WEBVTT - 9 Bonzer Tips for Traveling Across Australia

0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.880
<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Part Time Genius, a production of Kaleidoscope

0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:24.960
<v Speaker 1>and iHeartRadio. Guess what, mengo, what's that?

0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:26.920
<v Speaker 2>Well? I have to tell you. You know, today I

0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:28.880
<v Speaker 2>was flat out like a lizard drinking. I was a

0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:31.040
<v Speaker 2>real battler who needed to calm my farm.

0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:32.520
<v Speaker 1>Wait, what's going on.

0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:35.720
<v Speaker 2>I'm just I'm practicing my Australian slang. But you know

0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:38.440
<v Speaker 2>one thing I'm not doing doing it in an Australian accent.

0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:41.839
<v Speaker 2>I'm sparing you of that. But just so you know

0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:43.559
<v Speaker 2>what I was saying. I just told you that I

0:00:43.600 --> 0:00:47.000
<v Speaker 2>worked super hard today, but I pushed through even though

0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:48.479
<v Speaker 2>I probably should have relaxed.

0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:51.159
<v Speaker 1>You see where I went there. Yeah, I hope they

0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:52.880
<v Speaker 1>have this category to do a lingo soon.

0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:55.560
<v Speaker 2>Oh it's gonna be so good. Yeah, it's only a

0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:58.200
<v Speaker 2>matter of time. I'm sure. You know, people visiting Australia

0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:01.520
<v Speaker 2>need to be prepared. I'm in support of this, but

0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:04.120
<v Speaker 2>of course we know all the cliches like it ay

0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.160
<v Speaker 2>made and there's a barbie for barbecue, made famous of

0:01:07.200 --> 0:01:10.040
<v Speaker 2>course by Paul Hogan's Australian tourism ads back in the

0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:13.640
<v Speaker 2>nineteen eighties. But there are a lot of lesser known ones.

0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:15.840
<v Speaker 2>So let's see if you can guess a couple. What's

0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:17.040
<v Speaker 2>a slippery.

0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:19.000
<v Speaker 1>Dip going for a swim?

0:01:19.280 --> 0:01:23.080
<v Speaker 2>It's actually a playground slide. How about a arvo?

0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:25.240
<v Speaker 1>Are you just trying to make me feel dumb?

0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:28.240
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's my that was actually my goal. I was like,

0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:30.160
<v Speaker 2>you know, I don't feel great about myself today, I'm

0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:33.240
<v Speaker 2>gonna make mango feel dumb and arvo?

0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:35.200
<v Speaker 1>Is that something to do with avocados?

0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:39.280
<v Speaker 2>Well, it means afternoon. So Australians are big fans of

0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.679
<v Speaker 2>shortening words and adding an o to the end of it.

0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:45.680
<v Speaker 2>So a gas station is a servo, an ambulance is

0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:48.760
<v Speaker 2>an ambo, and a liquor store is a bottle.

0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:52.160
<v Speaker 1>Of I'm not sure I'm ready to incorporate those into

0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:53.040
<v Speaker 1>my vocabo.

0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.559
<v Speaker 2>Just yeah, you nailed it. That was That was pretty great.

0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:58.920
<v Speaker 2>We do want to study up because today we're taking

0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.360
<v Speaker 2>a virtual trip through US Australia, which is both the

0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:05.400
<v Speaker 2>world's smallest continent and the sixth largest country, and we've

0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:07.920
<v Speaker 2>got a lot of ground to cover, literally, so let's

0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:08.280
<v Speaker 2>dive in.

0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:08.920
<v Speaker 1>Awesome.

0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.359
<v Speaker 2>Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm

0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:34.680
<v Speaker 2>Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good

0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:37.160
<v Speaker 2>friend Mangush hot ticketter, and over there in the booth

0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:40.720
<v Speaker 2>is our Palin producer Dylan Fagan. Now this is interesting.

0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.920
<v Speaker 2>He has a wolverine claw on one hand and in

0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.800
<v Speaker 2>the other he seems to be holding it looks like

0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:47.720
<v Speaker 2>Thor's hammer.

