations with the locals.A prominent building in the central part of the town is The Roxy (pic, left above). An art deco cinema built in 1936 and recently restored, it's now a multipurpose venue, cinema and performing arts centre. The 7th North West Film Festival will be held there later this month.
Breakfast at The Regent Cafe was quite an experience - our tour captain was almost overcome by an attack of nostalgia as he tucked away a bushman's brekkie that consisted of a T-bone steak and fried eggs topped off with a very liberal layering of Holbrook's Worcestershire Sauce.
Others in the party preferred the home-style scrambled eggs on toast (and, in case you're wondering, tomato sauce was readily available). Terrific vanilla milk shakes were served up in metal containers that carried scars and dents inflicted in years of yesterday.
Friday's Legacy Day fund raiser took the form of a raffle - the prize was a load of chopped fire wood. We reckoned that was an excellent prize, given the local area's climate and demographics.
While Bingara seems to cater well for the needs of locals and visitors we couldn't help but wonder what the place might be like in another 20 years. Its current population (approx 1200) has a significant skew towards those of mature and very mature ages (about 50% of the population is 55 +) - they are well catered for (pics below show the civic centre, town hall and senior citizens rest centre), but what will the town be like in 2030 when most of those citizens have moved on.
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