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Speaker 1: This is the Fits In with Her with Kate Richie podcast.

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Speaker 2: A woman missing for more than sixty years has been

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Speaker 2: found alive and well by cold case detectives in the

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Speaker 2: United States.

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Speaker 3: Sixties.

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Speaker 2: Audrey Backerberg disappeared, age twenty, from her home in Reedsburg, Wisconsin,

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Speaker 2: on July seven, nineteen sixty two, and despite years long

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Speaker 2: efforts from investigator, she was never found.

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Speaker 3: That is until now. I love these stories. How is

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Speaker 3: she living?

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Speaker 4: Because often when you hear a story like this, they've

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Speaker 4: quit life in the sense that they've left the city

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Speaker 4: and they're living in the woods and they've got a

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Speaker 4: cabin or a cave somewhere.

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Speaker 2: Fits no, Well, this is the sixties, so this is

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Speaker 2: the news story.

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Speaker 3: She's eighty two years of age now. But she obviously

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Speaker 3: had her reasons.

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Speaker 5: I told Audrey that I would keep it private. She

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Speaker 5: had her reasons for leaving, and we discussed a lot

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Speaker 5: of things.

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Speaker 1: The Sark County detectives as an abusive husband may have

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Speaker 1: played a role in Blackberg's initial decision to leave, but

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Speaker 1: we may never know what made her stay away from

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Speaker 1: more than six decades.

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Speaker 2: So she got married at the age of fifteen. She

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Speaker 2: had two children by the time, she was twenty years

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Speaker 2: of age.

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Speaker 3: So this is an unbelievable story.

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Speaker 2: Obviously, she was in a relationship she didn't want to

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Speaker 2: be in, and she's just packed up and said, I've

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Speaker 2: got to get out of here. You can imagine the

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Speaker 2: trauma that she would have gone through leaving children, got

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Speaker 2: to get away from an abusive relationship, but then just

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Speaker 2: to whip to be on the run, like just to.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, where do you go?

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Speaker 4: And how do you survive getting through day by day

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Speaker 4: not leaving a trace of where you've been. It's cruel

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Speaker 4: that you even exist. I mean some people did this

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Speaker 4: or attempted to do this. Fits when September eleven happened,

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Speaker 4: they were in bad relationships and people thought they were

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Speaker 4: in the tower.

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Speaker 3: Therefore they'd been killed.

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Speaker 4: And they saw it as the opportunity just to disappear

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Speaker 4: off the face of the earth.

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Speaker 3: Do you know.

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Speaker 4: My nan lived next to a lady and the lady

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Speaker 4: was old, she was in her nineties, but when she

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Speaker 4: was a young woman that she had five kids. And

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Speaker 4: on the on Christmas Day, the husband decided to pack

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Speaker 4: his stuff up and took off out the front door,

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Speaker 4: and she continued to live there with the five kids

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Speaker 4: for the rest of her life.

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Speaker 2: Well, this happens more than you think. Thirteen, twenty fourteen.

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Speaker 2: If you do know a story, Bjay's father was a

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Speaker 2: bit the same as well. They sort of her mother

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Speaker 2: and her father sort of the relationship broke down and

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Speaker 2: he just packed his stuff up and went far north

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Speaker 2: Queensland and fixed boats, whipped off the whole family behind

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Speaker 2: to be able to.

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Speaker 6: Walk out like that.

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Speaker 4: Donna and Padstow Height's.

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Speaker 5: Hey, Don, hi to Tim with how are you good?

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Speaker 4: Thanks for calling the show. You've got a story about

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Speaker 4: your husband, do you?

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Speaker 6: Yeah?

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Speaker 7: My second husband I was most twenty three years, had

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Speaker 7: three children. One day after the children I came home,

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Speaker 7: he completely cleared out, no courting address, no no nothing,

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Speaker 7: And I was like, God's mate. It was a WEEKI

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Speaker 7: twn forty five. So I always think it's there you go,

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Speaker 7: rebably having a mid life crisis. But a word from

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Speaker 7: him for months and months and month yet young and

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Speaker 7: he left me with someone else. I eventually found out why,

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Speaker 7: But oh my god, at the time I was just

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Speaker 7: like prime a rever.

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Speaker 3: So how did you think?

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Speaker 4: How long do you reckon? Donna? Before you had any

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Speaker 4: understanding of where he was or any contact.

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Speaker 5: It's not five months.