0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.680
<v Speaker 1>I'm guessing this is a reference to the great Australian

0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:54.680
<v Speaker 1>actors Hugh Jackman Chris hemsquare. Then he's also holding up

0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:57.840
<v Speaker 1>a barbie dog that has to be for Margot Robbie.

0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:00.240
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I don't know how he's doing all this just

0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:02.400
<v Speaker 2>two hands, but you know, Dylan, he's so impressed.

0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:06.399
<v Speaker 1>He is really talented. And today's episode is pretty amazing too.

0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.720
<v Speaker 1>We are gallivanting across Australia, stopping for nine fascinating facts

0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:14.000
<v Speaker 1>along the way. Before we get going, I just want

0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:19.240
<v Speaker 1>to say that Ruby, my kid played an Australian bird

0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:21.400
<v Speaker 1>and their school play last year.

0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:24.000
<v Speaker 2>I can't think of anybody better to play it.

0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:26.200
<v Speaker 1>It was just a bird, but they decided to put

0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:29.760
<v Speaker 1>on an Australian access. Oh this is good, and it

0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.639
<v Speaker 1>sounded Chinese sometimes Indians.

0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.440
<v Speaker 2>Okay, it's a little a little problematic here there, but

0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.440
<v Speaker 2>it was amazing. That's pretty terrific. I need to see

0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:39.880
<v Speaker 2>a clip of.

0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.480
<v Speaker 1>This, so let us get started by planning our transportation.

0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:45.400
<v Speaker 1>So how do you feel about train travel?

0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:47.360
<v Speaker 2>Well, I mean train travel is one of the things

0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:49.760
<v Speaker 2>I love, the idea of it, right, you know, I

0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:53.400
<v Speaker 2>love I do love sort of shorter train travel trips

0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:55.240
<v Speaker 2>that are like a couple hours. I've done the like

0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:58.200
<v Speaker 2>really long train trips in the US when I was

0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:00.560
<v Speaker 2>a kid, and I used to go up to Virginia

0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:02.600
<v Speaker 2>during the summers and what would be like a ten

0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.560
<v Speaker 2>to eleven hour drive would just be like almost a

0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:08.160
<v Speaker 2>full day train. So that sort of thing got a

0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.080
<v Speaker 2>little long. But I do still have this sort of

0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:14.400
<v Speaker 2>ideal version or idea of train travel, and it's kind

0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:15.839
<v Speaker 2>of nice or romantic to think about.

0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:18.560
<v Speaker 1>How about you, Yeah, I really have a similar sort

0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:21.800
<v Speaker 1>of like romance with train travel. My grandfather was a writer.

0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:24.719
<v Speaker 1>He's say the best writing he did was when he

0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:26.880
<v Speaker 1>was on trains. He'd get a lot of inspiration. And

0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:29.839
<v Speaker 1>I've always wanted to take that train across the Canadian

0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.120
<v Speaker 1>Rockies and also up to Montreal and the Fall to

0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:36.520
<v Speaker 1>see the foliage from the train. But Australia is obviously

0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:39.320
<v Speaker 1>a big place at around three million square miles. But

0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.280
<v Speaker 1>there is a way to go straight across it, and

0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:44.880
<v Speaker 1>that is the Indian Pacific Train. It is named for

0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:46.839
<v Speaker 1>the fact that it goes all the way from the

0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:50.000
<v Speaker 1>Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, which is a journey

0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.599
<v Speaker 1>of about twenty seven hundred miles from Perth to Sydney. Wow,

0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.800
<v Speaker 1>and it goes straight through the outback. At one point

0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:00.640
<v Speaker 1>in the trip there are three hundred miles of straight track,

0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.599
<v Speaker 1>which is the longest such stretch in the world. In fact,

0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.440
<v Speaker 1>it stands out so much that this Australian astronaut his

0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:08.960
<v Speaker 1>name is Andy Thomas, once said that you can even

0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.479
<v Speaker 1>see it from space. He described it as quote like

0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.840
<v Speaker 1>someone had drawn a very fine pencil line across the desert.

