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Discover Tropical North Queensland with Mark Olsen · The Drive Straya Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_00: G'day, and welcome to Drive Stralia, the show where we chuck a swag in the back, crank the tunes, and chase the horizon from one end of this ridiculously beautiful country to the other.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Tony George.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: And if you're new here, well, here's the deal.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: This is a podcast about what we all love the most.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: That is Drive Straya.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: We're going to get under the bonnet of Australia's drive market, take the engine apart, explore what makes it tick, and even shampoo the mud flaps and chat with the people and personalities who bring Australia's road trip experiences to life.
0:36
SPEAKER_00: From iconic drives and hidden gems to great places to stay and things to see and do, we'll share epic insider tips and a stack of stories and adventures from the road.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: Plus, we'll bring you inspiration and help guide you towards making your next Drive Straya road trip one to remember.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: And today's guest, well, they're an absolute ripper.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: This episode of the Drive Australia podcast, we're going to motor up to Tropical North Queensland, the World Heritage Listed wet tropics of Queensland, because you just can't talk about Australian road trip culture without talking about this magnificent region.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: Joining me today is the head honch, the big cheese, the CEO of Tourism Tropical North Queensland, Mark Olson.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: Now, Tropical North Queensland is one of those most diversely beautiful and powerful Australian tourism stories.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: And Mark and his incredible team at Tourism Tropical North Queensland are so proud and passionate to market this region to the world through stories founded around reef, rainforest, indigenous, and adventure.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: So we're going to get into it.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: How Mark first fell into tourism in the first place, describe some of the best products offered to drive visitors to the region, and a stack of information to make any potential holiday maker want to run out right now, pack the case and get in the car and go.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: So whether you're driving right now or stuck at a desk dreaming of your next escape or genuinely planning on doing a lap of this great country, pull up a chair, get comfy in that car seat of yours, because this chat, it's going to be a cracker right now.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: It's a very big drive strayer.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to you, the man, the myth, the heavy lifter of tourism tropical North Queensland, Mark Olsen.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: How are you, mate?
2:43
SPEAKER_03: Mate here in the Kingswood, uh, ready to hit the road together.
2:48
SPEAKER_03: Plenty of fun to be had.
2:49
SPEAKER_03: Windows down, radio cranking.
2:51
SPEAKER_03: And uh time to tell some stories and share some insights.
2:55
SPEAKER_03: Why not?
2:56
SPEAKER_00: Watch out with that branding from that old steel seat belt on the Kingswood, too.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: My dad had one to look at.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: Right, Ape.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: Seat belts, yes.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: Let's get into it, mate.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: Now I've been lucky enough to know you a few years now, and the one thing that always strikes not only myself but the other people who know you is how much you love, live, and breathe tourism.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: And I would imagine that would be most of your life.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: You're born in Bundy, then moved to Brisy in your teens.
3:24
SPEAKER_00: Can you tell me a little bit about the pathway and journey of a very young Mark Olsen into tourism?
3:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, born in Brisbane, actually.
3:32
SPEAKER_03: Um, but family's all from Bundaberg.
3:34
SPEAKER_03: So constant road tripping.
3:35
SPEAKER_03: Um, mum was single mum, um living in Brisbane, going back and forth, back and forth constantly between Brisy and Bundy, um, with family was all there.
3:44
SPEAKER_03: Um 1990, got offered the opportunity, as uh grade 10 students do to do work experience.
3:51
SPEAKER_03: And my brother's best mate had road tripped, because he's a surfer, from Brizzy up to Cairns and uh was working at the Radisson.
3:59
SPEAKER_03: And I was hearing all the stories about tourism.
4:01
SPEAKER_03: And I really not had a huge amount to do with tourism in 1990.
4:05
SPEAKER_03: I did my work experience at the Park Royal, I fell in love with the industry.
4:09
SPEAKER_03: I started working in a small um hotel in Brisbane, um up at Spring Hill, and um yeah, and have never stopped working in the industry since 1990 to today.
4:19
SPEAKER_03: It's the only industry I've ever worked in.
4:22
SPEAKER_03: The people, the places, and the opportunity, it is pretty rare.
4:26
SPEAKER_03: Like we get to go to some pretty special places and we get to see people kind of light up.
4:32
SPEAKER_03: We've talked about it a thousand times.
4:34
SPEAKER_03: But when you put someone into an environment that engenders awe, when they are awestruck, an awesome experience, um, you feel it, right?
4:46
SPEAKER_03: You really feel the connection that they've had, that love it.
4:49
SPEAKER_03: The goosebumps come up, they're having an amazing time, the sunset, the moment, the sounds, whatever it might be.
4:56
SPEAKER_03: Our job in tourism is to get them out of their everyday landscape, drop them into one of these awesome experiences, and just watch it happen.
5:03
SPEAKER_03: And you're making memories, yeah, for sure, that's a throwaway.
5:07
SPEAKER_03: But you know that you're changing that person forever.
5:09
SPEAKER_03: Like you're you're creating a whole new neural pathway, a whole new story to tell.
5:15
SPEAKER_03: And that's what people want to do, whether it's, you know, the odyssey that we're all uh you know talking about now, it's the story that you come back with that kind of defines you as a person.
5:26
SPEAKER_03: And tourism is all about the story you come back with.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: It's an interesting point you make because uh in doing a little bit of research with you, um, I did read that uh early on, uh whether it was in your career or as a man, uh you were taken onto country near Murray Upper, Tully, yeah.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, and got to walk uh through that land with the traditional owners.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: That must have had such an effect on you.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: What what shifted within you that day?
5:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like second year uni, um, I was all about the natural environment.
5:58
SPEAKER_03: I was heading off to be a park ranger, that's what I wanted to do.
6:02
SPEAKER_03: I was studying tourism, but I always wanted to work on tourism, not in tourism.
