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Speaker 1: There is a lot happening around the place, and I

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Speaker 1: know a lot of us are probably looking for different

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Speaker 1: ways to cool down. But with the early arrival of

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Speaker 1: the rain in the top end, a number of water

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Speaker 1: holes could close at short notice and for some of

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Speaker 1: the popular spots, it may be your last chance for

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Speaker 1: a dip. Now joining me on the line to tell

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Speaker 1: us a little bit more is Dean McAdam, who is

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Speaker 1: indeed the NPT Parks and Wildlife Director for Northern Australia Parks.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 3: Dean, Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: Dean.

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Speaker 2: Are there any water holes soon to be closed?

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Speaker 3: Katie? I can report that this morning we closed wong

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Speaker 3: Gui Falls, so that was a decision made today. Rangers

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Speaker 3: do everything in their power to keep these places open,

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Speaker 3: but unfortunately, one of the things we can't control is

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Speaker 3: the weather, and they've had a lot of rain and

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Speaker 3: the tabletop range at Litchfield and that's meant that the

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Speaker 3: level has risen at Wongai and it means that its

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Speaker 3: flows and eddies can become dangerous, and it also means

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Speaker 3: that it provides better connectivity and potential risk from crocodiles

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Speaker 3: moving up into those areas.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, so one guy. So that's literally just been

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Speaker 1: announced this morning.

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Speaker 3: Yes, closures took place as of this morning. We've notified

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Speaker 3: all the tourism operators and you know, all the tourists

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Speaker 3: that are camping out there know that it's closed. There's

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Speaker 3: barrier fencing run up this morning and signage indicating that

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Speaker 3: it's closed.

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Speaker 1: And is that is that closure earlier than what it

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Speaker 1: would has been in previous years.

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Speaker 3: Last year was the first week of November, but last

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Speaker 3: year it didn't open until the first week of August.

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Speaker 3: This year it opened in July, so it is slightly early.

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Speaker 3: But the rain that they've had at Lichfield over that

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Speaker 3: tabletop range is four times what they've had in previous octobers.

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Speaker 3: Means is the rainfalls on the top of the tabletop

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Speaker 3: range and then it flows down into all the waterfall

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Speaker 3: areas at Litchfield and it pushes the water levels up

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Speaker 3: and can create problems and risk for visitors.

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Speaker 1: And is that I mean, that's obviously the main reason

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Speaker 1: it is to do with all the rainfall that we've had.

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Speaker 3: Correct correct, We actually a couple of weeks ago had

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Speaker 3: to close the Ully's and Florence temporarily in the afternoon

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Speaker 3: because of a flash flood and it was like white

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Speaker 3: water rafting down ULI's so really you know the rain

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Speaker 3: that we're getting it extraordinary out there at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right now, I know as well that well I

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Speaker 1: understand that Berry Springs is set to close soon.

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Speaker 2: Also, is that right?

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Speaker 3: There's some good news on the Very Springs front. So

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Speaker 3: Very Springs. One of the triggers for closing Berry Springs

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Speaker 3: is is bacterial quality of the water. Yep, we were.

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Speaker 3: We did the do a test last week and that

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Speaker 3: was elevated. But according to thesclosure procedures, we have to

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Speaker 3: have two tests in the row and we did another

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Speaker 3: test on Monday and we got the results that yesterday

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Speaker 3: showing that it had flushed. So it's going to be

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Speaker 3: opening again this weekend until we do another water test

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Speaker 3: next week.

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Speaker 2: Oh good stuff, So one more weekend by the sounds

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Speaker 2: of it.

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Speaker 3: Well, it depends on Like I said, we do a

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Speaker 3: water quality test on the Monday. We usually get results

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Speaker 3: of back by the when they make the decision based

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Speaker 3: on the bacteria in the water. There was a big

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Speaker 3: event rainfall event out there, which flushes all the stuff

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Speaker 3: into the water. But the system itself has flushed all

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Speaker 3: that backterier out and it's at acceptable levels now. Not

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Speaker 3: to say that that couldn't change next week. So it's

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Speaker 3: sort of a week by week basis. When we get

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Speaker 3: into the wet season with Bairry springs, yeah, fair enough.

