The popular, but very isolated, tourist attraction had had fire bearing down on it from all sides and all activities, tours and accommodation had been suspended.

The Ruined Castle bushfire (17,058 hectares) had joined with the massive Green Wattle Creek fire (262,729 hectares) and much of the Jenolan Caves precinct was under threat.

Fire and Rescue NSW Zone Commander, Superintendent Brett Jackson, said teams of firefighters had been on the scene since Boxing Day.

"The main focus for us is Caves House, that's the main thing we want to protect, but there's a lot of other historic buildings there," he said.

"We've had spot fires around Caves House."

IT was Bathurst's night to remember with a knight to remember when Sir Elton John played at Carrington Park on January 22.

About 20,000 fans packed into Carrington Park to see Sir Elton perform as part of his farewell tour, with many more taking up vantage points outside the ground for the chance to hear some classic hits from rock royalty.

He took to the stage to rapturous cheers and told the crowd: "I never thought I'd say this, but good evening Bathurst!"

Sir Elton opened the set with Bennie and the Jets off his 1973 album Yellow Brick Road before moving on to All The Girls Love Alice off the same album and I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues (Too Low For Zero, 1983).

He was welcomed to Bathurst by messages of support from fans that were displayed on the giant screen at Carrington Park, including a memory from Paige of learning to sing and dance to Crocodile Rock at school.

Earlier Sir Elton had made his way into the city in a black BMW to prepare for the show.

ROSANNA'S Street Food was in the lead with almost 4000 votes cast in the Western Advocate's "Who sells the best burger in Bathurst" poll.

Rosanna's had collected 29.62 per cent of the total vote, ahead of Jack Duggan's Irish Pub, which was just 59 votes behind with 28.08 per cent of the total vote.

Panorama Mini Mart and Takeaway was in third with a total overall vote count of 953.

Rosanna's Street Food owner Rosanna Eliades said she was surprised to find her takeaway topping the vote so far, but said she was extremely thankful for the support.

"I take pride in what we do here. We make the burgers with love," she said.

"It's all hand-made. My father-in-law makes the patty and we flour and season the chicken ourselves."

Rosanna's went on to win the poll with a total of 1446 votes - 301 votes ahead of Jack Duggan's Irish Pub.

THE largest passenger aircraft to land at Orange airport arrived on January 20 carrying rock star Elton John's tour entourage.

The chartered Nauru Airlines Boeing 737-300 from Brisbane brought Elton's crew ahead of his concert in Bathurst.

The Orange runway (2200 metres) is 500 metres longer than Bathurst airport (1700 metres), which was deemed too short for the plane to land there.

Sir Elton was not on the plane.

Coaches were waiting at the airport to take the crew and their luggage to Bathurst to prepare for the show.

Orange Aero Club vice-president John Pullen was among members who were on the tarmac to witness the historic landing.

ALSO MAKING HEADLINES IN JANUARY:

A 21-YEAR-OLD man was reported to be in a critical condition after being airlifted to Sydney with severe head injuries he suffered when he crashed his dirt bike on January 18.

Michael Brennan was flown to Westmead Hospital following the accident.

His mother Lou White, his father Ben Brennan, Ben's wife Melissa, and Michael's siblings were all by his side.

Ms White said while her son hadn't regained consciousnesses, he did seem responsive to their voices.

She said her son, who went straight into emergency surgery on the Saturday night after being flown to Sydney, had a CT scan on his brain on the Sunday afternoon.

Emergency services were called to the crash scene, a private property on Kellys Road, Fitzgeralds Mount, between Bathurst and Blayney, just after 6.30pm.

A Go Fund Me page was started later to help support Mr Brennan through his recovery.