6:07
SPEAKER_03: I wasn't a hotel person, although I was working in hotels to earn a living.
6:12
SPEAKER_03: And watching that guide step off the track silently.
6:18
SPEAKER_03: Like he's walking through the leaf litter in a tropical rainforest, talking to us while we're staying on the path because we're very compliant second-year uni students, and just talking about the environment.
6:30
SPEAKER_03: And immediately you realized that wasn't just his life experience he was sharing.
6:35
SPEAKER_03: He was sharing the life experience of all the people that had been before him, all the lessons that had been learned on how you put two types of sap together to create an instant arrow diet.
6:46
SPEAKER_03: Um, where the food comes from, when it grows, where it grows, how to know what's changing, what different colours of leaves mean in terms of the season to come, what fish to catch and when.
6:58
SPEAKER_03: Like this is such a complex system.
7:00
SPEAKER_03: You know, you could write a whole book on it, but they've passed it down orally over thousands of generations.
7:05
SPEAKER_03: And to see the comfort that he walked around that rainforest and the way you're comfortable walking around your house at night, he wouldn't have needed his eyes open.
7:14
SPEAKER_03: He could have easily walked through that rainforest with his eyes closed, avoiding the um the wait a while, knowing where everything was.
7:22
SPEAKER_03: And it was a pretty inspiring moment to go imagine being that connected to a place in the natural world as we are to the places that we grew up, you know, our family homes, um, where you know every inch of that environment.
7:34
SPEAKER_03: He knew every inch of that place.
7:36
SPEAKER_03: Um and he spoke quietly.
7:39
SPEAKER_03: Everything seemed to be completely in its place.
7:44
SPEAKER_03: Nothing felt out of place.
7:46
SPEAKER_03: Nothing was too loud, nothing was too boisterous, nothing was too pompous.
7:51
SPEAKER_03: Um, it was a really honest, really authentic, really informative window into someone else's world.
7:58
SPEAKER_03: And as I've said to a million people since then, my eyes, literally the the outer, you know, the outer skin of my eye change because I could never see rainforest the same way again.
8:09
SPEAKER_03: When I'd seen a peopled place, a connection over that length of time, you see the world differently.
8:16
SPEAKER_03: And you can't undo that.
8:17
SPEAKER_03: You don't want to undo that, but you simply cannot undo that.
8:19
SPEAKER_03: When you see that, feel that, experience that, and when you find those moments, you know, sat in some pretty amazing places and just watched the world go by, and that changes you.
8:29
SPEAKER_03: It stays with you.
8:30
SPEAKER_03: It's a little piece of calm that you take with you, it's a little learning that you have.
8:35
SPEAKER_03: You know, Oprah talks about the aha moment.
8:37
SPEAKER_03: That was an aha moment for me.
8:39
SPEAKER_03: I was like, aha, I got this.
8:41
SPEAKER_03: And if I can bring people from around the world to stand where I'm standing now, they will enter into a transaction where someone with, in some cases, too much money and not enough knowledge will learn from someone with so much knowledge and not a lot of money.
8:57
SPEAKER_03: And they will do so so happily, so joyfully, they'll leave as best friends and the money exchange will disappear.
9:05
SPEAKER_03: But for that guide and for that community, life-changing to have that kind of income to do just what they know how to do best.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: Walk on country.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: That must have been so incredibly powerful for you.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh so through the years, um, you'd you'd been a regional manager with Tropical North Queensland, uh Tourism and uh Events Queensland.
9:29
SPEAKER_00: Then after that, uh is it true you became founding chair of the Savannah Way?
9:33
SPEAKER_03: I did, yeah, through that.
9:35
SPEAKER_03: So I I first joined Tourism and Events Queensland, or then QTTC at the time, um, in 1999.
9:42
SPEAKER_03: And I was appointed regional director for Townsville and Tropical North Queensland.
9:47
SPEAKER_03: Um Ian Keene was CEO at the time.
9:49
SPEAKER_03: And it was a boom time for reef and rainforests, you know, the investment that had been made, the reef fleet was going off.
9:56
SPEAKER_03: And the Gulf Savannah, um, the Gulf Local Areas Development Authority and John Um Courtney, um, they were saying, look, this country out here is underrepresented.
10:07
SPEAKER_03: Um and Ian gave me free reign.
10:09
SPEAKER_03: He's like, you go ahead and do that.
10:11
SPEAKER_03: You know, we've got international campaigns to run, we've got to do all this work in the Japan market.
10:16
SPEAKER_03: You have a crack at dispersal to the West.
10:19
SPEAKER_03: And um, yeah, we we sat down in '99, we scoped a plan to connect Cairns to Broome.
10:27
SPEAKER_03: There was a thing called the Great Top Road, which was like an itinerary to get you from Cairns to Darwin.
10:31
SPEAKER_03: Uh it was a bit of a wobbly old road.
10:33
SPEAKER_03: Um, and with John Courtney and a core group, we formed a national alliance um to promote Northern Australia.
10:40
SPEAKER_03: We ran a program uh and a competition with the schools to name it, and they called it the Savannah Way.
10:45
SPEAKER_03: Um, I designed the logo on my desktop computer, the one you still see on the signs today.
10:50
SPEAKER_03: Um, is is my dodgy drawing of the time.
10:52
SPEAKER_03: Somebody did some grading of the colours, but it's it's my sketchy hand that drew the little blue line across the top.
10:59
SPEAKER_03: Um, we convinced uh Joe Hockey, who was tourism minister in 2001, um, to fund the signage from one side of the country to the other.
11:07
SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, we put all the interpretive bays in, we work with all the TOs, collected a huge amount of stories, photographs, um, and yeah, and told the story of Savannah Way.
