Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Parks And Wildlife District Manager of Top End Parks Andrew Turner says Buley Rockhole and Florence Falls have now reopened for swimming
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Well, it was a bit of an unofficial long weekend.
- 0:02Speaker 1: I think you'd have to say over the last few days.
- 0:04Speaker 1: I know that I was at work on Monday, so
- 0:06Speaker 1: it was crystal, but a lot of people did take
- 0:08Speaker 1: the opportunity to have an extra day off and many
- 0:12Speaker 1: heading out to our territory parks. And joining me on
- 0:15Speaker 1: the line is the Parks and Wildlife Commission District manager
- 0:19Speaker 1: Andrew Turner. Good morning to you, Andrew, Katie.
- 0:24Speaker 2: How am you?
- 0:24Speaker 1: Yeah, really good? Thanks so much for your time this morning. Andrew,
- 0:28Speaker 1: how were the parks over the last few days? Was
- 0:30Speaker 1: it a busy place to be?
- 0:33Speaker 2: Certainly the weekend was busy and there was quite a
- 0:35Speaker 2: few people around yesterday as well. Lots of people enjoying
- 0:39Speaker 2: the water. We opened purely and Florence Falls after some
- 0:45Speaker 2: croc surveys late last week and it was taken up
- 0:50Speaker 2: well by quite a few people.
- 0:51Speaker 1: Yeah, I was going to ask that did it end up?
- 0:54Speaker 1: Did they end up opening and how busy was it
- 0:57Speaker 1: in those areas?
- 1:00Speaker 2: But the crowds were generally well behaved. We didn't have
- 1:05Speaker 2: any reported issues out there, so lots of people in
- 1:09Speaker 2: the water, but they, as I said, they were well
- 1:11Speaker 2: behaved good and andrew.
- 1:13Speaker 1: Any croc sidings anywhere not, you know, not there at
- 1:16Speaker 1: Burely or Florence by the sounds of things. You had
- 1:19Speaker 1: those surveys last week, But any concerns with crocodiles over
- 1:22Speaker 1: the weekend or over the last few days.
- 1:25Speaker 2: Not that we're aware of. We'll be starting that work
- 1:28Speaker 2: for a number of our other camping areas and sites
- 1:31Speaker 2: over the next few days. So yeah, we'll keep you
- 1:35Speaker 2: in line if there are any sightings. We're taking a
- 1:40Speaker 2: fair bit of care this year. Obviously with a couple
- 1:43Speaker 2: of crock sidings over the wet season in Litchfield there
- 1:46Speaker 2: were quite a few animals on the move, so we
- 1:49Speaker 2: are cautious about that.
- 1:51Speaker 1: Now. Litchfield is always expected to be busy as well
- 1:54Speaker 1: when you've got a long weekend, particularly you know, we
- 1:57Speaker 1: had a few beautiful dry season esk last week was
- 2:01Speaker 1: it pretty busy in terms of camping.
- 2:05Speaker 2: The camping areas had a good take up. There was
- 2:09Speaker 2: quite a few people in Wongai, but also both the
- 2:12Speaker 2: Florence Falls campgrounds had quite a few people as well.
- 2:16Speaker 2: So we were quite happy with the sort of readiness
- 2:20Speaker 2: that we were able to achieve for the camping areas.
- 2:23Speaker 2: They were quite well hardened off. We've still got a
- 2:25Speaker 2: little bit of burning to do around those areas and
- 2:28Speaker 2: we'll get that done over the next couple of weeks,
- 2:30Speaker 2: as well as some broader scale burning on the roadsides
- 2:34Speaker 2: and some mose in the general park.
- 2:38Speaker 1: And how has that booking system been going? Is it
- 2:41Speaker 1: proving to be quite beneficial on weekends like the one
- 2:44Speaker 1: we've just had.
- 2:46Speaker 2: I think that's where it really comes into its own.
- 2:49Speaker 2: You know, when those areas get overcrowded, it's not a
- 2:52Speaker 2: great experience for anyone. So this really limits the number
- 2:56Speaker 2: of people that can access those areas, and it's sort
- 2:59Speaker 2: of guarantees he's a good experience for all the park users.
- 3:04Speaker 1: Andrew, all in all, sounds like it was a good
- 3:05Speaker 1: weekend for everyone.
- 3:08Speaker 2: Yeah, As I said Katie, we're really happy with it.
- 3:10Speaker 2: It's the start of what looks like a pretty busy year,
- 3:13Speaker 2: so looking forward to it.
- 3:15Speaker 1: Well, Andrew Turner, it's always great to catch up with you, mate.
- 3:18Speaker 1: Really appreciate your time this morning.
- 3:20Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, Thank you