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Speaker 1: Just forging aheade this morning.

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Speaker 2: There is a lot going on around the place, and

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Speaker 2: Territori And is now going to have more camping options

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Speaker 2: at Litchfield with the completion of twelve news sites at

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Speaker 2: Surprise Creek Falls. The works completed in time for the

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Speaker 2: school holidays, cost the Northern Territory Government three hundred thousand

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Speaker 2: dollars but bring the total number of campsites at the

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Speaker 2: popular spot to nineteen. Joining us on the line to

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Speaker 2: tell us a little bit more is the Department of

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Speaker 2: Environments and Parks Chief District Ranger Norman Greenfield.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Norman.

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Speaker 3: Good day Katie. Here are you going?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, really good, Thank you so much for your time.

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Speaker 2: Now, can you talk us through what facilities have been

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Speaker 2: created at the new camp sites.

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Speaker 3: So Surprise Greek Campgrounds had an extension done on over

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Speaker 3: the last three or so weeks, so we've increased the

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Speaker 3: capacity of the campground from twelve campsites to nineteen. And yeah,

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Speaker 3: it's a big step forward in that campsite down to

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Speaker 3: the southern part of Litchfield. So yeah, it's really good

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Speaker 3: well and.

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Speaker 2: Just in time for the school holidays as well. Good timing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's it. So the campground extension included expansion on

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Speaker 3: each of the campsites, so it's provided a large area

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Speaker 3: for people to bring a camper down, you know, and

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Speaker 3: bring a family down and enjoy the southern parts of

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Speaker 3: Litchfield and Sandy surprise.

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Speaker 2: Sorry, And so some of those new tracks or some

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Speaker 2: new tracks did have to be created as well, is

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Speaker 2: that correct.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So we've just enhanced what was already there and

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Speaker 3: improved the facilities down there, so you know, upgrades in

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Speaker 3: toilet blocks and barbecue facilities and tables and chairs. So

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Speaker 3: it's a marked improvement of what we had and in

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Speaker 3: terms of allowing greater access to people to go camping

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Speaker 3: down there. So yeah, it's very very well done, Norman.

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Speaker 2: How popular is that site or is that area as well?

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Speaker 3: So once upon a time it used to be a

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Speaker 3: very little known area typical bush camping. So the whole

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Speaker 3: idea of about expanding the campground is to actually try

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Speaker 3: to spread the load away from popular areas such as Florence,

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Speaker 3: wo Gui, et cetera, to put the pressure across the board,

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Speaker 3: not just directly on those visitor notes. So we've tried

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Speaker 3: to keep the flavor of the camp bush camping type theme,

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Speaker 3: but just to enhance it a lot better than what

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Speaker 3: it was.

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Speaker 2: And it does seem to be quite a bit happening

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Speaker 2: in terms of upgrading or making some more camp sites

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Speaker 2: out in the Lichfield area. Is that sort of is

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Speaker 2: that the case? It seems to have been that way

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Speaker 2: over recent recent weeks and months, or maybe it's just

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Speaker 2: been that a few places have had the work completed.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So all of this work and expansions and free

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Speaker 3: design sort of where it come out of the visitor

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Speaker 3: experience plan that we've had out for some time, and

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Speaker 3: there was something that was identified from the public input.

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Speaker 3: So the people wanted to see improvements in the camp

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Speaker 3: grounds and facilities. So we're starting with surprise at the moment,

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Speaker 3: we've got a few more sites in line to get

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Speaker 3: some upgrades. But that all comes about from, you know,

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Speaker 3: obviously the demand, and there is a demand down there

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Speaker 3: to improve the facilities. So that's what we've done, first off,

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Speaker 3: the cap off the rank.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I was going to ask you, is that

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Speaker 2: the reason why we sort of need the extra sites.

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Speaker 2: Is it a situation where it's taking pressure off some

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Speaker 2: of the other areas, but also because we've got such

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Speaker 2: a demand for.

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Speaker 3: It absolutely, so, you know, putting it blankly, literally getting

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Speaker 3: in love to death and it's getting a lot of

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Speaker 3: pressure on those pressure points as I've already identified. But

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Speaker 3: it's the key idea is to spread the load in

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Speaker 3: a wider area to enhance the visitor experience for the

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Speaker 3: people coming through. So that's where it's all come from,

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Speaker 3: that visitor experience plan.

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Speaker 2: Now, to access any of these sites in people do

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Speaker 2: need to make a booking, don't they.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely everything's online these days, and just go to empty

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Speaker 3: parks on the Google search and you'll be able to

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Speaker 3: pick up the online booking system and go to your

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Speaker 3: favorite spot, look at the booking sites and process it

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Speaker 3: from there. So yeah, just have a look for the

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Speaker 3: online booking system.

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Speaker 2: Norman, has it been pretty busy or have you found

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Speaker 2: you know, because the dry season, I know it's warming up,

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Speaker 2: but it does seem to have lingered a little bit

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Speaker 2: longer than what we're expecting.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent. So the dry season. Yeah, as

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Speaker 3: you can imagine I've just read this morning in regards

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Speaker 3: to the mango production, we've had a lot warmer dry

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Speaker 3: season this year, which means people are sticking around a

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Speaker 3: little bit longer and what we're finding generally just general

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Speaker 3: observation on park is still busy, particularly on the weekends

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Speaker 3: and but overall the whole year has been very busy

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Speaker 3: here at Litchfield. So it's been a good year.

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Speaker 2: Oh good stuff locals and tourists taking advantage of our

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Speaker 2: beautiful backyard. Department of Environment and Parks Chief District Ranger

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Speaker 2: Norman Greenfield, lovely to speak.

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Speaker 1: To you this morning. Thank you for your time. Good

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Speaker 1: on Katie, thank you, thank you,