By now, many of us would have heard of the term ‘trail town.’ The endearing title refers to towns and regions across the globe, where cycling facilities have boosted local economies by attracting throngs of two-wheeled tourists. The classic Australian example is Derby, where an otherwise sleepy country town in Tasmania became an unprecedented tourist attraction for mountain bikers from around the world. Bike shops and various boutique accommodation options are just a few things which have blossomed in the area due to the demand created by a vast, world-class trail network.
With all this in mind, it’s hard to imagine an economically entrenched mining town in south Western Australia becoming a cycling - let alone tourist - destination. But that’s exactly what the town of Collie is morphing into. On the surface, Collie is fairly unassuming: it’s about 2 hours south
