Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Sam Valavanis and his Mum Lisa

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Katie Woolf spoke with Sam Valavanis and his Mum Lisa · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf. Join the conversation with Katie Wolf.
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  Speaker 1: You are our eyes and ears in the territory mixed
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  Speaker 1: one oh four point nine.
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  Speaker 2: Joining me in the studio right now, I've got a
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  Speaker 2: very special guest, well a couple of them, actually, I've
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  Speaker 2: got Sam who is here. Good morning to you, Sam.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.
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  Speaker 1: Lovely to be here, Lovely to have you in the studio.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm also joined by Lisa, his mum. How are you,
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  Speaker 2: Lisa good?
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  Speaker 4: Thanks Katie, how are you?
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  Speaker 1: I'm very well. It is great to have you both
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  Speaker 1: in the studio now.
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  Speaker 2: Now, Sam, I understand that you were diagnosed with eye
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  Speaker 2: cancer at birth.
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  Speaker 1: Can you tell us a little bit about that?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was actually I was diagnosed at twelve weeks
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  Speaker 3: of age with a rare childhood eye cancer called renno blastoma. Yep,
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  Speaker 3: and that's basically a Yeah, it's a rare childhood eye
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  Speaker 3: cancer that can result in children losing sight at a
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  Speaker 3: very young age, which was a very real possibility to
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  Speaker 3: me and my family. So we went through a lot
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  Speaker 3: of treatment. I went through a lot of treatment, my family,
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  Speaker 3: it was there with me all the way. I had chemotherapy,
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  Speaker 3: cry therapy, laser therapy, all sorts of treatments, but in
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  Speaker 3: the end it didn't work, and the doctors had to
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  Speaker 3: remove both of my eyes at a very young age,
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  Speaker 3: which was a pretty traumatic experience. But I have become
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  Speaker 3: a stronger person because of it.
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  Speaker 2: You certainly haven't let it stop you from doing anything
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  Speaker 2: in life, have you.
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  Speaker 3: No. I endeavored to be the most independent person I
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  Speaker 3: can be and achieved the best I can in life.
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  Speaker 1: And you are a charming and smart young man.
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  Speaker 2: And you came in here a little earlier this morning
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  Speaker 2: and I'd asked you I heard a rumor that you
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  Speaker 2: actually would like to work in radio.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, I would actually, I'm currently studying a course down
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  Speaker 3: in Melbourne, where I'm from, at University in audio engineering
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  Speaker 3: and sound production, which I'm hoping will get me into
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  Speaker 3: the radio industry. For most people, it's for who want
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  Speaker 3: to become music producers or sound sound engineers for lives.
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  Speaker 3: But I'm doing it for the radio industry.
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  Speaker 1: I reckon, that's awesome.
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  Speaker 2: We might have to hit our we might have to
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  Speaker 2: speak to our program director on the way out and
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  Speaker 2: let her know that you might be on the hunt
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  Speaker 2: for a job in a couple of years.
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  Speaker 1: Once you've finished your studies. Absolutely, Yeah, good on you.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's absolutely fantastic now, Lisa, it sounds as
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  Speaker 2: though it's been quite a long road for you guys
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  Speaker 2: and your family in terms of Sam's treatment and the
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  Speaker 2: operations and things that he's had to go through.
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  Speaker 1: Has it been a tough one for you as a parent.
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  Speaker 4: And has We were first time parents when Sam was born.
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  Speaker 4: We had no idea what it was all about. Just
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  Speaker 4: knew something was wrong with him early on, so just
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  Speaker 4: something didn't sit right with us in our gut.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, if we.
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  Speaker 4: Had a followed initial doctor's advice, we might have lost
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  Speaker 4: him by the age of one. But we just kept
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  Speaker 4: pushing and pushing, and sure enough we ended up getting
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  Speaker 4: a diagnosis we never expected. But a lot of the
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  Speaker 4: time through treatment, we were guided by him. If he
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  Speaker 4: doing okay, then we had to be okay as well. Yeah,
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  Speaker 4: so he really he breathed through a lot of stuff.
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  Speaker 4: I think he was so young he didn't know it
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  Speaker 4: was meant to be such a life changing experience, and
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  Speaker 4: he just continued being a kid, there's all he knew. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 4: we're here now and he yeah, it doesn't stop him.
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  Speaker 4: He's just determined to try and do everything like an
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  Speaker 4: able bodied person called.
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  Speaker 1: He's an amazing young man. There's no doubt about that.
