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Speaker 1: Now my next guest is a very impressive young territory

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Speaker 1: and she's the youngest Australian pilot and the first to

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Speaker 1: circumnavigate Australia flying the whole way overseas, is my understanding.

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Speaker 1: Fifteen year old Jennifer Hunt successfully undertook the challenge, clocking

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Speaker 1: up more than twenty nine thousand kilometers with her puppy

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Speaker 1: Bella beside her. And Bella is also in the studio

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Speaker 1: this morning, so are Mom and Dad, Kylie and Jeff Hunt.

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Speaker 1: Good morning everybody. It's lovely to have you all in

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Speaker 1: the studio.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, thanks Luca.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm so fascinated to hear about all of these now, Jennifer,

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Speaker 1: tell me what made you decide that you wanted to

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Speaker 1: circumnavigate the country.

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Speaker 3: Well, the original idea was just a funny thought about

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Speaker 3: flying around Australia. Why don't I fly around Australia solo?

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Speaker 4: Yep?

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Speaker 3: And then I went for my very first flight in

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Speaker 3: the aeroplane where I was in control, and I said

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Speaker 3: I want to fly Australia solo.

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Speaker 1: How old were you when you decided that?

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Speaker 2: Fourteen fourteen?

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Speaker 1: Goodness me, that is a big plan to have, like

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Speaker 1: I'm the mom of a fourteen year old, and I

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Speaker 1: love that you've got that bold ambition. I think it's

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Speaker 1: something that's so admirable. And you know, like being able

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Speaker 1: to actually put this plan into motion, was it quite daunting?

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Speaker 2: I don't think so.

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Speaker 1: Nah, you were just like I am doing this.

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Speaker 2: Yep. Good on you.

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Speaker 1: And so tell me how did you sort of get

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Speaker 1: the plan off the ground?

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Speaker 2: Do you know?

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Speaker 1: How did you go from thinking this is what I

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Speaker 1: want to do to actually getting it happening.

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Speaker 2: Well?

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Speaker 3: I had to first get my pilot's license yep, and

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Speaker 3: then get my navigation and seaplane endorsement am I retractable

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Speaker 3: undercarriage endorsement so I could fly this particular aeroplane, which

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Speaker 3: is a super petrol It's an amphibious biplane, so I

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Speaker 3: can land on both land and water and it has

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Speaker 3: two wings.

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Speaker 1: Wow. How long did it take you to be able

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Speaker 1: to get all of those qualifications that you needed?

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Speaker 2: Well? I got my I went solo. My first solo

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Speaker 2: was on the.

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Speaker 3: Eleventh of February, which was the day after my birthday,

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Speaker 3: and then I got my license on the first of

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Speaker 3: June and my seaplane endorsement on twenty fourth of August

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Speaker 3: this year.

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Speaker 1: So can I just get this really clear in my head?

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Speaker 1: You can fly a plane and you can fly all

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Speaker 1: around Australia before you've got your driver's license. Yep, Mom

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Speaker 1: and Dad, you guys must be so proud of her.

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Speaker 4: We are proud. She's done a wonderful thing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean proud. And also I said to you

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Speaker 1: all fair, I would have been nervous too, and I

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Speaker 1: reckon you guys would have been. But you know what,

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Speaker 1: talking to her, she's such a sensible young woman.

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Speaker 3: She is.

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Speaker 4: She's very sensible, very growing up for her age, and

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Speaker 4: it is daunting.

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Speaker 2: It is scary.

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Speaker 4: Jeffrey's the pilot, so he knows what she's up for.

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Speaker 4: From my perspective, I don't know those things. But I

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Speaker 4: referred to him and he was very happy and he

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Speaker 4: said that he would rather her fly than drive.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, there you go, jeff tell me, you know

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Speaker 1: what kind of like in terms of the logistics and

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Speaker 1: to help her get organized to do this, was there

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Speaker 1: quite a bit of work that had to happen behind

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Speaker 1: the scenes.

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Speaker 5: Not really. We didn't really plan too much.

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Speaker 2: We just did it.