11:18
SPEAKER_03: And I was appointed by John, um who was really the driving force behind it, John Courtney, one of my great mentors, um, to be co-chair with Kate Sutcliffe, who was Golf Savannah Development CEO at the time.
11:29
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, and I've been involved in Savannah Way basically ever since I'm I'm back in the deputy chair's role um behind Bram Collins and Jerry uh Bramstad and I worked really closely on Savannah Way in its earliest days.
11:42
SPEAKER_03: It's like a galvanizing force, right?
11:44
SPEAKER_03: It's something that we could all believe in.
11:47
SPEAKER_03: And we were blown away by how the world responded.
11:50
SPEAKER_03: You know, the the German Office of Uurism Queensland at the time, Kai Osterman, he just he just grabbed hold of it.
11:58
SPEAKER_03: And next thing you know, there's a German website for the Savannah Way, a journalist coming from German-speaking Europe, bumping along.
12:06
SPEAKER_03: We did a deal with Britz Maui.
12:08
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, it just took off.
12:10
SPEAKER_03: It was such a fun thing to be involved in because you're you're at the grassroots.
12:15
SPEAKER_03: Um it's it's not the traditional north-south path that Australia is known for.
12:20
SPEAKER_03: People bumped their way up and down between Cairns and Sydney, you know, the great track, and a few people were heading inland.
12:26
SPEAKER_03: Um, I'd worked with Pete Nichols and the guys on the Matilda Highway.
12:29
SPEAKER_03: I'd done some work on the Overlanders way.
12:32
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, it was a lot of fun to play with Savannah Way.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: Just going to jump in.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: So uh for for listeners that are sitting in the chair right now and haven't done the Savannah Way, you must have done it numerous times, I would imagine.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: Just just uh give a brief description, if you can, as to your earliest memories of traveling across and some of the the outstanding sites that you see along that way.
12:54
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so it traverses from Cairns through Catherine over to Broome.
13:00
SPEAKER_03: Um it's what we call a braided route.
13:02
SPEAKER_03: We always designed it that there was never one way to drive it.
13:05
SPEAKER_03: It's it's a way of traveling rather than a road to travel.
13:09
SPEAKER_03: So there's a fully off-road version, there's a mostly sealed version.
13:14
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
13:14
SPEAKER_03: Um, but we always thought about people being able to fly parts, cruise parts.
13:19
SPEAKER_03: Um, in fact, when we launched it, um, we launched it with Ben Dark, who used to be on um uh Channel 9.
13:27
SPEAKER_03: Um, and and Ben did it in a single prop glider.
13:32
SPEAKER_03: Um so he flew because he wanted to see the Morning Glory Cloud Formation um over um the Gulf of Carpentaria.
13:39
SPEAKER_03: But you go through these incredible changes in landscape.
13:43
SPEAKER_03: You know, you're leaving Cairns, you're heading up the World Heritage Rainforest through this incredibly beautiful and steep um mountain ridge through totally enclosed rainforests, and you come out into the tablelands, rich, fertile um, you know, uh tablelands, waterfalls, you know, coffee plantations.
14:04
SPEAKER_03: You hit the 40 mile scrub and you leave the tablelands, rich fertile land, and you enter the Mitchell grass downs.
14:11
SPEAKER_03: Um you're out onto cattle country and you're in volcanic country.
14:16
SPEAKER_03: You know, this is the world's longest lava tubes, andara.
14:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
14:19
SPEAKER_03: You're seeing the one of the youngest gorges in the world, Cobalt Gorge, and you're heading out through the Mitchell Grass Downs into the sand plains and salt pans of Carumba, Normanton, um, Burktown.
14:31
SPEAKER_03: And then you get a totally different landscape again.
14:34
SPEAKER_03: You hit Hell's Gate before you hit the NT border, and you're into this uplift country, this rocky country again from these big plains.
14:44
SPEAKER_03: Um, through there, you head up through Limon National Park and you're in that limestone country, so ancient um reef uh limestone country, coming in um through the Daily Waters and uh and into Nitmalok Catherine Gorge.
15:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
15:00
SPEAKER_03: From there out to the Keep River, the landscape just keeps changing.
15:04
SPEAKER_03: It lifts, it falls, it opens, it closes in.
15:07
SPEAKER_03: Um, of course, you head across the WA border and one of the most spectacular sites on earth, Pernolulu, um, the Bungle Bungles.
15:15
SPEAKER_03: Um from there, you can either take Gibb River Road or you can head um on the Northern Highway and you land in Broom, like this incredible vista with you know, the camels on the beach and these sunsets and this huge tidal range.
15:31
SPEAKER_03: And you've just had the most incredible change of landscape.
15:35
SPEAKER_03: And every moment you're traveling, it's changing under your wheels.
15:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
15:38
SPEAKER_03: It feels like same, same, but different, but it's definitely not.
15:43
SPEAKER_03: And that's what kind of inspired me that all of these little side shoots and and off-ramps give you an opportunity to see the landscape so differently.
15:51
SPEAKER_03: That's where my wife and I fell in love with bird watching because the trees change height, the soil types change, so the bird life changes, the colors change, where to look, what to look for changes.
16:05
SPEAKER_03: You understand what's under your feet, what's in the ground, what's above you.
16:10
SPEAKER_03: Um, and yeah, and I think it's a truly Australian experience.
16:13
SPEAKER_03: You know, the the colours of the sunrise and sunsets, they're incredible.
16:18
SPEAKER_03: Like all of those paintings you've seen, like all those famous photographs, you get to see all of that because the landscape is so big.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: Mark, you you paint a wonderful picture, you really do.
16:28
SPEAKER_00: And uh I'm sure there are people out there marking this on their maps right now as to a bucket list item.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: I want to take you back though, uh, to your role as CEO with Tourism Tropical North Queensland.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: That organization traces back to 1975 and uh where they had general managers through those days, but from 1998, I found in my research that uh you you were only the sixth CEO of Tourism Tropical North Queensland since it changed over in 98.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm wondering, I'll put to you, what does it mean to inherit that sort of legacy?
17:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, look, I think it's a really important question for anyone coming into an organization with a long history is you're there for a reason and you're there for a season.
17:17
SPEAKER_03: That might be two, four coming up for me, seven years in the chair.
17:23
SPEAKER_03: But it's our it's our responsibility to the CEOs and to all the members that have supported that organization over that period of time to make it better, to make the foundation more stable, and to leave it better than you found it.
17:37
SPEAKER_03: So everyone all the time is working in that, you know, Japanese Kaizen, the constant improvement.
17:44
SPEAKER_03: Um, that's our job.
17:46
SPEAKER_03: The landscape that we work in changes every single day.
17:49
SPEAKER_03: And people say to me, Oh, the time, you know, wow, the time that you came into, you know, we've been through COVID, we've been through, you know, 2019, the bushfires, um, we've been through significant changes, cyclone Jasper, all of those things.
18:06
SPEAKER_03: But every single one of my predecessors and everyone who's ever worked for Tourism Tropical North Queensland has been through incredibly dynamic times.
18:14
SPEAKER_03: Tourism constantly changes, it never stands still.
18:16
SPEAKER_03: That's what's amazing about it.
18:18
SPEAKER_03: It isn't as predictable as accounting, the rules change all the time.
18:21
SPEAKER_03: Um, you can write them down, but they're probably not true in a few years' time.
18:25
SPEAKER_03: They're certainly different today to where I was when I joined the organization in 2019.
18:30
SPEAKER_03: So there's definitely a responsibility for anyone coming in to do their part to go beyond the everyday, the business as usual.
18:40
SPEAKER_03: There is no business as usual.
18:41
SPEAKER_03: You've got to stretch the business.
18:43
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
18:43
SPEAKER_03: Um, we're not gifted with a big population at our doorstep.
18:47
SPEAKER_03: People don't turn up just for kicks.
18:50
SPEAKER_03: Most people who come tropical North Queensland come for a holiday.
18:54
SPEAKER_03: And on any given day, there are more international holiday makers than domestic holiday makers.
18:59
SPEAKER_03: That is no small feat.
19:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
19:01
SPEAKER_03: The average person is traveling three to five thousand kilometres to come here.
19:06
SPEAKER_03: It's not a drop down the road.
19:07
SPEAKER_03: You don't jump in the car on a Friday night and go, where are we going to be tomorrow morning?
19:11
SPEAKER_03: It's a little bigger than that.
19:12
SPEAKER_03: It's a little bigger than that.
19:13
SPEAKER_03: So we have to work that much harder to create the reason why.
19:17
SPEAKER_03: And people's time and money are so precious to them.
19:20
SPEAKER_03: Any destination that's worth its salt is working every day to lift that value equation of what do I get for my time and what do I get for my money.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: Look, I'm um interested also that you spoke about uh your legacy now as leader, but also some of the previous leaders beforehand.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: At reading that uh Tropical North Queensland has the highest concentration of eco-certified tourism operations in Australia.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, 182 experiences, 62 companies are credited under Eco-Tourism Australia.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: Can you explain to us um uh what the driving force of that has been, and probably more importantly, why has this region gone further than most on eco-certification?
20:04
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, look, there's a couple of driving forces there.
20:07
SPEAKER_03: So anyone who lives here is connected to nature.
20:11
SPEAKER_03: You can't help yourself.
20:12
SPEAKER_03: You have to get out.
20:14
SPEAKER_03: Um, whether it be for entertainment um or the adventure, everybody here is out and about.
20:20
SPEAKER_03: And I'm sure that happens across the world.
20:23
SPEAKER_03: But you're talking about places that are truly rare and unique.
20:27
SPEAKER_03: So the only place in the world where two natural world heritage areas meet.
20:31
SPEAKER_03: But that's not the driving force.
20:34
SPEAKER_03: That's created by the community.
20:37
SPEAKER_03: So back in the 50s, the tourism industry was taking Crown of Thorn starfish off the reefs around Green Island.
20:43
SPEAKER_03: It was the tourism industry that created what's now called Eye on the Reef.
20:47
SPEAKER_03: It created the Crown of Thorns management, uh, it supported the um creation of the World Heritage Area for the rainforest.
20:55
SPEAKER_03: It led the conversation that said, actually, if you protect it, we'll create a better economy.
21:00
SPEAKER_03: We get it, we understand timber, we understand the potential of mining the Great Barrier Reef in the 1970s.
21:08
SPEAKER_03: But if you let us use it as a classroom and if you let us create life-changing experiences, we'll create a bigger economy than you could from extracting it.
21:17
SPEAKER_03: Right.
21:18
SPEAKER_03: Um, and I think that's always been here this idea of if you give us a crack, we will turn this into a job generator and we'll make it better than we found it.
21:27
SPEAKER_03: We'll we'll try our hardest every day to make it, you know, to leave it better than we found it.
21:31
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
21:32
SPEAKER_03: So it's the industry that drives us towards focusing on regenerative tourism, tourism that gives back, not extractive tourism that takes away.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
21:41
SPEAKER_03: Uh it's the industry that drives that focus on eco-tourism.
21:45
SPEAKER_03: They've been rewarded along the way.
21:47
SPEAKER_03: So there's been a reason to do that.
21:49
SPEAKER_03: So longer permits on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
21:52
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
21:52
SPEAKER_03: Um, so operators don't compete for space on the marine park.
21:57
SPEAKER_03: They obtain a permit.
22:00
SPEAKER_03: That permit is in many cases exclusive, exclusive use for a particular area.
22:04
SPEAKER_03: And you can get a longer permit by meeting that environmental obligation.
