A group of Narrabri people is keen to explore the possibilities for more improvement works at Yarrie Lake to further enhance one of the district’s biggest recreational and tourist assets.
Narrabri resident Ron Campey has launched the campaign and is enthusiastic about the potential to attract even more tourists and campers to Yarrie Lake.
“We are having a public meeting at Yarrie Lake on Saturday afternoon for anyone interested,” said Ron.
“I am just a concerned resident who wants to see development in Narrabri,” he said.
“The potential for Yarrie Lake to be developed for camping and ‘grey nomads’ visits is huge,” he said.
“It could become the number one regional destination for grey nomads on the way north.
“It’s a bird watcher’s paradise.
“These are just my thoughts as a concerned community resident who wants to see Narrabri go ahead, I am not representing the Yarrie Lake Trust,” Ron added.
Apart from the development of improved on-shore facilities, such as more camp-sites and other facilities, Ron said he and others were keen to see development of the lake itself.
“I have done some costings on excavating a 100 metre wide trench, say 75 metres from the edge around the lake to improve skiing.
“But we would first need to do comprehensive engineering to see what we can do,” said Ron.
“If it could be deepened, the spoil could perhaps be used to build an island in the middle of the lake which would mitigate the wash from boats and be a venue in itself, with barbecue facilities.
“We have offers of donated earth moving equipment and operators to carry out the work.
“Moree has a ski park, Goondiwindi has a ski park, it is time for Narrabri to keep Narrabri’s 200 plus skiers in the district,” Ron said.
“But it is not just about skiers, it is about the huge tourist potential of Yarrie Lake for visitors and encouraging them to stay longer.
“We need to do the engineering before any move towards improving the lake. If we can get government funding for a local engineering study it could be done fairly quickly.”
“There are many ski boats in the area and they have to go to the regional waterways at present - it is much easier to go out to Yarrie Lake on our doorstep. So we need to look into improving what we have got.
“We hope to see anyone interested coming along on Saturday,” said Ron.
The Yarrie Lake Trust comprises volunteer community members who oversee management of the lake.
The Trust has been responsible for significant improvements, through work by its volunteers at the lake and in securing grant funding over the years.
Chairman of the Yarrie Lake Trust, Mr Colin Cain, said the Trust had not received any approaches about moves for work at the lake.
“As the body responsible for the lake we would naturally like to hear,” Mr Cain said.
“But we haven’t had any contact so far.
“The Trust is responsible for the lake so nothing can be done unless the Trust is engaged and considers and approves any proposals,” Mr Cain said.
“By all means get in touch with the Trust.
“But works at the lake can be expensive - it’s a big area, 200 acres,” he said.
“And any work on the lake bottom would need to be very carefully tested and planned and engineered to establish if it is valid and won’t damage the lake.”
Other councils do appear to be developing skiing facilities with Moree Council beginning construction of a three pond ski park.
Moree mayor Cr Katrina Humphries is enthusiastic about the development of a major new recreational facility at Moree.
The Moree council is driving the construction of a large ski park on the southern side of town.
“We are building two 800 metre ponds and one 1.2km pond” said Cr Humphries.
“I am really excited about this.
“We have been heavily involved with Waterskiers Australia to get the specifications right. It is the right depth and dimensions for championship events and will be about two metres deep.
“The sky is the limit.
“I am envisioning housing blocks, people wanting to build there and have water frontages.
“The idea came from Cr James von Drehnen who was the real catalyst, and I love the idea because I have always loved water-skiing from when we were kids.
“For the past 100 years or more we have been able to pump the spent hot baths’ pool water back into the Mehi River” said Cr Humphries.
“The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) decided some time ago that couldn’t happen any more because of the salt and chlorine so we had to build a pipeline to take the water away, and we were going to have to build evaporation ponds.
“So we decided that was a waste, and we don’t have waste water, so we will build the evaporation ponds the right size and shape for water skiing’ said Cr Humphries.