T'other evening a group of us were having dinner at the new Pizza Palace, in Dungog. We got talking about how many places in town where one may, these days, get a decent meal. Where in a town of a couple of thousand souls, a few years ago, you could not get a feed, night or day, there are now 14 establishments where one may get a meal! Truly. Count 'em. 

 It gave me an idea.

The Dungog-Gresford district is an area with some intriguing and interesting roads. The Dungog-Gresford road is just one of many beautiful drives. The Fosterton Loop. The drive up the Allyn River, over the Salisbury Gap, and back down the Williams Valley. They are many and varied. 

Clarencetown, too, has the Erringhi Hoel, a cafe and decent bowling club. You can get a meal at any of them. Gresford has the Beatty Hotel, and the Bowlo. Paterson has that beautiful Commercial Bank Restaurant, a real jewel, two pubs and a cafe.

So, with all these places where you may get fed and watered, and some of the most scenic roads in the state of NSW, how come we are not selling the Dungog-Gresford-Paterson area as a driving enthusiast's paradise? Some of the road surfaces are a bit dodgy (read awful), certainly, but promote that as part of the adventure. 

There are somewhere around 80 motoring-related clubs within a 200km radius of Dungog, excluding Sydney. Include Sydney and -who knows? The possibilities are endless.

Maybe this is a project for the Chamber of Commerce? Get some fancy leaflets done, pretty pictures, a bit of text about how wonderful it all is. Do a proper map (and that means accurate). Stress the multiplicity of tucker stops (the word tucker is the right one. This has to be a bush exprience, OK?) Get the accommodation places on side to lob in some cash for the project and the thing almost creates itself. There is a register of motoring clubs. Get their addresses, and blitz 'em with the good message. Get the NRMA Open Road magazine on it.

C'mon folks. Get with it Here is a really serious project for the newly created tourism organisation. Let's do it.