This is the little town that could. Once a buzzing tin-mining centre, less than a decade ago Derby, snug in the tall-timbered hills of Tasmania s north-east, was almost a ghost town. Then along came the mountain bikers, a local council with some vision, some federal funds to back it and now you have the equivalent of a surf town in summer or a ski town in winter.
The surf breaks or the ski runs are mountain bike trails and by all accounts, they re among the best around, designed and created as they were by a team including Queenslander Glenn Jacobs and his company World Trail. In the bush, he is to mountain bike trails what Frederick McCubbin was to canvas.