Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Window on the Wetlands has reopened as the Wetland View Top, with new Manager Lynette Kenyon telling Katie about what tourists can look forward to at the re-vamped spot

Transcript

Window on the Wetlands has reopened as the Wetland View Top, with new Manager Lynette Kenyon telling Katie about what tourists can look forward to at the re-vamped spot · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We do know that the popular tourist spot, the Window
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: on the Wetlands, located on the top of the highest
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: point of the Adelaide River flood Plain. Well, it gives
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: onlookers a two seventy degree view of the Kakadoo Wetland areas.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: It's reopened to the public with a new name after
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: being brought under new management, which is a one hundred
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: percent Aboriginal owned and operated business. Now Here to tell
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: us a little bit more about the Wetland view top
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: is the Proutical Aboriginal Cultural Tours owner Lynnette Canyon. Good
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: morning to you, Lynette.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Hey, good morning, lovely to have.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: You on the show. Lynette. How long ago did you
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: take over the management of the site and how did
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: it all come about?
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Okay, cool, excellent, not too long ago. We basically, yeah,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: it was announced last October and this year we had
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: an opportunity to get in and renovate and tidy up
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: and yeah, and we've done all of that and yesterday
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: opened our doors for the very first time after it
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: being closed for over a year.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Oh, how wonderful. What was the reaction to it opening yesterday?
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: It was beautiful, It was magnificent. It was just one
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: of those moments, you know, when something means so much
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: to you and something is so special and you have
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: that opportunity to you know, to basically bring it back
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: to life. Is Yeah, it was just one of those
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: moments where everything just felt so special.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Because Lonnette, it's one of those locations that people were
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: so upset when it closed and they wondered what the
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: future would mean for that spot. Is it a place
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: that you hold, you know, in sort of in your heart.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Is it an area that that you've looked at in
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: the past and thought, oh, I'd love to be able
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: to manage that place.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Oh yes, my myself a husband when we when we
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: were teenage, we were young, and one.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Day we said, one day we would love to manage
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: that place. And yeah, and hence the reason why over
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: a decade ago we started our own business, and that
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: was so that we could learn business and learn about
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: tourism and the industry. And so over two decades now
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: to be in a position where last year when the
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: center became available, we were ready.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: So we were ready for it.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: So for us, it's been a journey. Yeah, and yesterday
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: we kicked that goal. Yeah, for our family and for
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: the future of the center.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: How awesome. We know that, like I mentioned, we know
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: that it did obviously close back in twenty twenty due
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: to declining visitor numbers. Was that a concern to you
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: or do you feel as though you'll be able to
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: get those visitor numbers back up to the standard that
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: they need to be.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Look, I think with COVID it was a concern for everyone,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: you know, and as much as it was a concern
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: for us, it wasn't just us. It was the whole
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: tear Tree, you know, it was the whole of Australia.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: So so we had great confidence that you know, it's
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: not like we had to bring the industry back ourselves.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: The you know, the the Australian government, like it was
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: their job, and then like it is the Northern Terar
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Tree Tourism's job, you know, like it is our job.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: You know, like everyone plays a role in you know,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: in in in the economy, and and we all thrive,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: you know, to to want to do good business. But
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: to bring those numbers back, you know, it's up to
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: all of us as businesses and as individuals and you know,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: in the tear Tree.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I guess providing a bit of a different
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: experience as well. Is it quite different to what it's
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: been in the past. Is there some some you know,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: some different things or your own flair that you've added
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: to it.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, most definitely. I mean, you know, like we
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: stand by why it was initially created and built in
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: the first place. So it's about the wetlands, you know,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: always has been and it always will be for us.
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: We live here like you know, this is this is
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: home and when we live in the wetlands, like we
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: live in every season, every day, and and so we're
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: never going to change the you know, the purpose of
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: why the center's been here. But yeah, but you know,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: the history, you know, the heritage, the culture, you know,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: all of that's important. And I think that's what everyone
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: looks for when they come to the terr Tree and
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: they come to any destination. They're looking for those things.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: They don't want to just know about, you know, the
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: importance of wetlands, but they also want to know, you know,
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: what kind of animals are in the wetlands, what kind
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: of people live in the wetlands, you know, all of that.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: It's all part of it. And I think for our business,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: I think we actually draw on that, so we're able
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: to enhance what it's kind of been missing.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: I reckon it sounds wonderful. I know there will be
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: so many of our listeners who are so glad to
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: hear that it has reopened. It's obviously a new name,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: new management, and I reckon it's going to be a
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: cracking spot as it always has been, but with with
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: your flair, which yeah, it sounds wonderful. You must be
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: so excited, Lennette. You must, you know, be so glad
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: that it's that it is up and running and and
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: really better than ever before.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Ah. Yeah, And that's you know, like I always say,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: this senter and like me, when me and my husband
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: looked at it many many years ago, we always said,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: it's a duel for the chair Tree, and and so
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: you know, so and knowing that and knowing that's how
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: we feel like it's a gem in the chair Tree
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: means that we're going to give it everything we have,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: like you know, all the love it needs. It's going
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: to be here and and you know, and anything that
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: you know we miss, we're going to go backtrack on
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: it and we're going to fix it. So this center
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: is never going to be unloved ever again.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Before I let you go, Leanne, I know that staff
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: shortages right around the nation, in fact, just about everywhere
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: at the moment, there are a lot of people struggling
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: to find staff in various different industries. How's it been
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: for you and for your business?
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Listen, you know, like our business has expanded now obviously, yeah,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: but look we're coping, like we have stuff. You know,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: it's a family business, so you know, so we're a
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: family and and you know, and we were and I
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: think that's the benefit of when you run a family business,
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: like if you you know, if your family six.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: Together, then you know you can do it.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: And we did that, like when we started our own.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: Business over fifteen years ago.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: We did that. And now to take on this because
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: it's been the working progress journey to get here, means
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: you know, we knew what we were in for and
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: we know how to do it. So starting ways, we've
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: got it.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Covin, Well, wonderful stuff. Lynette Cannon from the Wetland View Top.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: We absolutely are so pleased to hear that it's really
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: opened and really pleased to have a chat with you
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: this morning.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, nice Katy, thank you.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Oh no, worries it all. Like I say, I think
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: it's fabulous that it has reopened and with your flair,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: it's going to be amazing. So I appreciate your time today.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: With our flat. It's going to shine awesome.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Love it, love it, Lynette, good on you. Thank you
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: so much.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Katie, thanks very much your time. You two