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Speaker 1: Now we know that it is hoss out there at

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Speaker 1: the moment, and lots of locals and also visitors and

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Speaker 1: family obviously coming up over Christmas and over the coming weeks.

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Speaker 1: What water holes are sort of guaranteed to be opened.

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Speaker 3: Florence generally stay open all year round. They only would

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Speaker 3: close for those flash flooding events or extreme rainfall events,

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Speaker 3: and they generally stay open. They would then reopen because

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Speaker 3: the water goes away and moves away pretty quickly, so

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Speaker 3: after three or four hours, the water moves down and disappears.

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Speaker 3: So those are the two at Lichfield that are pretty

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Speaker 3: much open. We've had to close the rentals, four will

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Speaker 3: drive tracks, Sandy Creeks, Surprise Falls. Campgrounds are closed. We're

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Speaker 3: drawing to the end of a lot of places in

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Speaker 3: terms of campground so Central Valley closes on the thirty

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Speaker 3: first of October. You know, once we get to the

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Speaker 3: wet season, the landscape up here doesn't make it very

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Speaker 3: conducive to camping. It's either hot and uncomfortable or the

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Speaker 3: water is dangerous. Plus crocodiles are moving around. So it's

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Speaker 3: true something that we live with up here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is true, isn't it? It makes it hard.

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Speaker 1: I suppose you've got to be very adventurous, don't you

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Speaker 1: to head out in about in the wet season.

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Speaker 2: That's sure.

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Speaker 3: There's plenty of swimming pools in backyards or public swimming pools,

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Speaker 3: there's the waterfront, there's lots of other alternatives in the

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Speaker 3: wet season.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Now how are things going?

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Speaker 1: Then? You know, I guess right across the board, where

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Speaker 1: should people sort of go to check for closures and

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Speaker 1: check for those sorts of things doane?

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Speaker 3: So, going to the Parks and Wildlife Park Access website,

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Speaker 3: you get on NAN and it's got all the parks listed.

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Speaker 3: You can click on a park and then I'll tell

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Speaker 3: you what's open, what's closed, what roads are open, what's closed?

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Speaker 3: So Mary River National Park, for instance, we've closed a

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Speaker 3: lot of areas out their roads just getting flooded and dangerous.

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Speaker 3: And the last of the one is people out there boxed,

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Speaker 3: you know, destroying and damaging roads. So yeah, going to

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Speaker 3: the park access that give provides you with most of

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Speaker 3: that information and.

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Speaker 1: Have thing's been going pretty smoothly then, you know, in

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Speaker 1: terms of jumping online, people booking their campsites and all

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Speaker 1: that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been operating pretty well. We've had a lot

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Speaker 3: of campers using Central Valley. Instance, was the new offering

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Speaker 3: at Litchfield last year. One campground was opened. The whole

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Speaker 3: lot is open this year, so it's been a very

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Speaker 3: very popular acquisition. You know, most of the time. The

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Speaker 3: booking system works really really well, and we've addressed a

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Speaker 3: lot of the issues that did come up in the

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Speaker 3: first year, you know, mobile connectivity and stuff like that.

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Speaker 3: It's far greater improved.

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Speaker 1: Well, that is good to hear, Dean McAdam. It is

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Speaker 1: good to speak to you this morning, and obviously some

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Speaker 1: people are going to be a bit disappointed about one guy,

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Speaker 1: but good to hear that berry springs at this point

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Speaker 1: in time, those bacterial levels do mean that they're able

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Speaker 1: to it's able to stay.

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Speaker 2: Open a little bit longer. Yep, good stuff. Thank you,

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Speaker 2: Thanks for having a chat with me today.

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Speaker 3: Bye O Katie.

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Speaker 2: Thank you