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Speaker 7: None of his sisters he was one of eight children,

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Speaker 7: None of his sisters.

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Speaker 6: No one would tell me where he was.

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Speaker 7: I thought, what is he upset?

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Speaker 1: What if he's got depression?

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Speaker 6: I was worried about him.

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Speaker 7: He was found someone else, but.

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Speaker 4: To go to the police.

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Speaker 2: Donna don't know what I want to know because this

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Speaker 2: would be me personally. Did you ever get to see

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Speaker 2: him face to face again and just ask just why

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Speaker 2: did you do it?

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Speaker 7: No, he's never answered the wine, but we are amicable.

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Speaker 7: Like eventually he wanted it out, half the house, half

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Speaker 7: of money, anything, anything and everything, and so yeah, we

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Speaker 7: eventually did get contact. Those first initial few weeks something

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Speaker 7: what the hell is going on?

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Speaker 6: Bosa?

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Speaker 5: Like I said, I but and I.

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Speaker 6: Cried a lot.

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Speaker 3: I cried a lot.

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Speaker 6: And I've known there was someone else and where I

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Speaker 6: didn't know where he was. They didn't know.

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Speaker 7: It was the hardest thing, not knowing where they are.

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Speaker 3: Carli in Penrith, What was the who was the family member?

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Speaker 6: Good morning guys, It was my granddad. What happened?

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Speaker 2: Carlie?

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Speaker 6: So, my dad was about seven and him and his

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Speaker 6: siblings went off to school. One day, Dad went off

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Speaker 6: to work and their dad just never came home, so

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Speaker 6: they got no idea where he was. He was missing

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Speaker 6: for years and years, like seven years. They had done researchers.

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Speaker 6: They lived in a sort of country town in northwest

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Speaker 6: New South Wales, so they've done researchers as the property

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Speaker 6: and whatnot, not a trace, And then one day that

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Speaker 6: a family friend who was up at the Gold Coast

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Speaker 6: who rings mynn and said I found him. And they

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Speaker 6: were just at a club and he had a whole

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Speaker 6: new family and four kids, and the kids were actually

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Speaker 6: older than the time he'd been missing.

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Speaker 4: He two families and then decided to choose one.

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Speaker 6: Of them absolutely, and he changed his name.

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Speaker 3: So, oh, carly did anyone confront him?

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Speaker 6: So the gentleman saw him, went up to an approach him,

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Speaker 6: and he just pretended that he didn't know him.

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Speaker 4: Oh, just heartbreaking, because the only reason someone might do

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Speaker 4: it would be if you're in a situation, maybe caught

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Speaker 4: up with the wrong side of the law. And that

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Speaker 4: was Biki's And they said we're going to get your

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Speaker 4: family or whatever it might was, so you.

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Speaker 3: Get yourself out of town.

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Speaker 4: But to start in a very old family, Carli, what

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Speaker 4: a story.

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Speaker 3: Carlie.

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Speaker 2: I would have in the back of his mind he

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Speaker 2: would have thought, it's going to catch up with me.

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Speaker 3: One day, they will find me. There's no way I

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Speaker 3: can get away from this.

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Speaker 6: It's especially been from such a small area, like everyone

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Speaker 6: sort of knew who he was.

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Speaker 3: And fascinating story. Carl Thank you.

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Speaker 2: We've got someone called Honey from Liverpool. Good morning, Honey.

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Speaker 5: Hi've done. I've packed up everything and like just vanished.

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Speaker 5: I'm not on social media. I just one day went

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Speaker 5: I've had enough, quit my job, left my husband, I

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Speaker 5: have three children, and I was like, after a few days,

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Speaker 5: I went to the school and said, look, I'm leaving.

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Speaker 5: This is what we're doing. You can either stay with

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Speaker 5: your dad or you can come with me.

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Speaker 4: Oh honey, how old were the kids when you made

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Speaker 4: this decision?

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Speaker 5: One thirteen and fourteen and sex right? And they all said,

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Speaker 5: oh yeah, I want to come with you. But we

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Speaker 5: just keep moving and having adventures. We're just living off

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Speaker 5: the grid, you know, going to different campgrounds.

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Speaker 4: Exploring, right, honey, was there the main reason like why

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Speaker 4: you decided?

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Speaker 3: Was it all just too much or you fell out

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Speaker 3: of love with how are you?

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Speaker 5: Or I was out of love with from the first

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Speaker 5: moment I met him.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, So honey, honey has he have you seen

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Speaker 3: him since? How long have you been on the run

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Speaker 3: for probably a year? Right?