0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:17.440
<v Speaker 2>Oh that's so interesting, I guess just because there weren't

0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:19.920
<v Speaker 2>many obstacles they were having to deal with, they were

0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.440
<v Speaker 2>just able to go go straight. I did not know this.

0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:24.600
<v Speaker 2>So let's say I wanted to take this train ride,

0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:27.040
<v Speaker 2>which honestly I kind of do. Now, how long does

0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:27.599
<v Speaker 2>this trip take?

0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:31.800
<v Speaker 1>It is five days and four nights. Actually, I had

0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:35.080
<v Speaker 1>a friend who took it on a honeymoon and he

0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:37.760
<v Speaker 1>said it felt a lot longer because he had a

0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:40.560
<v Speaker 1>kangaroo steak and it sat in his stomach.

0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:45.200
<v Speaker 2>Reminder not to do don't do that.

0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.719
<v Speaker 1>But there are quite a few sightseeing stops along the way,

0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:53.240
<v Speaker 1>so passengers visit Calgourly, a nineteenth century gold rush town,

0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.760
<v Speaker 1>a remote outback city called Broken Hill that's home to

0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:01.920
<v Speaker 1>the country's longest running mining operation, and in the Barossa Valley,

0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:05.400
<v Speaker 1>a prominent Australian wine region known for its bold and

0:06:05.480 --> 0:06:06.560
<v Speaker 1>full body cher us.

0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:08.760
<v Speaker 2>Okay, I'm mean I have to say that sounds like

0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:11.719
<v Speaker 2>an incredible adventure. But even without a train ticket, I

0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.520
<v Speaker 2>do know a bit about what that straight middle section

0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:16.560
<v Speaker 2>of the outback looks like, you know, because I did

0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:20.640
<v Speaker 2>some research. Mego, I did some research into Australia's topography,

0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:25.559
<v Speaker 2>and what I learned is it's extremely flat, very flat mago.

0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.839
<v Speaker 2>Australia is actually the flattest continent in the world, with

0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:32.760
<v Speaker 2>an average elevation of under a thousand feet, and much

0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:34.800
<v Speaker 2>of that is just plateau like right there in the

0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:36.960
<v Speaker 2>middle of the continent. So you might be wondering, like,

0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:40.400
<v Speaker 2>how did this happen geologically speaking? Well, it turns out

0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.440
<v Speaker 2>Australia is located towards the center of a tectonic plate.

0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.480
<v Speaker 2>So when two tectonic plates next to each other move,

0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.400
<v Speaker 2>you know, pointy of things like mountains form, but if

0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:51.440
<v Speaker 2>you're right there in the middle of a plate, you

0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:53.120
<v Speaker 2>actually don't really get much of that effect.

0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:57.480
<v Speaker 1>But there must be some mountains in Australia, right, Yeah.

0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:00.800
<v Speaker 2>Its highest point is Mount Kozyuzko, with a peak of

0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:04.040
<v Speaker 2>seven three hundred and ten feet. It's maybe a little

0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:06.680
<v Speaker 2>bit taller than you imagined after this, but overall we're

0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:10.200
<v Speaker 2>talking about a pretty flat place, especially in the middle

0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:12.840
<v Speaker 2>part where the train tracks are running where we're describing there.

0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.720
<v Speaker 2>It's one fifth of the country and it's just a

0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:20.280
<v Speaker 2>big flat desert pancake, basically dessert pancakes. Yeah.

