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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast

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Speaker 1: from News Talks a'd be.

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Speaker 2: Our travel correspondent is Mike Yardley. He's with us this

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Speaker 2: morning and feeling very pleased with himself. I reckon, how

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Speaker 2: about those last ten minutes?

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Speaker 3: The heart is still in recovery mode. Jack.

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Speaker 2: It was an amazing super Rugby semifinal. I just thought

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Speaker 2: it was that you'd like. Just everything about it was fantastic,

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Speaker 2: and I am aware of it because the Crusader's wine.

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Speaker 2: I'm probably feeling a whole lot more positive than many

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Speaker 2: Blues fans are this morning. But does that mean you're

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Speaker 2: going to be at the final next week?

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Speaker 3: Mike? I am.

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Speaker 4: My father rang me last hour and he said, do

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Speaker 4: you want to go to the game with me next weekend?

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Speaker 4: So yes, I'm locked in rain, hail or snow Jack.

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Speaker 2: Very good. Yeah, well actually depending on who we play. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: the conditions could be in our favor if they are

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Speaker 2: and D pretty chilly sounds. It was pretty chilly down

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Speaker 2: at Pitch Little last night as well. But anyway, we

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Speaker 2: are turning our attentions to a slightly more tropical climb

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Speaker 2: this morning. One of my bucket list destinations the Galapaga Islands.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, how lucky are you to have visited the Galapagos?

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Speaker 2: Would you say that cruising is the best way to

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Speaker 2: kind of delve into the Galapagos?

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Speaker 4: Ideally I would do both land and cruise, but yes,

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Speaker 4: definitely to take in a swag of islands in a

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Speaker 4: short space of time, given a lot of them are

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Speaker 4: unpeopled and you can't stay on these islands. Yes, that's

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Speaker 4: where cruising is just such a revelation. And I headed

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Speaker 4: there with Weaver Expeditions on a ship called Lophinter. It

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Speaker 4: had only forty guests, lots of young working professionals, so

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Speaker 4: I had like a Hollywood actor, a French model, and

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Speaker 4: a Dutch psychiatrist at my table. Novel Yeah, yeah, it

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Speaker 4: so does or the opening line to a joke. Yes, well,

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Speaker 4: we had way too much fun, Jack. But what I

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Speaker 4: particularly loved was every time we zipped a shawl for

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Speaker 4: guided excursions, there was no more than ten people in

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Speaker 4: our group. So yeah, just that small intimate experience just

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Speaker 4: heightened the encounter immeasurably.

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Speaker 2: Ah, so special. So what islands did your cruise taken?

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Speaker 4: We did a swing through the eastern islands of the Galapagos,

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Speaker 4: which are the older group of islands, so the Western

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Speaker 4: group they younger, still rising principally shaped by eruptions. But yeah,

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Speaker 4: we took in South Plaza, Santa Fe, San Cristobal, and

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Speaker 4: Espaniola Islands, and then I finished up in Santa Cruz,

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Speaker 4: where I stayed a few nights, which we'll talk about

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Speaker 4: next week.

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Speaker 3: But the thing which.

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Speaker 4: Blew me away is Darwin's theory of evolution. It just

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Speaker 4: becomes so vividly self evident the more you explore the Galapagos,

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Speaker 4: because so many creatures there. They're not just endemic to

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Speaker 4: the Galapagos, but endemic to those individual islands. And I

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Speaker 4: had this amazing guide to Lexus. He was like a

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Speaker 4: male Alixa, so you could ask him anything about the

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Speaker 4: Galapicus and he had delivered the most commanding and lightning answers.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Ah, so good. So we're going to talk about your

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Speaker 2: time on the island next week, and we'll save the

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Speaker 2: tortoises for next week as well, because I know the

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Speaker 2: tortoises a I'm not the only ones and we're not

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Speaker 2: eating them. But what were the wildlife highlights outside of

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Speaker 2: the tortoises for you?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, they talk about the Big fifteen as the Galapicus

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Speaker 4: wildlife icons. Obviously the tortoises right at the top, but

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Speaker 4: I found the birds so engrossing. Jack are toonishly colorful

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Speaker 4: and so quirky, just bursting with personality. So they've got

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Speaker 4: these guys called the blue footed boobies. These guys are

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Speaker 4: my favorites. So they are enormous seabirds, comical to watch

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Speaker 4: because the ungainly walking style reminds you of circus clowns,

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Speaker 4: you know. And then in flight they just transform into

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Speaker 4: precision hunting machines with the most spectacular plunge style dives underwater.

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Speaker 4: We also watch the amazing dance and the males. They

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Speaker 4: will exuberantly show off their feet to the prospective girlfriends

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Speaker 4: because apparently the ladies prefer a turquoise shade of blue.

