Speaker 1: Well, listen is around about one million people have viewed
Speaker 1: the giants down at Mandra since they've been open, and
Speaker 1: they are own an incredibly popular tourism attraction for internationals,
Speaker 1: nationals and local tourists. They are amazing Thomas Dambo's giants
Speaker 1: down down through Mandra and we've heard a little whisper
Speaker 1: that one of them has suffered an attack, an insect attack,
Speaker 1: a termite attack. And joining us now is Caroline Knight,
Speaker 1: the mayor of the City of Mandra. Hi, Caroline, thank
Speaker 1: you for talking to us.
Speaker 2: Oh good oneing signment, lovely to be here with you.
Speaker 1: Can we confirm that we've got some termind action on
Speaker 1: the secret giant.
Speaker 2: Look we can look. Unfortunately to this hit, our much
Speaker 2: loved Lake Clifton Giant is legless at the moment, and
Speaker 2: I know that sounds terrible, but look, it's actually a
Speaker 2: lovely story of community partnership that we have down here.
Speaker 2: But with the City of Manager working with our local
Speaker 2: mentioned group who conduct Fortnightley checks in on our giants
Speaker 2: to see how they're going. And obviously every listeners with
Speaker 2: no recycled wood out in our bush land, he's always
Speaker 2: under attack from white ants and Unfortunately, two weeks ago
Speaker 2: they identified that she had some termites in her feet,
Speaker 2: which a little bit, a little.
Speaker 3: Bit sad, it is unsurprising.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's recycled wood, it's soft wood, it's something
Speaker 1: that a termite would be keen on.
Speaker 2: I reckon absolutely, I'd say they would be loving that.
Speaker 2: But look, the men shed were fantastic in identifying that.
Speaker 2: And so she's had her legs removed and she has
Speaker 2: closed at the moment, but we will have her back
Speaker 2: back in time for school holidays in about two weeks times,
Speaker 2: and the men Shed are helping with that work, so,
Speaker 2: you know, really lovely to have that partnership.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's good, well done to them.
Speaker 1: And I know I think she was booked in for
Speaker 1: a SPA treatment about a month ago, but she has
Speaker 1: been closed for longer than than expected. So how long
Speaker 1: until she's got her legs back in is back in action.
Speaker 2: We're hoping two weeks, so bicycle holidays is the plan.
Speaker 2: We're just giving her a really good pedicure. She's going
Speaker 2: to look beautiful when she's back there and be ready
Speaker 2: to welcome new visits. And as you know, she's been
Speaker 2: have all been so incredibly popular with community, and I
Speaker 2: think in the first year we had I think it's
Speaker 2: about over eighty six thousand visitors from outside the region
Speaker 2: in just the first year alone.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is they are fantastic.
Speaker 1: Well, I think I read somewhere that maybe twenty twenty six,
Speaker 1: somehow or other, the schedule winds up. What does that
Speaker 1: actually mean? Do they get removed or do you are
Speaker 1: they handed over to you?
Speaker 3: What happens in twenty six?
Speaker 2: Well, Thomas, so the life expectancy is about three to
Speaker 2: five years, And Thomas Danbo is very much of the
Speaker 2: view that they were made of recycled material and nature
Speaker 2: will take its course, and you know, they will decay,
Speaker 2: and so you know, when webfoul, we'll do maintenance to
Speaker 2: keep them going for as long as we can, but
Speaker 2: when they get to a point where they're no longer structure,
Speaker 2: we found will have to remove them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, so they do.
Speaker 2: We're trying to keep that because they are so popular,
Speaker 2: Oh of course.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I know there's a big volunteer sort of
Speaker 1: construction team that have been involved right from the start.
Speaker 1: And when that one was vandalized and burned, I know
Speaker 1: everyone all was all hands to the wheel so what
Speaker 1: will you do? Will you try and maintain them yourselves?
Speaker 1: There are an amazing attraction. What will you do if
Speaker 1: they do start to fall apart?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the city has an ongoing maintenance plan and you
Speaker 2: know we're doing that all the time, just keeping them
Speaker 2: going as long as we can. But obviously, you know,
Speaker 2: when they do reach end of life, which was Thomas
Speaker 2: Dambo's desire, they will be no more. So that's you know,
Speaker 2: we'll keep that going for as long as we can.
Speaker 2: And that's why that partnership with the menship is so
Speaker 2: so lovely. That the fact that they go out there
Speaker 2: every two weeks and check out so we can treat
Speaker 2: things like turn nights.
Speaker 1: Yeah, any concern for any of the other giants, Caroline, No.
Speaker 2: I think that the men sheed are out there fortnightly,
Speaker 2: so they're checking regularly, so you know, we are alerted early.
Speaker 2: And that's the most important.
Speaker 1: Thing part of the appeal of this. And Danbo himself
Speaker 1: is a recycler and a forager. We all know that
Speaker 1: we will know that about him. Can you change the
Speaker 1: type of wood you use? Because I spoke to one
Speaker 1: of my cardenter mates about this and he said that
Speaker 1: type of wood is ice cream for termites?
Speaker 2: Yes, I know too much. Look that was that was
Speaker 2: Thomas Dambo's desire. I mean, he's the artist. Obviously he's
Speaker 2: aware of that. Are these guys. He does have them
Speaker 2: across across the world. You know, he chose to use
Speaker 2: that because it was discarded recycled wood, knowing full well
Speaker 2: that they are vulnerable, and you know, there's an incredible
Speaker 2: amount of time that goes into building them and just
Speaker 2: random fact, I think it's over seven hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: hours to make each one.
Speaker 3: Yep, yep.
Speaker 2: But you know, he chooses to use recycled material and
Speaker 2: we have to respect that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they do have a shelf life. That's that's
Speaker 1: part of the Thomas Danbo deal, isn't it. Thank you
Speaker 1: for talking to us today. Thank you for confirming and
Speaker 1: good luck. Hopefully she's back up and running and a
Speaker 1: viewable soon.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Simon. I lovely to stop here.