0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.640
<v Speaker 1>So one of the fascinating things about Australia is how

0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:27.480
<v Speaker 1>barren it is. Two thirds of Australia is considered too

0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.400
<v Speaker 1>arid for settlement, which is kind of crazy when you

0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:34.440
<v Speaker 1>think about it, which the country learned through trial and error. Actually,

0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:39.200
<v Speaker 1>it turns out Australia is littered with ghost towns, which

0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:41.400
<v Speaker 1>means that people did try to settle there and it

0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:43.600
<v Speaker 1>didn't go that well for them. So back in the

0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:47.880
<v Speaker 1>eighteen sixties, this guy named George Goiter, who was originally

0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:51.760
<v Speaker 1>from Liverpool, became Surveyor General of Australia and after this

0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:55.440
<v Speaker 1>big drought swept through South Australia in eighteen sixty four

0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:58.280
<v Speaker 1>and eighteen sixty five, Goiter was directed to make a

0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:01.280
<v Speaker 1>map of the affected region, and what he ended up

0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.320
<v Speaker 1>doing was drawing this kind of curvy line that supposedly

0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:08.240
<v Speaker 1>marked where rainfall was too unreliable to plant crops, and

0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:10.600
<v Speaker 1>north of the line was no good. South of the

0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:11.360
<v Speaker 1>line was okay.

0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:13.280
<v Speaker 2>It seems pretty straightforward.

0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:15.440
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, for a curvy line. But the problem was in

0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:19.240
<v Speaker 1>the eighteen seventies the rain started falling, and by this

0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:21.680
<v Speaker 1>time the government was using Goiter's line to designate where

0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.640
<v Speaker 1>farmers could buy land on credit. But there wasn't much

0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:27.080
<v Speaker 1>land left south of the line, so farmers started buying

0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:29.120
<v Speaker 1>up land to the north. They were like, you know,

0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:30.840
<v Speaker 1>it's just a line on a piece of paper. What

0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:33.920
<v Speaker 1>does this guy know? And for a while things were okay,

0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.040
<v Speaker 1>but by the early eighteen eighties Goiter was proven right.

0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:38.960
<v Speaker 1>The rain to the north just turned out to be

0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:42.120
<v Speaker 1>this fluke, and the land dried up and those farms

0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:45.160
<v Speaker 1>started failing. Now you can still find the remains of

0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:48.319
<v Speaker 1>towns that once appeared to be booming, with schools, bars,

0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.640
<v Speaker 1>hotels all built up that are abandoned, and people actually

0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:55.040
<v Speaker 1>enjoy visiting these ghost towns, but it doesn't make sense

0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:57.760
<v Speaker 1>to stick around for too long. And here's a little

0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.000
<v Speaker 1>detail I can't stop thinking about. One of these towns

0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:03.800
<v Speaker 1>was optimistically named Farina, the Latin word for wheat, which

0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:06.120
<v Speaker 1>was the crop they thought the town would be famous

0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:06.680
<v Speaker 1>for growing.

0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.920
<v Speaker 2>Oh, I mean, that's kind of sad. So while we're

0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:12.679
<v Speaker 2>on the topic of Australia's unpredictable weather, this seems like

0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:15.560
<v Speaker 2>a good time to talk about the best months to visit. So,

0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:17.840
<v Speaker 2>as many of us probably know, winter in the US

0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.080
<v Speaker 2>is Australia's summer. So the hottest time of year there

0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.360
<v Speaker 2>is December through February, which just throws me for a loop.

0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:26.120
<v Speaker 2>No matter how many times I know that, it just

0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:30.200
<v Speaker 2>seems impossible. So during those months, major cities will experience

0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:34.120
<v Speaker 2>temperatures ranging from sixty eight to ninety nine degrees fahrenheit,

0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:36.320
<v Speaker 2>So it does get pretty hot. But you know, given

0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:37.760
<v Speaker 2>that time of year, it might be your preference.

0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.040
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, especially if you're trying to escape cold or wet

0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:41.880
<v Speaker 1>or snowy winter.

0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.960
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, but just so everyone's fully informed of what they're

0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:48.000
<v Speaker 2>getting into. I did look up Australia's hottest day on

0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:51.920
<v Speaker 2>record that occurred in Onslow, a coastal town in Western

0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:54.960
<v Speaker 2>Australia with around eight hundred residents, a pretty small place,

0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:58.520
<v Speaker 2>so in January twenty twenty two, the town matched a

0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:01.280
<v Speaker 2>previous high from nineteen sixty two. It was a record

0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.440
<v Speaker 2>set in southern Australia with a temperature of one hundred

0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.960
<v Speaker 2>and twenty three point twenty six degrees fahrenheit.

