o RiverSmart’s CEO Dr Bill Phillips and Narromine Shire mayor Bill McAnally launching the Macquarie River Trails’ glovebox guide at Edgerton Nursery last week.
The Macquarie River Trails initiative launched in Narromine last week is a glovebox guide describing more than 100 things to do in the region extending from Lake Burrendong to the Macquarie Marshes.
The purpose of the guide is to make the Macquarie River Trails more accessible to tourists by bringing together information from across the region.
Riversmart Australia CEO Dr Bill Phillips was on hand to launch the initiative with Narromine Shire mayor Bill McAnally, Council general manager Greg Lamont and several members from the local and business community.
“The idea for the guide came from a conversation with previous general manager of the Narromine Shire Council Ian Rogan,” Dr Phillips said.
“Ian’s dream was to see this glovebox guide one day so Narromine has a strong part of the history in this project.”
According to Dr Phillips, the glove box guide and Macquarie River Trails idea in general has the ability to improve local economies along the river.
“When we started the project it told us that people were staying one or two nights and if we could get tourists to stay two more, it would inject $30 million and flow through into jobs,” Dr Phillips said.
“Many of the attractions are well-kept secrets so this collective marketing initiative is designed to provide a one-stop-shop for holiday planning to this region.”
Mayor Bill McAnally is thrilled to see the concept come to reality in the hope of improving tourism to the Narromine Shire.
“Our shire is on a gold mine with that river; it is a totally under-used asset,” councillor McAnally said.
“There have been a number of passionate people supporting this idea so it has been a wonderful thing for Narromine to get on board - it is a wonderful initiative and I’m sure it will grow.
“This guide has really only scratched the surface of things to do, see and enjoy on the Macquarie River Trails and I’m sure this time next year it’ll be twice the size.”
Macquarie River Trails will shortly launch an application for iPhones and iPads and its next trail for fishing.
“The hope is to hold a fishing competition along the river at the end of the year from Lake Burrendong to the Macquarie Marshes as every fisherman I speak to says ‘we have the biggest Murray Cod’,” Dr Phillips laughed.
“Bird watching and art trails are also in development at the moment.”
This would bring the number of Macquarie River Trails from the five originals - heritage, nature, river, produce and cycle - to eight.
What’s your thoughts on the Macquarie River Trails initiative?
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