Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Parks and Wildlife’s Dean McAdam says Wangai Falls has been closed to swimmers and this weekend will be the last chance for a dip at Berry Springs

Transcript

NT Parks and Wildlife’s Dean McAdam says Wangai Falls has been closed to swimmers and this weekend will be the last chance for a dip at Berry Springs · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: There is a lot happening around the place, and I
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: know a lot of us are probably looking for different
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: ways to cool down. But with the early arrival of
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the rain in the top end, a number of water
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: holes could close at short notice and for some of
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the popular spots, it may be your last chance for
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a dip. Now joining me on the line to tell
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  Speaker 1: us a little bit more is Dean McAdam, who is
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: indeed the NPT Parks and Wildlife Director for Northern Australia Parks.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Dean, Good morning Katie.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for your time this morning.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Dean.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Are there any water holes soon to be closed?
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Katie? I can report that this morning we closed wong
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Gui Falls, so that was a decision made today. Rangers
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: do everything in their power to keep these places open,
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: but unfortunately, one of the things we can't control is
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: the weather, and they've had a lot of rain and
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: the tabletop range at Litchfield and that's meant that the
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: level has risen at Wongai and it means that its
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: flows and eddies can become dangerous, and it also means
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: that it provides better connectivity and potential risk from crocodiles
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: moving up into those areas.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, so one guy. So that's literally just been
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: announced this morning.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, closures took place as of this morning. We've notified
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: all the tourism operators and you know, all the tourists
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: that are camping out there know that it's closed. There's
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: barrier fencing run up this morning and signage indicating that
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: it's closed.
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  Speaker 1: And is that is that closure earlier than what it
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: would has been in previous years.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Last year was the first week of November, but last
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: year it didn't open until the first week of August.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: This year it opened in July, so it is slightly early.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: But the rain that they've had at Lichfield over that
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: tabletop range is four times what they've had in previous octobers.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: Means is the rainfalls on the top of the tabletop
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  Speaker 3: range and then it flows down into all the waterfall
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  Speaker 3: areas at Litchfield and it pushes the water levels up
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: and can create problems and risk for visitors.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: And is that I mean, that's obviously the main reason
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  Speaker 1: it is to do with all the rainfall that we've had.
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  Speaker 3: Correct correct, We actually a couple of weeks ago had
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: to close the Ully's and Florence temporarily in the afternoon
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: because of a flash flood and it was like white
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  Speaker 3: water rafting down ULI's so really you know the rain
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: that we're getting it extraordinary out there at the moment.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right now, I know as well that well I
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: understand that Berry Springs is set to close soon.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Also, is that right?
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: There's some good news on the Very Springs front. So
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  Speaker 3: Very Springs. One of the triggers for closing Berry Springs
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  Speaker 3: is is bacterial quality of the water. Yep, we were.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: We did the do a test last week and that
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: was elevated. But according to thesclosure procedures, we have to
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: have two tests in the row and we did another
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  Speaker 3: test on Monday and we got the results that yesterday
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: showing that it had flushed. So it's going to be
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: opening again this weekend until we do another water test
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  Speaker 3: next week.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Oh good stuff, So one more weekend by the sounds
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  Speaker 2: of it.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it depends on Like I said, we do a
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: water quality test on the Monday. We usually get results
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: of back by the when they make the decision based
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: on the bacteria in the water. There was a big
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: event rainfall event out there, which flushes all the stuff
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: into the water. But the system itself has flushed all
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: that backterier out and it's at acceptable levels now. Not
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: to say that that couldn't change next week. So it's
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: sort of a week by week basis. When we get
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: into the wet season with Bairry springs, yeah, fair enough.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Now we know that it is hoss out there at
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the moment, and lots of locals and also visitors and
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: family obviously coming up over Christmas and over the coming weeks.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: What water holes are sort of guaranteed to be opened.
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: Florence generally stay open all year round. They only would
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: close for those flash flooding events or extreme rainfall events,
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  Speaker 3: and they generally stay open. They would then reopen because
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: the water goes away and moves away pretty quickly, so
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  Speaker 3: after three or four hours, the water moves down and disappears.
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  Speaker 3: So those are the two at Lichfield that are pretty
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  Speaker 3: much open. We've had to close the rentals, four will
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: drive tracks, Sandy Creeks, Surprise Falls. Campgrounds are closed. We're
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  Speaker 3: drawing to the end of a lot of places in
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  Speaker 3: terms of campground so Central Valley closes on the thirty
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  Speaker 3: first of October. You know, once we get to the
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  Speaker 3: wet season, the landscape up here doesn't make it very
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: conducive to camping. It's either hot and uncomfortable or the
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  Speaker 3: water is dangerous. Plus crocodiles are moving around. So it's
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: true something that we live with up here.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is true, isn't it? It makes it hard.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose you've got to be very adventurous, don't you
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  Speaker 1: to head out in about in the wet season.
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  Speaker 2: That's sure.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: There's plenty of swimming pools in backyards or public swimming pools,
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: there's the waterfront, there's lots of other alternatives in the
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  Speaker 3: wet season.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Now how are things going?
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  Speaker 1: Then? You know, I guess right across the board, where
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: should people sort of go to check for closures and
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: check for those sorts of things doane?
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  Speaker 3: So, going to the Parks and Wildlife Park Access website,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: you get on NAN and it's got all the parks listed.
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  Speaker 3: You can click on a park and then I'll tell
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: you what's open, what's closed, what roads are open, what's closed?
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  Speaker 3: So Mary River National Park, for instance, we've closed a
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  Speaker 3: lot of areas out their roads just getting flooded and dangerous.
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  Speaker 3: And the last of the one is people out there boxed,
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: you know, destroying and damaging roads. So yeah, going to
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  Speaker 3: the park access that give provides you with most of
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: that information and.
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  Speaker 1: Have thing's been going pretty smoothly then, you know, in
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: terms of jumping online, people booking their campsites and all
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: that kind of stuff.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been operating pretty well. We've had a lot
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: of campers using Central Valley. Instance, was the new offering
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: at Litchfield last year. One campground was opened. The whole
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: lot is open this year, so it's been a very
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: very popular acquisition. You know, most of the time. The
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: booking system works really really well, and we've addressed a
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: lot of the issues that did come up in the
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: first year, you know, mobile connectivity and stuff like that.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: It's far greater improved.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Well, that is good to hear, Dean McAdam. It is
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: good to speak to you this morning, and obviously some
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: people are going to be a bit disappointed about one guy,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: but good to hear that berry springs at this point
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: in time, those bacterial levels do mean that they're able
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: to it's able to stay.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Open a little bit longer. Yep, good stuff. Thank you,
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for having a chat with me today.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Bye O Katie.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Thank you