Mt Canobolas, our long extinct volcano, is the most dominant land feature in central western NSW and is promoted as one of Orange's best tourist attractions.
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At 1395m it's the highest point in a line between the Pacific and Indian ocean and offers spectacular 360 degree views. On a clear day you can see forever.
The mountain since it was set aside for public recreation in 1944 has been the subject of lots of tourism development propositions including artificial ski slopes and restaurants on the summit.
None has gone ahead. But what happens when it snows? Or even when snow is forecast?
Cabonne Shire apparently on the advice of State Emergency Services locks and shuts the road, keeping out tourists and everyone else who want to see the snow. The road was closed last Friday and stayed closed all weekend while there was snow there. That's a strange way to promote tourism.
Wouldn't it be better to clear the road if there's a heavy fall to make it safe for vehicles so we can all take advantage of our unique attraction, including lots of visitors.
Surely Cabonne would have a spare grader or some other thing it could use for a few hours.
MAN ON THE MOON
It's 50 years on Sunday since Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins' Apollo 11 mission to the moon and everyone is now upping the ante to get back there.
The Chinese have landed a spacecraft on the dark side with plans to grow plants as a food source while Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos has set up aerospace company Blue Origin to build a lunar lander capable of carrying people to the moon.
And the European Space Agency wants to establish a community moon village there.
So what about us? There's an option for unhappy Orange people who enjoy complaining about proposed new developments even though some might have a genuine beef.
But if they're so concerned they should get in the queue for a flight to the moon where they could set up a new celestial state like Whingers' Recovery up there among the stars.
And in addition to opening up space to private mining operations US President Donald Trump hopes NASA's technology can be used to send rigs to the moon to mine lunar metals so an opportunity for Newcrest.
It doesn't matter if you're not a cycling fan, the scenery is amazing.
- Denis Gregory on the 2019 Tour de France
What about Cadia Cosmos Colony? Buck Rogers, Speed Gordon and Brick Bradford are no doubt still out there somewhere doing amazing things in their spaceships ever since cartoonists created them in 1929 and they'd be able to offer some good advice.
TOUR DE FRANCE
The best travel-tourism show on TV is back so if you want to see a big part of France at its best tune in to the SBS nightly coverage of the Tour de France.
You get an amazing birds-eye view of the countryside and the Alps, the villages and towns and the 12th century castles and churches as the cameras and a helicopter follow the cyclists over the 3479km tour.
There's still 11 stages to go before it finishes on the Champs Elysees in Paris on Sunday, July 28.
Thursday's 209km mountain stage is from Toulouse to Bagnères-de-Bigorre.
It doesn't matter if you're not a cycling fan, the scenery is amazing.
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