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Kakadu National Park Manager Shaun Barclay says new viewing area at Cahills Crossing have officially opened · 360 with Katie Woolf

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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,