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Speaker 1: Now. Look, on a Thursday, we do try to head

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Speaker 1: beyond the bear of the line to find out what

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Speaker 1: is happening outside the Darwin bubble. And joining me on

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Speaker 1: the line this morning, I'm pleased to say, well, business

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Speaker 1: owner in Catherine Trent with good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Morning. Kay, good to hear from your mate.

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Speaker 1: We haven't spoken for a while.

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Speaker 2: No, we've been keeping flying under the radar down here luckily.

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Speaker 1: Well that's always a good thing. How are things cracking

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Speaker 1: in Catherine at the moment?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Really good that the town is still absolutely bursting

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Speaker 2: at the scenes with touristly Yeah, I mean a wooly's trip.

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Speaker 2: It's not a five minute run in and grab some

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Speaker 2: milk and bread, and it's a lineup for a Channel

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Speaker 2: fifth day minute to get out of the check out

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Speaker 2: these days. But that's what we love, and that this

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Speaker 2: time a year and it'll all be over soon. So

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Speaker 2: it's been a really good year. And yet there's still

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Speaker 2: plenty of people around, which is great.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, it may as well lap it up, hey while

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Speaker 1: they are all in town.

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Speaker 2: Now, okay, while the sunshine that's exactly right.

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Speaker 1: Have you got many people you know sort of traveling

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Speaker 1: to Catherine as well for their camping and fishing and

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Speaker 1: that kind of thing. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely. The weather at the moment has like we've just

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Speaker 2: picked up this last little bit of the dry season here.

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Speaker 2: You know, it was eleven degrees this morning. So there's

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Speaker 2: nothing better than you know, being out with your family

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Speaker 2: in a tent or a swag when you wake up

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Speaker 2: and it's eleven degrees and you can actually sit around

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Speaker 2: the fire with purpose. Yeah, in the NT you don't

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Speaker 2: often get that. So you really know a lot of

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Speaker 2: people traveling to Catherine just to sort of you know,

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Speaker 2: explore the National Park and the waterfalls around the place

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Speaker 2: untilus in the tent for a night or two. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Oh absolutely. And I understand that there has been a

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Speaker 1: bit of a video released as well, a bit of

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Speaker 1: a Big River's promo. Tell us about that.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So, through the Big Rivers Regional Reconstruction Committee, I've

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Speaker 2: been working on a video basically to get it out

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Speaker 2: there and just show the liveability and what you can

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Speaker 2: do here in the Catherine region, the Big Rivers region.

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Speaker 2: I was lucky enough to do some filming on that,

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Speaker 2: but I mean I did about an hour and a

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Speaker 2: half way of filming and got three seconds of it

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Speaker 2: Katie's obviously my talent's not up there.

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Speaker 1: That's all right, mate, We're all used to being cush

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Speaker 1: out of, out of you know.

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Speaker 2: It's a fantastic video and it represents the regions so well.

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Speaker 2: You know, it just shows all of the stuff that's

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Speaker 2: out there, all of the people that are here, and

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Speaker 2: what different industries and stuff there are in Catherine, and

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Speaker 2: hey can become a part of it if you're looking

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Speaker 2: to move to change, which.

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Speaker 1: I reckon is a great thing to do. How are

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Speaker 1: things going in Catherine when you talk about the workforce?

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Speaker 1: You know, are you guys experiencing the same as what

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Speaker 1: we are to some degree when it comes to a

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Speaker 1: workforce shortage or things going?

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Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, no, absolutely. I think that's an Australia wide

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Speaker 2: or maybe even a worldwide problem with the shortage of

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Speaker 2: the workforce. You know, every store in Catherine has a

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Speaker 2: sign up that says, basically, the whole world's short starts.

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Speaker 2: Be kind to those who showed up, because everywhere you

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Speaker 2: go they're short starts. They're closing for three or four

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Speaker 2: days of the week if they have to because they're

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Speaker 2: off with COVID, or they're sick, or their kids are

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Speaker 2: sick and they just don't have people to fill the places.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is the thing, you know, you got

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Speaker 1: you sort of understand that it is difficult. It's so

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Speaker 1: difficult for a lot of businesses right now. So we've

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Speaker 1: got to make sure that we are kind when you

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Speaker 1: go in somewhere if something takes a little bit longer

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Speaker 1: than usual, you know, don't be a.