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Speaker 4: And do you ever speak with him? I mean he

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Speaker 4: is the father of the kids. Never do they speak

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Speaker 4: with him?

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Speaker 6: Nope?

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Speaker 3: Is that is that unfair to him?

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Speaker 5: I don't if he was a good dad. And I

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Speaker 5: know guys will come at me for this, but like literally,

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Speaker 5: I understand he's a right understand that. But like literally,

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Speaker 5: when when he would just call him six twenty four

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Speaker 5: hours a day, like all the time and him and

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Speaker 5: then not look after his kids, you know, you get

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Speaker 5: to a point where it's like come on, you know,

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Speaker 5: and it just was like Groundhog Day, guys. It was

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Speaker 5: just like, so we've gone from one end of Australia

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Speaker 5: to another, just like doing odd jobs because I don't

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Speaker 5: get government help.

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Speaker 2: No, honey, this is a number less So you're living

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Speaker 2: off the grid.

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Speaker 3: What about your family? Were you close to your family?

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Speaker 5: I have not seen my family in fifteen years.

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Speaker 3: This is crazy.

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Speaker 4: And honey, are you worried that the kids might resent

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Speaker 4: the lifestyle that you've chosen for them?

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Speaker 5: No? They actually, like I have a conversation with them,

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Speaker 5: like you know, yeah, I'm like, you know, we're homeschooling them.

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Speaker 5: I'm homeschooling them. We're exploring stuff like that. We're trying

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Speaker 5: to get them passports so we can actually go back

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Speaker 5: to the country I'm from. But it's like that nervous,

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Speaker 5: like am I going to go through the airport and

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Speaker 5: be ding?

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Speaker 2: This is an amazing story, Honey. Is there somewhere that

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Speaker 2: you've Is there somewhere that you've been to that you

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Speaker 2: could see yourself living in? Like is there a beautiful

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Speaker 2: spot in Australia that you've been to and you go like,

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Speaker 2: we could stay here and we could we.

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Speaker 5: Could sit like I'm petrified of the snakes, but I

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Speaker 5: like the sunshine. So the is it like the north

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Speaker 5: end of like Australia was really beautiful.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, okay.

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Speaker 5: And I didn't do it, Like I didn't leave my

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Speaker 5: husband due to abuse, due to anything like that. It

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Speaker 5: was just the fact that I was doing everything. I

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Speaker 5: was working two jobs. He didn't even manage to work

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Speaker 5: one three We had three kids, and he had so

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Speaker 5: much depression And it was always like my love language

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Speaker 5: was I'm a worker and I'm a doer. His love

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Speaker 5: language was he needed to be touched all the time,

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Speaker 5: you know. And it's just like I'm tired, I'm exhausted,

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Speaker 5: you know. And as a woman you gain weight.

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Speaker 6: And of course, honey.

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Speaker 4: It's a huge move, like it's a drastic move. But

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Speaker 4: I mean, if the if the adventure is going okay

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Speaker 4: and the kids are happy and the education is continuing.

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Speaker 5: Open and honest and stuff like that. And said, look,

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Speaker 5: if you ever want to go see him, go for it.

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Speaker 6: I don't.

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Speaker 3: But are you open to find somebody else? Honey?

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Speaker 5: Oh no, no, not for a while.

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Speaker 6: For a long time. I like to look.

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Speaker 5: Sure, he doesn't like to look, you.

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Speaker 6: Know what I mean.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, honey, doesn't go off. That's anything that doesn't go off.

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Speaker 3: No jew date on honey, Honey, what a story. God,

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Speaker 3: I didn't think we'd get a person on one like that.

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Speaker 2: He's a fascinating what a huge you know what I

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Speaker 2: When Honey jumps into that car for the first time

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Speaker 2: with the kids and you drive off and you go,

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Speaker 2: this is it?

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Speaker 3: What is going through your mind? Turning out of your street.

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Speaker 2: Because you don't have any money, Like she said, I

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Speaker 2: don't have any money off the ground, and I'm just

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Speaker 2: I'm out of here.

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Speaker 3: I can't do this anymore. Where am I going to go?

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Speaker 3: How am I going to feed these kids?

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Speaker 4: It's Whippa with Kate Ritchie is an OVA podcast to

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Speaker 4: walk great shows like this. Download the Nova player, Fight

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Speaker 4: the app store, or Google Playing