22:07
SPEAKER_03: That was a lot of foresight from the Reef Authority, the Great Burial Marine Park Authority, but that's rewarded that activity along the way.
22:15
SPEAKER_03: Right.
22:15
SPEAKER_03: The consumer doesn't naturally pay more for an eco-accredited experience.
22:19
SPEAKER_03: That's not how the world of the economy works.
22:22
SPEAKER_03: It's a differentiator between similar products.
22:24
SPEAKER_03: But I think that foresight from the management authority to say, let's incentivize doing the right thing beyond the BAU.
22:34
SPEAKER_03: I think that's a really key theme of everyone here.
22:38
SPEAKER_03: People push beyond the BAU all the time.
22:40
SPEAKER_03: They could always meet the minimum standard, but they keep pushing.
22:54
SPEAKER_03: That's happening not because it makes economic sense, because it doesn't right now.
22:58
SPEAKER_03: It happens because of that.
23:00
SPEAKER_03: Let's do it better.
23:01
SPEAKER_03: Let's be better than BAU.
23:03
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
23:04
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: Makes total sense.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: Now, some of the other in talking to some of our listeners uh previously, and we touched on Savannah Way and some of the magnificent journeys they can do by car, the one that seems to come up the most for people's bucket lists is the cans to the tip.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: For sure.
23:24
SPEAKER_00: The tip of Cape York.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: Have you done it?
23:27
SPEAKER_03: I have done it in part.
23:28
SPEAKER_03: So I've never taken the time to drive all the way up and back.
23:32
SPEAKER_03: I've done basically every section of it in in different trips, which is truly enjoyable.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: Can you take us through a little bit?
23:40
SPEAKER_00: So for the person that's planning it, well, any tips or or you know, set a scene for us as to what that they can expect.
23:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, look, I there's so much advice online.
23:51
SPEAKER_03: There are many more people much more qualified than me to talk about the technical side of it.
23:56
SPEAKER_03: The piece I would add to the equation is leave time and take time for the unexpected to occur.
24:04
SPEAKER_03: Um, yes, technically you might come across something a little unexpected because there's still some pretty incredible sections.
24:10
SPEAKER_03: Um and remember, we're not talking about a last frontier.
24:15
SPEAKER_03: This is not a wilderness.
24:16
SPEAKER_03: This is people's homes, you know.
24:18
SPEAKER_03: This is where um the people of Cape York live and recreate.
24:22
SPEAKER_03: So be really conscious of that and take time for some of those really nice, unexpected moments to happen.
24:29
SPEAKER_03: You know, the wildlife is second to none, the vistas are incredible.
24:34
SPEAKER_03: Yep, you can definitely test your capabilities uh in terms of the technical stuff.
24:39
SPEAKER_03: Um, but you can do that in a four-wheel drive park.
24:41
SPEAKER_03: You know, treat it gently.
24:43
SPEAKER_03: Um, in my world, it deserves to be a World Heritage Area in status.
24:48
SPEAKER_03: The community is divided on that, and it doesn't matter to us whether it is or it isn't, it should be treated as though it is a world-class asset, because it absolutely is.
24:56
SPEAKER_03: Everything from rock art to wildlife to the unique uh landscapes.
25:01
SPEAKER_03: But I I think if I was planning a trip to Cape York, I try to squeeze out as much time as I could to not rush it.
25:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
25:09
SPEAKER_03: Um get off the beaten track, take your time, and um yeah, and be s be prepared to be ex uh to be really surprised.
25:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
25:18
SPEAKER_03: Um there's yeah, there's some incredible side trips to take.
25:21
SPEAKER_03: And I think one of the best things, you know, they talk a lot in the drive world about the orders, you know, you ought to do this and you ought to do that, you know?
25:29
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
25:29
SPEAKER_03: Um take the time to listen to people who are aligned to your way of traveling and and and take the side trips.
25:38
SPEAKER_03: Take the moment to take the side trips.
25:40
SPEAKER_03: Don't rush it, don't try to bash your way to the tip.
25:43
SPEAKER_03: That's not a way to enjoy a holiday on Cape York.
25:47
SPEAKER_03: Pajinka um is a destination, but it's the journey that really fulfills you.
25:52
SPEAKER_03: And you're gonna find some absolutely incredible moments.
25:56
SPEAKER_03: Um, the best thing is what no one has told you about.
26:00
SPEAKER_03: So yeah, it's a place of secrets and and it should remain that way.
26:04
SPEAKER_03: Um, every traveler should share some and keep some to themselves.
26:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, fantastic.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we are blessed really for around the Cairns region.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: You you people here just have got such a diverse range of things to see and do.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: Adventure tourism must you must you must have seen great growth in that during the time.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: What do you think it is around this region that that sets adventure tourism apart from everywhere else?
26:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think it's the reward for the effort, you know.
26:35
SPEAKER_03: So if you hike to Bartlefare or Belladin Kerr, one of the two two of the highest mountains in Queensland, uh, the payoff is incredible.
26:43
SPEAKER_03: Uh our eldest just went with his mates just up to the pyramid on Friday, hike to the top and look around.
26:49
SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, he's a 17-year-old grade 12 student.
26:54
SPEAKER_03: He's pretty hard to impress.
26:55
SPEAKER_03: Um, I've had a few of those.
26:59
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, it's usually Ho Harman a little bit more of that.
27:02
SPEAKER_03: Um, they absolutely loved it.
27:04
SPEAKER_03: You know, he was blown away.
27:05
SPEAKER_03: He was like, Dad, you can't believe it.
27:07
SPEAKER_03: The view from up there is incredible.
27:09
SPEAKER_03: I think that's what it is, the reward for the effort.
27:11
SPEAKER_03: You know, you go white water rafting down the tulley, you get to the end, the reward for the effort is right there.