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Speaker 5: But as for worrying about her, I don't know why

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Speaker 5: but I wasn't really concerned at all about her flying.

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Speaker 5: We had good instructors for her, and it's very she's

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Speaker 5: very confident pilot, so I wasn't concerned about that. But

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Speaker 5: when we were tracking her and the tracking device would

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Speaker 5: stop pinging where she was with, Mum and Daddy get

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Speaker 5: a bit worried.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So then, Jennifer, what was it like for you? Tell

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Speaker 1: me where you kind of how you went round? How

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Speaker 1: did it all happen?

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Speaker 3: I went any clockwise yep, around the West coast first,

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Speaker 3: and that was pretty exciting, the very first leg.

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Speaker 2: I was so excited, I think, and Mum.

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Speaker 3: Was a little bit worried, especially for my first taker.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yep.

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Speaker 3: And then around the west coast and down the bottom

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Speaker 3: of Australia across to Tasmania and then back up to

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Speaker 3: the East coast around the top and today one.

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Speaker 1: And so presumably you had to stop at different places,

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Speaker 1: you know, you had to maybe stay overnight, get a

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Speaker 1: bit of sleep. How did you work all of that out?

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Speaker 1: You just you obviously organized it beforehand.

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Speaker 3: Yes, the night before and the morning of the flight,

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Speaker 3: plan say where we're going to go.

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Speaker 2: If we can't get in.

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Speaker 3: There, we'll go here, fuel stops, planned, food stops planned,

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Speaker 3: to make sure everything was planned.

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Speaker 1: You're like the most organized teenage drive ever meet. I think,

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Speaker 1: or are your parents the most organized?

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Speaker 2: I think Mum and dad are.

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Speaker 1: Now I'll tell tell me. How did Bella, your beautiful

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Speaker 1: Golden retriever puppy guy on the trip? Was she a

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Speaker 1: good girl?

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Speaker 3: She was an amazing Yeah, she's so good. She just

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Speaker 3: slept the whole way, wake up now and then put

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Speaker 3: some food and water and a pat.

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Speaker 2: I went right back to sleep.

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Speaker 1: Oh, she's absolutely beautiful. We'll make sure we get a

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Speaker 1: photo of you with her afterwards so our listeners can

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Speaker 1: see what you know. How do you now feel to

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Speaker 1: know that you're the youngest pilot to you know, the

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Speaker 1: youngest and the first to circumnavigate Australia over water. How

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Speaker 1: does that feel?

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Speaker 2: It feels pretty amazing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what's next?

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Speaker 2: That's a surprise?

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Speaker 1: Mom and dad? Are you worried or excited for what's next?

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Speaker 5: Excited about it?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? I think.

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Speaker 5: Also, just to add to Jennifer, I think that was

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Speaker 5: the first time when you took off on that trip,

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Speaker 5: was the first time you flew that airplane by yourself?

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Speaker 1: Holy Moly and you didn't fit, like, did you feel

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Speaker 1: any kind of any like, did you feel scared at all?

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Speaker 3: Or you feel really empowered? I didn't feel scared. It

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Speaker 3: felt normal. And then halfway there I realized that was

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Speaker 3: my very first solo flat in that aeroplane.

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Speaker 1: Was like, oh's cool? And what about afterwards? Are you

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Speaker 1: just like I feel like it can take on the world.

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Speaker 1: I can do anything now pretty much. Oh what a wonderful,

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Speaker 1: wonderful story. And you should be so proud of yourself.

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Speaker 1: I love seeing young people do incredible stuff, and I

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Speaker 1: love seeing young Territorians do incredible stuff. And you seem

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Speaker 1: like such a nice young person who's done something wonderful.

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Speaker 1: You should be so proud of yourself.

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Speaker 2: Thank you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it is so good to meet you this morning.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate you joining me in the studio. Jennifer

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Speaker 1: Hunt and of course mum Kylie and dad, Jeff and

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Speaker 1: puppy Bella. Thank you all so much for your time today. Lovely,

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Speaker 1: thank you,