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Economic squeeze hits Riverland Orange

Posted October 29, 2008 17:03:00

No auction bids for Big Orange

No auction bids for Big Orange (bigthings.com.au)

There have been no bids made at an auction for the Big Orange, a former tourist site at Berri in the South Australian Riverland.

About 20 people attended, but no-one was interested in the suggested asking price of about $90,000.

Real estate agent Iris Williams says tough economic times have made a sale of the 85-tonne structure and its five hectares of land next to the Murray challenging.

"The present climate's not good and banks are tightening up," she said.

"They're not going to lend quite as freely as they used to."

Built three decades ago, the Big Orange was once a popular tourist attraction for families visiting the Riverland because of its panoramic views across the Murray.

One recent suggestion was to repaint it as a giant golf ball to promote sporting holidays in the region.

Tags: economic-trends, tourism, regional-development, offbeat, lifestyle-and-leisure, travel-and-tourism, rural-tourism, sa, berri-5343, renmark-5341

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