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Speaker 1: Now one industry which has been severely impacted by the

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Speaker 1: situation that we are in when it comes to COVID

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Speaker 1: and those hot spots and the lockdowns in various locations

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Speaker 1: is tourism. And joining me on the line right now

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Speaker 1: from Tourism Central Australia the CEO, Daniel Rochford. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to you, Daniel.

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Speaker 2: Good modern Kadian. Good morning to you, li, isn't it Daniel.

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Speaker 1: We know that there's been some fairly significant moves around

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Speaker 1: the nation within this week and quite differing approaches I

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Speaker 1: think you'd have to say from different states when it

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Speaker 1: comes to really trying to continue to live our lives.

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Speaker 1: I think with COVID, we know that Western Australia obviously

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Speaker 1: made the announcement that they're mandating the vaccine for particular industries.

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Speaker 1: Queensland meanwhile announced a very definitive plan that phased border

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Speaker 1: reopening for fully vaccinated people from November nineteen. Then fully

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Speaker 1: vaccinated travelers will be allowed to enter Queensland without the

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Speaker 1: need to quarantine from December seventeen. Daniel, from your perspective,

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Speaker 1: do we need a definitive date here to know when

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Speaker 1: we are going to open the borders up to travelers.

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Speaker 2: Look, Katie, I suddenly affirm the comments made by Alex

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Speaker 2: just a few minutes ago in terms of giving business

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Speaker 2: certainty here in the Northern Territory and the government to

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Speaker 2: identify time and a date in the future to provide

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Speaker 2: that certainty is critical. We certainly, as you know, having

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Speaker 2: the challenges that this pandemic has brought to our industry

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Speaker 2: and at the moment our sector is on its knees

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Speaker 2: and we need certainty and we need support.

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Speaker 1: Daniel, I know you and I have spoken on so

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Speaker 1: many occasions about the tough time that tourism is facing

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Speaker 1: in Central Australia without sort of having a clear plan

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Speaker 1: at this point when we are going to move past

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Speaker 1: the need to quarantine for two weeks, whether it's at

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Speaker 1: home or whether it's in a facility, how tough is

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Speaker 1: that for your sector?

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Speaker 2: Oh, it's disastrous, Skaty. Look, you know, I'm at the moment,

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Speaker 2: based on the advice that we have got from government

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Speaker 2: in terms of the roadmap forward, essentially telling my members

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Speaker 2: that the next few months in particular, we think what

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Speaker 2: we've gone through is bad. We're only just getting to

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Speaker 2: the eye of the cyclone and the challenges that we're

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Speaker 2: going to face if we continue down the path that

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Speaker 2: we are, and you know that it's the government's call,

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Speaker 2: We're going to see visitation to Central Australia and right

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Speaker 2: across the territory almost rolled back to almost nothing. And

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Speaker 2: that's going to have immense challenges for our industry who

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Speaker 2: are already suffering and who already don't have revenue coming

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Speaker 2: through the door.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because right now there is such you know, there

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Speaker 1: is such disparity from state to state, like we know

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Speaker 1: in New South Wales and Victoria or hotspots right now.

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Speaker 1: But people can obviously travel into the Red center and

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Speaker 1: all of the territorysand However, once Queensland opens up, there's

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Speaker 1: no doubt that we're going to see COVID right around

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Speaker 1: the nation. And if we continue on the path that

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Speaker 1: we're on with the traffic light system i e. The

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Speaker 1: Red and Amber zones, potentially you're not going to see

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Speaker 1: anyone traveling into the territory.

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Speaker 2: No, you most welcome to come to the Northern territory,

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Speaker 2: but if you could just stay in this hotel for

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Speaker 2: fourteen days, that would be appreciated. And look at the

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Speaker 2: reality of that is that it will be disastrous for

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Speaker 2: our sector. I guess. Look, I do appreciate, as Alex

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Speaker 2: mentioned as well, the challenges our governments are facing. Look

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Speaker 2: no more the case here in Central Australia. You know,

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Speaker 2: twenty percent of the population of Central Australia is around

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Speaker 2: six thousand people. I reckon the figure will be much

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Speaker 2: higher than that in terms of those who are unvaccinated.

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Speaker 2: We have three intensive care unit beds here at the

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Speaker 2: Alice Springs Hospital, so that's the challenge the government has

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Speaker 2: to deal with, which I do appreciate that they're trying

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Speaker 2: to find a balancing act, but it's an either or

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Speaker 2: argument here. You can only go one side. You've got

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Speaker 2: to deal with the collateral damage on the other, or

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Speaker 2: alternatively you give new work through to try and find

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Speaker 2: that balance.

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Speaker 1: What would the balance look be like for you from

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Speaker 1: tourism's perspective.