27:16
SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, you drive the peninsula development road, you take some of the side traps, you find yourself standing at the most northern point of the mainland, and there's a huge reward for your effort.
27:27
SPEAKER_03: I I think that's what it is.
27:28
SPEAKER_03: You get this, you get the reward, but you can't rush it.
27:31
SPEAKER_03: That's the thing, you know?
27:32
SPEAKER_03: You've got to take that moment to acknowledge where you are, what you're doing, and how truly special these places are.
27:38
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, and give a little back.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: We also spoke about earlier um about you know your very special time walking with the elders uh on country.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to touch also that um within the region here around Cairns and the tropical uh North Queensland, that uh the offer uh to visitors here wanting uh guided experiences uh indigenous-wise, explaining country culture and conservation, not just the scenery.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: They want to experience that.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh what what can operators uh offer to tourists coming up?
28:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we're so lucky.
28:17
SPEAKER_03: Um we've got a a big chunk of our population here, 14% identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
28:24
SPEAKER_03: They've got thousands of generations of connection to place, and within that comes language, uh an understanding of the landscape.
28:33
SPEAKER_03: So anytime you get a chance to spend time on country with someone who has spent that much time in a place, you've got to take it, right?
28:41
SPEAKER_03: It doesn't matter where you go in the world.
28:43
SPEAKER_03: Nice to go with a guide who's lived in the place for six months.
28:46
SPEAKER_03: But if you get to go with somebody whose great, great, great, great, great, great-grandparents also walked on that same place and then add a couple thousand more on top of that.
28:56
SPEAKER_03: There's something really special about that.
28:58
SPEAKER_03: They're gonna give you an insight into that place that no book is ever going to give you.
29:02
SPEAKER_03: So we're blessed.
29:03
SPEAKER_03: Um, we've got about nearly 50 indigenous uh experiences here in the region that are bookable from right up in the Torres Strait um down to Cardwell.
29:14
SPEAKER_03: Um, you can walk on country, you can catch a mud crab, um, you can stay out at Tularoo on Newman country, rock art, you know, one of the 10 most important rock art sites on earth, behind those in France.
29:27
SPEAKER_03: Um, there's some truly special places that we get to go to.
29:32
SPEAKER_03: Um, Indigenous experiences of the Great Barrier Reef.
29:36
SPEAKER_03: It's kind of, yeah, it's it's a smoggus board of opportunity.
29:40
SPEAKER_03: What you're getting is a knowledge of place that as relatively recent arrivals, no matter how long you've been here, or you're a relatively recent arrival for someone who's been here 40,000 years, um, you haven't quite grasped yet.
29:56
SPEAKER_03: And they do, and I love that.
29:58
SPEAKER_03: I just love the way that they can going back to our Murray Upper experience or walking on country up near Laura, like their knowledge of the landscape and what got it to where it is, it can't be learned in a book, and that's the that's the great bit about it.
30:12
SPEAKER_03: And not just here, like we're lucky, but I've had incredible experiences down on the south coast of New South Wales, Beager, Eden, um, that country, their knowledge of the geological formations and what created it has only now been matched by the science.
30:27
SPEAKER_03: You know, science is often catching up to traditional knowledge of places.
30:32
SPEAKER_03: We see it on the reef.
30:33
SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, we talk about it all the time.
30:35
SPEAKER_03: Like if Aboriginal people have been here, say 40,000 years, we just took a round number, yeah, 40,000 years, the reef's only been there nine, right?
30:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:42
SPEAKER_03: So the Great Barrier Reef, the one we love, has only been in its current location for 9,000 years.
30:47
SPEAKER_03: So imagine that if in your family history, one of the icons of the world grew in your backyard, you're gonna have a connection with it, right?
30:54
SPEAKER_03: You're gonna have a knowledge of it and a and a connection to that that is different to something that was there when you got there.
31:01
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
31:01
SPEAKER_03: I just love that.
31:02
SPEAKER_03: I love that idea.
31:03
SPEAKER_03: Um, this incredible um thriving ecosystem, the Great Barrier Reef is actually one of the youngest reefs on Earth.
31:09
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
31:09
SPEAKER_03: And that Aboriginal people watched it come up on top of the old reef that's a couple of million years old.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: It's incredible, some of the stories.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: It really is.
31:17
SPEAKER_00: It really is.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh next thing I want to touch on uh with you is what I consider to be one of the great slogans of our time.
31:27
SPEAKER_00: And and I know that you're running uh Tourism Tropical North Queensland, but your slogan is to tourists see great, leave greater.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: The moment that I read that, it resonated deeply with me because I think everybody that's been whether it be a family holiday or or just something that they've done as a couple or with kids or whatever, that is what you really want out of a holiday to see great, but to leave greater than what you were.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: I wonder what uh as a leader, what you want people to understand about this place by the time they leave.
32:07
SPEAKER_03: So there are so many different types of experiences you can have.
32:11
SPEAKER_03: So, in a purely economic sense, more than two and a half thousand bookable experiences in the destination.
32:16
SPEAKER_03: That's a lot, right?
32:17
SPEAKER_03: That is more than most capital cities can offer.
32:20
SPEAKER_03: There's really not too many destinations who have got so many people who want to take you out.
32:25
SPEAKER_03: So, what that means is that there's kind of a a little level up for absolutely everybody.
32:32
SPEAKER_03: So if there's something you've always wanted to do to push yourself that little bit further, there's someone here who wants to take you to do that.
32:39
SPEAKER_03: So this idea of leaving greater is, you know, watching kids who are afraid of the deep water going out on their first reef trip, first with the um um, you know, the the noodle, and then next thing you know, they're off, right?
32:54
SPEAKER_03: Like you see the kids holding mum or dad's hand, they get the confidence.