0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.640
<v Speaker 1>Wow. So maybe January and Anslow is something you skip.

0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:14.680
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. I do think that heat is a bit much,

0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.080
<v Speaker 2>even for me. But if you're looking for a season

0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:20.600
<v Speaker 2>with some milder temperatures, you might consider traveling during Australia's winter,

0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:24.240
<v Speaker 2>which is June through August. So then the temperatures average

0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:28.240
<v Speaker 2>between fifty two degrees fahrenheit in eighty six degrees fahrenheit.

0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:30.400
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, which is more of my kind of weather and

0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:32.520
<v Speaker 1>it reminds me a little of India. Speaking of which,

0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:34.840
<v Speaker 1>does Australia have a monsoon?

0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.640
<v Speaker 2>It does, so Northern Australia experience is a monsoon season

0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.800
<v Speaker 2>from November to March or you know, in that range.

0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:44.800
<v Speaker 2>So this causes weeks of heavy rain. But aside from that,

0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:48.440
<v Speaker 2>Australia's climate is incredibly dry. In fact, it's actually the

0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:53.000
<v Speaker 2>second driest continent on Earth, just after Antarctica. That's really fascinating.

0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:55.640
<v Speaker 1>So the lesson is check the forecast before you go,

0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.280
<v Speaker 1>which is good advice even if you're not craffling. Okay,

0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.760
<v Speaker 1>so we have to take a quick break, but we've

0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:03.400
<v Speaker 1>saved our.

0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:04.680
<v Speaker 2>Best Ossi facts for last.

0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:07.240
<v Speaker 1>When we come back, we've got Orca's bikes and a

0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:25.920
<v Speaker 1>record breaking fence. Stay tuned, Welcome back to Part Time Genius,

0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.920
<v Speaker 1>where we're counting down nine facts about traveling through Australia.

0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.280
<v Speaker 1>I should note here in case anyone is wondering this

0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:34.320
<v Speaker 1>episode is not sponsored by the Australian Tourism Board, but

0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:37.120
<v Speaker 1>it could be Ossy travel Board. Reach out if you

0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:40.800
<v Speaker 1>want us to do some on location work for you. Anyway,

0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.439
<v Speaker 1>I love this next fact. If you visit Southeast Australia,

0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:48.080
<v Speaker 1>you might bump into the world's longest fence. The wood

0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:51.640
<v Speaker 1>and wire fence known as the Dingo Fence, is three thousand,

0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:55.240
<v Speaker 1>four hundred and eighty eight miles long, which is about

0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.960
<v Speaker 1>the distance between New York City and London.

0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:00.640
<v Speaker 2>Oh my gosh, that is a very long I know.

0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:03.959
<v Speaker 1>It actually started as a few separate fences primarily built

0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:07.199
<v Speaker 1>to address all these wildlife related problems. The goals were

0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:10.439
<v Speaker 1>to keep invasive rabbits from destroying crops and to stop

0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.080
<v Speaker 1>dingos from going after sheep, and by the nineteen fifties

0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:19.000
<v Speaker 1>these fences got connected into one long dingo fence. Now

0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:21.600
<v Speaker 1>it's so long that if you tried to walk around it,

0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:25.600
<v Speaker 1>it would take you about six months. Thankfully, it has

0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:27.640
<v Speaker 1>gates so you actually don't have to do that. But

0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:29.920
<v Speaker 1>it's a lot of work keeping such a long fence

0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.680
<v Speaker 1>in tip top shape. There's a staff of twenty three

0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:35.920
<v Speaker 1>full time employees patrolling it, and it costs around seven

0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.400
<v Speaker 1>hundred and fifty thousand dollars per year to maintain.

0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:41.319
<v Speaker 2>So has it done the job it was intended to do?

