Country Squire: Dunedoo resident, Rob Ingram, reckons he’s seeing signs of a POST-COVID revival.

COUNTRY SQUIRE ROB INGRAM SAYS HIS TOWN IS THRIVING, THANKS TO TOURING CYCLISTS – AND A LITTLE ART.

IT SEEMS STAGE TWO OF ANY PANDEMIC is the spread of a new lingo that also goes viral. Before COVID, how often did we say bubble, variant, contact tracing and viral shedding?

My favourite tutor in pandemic geekspeak is The New Yorker magazine, which has kept its humour quirky while other news sources merely reflect the prevailing climate of joylessness. The New Yorker ran a map of Manhattan with only one human soul on its deserted streets. Remember the Where’s Wally? puzzles? The caption on this one was: “Where’s socially-distancing Wally?”but The New Yorker cartoon that really struck a chord showed two bored kids sitting on the steps of a New York tenement, with one saying, “I feel like it’s time for social re-entry.”

Now, New York and Dunedoo have little in common, but the term “social re-entry” said it all. That buzz we are hearing in the streets – OK, street – of Dunedoo these days is the unmistakable sound of social re-entry.

There is no resilience like small-town resilience, and Dunedoo has shuffled off its COVID hibernation. More a reinvention than a re-awakening, this small town isn’t just going back to normal, it’s re-energised. And it’s not with the tumult of a street parade but with the cicada-like chirp of 10-speed gears and the swish of brushstrokes on canvas.

In keeping with the serenity of life here, our social re-entry began with pedal power. Dunedoo enjoys a strategic location on the Central West Cycling Trail, which launched a year ago and boasts 400 kilometres of quiet back roads, drop-dead landscapes, welcoming villages and a soul-restoring pace of life.

Everyone on a bike seems to be in good spirits – and it’s contagious. The cheerfulness and bonhomie of the ‘bike packers’ has infected the locals. “I love your Lycra shorts,” one called out to a cyclist. “Thanks… at the end of 400 kilometres I’ll happily give them to you,” said the cyclist.

The Central West Trail has drawn cyclists from far and wide and created a vibrant infrastructure. Several local farmers are earning income from morning teas, lunches and accommodation. And enjoying the social interaction.

Dunedoo’s landmarks – the Hotel Dunedoo and the retro White Rose Cafe – are also enjoying a surge of popularity, along with the sassy new Cafe 2844. Long considered the natural habitat of the corned beef and pickle sandwich, Dunedoo is adapting to the cosmopolitan culinary sophistication riding into town. And while the rest of Australia is puzzling over how to attract domestic tourism spending, Cafe 2844 has brought road traffic to a standstill simply by erecting a banner that says “Gelato”.

The influx of cheerful immigrants and bad jokes has inspired other wheels to start turning. New businesses have opened. Our silo mural is an irresistible ‘Kodak moment’. And Dunedoo’s association with art is also kickstarting social re-entry. When the town’s acclaimed Art Unlimited exhibition returned after a COVID hiatus, 300 people (in a town of 800) came on opening night to view the work of more than 300 artists from every state. No matter how remote the location of such an event, art is part of a global conversation… and social re-entry doesn’t come much wider than that.

Across the railway tracks at the Maker Space, locals were answering the challenge to Paint Like Picasso, while at the historic Cobbora Hall emerging artists were ‘brushing up’ on landscape painting at a workshop with the renowned Jude Fleming. Landscape artists and cyclists are both in sync with nature… and you’ll find them both fuelling Dunedoo’s social re-entry. Come on Australia, get out your bikes – and your paint brushes.

“THAT BUZZ WE HEAR IN THE STREETS – OK, STREET – OF DUNEDOO IS UNMISTAKABLE: SOCIAL RE-ENTRY.”