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Speaker 2: Oh, look, I think there's no doubt that there's got

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Speaker 2: to be some short term support for our sector, especially

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Speaker 2: over the summer months. As you know, this is the

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Speaker 2: term we would traditionally get our international visitors, and the

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Speaker 2: reports I'm getting every day from my members is essentially

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Speaker 2: from a visitation. We're really rolling back. We're noticing it

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Speaker 2: here in the Alice Springs Information Center. But all my

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Speaker 2: members are saying that visitation is dropping dramatically and quickly,

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Speaker 2: so we're going to see a significant decline in revenue

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Speaker 2: right across our businesses, many of whom are already distressed

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Speaker 2: and fragile, and what we're seeing is many making some

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Speaker 2: very hard decisions and that's going to increase increase over

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Speaker 2: the coming days and weeks. So there needs to be

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Speaker 2: that form of support. I think there needs to be

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Speaker 2: some hope, and that's where this concept of picking a

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Speaker 2: date in the future is important. I think we need

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Speaker 2: to have that certainly and understanding of when we will

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Speaker 2: open up and when businesses can plan around that. So

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Speaker 2: there has got to be a balancing act there. We

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Speaker 2: do appreciate that safety and security in the government has

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Speaker 2: done an enormous job, and governments at all levels have

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Speaker 2: done an enormous job keeping us safe thus far. But

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Speaker 2: this is going to be the most challenging time of

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Speaker 2: this pandemic and the effects of the pandemic and needs

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Speaker 2: to be done in a balanced way. Otherwise we're not

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Speaker 2: going to have a tourism industry on the other side, Katie,

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Speaker 2: and that's the challenge that we need to understand. We

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Speaker 2: need to rebound from this really quickly. The new South

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Speaker 2: Wales government yesterday released half a billion dollar support package

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Speaker 2: for the tourism industry to rebound. We need to have

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Speaker 2: these discussions now here in the territory as well, how

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Speaker 2: do we rebound rebound out of this pandemic.

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Speaker 1: Well, and this is the thing, I mean, without even

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Speaker 1: having a date at this point in time when people

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Speaker 1: can travel freely into the Northern Territory. And yes, we

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Speaker 1: all understand the health impacts here and you've made that

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Speaker 1: really clear as well when talking about those three intensive

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Speaker 1: care beds in Central Australia. But right now without having

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Speaker 1: that date, it's hard to know even how you can

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Speaker 1: market the Northern Territory to the rest of Australia at

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Speaker 1: this point in time.

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Speaker 2: Indeed, it's more than just that too, Katie. It's about

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Speaker 2: giving our industry some hope that there is a light

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Speaker 2: at the end of the tunnel and from as a

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Speaker 2: morale booster that is worth millions of dollars to our

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Speaker 2: industry who are currently don't see a lot of hope.

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Speaker 2: And then as we talk on the radio today to

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Speaker 2: talking across the kitchen table about what they're going to do,

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Speaker 2: whether they're going to close their business or put it

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Speaker 2: into hibernation or continue to trade. Having that sense of

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Speaker 2: hope is going to be critical.

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Speaker 1: Can they afford to wait until January or February.

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Speaker 2: Well, at this stage, what we're hearing from our members

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Speaker 2: is that many, many of our operators who are purely

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Speaker 2: leisure based tourism businesses are under enormous financial distress. And

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Speaker 2: we've recently received feedback from surveys that we've lost five

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Speaker 2: percent of our industry to this point, and I suspect

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Speaker 2: that figure will only grow higher.

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Speaker 1: Well, Daniel Rochford, I think we really need this plan

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Speaker 1: to come out and come out soon, giving Territorians a

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Speaker 1: much fairer idea of where we're headed and when it's happening,

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Speaker 1: so that our business people, our tourism operators particularly are

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Speaker 1: able to really work out where to go to from

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Speaker 1: here and how long it's going to take. And you know,

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Speaker 1: then for everyday territory and so I hoping to have

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Speaker 1: family come and visit and be able to travel again.

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Speaker 1: It's also an important thing. But yeah, it is such

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Speaker 1: a tough situation that so many are in at the moment,

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Speaker 1: and I really feel for you guys in Central Australia,

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Speaker 1: those tourism operators. I know it's tough going.

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Speaker 2: Oh look thanks Katie and look at the industry very

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Speaker 2: much appreciative and support, and of course everyone's got their

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Speaker 2: territory voucher. So the biggest thing your listeners can do

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Speaker 2: is hop onto our website, Discover Central Australia and book

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Speaker 2: one of those amazing Red Center of packages. We've got

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Speaker 2: a couple of charters coming down from Darwen in January,

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Speaker 2: so all support of this difficult time would be greatly apprentiate. Well,

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Speaker 2: I've got you mate.

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Speaker 1: I've been doing those live reads for Tourism Central Australia

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Speaker 1: and I'm wondering, what is this mountain? Is it Helly

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Speaker 1: mountain biking? What's it called?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Alice Spring helicopters have recently pivoted during the last

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Speaker 2: few months and they doing Helly mountain biking. So they

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Speaker 2: strap your mountain bike to the helicopter, they take you

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Speaker 2: up into the West or East Max and drop you

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Speaker 2: off and then you can mountain bike back to Alice Springs.

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Speaker 1: Oh that sounds awesome. What a fantastically fun thing to do. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you Daniel.

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Speaker 2: It's a really great product and I've just seen some

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Speaker 2: vision of it. Actually, it's an awesome experience. And look,

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Speaker 2: there's many businesses that made pivots and that perfect example

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Speaker 2: of one.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, all good on them. And that does sound well,

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Speaker 1: it sounds action packed. Maybe a bit too difficult for me,

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Speaker 1: but maybe from my husban