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  Speaker 2: Now you guys are here because the Starlight Foundation are
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  Speaker 2: funding well, they've funded your family to come to the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory to Darwin, Sam, that's been something that you've
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  Speaker 2: wanted to do.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I have wanted to do it for for a
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  Speaker 3: long time. We actually were granted a wish for the
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  Speaker 3: Maker Wish Foundation a bit of the Starlight and we
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  Speaker 3: came up here from Adelaide on the Gang, which is
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  Speaker 3: one of my It was definitely on my bucket list
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  Speaker 3: because I am a big time training enthusiast, so yeah,
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  Speaker 3: down in Melbourne especially get a lot of them. So yeah,
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  Speaker 3: it was something I've wanted to do and they were
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  Speaker 3: able to fund that for us, and we spent three
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  Speaker 3: days too nice on the Gang got up here yesterday.
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  Speaker 3: It was an amazing trip.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, what was it like for you?
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  Speaker 3: It was great and it was really I can tell
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  Speaker 3: you it was a lot better than you know, eating
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  Speaker 3: at home anyway. There were a lot of great food
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  Speaker 3: and the staff were great and they treated us like
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  Speaker 3: we were royalty.
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  Speaker 2: Oh I love it and I know that it's sort
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  Speaker 2: of not been the only thing that you've been keen
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  Speaker 2: to do. Tell us you know what you're wanting to
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  Speaker 2: do while you're here in Darwin.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I'd definitely like to first of all, visit the
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  Speaker 3: Starlight Foundation's head the office here, and I'd like to
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  Speaker 3: thank them very much, you know, for what they've done,
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  Speaker 3: and see who they've got up here. I'd also like
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  Speaker 3: to visit a few tourist attractions, go to some of
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  Speaker 3: the markets they've got on Yep. Actually, I'm also we've
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  Speaker 3: got some friends up here that my mum went to
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  Speaker 3: school with. One of them and her husband has invited
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  Speaker 3: me to go Barramunday fishing with him next week. So
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  Speaker 3: that's going to be very exciting because I've always wanted
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  Speaker 3: to do fishing and I did it once before with
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  Speaker 3: my uncle, but I didn't catch anything, so this will
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  Speaker 3: be pretty interesting.
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  Speaker 2: Well, and this sounds like it would be absolutely amazing
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  Speaker 2: with real scream and barrow fishing safaris. I believe with
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  Speaker 2: Jared and Ursula they're keen to really try to help
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  Speaker 2: you guys out.
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  Speaker 1: But I suppose the thing is about this.
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  Speaker 2: Unfortunately, while what we've heard this morning has certainly been
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  Speaker 2: really positive and happy. You have had a bit of
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  Speaker 2: a bump along the road in the sense that you
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  Speaker 2: had booked accommodation to get here. Unfortunately, there's been some
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  Speaker 2: changes to your travel plans, Lisa, and it then meant
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  Speaker 2: that that accommodation that you previously paid for couldn't be refunded. Now,
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  Speaker 2: we won't go too much into the ins and outs
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  Speaker 2: of that, but it has sort of it's left you
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  Speaker 2: out of.
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  Speaker 1: Pocket, and so.
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  Speaker 2: You're now in a situation where really you're having to
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  Speaker 2: sort of, you know, to fork out some money to
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  Speaker 2: do some of that other stuff.
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  Speaker 1: That's right.
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  Speaker 4: Unfortunately, we booked in advance for we were meant to
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  Speaker 4: come on this Starlight Wish last year and we were
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  Speaker 4: twelve days away from leaving when COVID hit, so we
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  Speaker 4: couldn't come, and we'd prepaid all of our accommodation, booked
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  Speaker 4: this amazing looking apartment which was just going to tick
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  Speaker 4: all of our boxes. Then when we looked to read book,
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  Speaker 4: unfortunately the owner had bumped up the price by one hundred,
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  Speaker 4: if not two hundred percent. And we're caravaning people, we
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  Speaker 4: don't fork out a lot of money for accommodation. Normally,
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  Speaker 4: so what we had paid was just a bit out
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  Speaker 4: of the ordinary for us, something special, But unfortunately we
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  Speaker 4: sort of just couldn't justify the big, massive amount, and
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  Speaker 4: we tried to sort of work things with the owner.
