Settree’s new venture to give a real Cobar experience
Wednesday July 29, 2009
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Ian Settree is hoping to give tourists the real Cobar experience on his new bus tours.
Local bus operator Ian Settree is keen to give visitors to town a real ‘Cobar Experience”.
Mr Settree, who has made Cobar his home for the past 30 years, this week re-commenced his guided bus tours of Cobar which will now include a surface tour of the Peak Gold Mine.
“I tried doing town tours a few years back but had to give it away for health reasons.
“And it was going along very well then,” Mr Settree said.
“There’s been an increase in tourism in the western area over the past years and we thought it would be a good time to get the tour business back up and running.
“And besides, my wife Margaret tells me that I’m not ready to retire yet!”
Mr Settree said he “loves” Cobar.
“I’m local and I’m here to stay.
“We don’t plan on going anywhere soon or retiring to the coast.”
Mr Settree’s two and a half hour tours start near the Great Cobar Heritage Centre.
“This is where Cobar started. I give a quick run through of the first 50 years of Cobar’s history about the first phase of mining in Cobar and then proceed through the town giving a commentary of different aspects of the town.”
His tour is comprehensive and takes in a number of buildings, new and old, including the courthouse, the public school, houses in Sidwell Kruge Estate, and includes some of the early cottages built for miners in Cobar.
Mr Settree also takes visitors past Cobar’s sporting facilities and will give updates on the local teams’ progress in their respective competitions.
Other attractions on the tour are the cemetery, racecourse, weather station, the Newey, the Salty and the Youngy.
“My tours have an emphasis on the water situation in Cobar which has been a major factor in our history.”
In the second phase of the tour, visitors are taken out of town to the look out at the New Cobar Open Cut.
“It’s here I begin the commentary on the second phase of mining history from the 1930s to the early 1950s. Then we go on site for a surface tour at Peak Gold Mine to see a modern mine in operation.”
Mr Settree said he was pleased to have been able to work with Peak to create a mine tour.
“It’s something that many tourists are looking for when they come to a mining town and it’s great that we can now offer this to them.”
Mr Settree hopes to offer visitors a unique experience of Cobar with his commentary including a number of quirky and amusing local anecdotes.
To re-launch his town tours business, Mr Settree has an introductory offer for this week for four days (today until Saturday) and is offering his tours at half price.
He is also extending the half price offer for the next six months to locals who take the tours.
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