Marco Groot and Lianne Kooiman, enthusiastic freedom campers since they emigrated from the Netherlands to Invercargill 13 years ago, were moved on from their regular camping spot near the Te Anau golf course a few weeks ago and told they were camping illegally in an area prohibited under the Southland District Council's Camping Control Bylaw, 2012.
Mr Groot scrutinised the bylaw and found a clause stating people could camp in prohibited areas if they had written council permission.
They decided to write to the council seeking permission to camp at their favourite spot beside the Waiau River up to four nights a month on the weekends they volunteered with a group eradicating pests from Pomona Island on Lake Manapouri.
Council compliance officer Angela Halliday said in a report the couple were the first people to ask for an exemption. She recommended the request be declined, saying the circumstances ''do not appear enough to justify an exemption''.
Granting it could set a precedent and make policing the bylaw difficult, she said.
Councillors took less than five minutes at a recent meeting to agree with Ms Halliday's recommendation.
They said the couple had other options - at camping grounds, in areas further away from Te Anau not covered by the bylaw, or by making an arrangement with a farmer to camp on private land.
The couple have a small van with no facilities except two made-to-measure mattresses. Mr Groot was questioned about that during a public forum at the meeting. He said he and his partner used public toilets before driving to their camping spot and again in the morning.
He said the van was large enough to install the toilet, water storage and waste water storage needed to make it self-contained, although he said the bylaw allowed no camping at all in prohibited areas and did not differentiate between self-contained and non self-contained vehicles.
After the meeting, Mr Groot said he was disappointed the request had been declined, but not surprised.
''We knew it was a long shot, but because the bylaw didn't specify the circumstances under which the council would permit someone to camp, we thought it was worth a try.''
