ENTREPRENEURS IN Bathurst have turned the government's ban on vehicles on beaches into a business opportunity. They are buying up beach buggies from fishermen along the Sunshine Coast for R2000 to R3000 a vehicle, and then hiring them out as dirt buggies, reports the Daily Dispatch newspaper. Peter Repinz, owner of the Protea Hotel Bathurst at Summerhill Farm is hiring the buggies to holiday-makers for R95 a half day, or R150 for the whole day. The drivers are given a map of local dirt roads which take them to places of "incredible beauty", including the outlook deck over a horseshoe bend in the Kowie River and a stunning new valley bush camp deep in the wild upper reaches of the Kleinemonde River. "We have bought and fixed up six buggies so far. We're planning to buy up all the buggies we can find," Repinz said. The buggies are part of an extensive "Bathurst Experience" adventure tourism plan for the historic town, which lies 10km from Port Alfred. The newly-formed tourism group is made up of Repinz and his son Pierre, Bathurst Arms owner Richard Rademan, pilot David Strickland and local farmer Allan Pike. The tour plan has been give a boost by the arrival of the brightly-painted Kowie Chu-Chu train, which started ferrying people between Port Alfred to Bathurst this season. Repinz says: "Bathurst has come alive. We are seeing up to 250 people a day moving around the village. This is already 50 per cent up on last year's figure and it increases every day." Organised tours include an historical meander, a pineapple tour and a visit to the biggest collection of agricultural implements in Africa, plus meals in the local pubs. Tourists are driven around in an open-air Kronenbrau beer wagon which once belonged to former rugby magnate Louis Luyt. Repinz says the new hiking, mountain biking, 4x4 and horse trails are also proving popular with environment and fitness-focused visitors.