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Speaker 4: They don't like a deeper blue because a deeper blue

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Speaker 4: suggests the hopeless at catching fish appar So these are

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Speaker 4: the things you learn at the Galapagus. Another highlight very

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Speaker 4: quickly the frigatebirds. The males had the most fascinating bright

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Speaker 4: red throat skin sects, and when they are wanting to

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Speaker 4: caught a chick, they inflate these secs, which form a

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Speaker 4: giant heart shaped balloon.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Lots of iguanas.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, crawling with these super sized lizards.

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Speaker 4: And I got up close and personal with the yellow

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Speaker 4: land iguana on South Plaza Island. These guys are just mesmerizing,

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Speaker 4: and that yellow color is the result of eating prickly

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Speaker 4: pear cactus plants. Very few species eat, I understandably. But

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Speaker 4: the thing which blew me away Jack was watching these

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Speaker 4: iguanas rolling the cattive furiously, feverishly in the sand on

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Speaker 4: the beach, and they were trying to blunt the spikes,

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Speaker 4: you know, just to make the consumption somewhat more comfortable.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Isn't it incredible? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: You think, come on, just diversified that diet a little bit.

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Speaker 3: And how does the snork? Yeah? Really good.

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Speaker 4: The water clarity is good, although it is cold, even

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Speaker 4: though the galapagus is pretty much on the equator. Of course,

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Speaker 4: you've got that nutrient rich Humboldt current which comes all

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Speaker 4: that cold will water up from Antarctica, so you will

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Speaker 4: want to wear a wet suit the galapagus. But yeah,

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Speaker 4: I did some snorkeling off Santa Fe Island, which was

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Speaker 4: really good. Lots of tropical fish. But the thing which

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Speaker 4: I love the most the sea lions. I mean not

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Speaker 4: just sort of monopolizing the beaches of the Galapagos, but

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Speaker 4: they will go swimming with you.

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Speaker 3: They just love it.

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Speaker 4: They will, you know, you can just tell us so

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Speaker 4: playful around you, and it's sort of like they try

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Speaker 4: and outwitch you and think, yeah, you're too slow for me.

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Speaker 3: They just love it. They just love that interaction.

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Speaker 2: So did you have a kind of favorite standout island experience.

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Speaker 4: I would have to say Espaniola. So the entire island

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Speaker 4: is a national park, heaves with hot wildlife. The star

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Speaker 4: there for me was the galapagus albatross, which is the

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Speaker 4: only species of albatross that lives in the tropics, and

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Speaker 4: you will only find it on that island. So watching

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Speaker 4: these A three eighty style birds take flight, it was

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Speaker 4: just pure drama because they tenuously waddle up to the

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Speaker 4: edge of this really high cliff and then just hul

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Speaker 4: themselves at the sea below, do or die style in

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Speaker 4: order to gain speed for flight. It was in your

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Speaker 4: mouth stuff watching them. And then you've just got the

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Speaker 4: most spectacular scenery on Espanola, you know, sort of thunderous

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Speaker 4: lava blowholes and just the most vivid colors to the foliage.

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Speaker 4: So yeah, that would that would be the one that

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Speaker 4: would get my ticture.

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Speaker 2: Of the list. Okay, what surprised you most about the

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Speaker 2: Galapagos overall?

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Speaker 4: I have never encountered anywhere on Earth where there are

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Speaker 4: so many animals and birds in the own natural environment

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Speaker 4: who show no fear of you. No critter, no creature

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Speaker 4: in the Galapaga seemed the least bit perturbed by our

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Speaker 4: presence in their realm. And it wasn't that they were indifferent,

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Speaker 4: they weren't different. Some are quite inquisitive and wanted to play,

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Speaker 4: like the sea lions. But just that universal absence of

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Speaker 4: fear was something I've never experienced with so much wildlife,

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Speaker 4: and I think that is what made the Galapagas so

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Speaker 4: special for me.

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Speaker 2: That sounds amazing, Mike. I'm just burning with envy at

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Speaker 2: the moment, to be perfectly honest, not only because of

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Speaker 2: the Super Rugby final you'll be attending next weekend, but

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Speaker 2: for this amazing adventure. So yeah, really looking forward to

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Speaker 2: hearing a bit more about it. The tortoises we can

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Speaker 2: do next week as well, but it sounds like a

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Speaker 2: wonderful starts to the trips. Thank you very much. We

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Speaker 2: will catch you in soon, Mike Hardley, our travel correspondent.

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Speaker 2: For more tips on cruising the Galapagus Islands, you can

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Speaker 2: go to the news Talks He'd Be website. We put

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Speaker 2: everything from our show up there, every single little bit

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Speaker 2: of information, all the shows that we recommend, our film reviews, books,

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Speaker 2: all that good stuff goes up on the website, And

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Speaker 2: the easiest way to find our page on the website

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Speaker 2: is to go to News Talks HEDB dot co dot

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Speaker 2: nz forward slash Jack. I'm cautiously optimistic you can recogne

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Speaker 2: remember that one. It's honestly just the easiest way to

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Speaker 2: follow things along at home.

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Speaker 1: For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live

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