I had no idea how gorgeous and vibrant regional NSW is until we were diverted inland to escape the bushfires last weekend.
Every small business could learn a thing or two from the best, clearly family-run, little ventures we came across during our unexpected adventure.
Becoming increasingly uneasy sitting in a mile-long gridlock before the roadblock on the MI, the main route up and down the eastern seaboard, at Karuah where the fire front was, we finally turned back north up the highway to find an inland route back down to Sydney.
Trying to figure out the best way home, we regrouped with my family (along with the rest of the population holidaying on the NSW mid north coast who were also trying to figure out how to get back down the M1) at Bulahdelah, a riverside town recently bypassed by the highway.
Talk about a town that rises to the occasion. After ordering pies at the excellent Bulahdelah Bakery we were asked whether we wanted to wait five minutes for piping hot fresh ones – yes please!
So delicious and how thoughtful to put on fresh batches of pies to feed the marauding hordes that descended without notice on the town, unable to travel back down the highway.
The bakery could not have planned for this situation, it just decided to respond in the best way possible when things got really busy all of a sudden. That's the secret to success when you run a small business.
We ended up going home via an inland route and travelled through some fantastic towns, Gloucester, Paterson, Stroud and Dungog were standouts.
All these towns, while not on the main highway, were clearly thriving from a combination of industry and tourism, with loads of small businesses doing a roaring trade. Looked like a very friendly little scene in particular at the Tinshed Brewery at Dungog as we drove through about 6pm.
It was fantastic to see so many thriving small businesses along the way home – I would highly recommend a trip through inland NSW, very pretty indeed.
But it amazes me how little co-ordination there was about the roadblock at Karuah. We took an inland route via Nabiac and the abovementioned towns and that route had absolutely no sign of bushfire. Everyone should have been directed that way, instead of being stranded at Bulahdelah, with no information at all and no way back to Sydney.
We, along with everyone else, asked for directions from the obviously fed-up – and who's to blame her? – attendant at the local BP. She had no idea what was the best way home and why should she? She's not responsible for community service announcements.
The M1 is the main highway and east coast commerce relies on it to be open each day. It appeared to me there was no emergency plan in the event of a prolonged road closure.
Granted, emergency services were continuing to deal with a state alight and that had to be the priority. But there should be enough public resources so businesses that are near the M1 are notified when a major incident occurs about how emergency services are responding, so they can help communicate this information to people travelling on it.
It seems like common sense to me, and if I were preparing a report after last week's bushfires some sort of co-ordinated public communication program should be the main priority, so businesses and the community know what's happening in an emergency and can plan accordingly.
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