32:58
SPEAKER_03: That kid leaves greater, right?
33:00
SPEAKER_03: They leave with a confidence in themselves and a connection to that place that they're always gonna have.
33:05
SPEAKER_03: And someone's gonna say, you know, what are some of your favorite moments from growing up?
33:09
SPEAKER_03: That's our dream is that they'll reflect back on a holiday in tropical North Queensland and go, the first bungee jump, skydive, you know, first time I saw a Cassawary, you know, white lip green tree frog, um, climbed my first big mountain, jumped off a little waterfall into a deep pool, stuff that we all do all the time and we teach our kids to be respectful and connected to place.
33:34
SPEAKER_03: There's one of those for everyone.
33:36
SPEAKER_03: If you want to do a really hard one, do a really hard one.
33:38
SPEAKER_03: If you wanted to do an easy one, there's one that's just a little bit harder.
33:42
SPEAKER_03: So this idea of leaving greater and knowing that by coming here and being a part of it, the people who are working in the industry care enough to want to make sure that what you experienced, your great-grandkids could also experience.
33:57
SPEAKER_03: So we want to make sure that the natural environment, the cultural sites, the air, the water, that everything is as good today as it will be in generations to come.
34:09
SPEAKER_03: So we want to make sure that you're not doing any harm.
34:12
SPEAKER_03: This is not an extractive industry.
34:14
SPEAKER_03: We're not taking away from the landscape to give you a moment.
34:17
SPEAKER_03: You're actually helping us look after this place because you know, we say it all the time.
34:21
SPEAKER_03: But like tropical North Queensland, from halfway between Cairns and Townsville, little town of Cardwell, across to the NT and up through the Torres Strait onto the border of uh of Papua New Guinea, twice the size of Victoria.
34:35
SPEAKER_03: So for every resident, there's about one square kilometer of land that we are solely responsible for.
34:41
SPEAKER_03: If we were to all look after this country, without tourism, it's really hard to do that.
34:45
SPEAKER_03: It's a really big place.
34:46
SPEAKER_03: Like you look at Victoria, it's 33 people per square kilometer, and here is one.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:52
SPEAKER_03: So that's not Tokyo.
34:54
SPEAKER_03: That's not that's not Shanghai.
34:56
SPEAKER_03: You can take it to the next level, and you're like, now it's hundreds of people per square kilometer.
35:01
SPEAKER_03: We just got one person per square kilometer.
35:03
SPEAKER_03: So when we get a visitor, then we get to take them out and look after these places.
35:08
SPEAKER_03: We get to go out, keep the roads up to date, support those communities, make sure that they're viable and and play that role.
35:15
SPEAKER_03: So you get to leave greater personally.
35:17
SPEAKER_03: That's what we love about it, right?
35:19
SPEAKER_03: There's something here for everyone.
35:20
SPEAKER_03: People say to me, like, oh, what should I do when I come?
35:24
SPEAKER_03: I I really can't answer that question unless I know who you are.
35:26
SPEAKER_03: So what do you what are you?
35:28
SPEAKER_03: What are you into?
35:29
SPEAKER_03: Who are you with?
35:31
SPEAKER_03: What do you want to achieve?
35:32
SPEAKER_03: And now let me connect you like a telephonist in the old days, you know, on the old party line.
35:37
SPEAKER_03: We used to plug the party line in and plug in the party line and listen in while they're chatting.
35:42
SPEAKER_03: Oh no, I forgot to hang up.
35:43
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, still listening in.
35:45
SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, make that connection.
35:46
SPEAKER_03: That's my job.
35:47
SPEAKER_03: That's our job at TTNQ is to connect the right people with the right experiences.
35:51
SPEAKER_03: And there is just the right experience that's going to elevate you and leave you with that moment of a sense of achievement, reward for effort, and that kind of wonder and wow.
36:02
SPEAKER_03: And if we can do that for everybody that comes here and know that tourism isn't doing any harm, and hopefully over time, that tourism continues to give back to the natural environment and to culture, recognizing that all tourism is on country, then yeah, we're set for life, right?
36:20
SPEAKER_03: Destinations around the world in Barcelona, Kyoto, uh, Antarctic.
36:24
SPEAKER_03: People are saying, you gotta stop.
36:26
SPEAKER_03: Way too many people.
36:27
SPEAKER_03: Stop, stop, stop.
36:29
SPEAKER_03: And we're here saying, hey, we need more people to come because we haven't got enough eyes on the reef.
36:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
36:33
SPEAKER_03: We don't have enough people to support Cape York communities.
36:36
SPEAKER_03: The Gulf Savannah has had a really rough couple of years after a lot of water went through.
36:42
SPEAKER_03: The experiences are incredible.
36:43
SPEAKER_03: The communities have got everything spick and span ready for the visitor.
36:47
SPEAKER_03: But the season was so short.
36:49
SPEAKER_03: It's been such a tough time.
36:52
SPEAKER_03: We need so many more people here just to make it truly viable so that we can continue continue to look after it for generations.
37:01
SPEAKER_03: So we are in an under-tourism problem.
37:04
SPEAKER_03: Um as long as you come to the right time of the year.
37:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
37:08
SPEAKER_00: Look, share the love.
37:09
SPEAKER_00: And in uh in preparing for today's show, I came across this cracker of a quote uh by uh Helm Keller.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: And it reads, Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: Only through experience and trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're at the helm coming out of COVID, then to be struck so viciously by this December 2023 floods, uh, the impacts of which on individuals, communities, just so profound, long-lasting, and life-changing.
37:47
SPEAKER_00: You must have seen the best of humanity also through those times.
37:52
SPEAKER_00: Can you tell us some of the things that you put your mind back to and the adversity that people came and just that human spirit, really, you know, that that true Queenslander, the spirit shining through too?
