Roads To Ruination

On my frequent journeys to the Hunter Valley from Sydney, my preferred route is via New South Wales’s most ostentatious tax shelter, Pokolbin, just outside Cessnock.

All those hectares of regimentally planted vines appeal to my Capricornian side. I marvel at the architectural masterpieces like Tempus Two’s and Hungerford Hills’s, the plethora of exquisite eateries, exclusive lodges, spas and retreats, fine arts galleries, the local crafts emporia, the tasting, the spitting … what the desperate and dateless on RSVP refer to as “the good things life has to offer”.

Tell me why then, with all this opulence, are the much-travelled roads and laneways in and around Pokolbin a bunch of rivet-loosening goat tracks? If the council can’t afford to fix them up, surely the burghers can.