0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:44.720
<v Speaker 1>I mean, dingos do get through sometimes, but it has

0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.880
<v Speaker 1>divided up the wildlife pretty effectively, so the dingo free

0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:51.200
<v Speaker 1>side has a lot more kangaroos and EMUs and other

0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.520
<v Speaker 1>things dingos like to eat. But one interesting recent piece

0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:58.160
<v Speaker 1>of research found that young kangaroos outside the fence that's

0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.120
<v Speaker 1>on the same side as the dingos are larger than

0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:03.720
<v Speaker 1>the young kangaroos on the other side, who don't really

0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:06.440
<v Speaker 1>have to worry about being dingo food. They'd actually evolved

0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:08.720
<v Speaker 1>to be bigger to meet the demands of their environment.

0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:11.559
<v Speaker 2>Oh wow, that's so interesting. Yeah, all right, Well, while

0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:13.959
<v Speaker 2>we're on the topic of nature doing what nature does,

0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:16.800
<v Speaker 2>we do have to talk about Australia's national parks. So,

0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:19.320
<v Speaker 2>believe it or not, there are technically only five parks

0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:22.080
<v Speaker 2>that are run by the Commonwealth of Australia, although there

0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:25.000
<v Speaker 2>are plenty more that are run by Australian states or territories.

0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:27.600
<v Speaker 1>There that's crazy, there are only five national parks. I

0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:31.760
<v Speaker 1>remember your dad told me he used to memorize counties

0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:37.000
<v Speaker 1>but he couldn't fall asleep. And I told him Delaware

0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:38.880
<v Speaker 1>only had three counties. And You're just like, that would

0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:39.640
<v Speaker 1>take me much time.

0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:41.760
<v Speaker 2>I really wouldn't be that helpful.

0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:44.560
<v Speaker 1>But five parks isn't that many, so I guess it

0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:46.640
<v Speaker 1>makes it easier to visit them all if you want to.

0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.520
<v Speaker 1>But what's the number one national park I should put

0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:51.640
<v Speaker 1>on my bucket list if I'm going to Australia.

0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:53.719
<v Speaker 2>All right, Well, if you have to pick one, I

0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:57.240
<v Speaker 2>would say go with Kakadoo. It's the largest national park

0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:01.120
<v Speaker 2>in Australia. The place is massive, seventies seven hundred square

0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:04.400
<v Speaker 2>miles spreading across the Northern Territory. So to put that

0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.920
<v Speaker 2>in perspective, Grand Canyon National Park is nineteen hundred square miles,

0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:12.360
<v Speaker 2>so it's like four of those. It's a massive, massive park.

0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.079
<v Speaker 2>So given how big it is, Kakadu is a great

0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.040
<v Speaker 2>place to go if you want to experience a mind

0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:25.360
<v Speaker 2>boggling variety of ecosystems. This one park contains floodplains, wetlands, woodlands, rainforests, savannahs,

0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:28.720
<v Speaker 2>and so much more. And there are beautiful waterfalls, plenty

0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:31.920
<v Speaker 2>of wildlife, from crocodiles to wallabies to pythons.

0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:34.920
<v Speaker 1>I mean, I definitely want to see a wallaby. I'm

0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:36.360
<v Speaker 1>not sure about the other two.

0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:38.760
<v Speaker 2>I was saying it to sound like I was brave,

0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:42.080
<v Speaker 2>but I definitely don't want to see a python, especially

0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.360
<v Speaker 2>I've seen plenty of crocodiles being near Florida. But something

0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:47.400
<v Speaker 2>you'll definitely want to experience if you go there is

0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:51.600
<v Speaker 2>the Aboriginal culture. So over half the park is Aboriginal land.

0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.200
<v Speaker 2>The Binning and the Mungoi people have lived there in

0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.720
<v Speaker 2>that region for more than sixty five thousand years and

0:14:57.840 --> 0:15:00.000
<v Speaker 2>visiting is a great way to learn about their history.

