Last Tuesday I found myself in Bingara, a small town of 1300 people in regional NSW. Driving down the main street we noticed that there were fully laden orange trees in neat rows starting at the RSL club and extending out of sight. Not knowing what the deal was with the trees (why was no one eating the oranges? They looked so good!) we drew on the local knowledge around us and discovered that the oranges were waiting patiently for a special day in June on which the Bingara Orange Festival was held. On this day each year, the school children in town come and harvest the oranges (with prizes for the kids who pick the ones with little flags poked in them), bag them up and keep some while the rest go to local charities.
Here's to the quaintness of country life.
