For the past five years, the Golden West Wanderers have parked their motorhomes at Lake Canobolas where they have spent a week ringing in the new year.
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Although camping is prohibited at the lake, the Central West based group, which is a branch of the Campervan and Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA), has permission from Orange City Council to camp at the site.
The permission was granted after the group submitted a development application, filled out forms and held annual meetings with council representatives before each gathering.
Golden West Wanderers president Ray Jackson said it is also covered by insurance through the CMCA.
“Other people cannot park [here], unless they are members of the CMCA,” Mr Jackson said.
“We’ve had so many people here looking at us this week and we’ve already had one lady come and abuse us [because of the camping ban].”
The group, of 18 campervans and motorhomes arrived at the site on Sunday to celebrate New Years Eve and is planning to leave again this Sunday and have been filling in their time with games such as disc bowls.
“It’s a beautiful site, it’s one of the best we’ve got, it’s a gorgeous place,” Mr Jackson said.
“I’ve been married for 55 years and we used to come here courting, the toilets are the same toilets in 55 years, it’s the only thing that needs doing to it.”
The group’s members haven’t wandered far and Mr Jackson said many of them come from Orange but they also come from Bathurst, Dubbo, West Wyalong, Tottenham, Black Heath, Young, Cowra and Mudgee.
“We meet every months and we go to all the smaller places,” Mr Jackson said.
However, he said Orange was lacking when it came to parking spots for caravans and motor homes and it needs a new dump point for sewerage.
“We’ve got a dump point, it’s behind the BP service station but it’s inaccessible,” Mr Jackson said.
He said with hundreds of thousands of people travelling across Australia in motorhomes, campervans and caravans, Orange needs more dump points to take advantage of the tourism potential.
Group member Pat Tilston organises the annual gathering and said groups can camp at the site like the wanderers do, but they need to go through the same complex procedure.