0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.080
<v Speaker 2>There are over five thousand Aboriginal rock art sites in

0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.440
<v Speaker 2>the park, including some works that are over twenty thousand

0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.800
<v Speaker 2>years old, which is incredible. And then visiting Kakadu, you

0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.920
<v Speaker 2>can choose a tour company with Aboriginal guides who share

0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:15.840
<v Speaker 2>the sort of the cultural significance of the park and

0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:17.960
<v Speaker 2>all of its art there. And I know you might

0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:21.280
<v Speaker 2>be a little wary of encountering crocodiles there, and that's fine,

0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:23.600
<v Speaker 2>But there is this one company that takes you on

0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:27.080
<v Speaker 2>a boat tour up the East Alligator River, so along

0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:30.480
<v Speaker 2>the way you get to learn about Aboriginal mythology, traditional

0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:34.560
<v Speaker 2>plant medicine, and even bush survival skills. So pretty fascinating.

0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:38.720
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I love that. It's like it's called the East

0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:43.280
<v Speaker 1>Alligator River. I guess you know what's going to be

0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:45.400
<v Speaker 1>on it. Well, speaking of things in the water with

0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:48.960
<v Speaker 1>very sharp teeth, Australia's waters are home to the largest

0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:53.320
<v Speaker 1>orca congregation in the Southern hemisphere. So if you visit

0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.880
<v Speaker 1>Bremer Bay, about three hundred miles south of Perth between

0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:00.960
<v Speaker 1>January and April, you are actually guaranteed see orca.

0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:04.040
<v Speaker 2>Oh wow, I do love an orca guarantee. That's pretty Yeah,

0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:05.840
<v Speaker 2>that's pretty awesome. So what is it about this area

0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:08.320
<v Speaker 2>that makes it such a great place for whales and

0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:09.600
<v Speaker 2>people who appreciate them.

0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.800
<v Speaker 1>So, about forty miles off the coast of Bremmer Bay,

0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:17.440
<v Speaker 1>there's an undersea canyon. It's a biodiversity hotspot where marine

0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:22.040
<v Speaker 1>life booms and since things like zooplankton, fish, and squid

0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.440
<v Speaker 1>all congregate there, bigger animals like to feed on those

0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:27.960
<v Speaker 1>things and hang out there as well. So every year

0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.360
<v Speaker 1>orcas flock to the Bremer Canyon and they use it

0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:33.920
<v Speaker 1>as their hunting ground. You can actually take a sightseeing

0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.120
<v Speaker 1>boat out across the bay to see them. People have

0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:40.600
<v Speaker 1>reported seeing hundreds of orcas at a time. That's not

0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:43.880
<v Speaker 1>the only large marine life that actually spends time there.

0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:47.600
<v Speaker 1>You also find sperm whales, rare beaked whales, and plenty

0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:50.760
<v Speaker 1>of shark species swim through the area as well. And actually,

0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.680
<v Speaker 1>in the past few years, orcas have been observed killing

0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:56.440
<v Speaker 1>blue whales in the region, which is sad, but you know,

0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:57.800
<v Speaker 1>circle of life.

0:16:57.640 --> 0:16:59.720
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it definitely is. All right, Well, let's wrap up

0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.840
<v Speaker 2>our up with a different circle, and that is circumnavigating

0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:04.399
<v Speaker 2>Australia by bike.

0:17:04.880 --> 0:17:07.400
<v Speaker 1>That is insane. I feel like I get winded after

0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:09.960
<v Speaker 1>twenty minutes on a city bike and I cannot imagine

0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.680
<v Speaker 1>bicycling all the way around Australia.

0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:16.240
<v Speaker 2>Well, get this, because the first time someone cycled Australia

0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.440
<v Speaker 2>was way back in eighteen ninety nine. It took Arthur

0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:22.679
<v Speaker 2>Richardson two hundred and forty five days to complete the journey. Then,

0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:26.640
<v Speaker 2>in October of twenty twenty four, cyclist Lachlan Morton made

0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:30.480
<v Speaker 2>the trip in thirty days, nine hours and fifty nine minutes,

0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:33.040
<v Speaker 2>beating the previous record by over a week.