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Speaker 2: Brat about it exactly. And yeah, people have to realize

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Speaker 2: and if they're in any sort of industry that relates

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Speaker 2: to being short stuffed, they'll absolutely sympathize with it because

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Speaker 2: they understand that there's just I don't know where they

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Speaker 2: all are oka, but there's just no workers around.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it makes it really tough. And you know we're

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Speaker 1: hearing that from Alice Springs up here in Darwin to

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Speaker 1: you guys in Catherine's. There is that workforce shortage and

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Speaker 1: like you've rightly pointed out right around Australia. So I

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Speaker 1: don't know exactly what needs to happen, but I know

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Speaker 1: the federal government's holding that. I think it's the skills

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Speaker 1: and workforce event in a couple of weeks time, so

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Speaker 1: hopefully we see some outcomes from that. Now Trent fuel

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Speaker 1: prices made. It's something that we're keeping such a close

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Speaker 1: eye on up here in Darwin. How's it going for

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Speaker 1: you guys in Catherine? Is the fuel expensive?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's still I mean it's very similar prices to

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Speaker 2: you guys up there. I think we're a few cents lower.

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Speaker 2: But the one thing about Catherine we've got on the

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Speaker 2: main street. You know, there's four or five fuel retailers,

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Speaker 2: but in a very short space. But it only takes

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Speaker 2: one of them to drop it slightly and then they

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Speaker 2: all get into a bit of a race down. So

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Speaker 2: it is a quick thing to change generally here because

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Speaker 2: one of them will do it and they'll all move.

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Speaker 2: But we're still paying far too much for fuel, as

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Speaker 2: we all know.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and does that impact on you, like when it

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Speaker 1: comes to your business, does that impact on you in

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Speaker 1: terms of you know, your delivery costs, your transport costs

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Speaker 1: and that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, all of that definitely plays a huge factor. But

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Speaker 2: not only that, Katie, Like, we're a shop that is

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Speaker 2: like we think of ourselves as a disposable income shop.

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Speaker 2: So you know, if you're going fishing or camping on

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Speaker 2: the weekend, you may not need to get a new

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Speaker 2: lure or a new swag or whatever it might be.

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Speaker 2: With the cost of living and the fuel price going

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Speaker 2: through the roofs, and unfortunately we're the first door generally

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Speaker 2: that gets dropped from their buying cycle. So we feel

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Speaker 2: it not only through freight coming here, like everyone smashing

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Speaker 2: us with freight prices at the moment. And then also

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Speaker 2: you know, people aren't buying as much, which is understandable.

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Speaker 2: You know, we're all going through the cost of living problems, yeah,

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Speaker 2: or pressures that are on us. But unfortunately, yeah, stores

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Speaker 2: like ours we get hit pretty hard and sort of

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Speaker 2: straight away because it's the first thing. We're not an

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Speaker 2: essential item, so they drop us pretty quick. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Well, let's hope that we do see some change in

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Speaker 1: the cost of living. I think that, you know, we've

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Speaker 1: got to see some change at some point when it

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Speaker 1: comes to these petrol prices. But we'll keep on to

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Speaker 1: it now. Just lastly, Trent, I understand the mango trees

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Speaker 1: are flowering in Catherine.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, So there's a really good one. When you're

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Speaker 2: driv into Catherine. On the corner of one of our

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Speaker 2: streets that go into a Kolano community, there's a nice

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Speaker 2: mango tree there, and it's always a good time when

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Speaker 2: you see that thing with white fluffy flowers all over it,

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Speaker 2: because you know that one the season's changing, but to

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Speaker 2: the season changes from our tour season to our fruit

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Speaker 2: picking season, so we get a whole different trade of

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Speaker 2: people come through the town. But it's pretty exciting and

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Speaker 2: we also know that then unfortunately the build up is

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Speaker 2: on the way, but you know, as we get through

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Speaker 2: the build up we'll get a bit of rain as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it, well, Trent. Lovely to speak to you

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Speaker 1: this morning, mate. Great to head be on the bear

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Speaker 1: of the line and we'll catch up with you hopefully

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Speaker 1: again in a few weeks or so.

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Speaker 2: Always a pleasure, Thanks Katie, Thank you,