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  Speaker 4: Unfortunately it just didn't happen. The owner didn't come to
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  Speaker 4: the party as much as we would have hope that
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  Speaker 4: she would in a just a it was very much
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  Speaker 4: more professional than personal, and we had all this money
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  Speaker 4: sort of then kept in lou which kept dwindling, and
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  Speaker 4: then when we did look at rebooking, it was like, oh,
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  Speaker 4: we could probably only afford two nights with what we'd
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  Speaker 4: paid for yep, but then we had to pay for
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  Speaker 4: a minimum four nights we would have paid extra on top,
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  Speaker 4: So unfortunately we've had to go elsewhere for our accommodation.
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  Speaker 4: It's just worked out really hard, and it's put a
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  Speaker 4: really bad taste in our mouths for something that should
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  Speaker 4: have been an absolutely amazing opportunity and just a wish
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  Speaker 4: come true. Literally, it just caused my husband and eye
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  Speaker 4: so much grief and.
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  Speaker 1: So much upset about how it worked out.
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  Speaker 2: Well. It was a shame, and we certainly don't want
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  Speaker 2: you to have a bad taste in your mouth when
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  Speaker 2: you're in Darwin. In fact, we want you guys to
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  Speaker 2: have an amazing experience. And I know that Andy, who's
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  Speaker 2: a friend of the show, had let us know as
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  Speaker 2: well that a My Cause page has been set up
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  Speaker 2: to try and raise a little bit of money to
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  Speaker 2: make sure that Sam does catch his first barrow, because
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  Speaker 2: that is also, you know, going out on a full
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  Speaker 2: day sort of fishing trip. It is an expensive process.
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  Speaker 2: So we'll make sure that we share the details up
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  Speaker 2: there on our Facebook page as well, so if there
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  Speaker 2: is anybody out there listening that maybe wants to throw
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  Speaker 2: in a little bit of money twenty dollars, ten dollars,
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  Speaker 2: whatever they want to contribute to really try to make
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  Speaker 2: sure Sam that you do have that opportunity to catch
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  Speaker 2: a first barrow.
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  Speaker 1: What would that mean to you?
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  Speaker 3: It really would mean a lot, because, as I said before,
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  Speaker 3: I've tried fishing, but I haven't really done proper fishing,
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  Speaker 3: and that's something I've always wanted to do for a
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  Speaker 3: long time, and especially up here, like in a once
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  Speaker 3: in a lifetime opportunity with borrow fishing, I'd really really
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  Speaker 3: enjoy like catching some fresh barrow Monday and trying it
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  Speaker 3: I tried someone on the game, but I'd love to
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  Speaker 3: try it fresh because you know it just it would
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  Speaker 3: mean a lot too, not just to me, but our
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  Speaker 3: whole family as well.
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  Speaker 2: It'd be a lovely thing for you to be able
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  Speaker 2: to do. And I know that real scream and fishing.
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  Speaker 2: They are keen to take you guys out. It is
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  Speaker 2: an expensive process though to have you out there for
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  Speaker 2: the whole day, so we'll I think you'll find that
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  Speaker 2: there's plenty of territories to be keen to try and
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  Speaker 2: chip in to make sure, Sam, that you can catch
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  Speaker 2: that first barre. That'd be amazing, wouldn't Ash.
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  Speaker 3: It would definitely be amazing.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it is lovely to have you guys in the
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  Speaker 2: studio this morning. As I said, we'll make sure that
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  Speaker 2: we share those details.
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  Speaker 1: Sam. You're enjoying being in Darwin though.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's amazing. I mean I've been here for one
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  Speaker 3: night so far and it's really amazing. We definitely got
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  Speaker 3: a taste for the wet season last night when I
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  Speaker 3: again arrived, it was a bit of a storm, like
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  Speaker 3: a downpour, but it's been completely different weather this morning.
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  Speaker 3: So it just gives you an insight on how the
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  Speaker 3: tropics work are yes.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Well it's set to get a little bit cooler
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  Speaker 2: hopefully over the next coming days, so hopefully it won't be.
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  Speaker 1: So warm for you. It is lovely to talk to
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  Speaker 1: you this morning. Sam.
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  Speaker 2: We really appreciate you coming in, and Lisa, we appreciate
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  Speaker 2: you coming in as well, and the whole fan like.
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  Speaker 4: Thanks so much, Gadie, and thank you everyone up here
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  Speaker 4: for doing what they're doing to help help this wish.
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  Speaker 4: This wish come true in more ways than one. It's
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  Speaker 4: just amazing how everyone's got behind it, so thank you
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  Speaker 4: so much.
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  Speaker 1: Good on you guys. Thank you. I hope you enjoy
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  Speaker 1: the rest of your trip. Thank you.
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  Speaker 2: You are listening to Mix one O four point nine's
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  Speaker 2: three sixty