0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.240
<v Speaker 1>I mean, first of all, like, it's amazing that it

0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.159
<v Speaker 1>took the better part of a year to just circle

0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:41.720
<v Speaker 1>the country. And then and then someone doesn't in thirty days. Yeah,

0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:46.440
<v Speaker 1>it's amazing. It still sounds entirely exhausting to me. So

0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.080
<v Speaker 1>what does the route actually look like?

0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:51.760
<v Speaker 2>All right? For to count as an official attempt to

0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:55.760
<v Speaker 2>circumnavigate Australia, you must bike at least fourteen thousand two

0:17:55.840 --> 0:18:00.080
<v Speaker 2>hundred kilometers, which is over eighty eight hundred miles. There

0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:02.840
<v Speaker 2>are eight designated locations that you have to pass through,

0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:07.159
<v Speaker 2>including Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne, but you can go

0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:10.439
<v Speaker 2>in any direction you want, though people usually go counterclockwise

0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.080
<v Speaker 2>because of how the tailwinds work there. According to Morton,

0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.320
<v Speaker 2>it was a great way to see Australia and quote

0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.280
<v Speaker 2>get a real feel for the country. Now. He supported

0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.840
<v Speaker 2>a local charity with his ride, raising over one hundred

0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:24.439
<v Speaker 2>thousand dollars for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Oh I love that.

0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:28.680
<v Speaker 1>But given Australia's wildlife, isn't it like a dangerous ride?

0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:31.639
<v Speaker 2>It definitely can be, and Morton did have an unfortunate

0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:34.080
<v Speaker 2>run in while he was there. He was biking through

0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.399
<v Speaker 2>northern Queensland and he collided with a kangaroo, which I

0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:39.960
<v Speaker 2>think probably wouldn't go very well. He did say later

0:18:40.000 --> 0:18:42.640
<v Speaker 2>that he was on top of it before he even noticed,

0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:45.800
<v Speaker 2>but luckily both he and the kangaroo were okay.

0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:50.120
<v Speaker 1>Well, just because the kangaroo survived the incident, I'm gonna

0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:52.240
<v Speaker 1>have to give you today's trophy. If it hadn't survived,

0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:53.320
<v Speaker 1>I would have given it to Dylan.

0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:57.200
<v Speaker 2>That makes a lot of sense. All right, well, thank

0:18:57.200 --> 0:18:59.560
<v Speaker 2>you very much. I appreciate it, and I'd like to

0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:03.040
<v Speaker 2>have Fish share this trophy with Lachlan Morton. I sat

0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:06.320
<v Speaker 2>here and recorded a podcast. He biked around an entire continent.

0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:08.520
<v Speaker 2>So I don't know who's to say who worked harder

0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:10.359
<v Speaker 2>on this one, but thank you did that does it

0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:12.560
<v Speaker 2>for today's episode. We'll be back next week with a

0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:15.000
<v Speaker 2>new one. In the meantime, please be sure to subscribe

0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:18.040
<v Speaker 2>to the podcast on your favorite podcast app. Leave us

0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:21.080
<v Speaker 2>a five star rating and review. Today's episode was written

0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:24.000
<v Speaker 2>by Meredith Danko. Thanks Meredith, She's always a rock star,

0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:27.199
<v Speaker 2>and from Dylan Gabe, Mary Mango and me thank you

0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:27.719
<v Speaker 2>for listening.

0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.240
<v Speaker 1>Part Time Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio.

0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:48.720
<v Speaker 1>This show is hosted by Will Pearson and me Mongschatikler

0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:53.080
<v Speaker 1>and research by our good pal Mary Philip Sandy. Today's

0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.439
<v Speaker 1>episode was engineered and produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan

0:19:56.520 --> 0:20:00.000
<v Speaker 1>with support from Tyler Klang. The show is executive produce

0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:03.720
<v Speaker 1>for iHeart by Katrina Norvel and Ali Perry, with social

0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:08.119
<v Speaker 1>media support from Sasha Gay Trustee Dara Potts and Viny Shorey.

0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:13.280
<v Speaker 1>For more podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:29.000
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.