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Speaker 1: As we know, Kakadou National Parks Cahill's Crossing viewing Area,

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Speaker 1: it is going to be reopening from today, following on

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Speaker 1: from a three million dollar upgrade at the site. And

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line right now is Kakadoo Park

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Speaker 1: Management Operations Manager, I believe, Sean Barclay.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 3: Sean, morning, Katie.

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Speaker 2: How are you very well?

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Speaker 1: Sean? Tell us a little bit more about this, the

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Speaker 1: reopening which is happening today.

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Speaker 3: Well, as you've mentioned, there's been closer a little while

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Speaker 3: while we do a big infrastructure upgrade at the site.

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Speaker 3: So it's a significant reworking of the site which includes

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Speaker 3: a new picnic area, three new viewing platforms linked by

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Speaker 3: a rainforest walk, and it provides a safe vantage point

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Speaker 3: for visitors to view crocodiles at Kakadu and their heaps

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Speaker 3: of them.

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Speaker 1: Well, there is there's so many of them, I mean

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Speaker 1: on last estimates, do we know exactly how many, ah.

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Speaker 3: More than ten thousands, we'll say, And the Kale's Crossing

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Speaker 3: area sort of post one of the highest densities of

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Speaker 3: crocodiles in the park. You know, you can see crocodiles

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Speaker 3: there between four and five meters waging up to seven

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Speaker 3: hundred kilos and at this time of year they tend

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Speaker 3: to congregate at the crossing, so it's really quite a

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Speaker 3: spectacular spot.

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Speaker 2: So Sean just.

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Speaker 1: Talk us through that main viewing platform, so it's basically

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Speaker 1: going to be looking directly over the crossing.

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Speaker 3: That's right, and it sort of gives visitors a spectacular

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Speaker 3: advantage point to view crocodiles feeding and sort of bait

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Speaker 3: comes up against the barrows. There's also some other viewing

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Speaker 3: platforms downstream from there that are joined by a rainforest

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Speaker 3: walk that is kind of good to get out of

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Speaker 3: the sun and go through a bit of a walk

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Speaker 3: along the river.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and do we get a lot of people visit

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Speaker 2: that area.

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Speaker 3: We do. It's one of the sort of main reasons

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Speaker 3: that people come to Kakadu, and this year we've seen

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Speaker 3: it's been an absolutely bumping year for tourist numbers in

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Speaker 3: the park, so we expect that this particular site will

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Speaker 3: be highly visited now that's back open, and.

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Speaker 1: Sean, one of the other things that we unfortunately see

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Speaker 1: quite often is people sort of cry trying to get

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Speaker 1: across that crossing or standing really close to where the

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Speaker 1: crocodiles and that kind of thing are as well.

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Speaker 2: Is this going to make it a bit safer.

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Speaker 3: It'll make it a lot safer. It provides a really

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Speaker 3: safe vantage point. So hopefully we won't see people gathering

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Speaker 3: on the crossing anymore now that the crossing is open

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Speaker 3: and park manage. We'd really like to thank the commercial

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Speaker 3: tourism operators but temporarily suspending tour as well was under construction,

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Speaker 3: and thank everyone that followed the signage that was in place.

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Speaker 3: Why we were doing this.

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Speaker 2: Work and how long did it actually take to get

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Speaker 2: done in the.

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Speaker 3: End, around three months, but there was a long design

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Speaker 3: process that we've co designed with Ditrition Lanners to make

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Speaker 3: sure that everyone's happy with the new design work. And

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Speaker 3: I'm pleased to say this is a really good outcome

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Speaker 3: from a lot of work from a lot of people.

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Speaker 2: And Sean, what's the reaction been so far?

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Speaker 1: I mean, I know it's something just open today, but

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Speaker 1: has there been much reaction so far?

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Speaker 3: There's been a fair bit of media interest. I'm on

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Speaker 3: my way out there now to see how it's going.

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Speaker 3: We've got a bit of a set remaining with the

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Speaker 3: true laners and we expect to see get a lot

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Speaker 3: of people out there.

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Speaker 1: Of course, good stuff well Shawn Barclay, the National Park

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Speaker 1: Kakadu National Park Manager, always appreciate your time, particularly on

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Speaker 1: pretty short notice.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for having a chat with us this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you,