38:04
SPEAKER_03: Oh, look, I I think about the disruption, right?
38:07
SPEAKER_03: So you look at something like we'll use Jasper as an example.
38:11
SPEAKER_03: So when the cyclone was called a cyclone, it was still kind of eight days away from the coast.
38:18
SPEAKER_03: Um, and the cyclonic wind was not the major uh impact that it left behind.
38:24
SPEAKER_03: We lost about$300 million worth of visitor bookings in those eight days from the day that it was announced to the day that it crossed, and that never came back.
38:34
SPEAKER_03: So tourism businesses could easily just push that down and say, all right, pull back all the hours, scour back all the stuff, hold the money close to the business.
38:44
SPEAKER_03: But businesses kept paying the wages.
38:46
SPEAKER_03: They got back out there, they returned to business as quickly as they could because they know that good people are really hard to find, and you've got to keep really good people in your business.
38:56
SPEAKER_03: I love seeing businesses do that.
38:58
SPEAKER_03: Um, after Jasper, with all that water that came down, you know, we had communities devastated by that.
39:05
SPEAKER_03: And a lot of people had family, their own family, their own family homes impacted, and they're trying to keep visitors happy.
39:16
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
39:16
SPEAKER_03: Trying to look after people.
39:18
SPEAKER_03: And the mental health toll of that was extraordinary.
39:22
SPEAKER_03: We were lucky to get some support from the federal government to appoint three tourism recovery officers, and Fiona Nickel from Drive Australia was one of our TROs.
39:32
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
39:32
SPEAKER_03: That was about care more than it was about grants.
39:36
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
39:36
SPEAKER_03: It was about listening.
39:38
SPEAKER_03: That was about knocking on the door and saying, we are here for you.
39:41
SPEAKER_03: And most of the people that she spoke to on TTNQ's behalf said, no, no, we're right, we're okay.
39:47
SPEAKER_03: The guy down the road really needs help.
39:49
SPEAKER_03: And you're like, Yeah, but are you?
39:52
SPEAKER_03: Like, can we help you?
39:53
SPEAKER_03: No, no, no, she's right, mate.
39:54
SPEAKER_03: It's all good.
39:55
SPEAKER_03: Go down and see that.
39:56
SPEAKER_03: You know, like the old bike at the lion's den, standing chest deep in the water, going, no, no, the guys down the road are the ones who really need some help.
40:02
SPEAKER_03: We've heard some horror stories.
40:04
SPEAKER_03: It's amazing to see that, but it's also okay to ask for help.
40:08
SPEAKER_03: And a lot of those businesses on the third ask or the fourth ask would say, Well, actually, yeah, we haven't made any money in weeks.
40:14
SPEAKER_03: Like, we're just paying and we're not getting anything.
40:18
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
40:18
SPEAKER_03: Can you help?
40:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely, we can help.
40:21
SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, you see the best of people without a doubt.
40:25
SPEAKER_03: Um, we saw people, you know, mud armies.
40:28
SPEAKER_03: Um, we saw the tourism industry, you know, jump in.
40:32
SPEAKER_03: You know, we we had something like 1,400 homes directly impacted by the flooding in the northern beaches.
40:38
SPEAKER_03: About 3,000 people needed to be rehoused.
40:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
40:41
SPEAKER_03: The tourism industry got up in the middle of the night, made all the beds, put the towels out, welcomed all of those guests in.
40:48
SPEAKER_03: Our bus drivers went out and picked everybody out, got them off the um from the cyclones shelters and got them in to their temporary accommodation, whether it's BBs or hoteliers.
40:58
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
40:58
SPEAKER_03: People did that, you know, we don't have enough staff to turn over all those rooms at the time.
41:03
SPEAKER_03: It's low season for us.
41:04
SPEAKER_03: Most of those rooms hadn't been touched.
41:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, GMs got out of bed, made the beds themselves, pulled staff out of their beds to say, you gotta help.
41:13
SPEAKER_03: You've got we've got thousands of people who need your help.
41:15
SPEAKER_03: Um, that's inspiring.
41:16
SPEAKER_03: I really love seeing that.
41:17
SPEAKER_03: I think the industry is really it's it's locally rooted.
41:22
SPEAKER_03: You know, we stand on the side of the footy fields and soccer fields.
41:25
SPEAKER_03: We we you know, we cheer our kids on and we back each other.
41:30
SPEAKER_03: And that's the nice thing about a destination of of this size.
41:33
SPEAKER_03: There's enough community connection that no one would let anyone else down.
41:38
SPEAKER_03: That's it's pretty special.
41:39
SPEAKER_00: It's so very true that that real true Australian and Queensland spirit really does shine through in times of adversity.
41:46
SPEAKER_00: Alrighty.
41:47
SPEAKER_00: Now, here we go, Mark.
41:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
41:49
SPEAKER_00: This is the part of the show where I get to ask the questions about a guest that I'm not sure not too many people know about.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: All right, we're going for a deep dive.
41:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
42:00
SPEAKER_00: I think I've found two tasty little morsels of information on you, Mr.
42:05
SPEAKER_00: Olson.
42:06
SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
42:06
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's go.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: I put it to you, number one, Mark Olson.
42:12
SPEAKER_00: You and your wonderful wife Helen were married at Parinella Park.
42:16
SPEAKER_00: Is this true?
42:17
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely, yeah.
42:18
SPEAKER_03: 2002 Parinella Park.
42:20
SPEAKER_03: So um Helen, my wife, is from just south of Cairns, um, and her grandparents were on the tablelands.
42:27
SPEAKER_03: So we had to make a choice whether to try and get married closer to where we were living in Brizzy at the time, um, both working down there.
42:33
SPEAKER_03: Um, but Mark and Judy Evans are two of my favorite people on the planet.
42:38
SPEAKER_03: I fell in love with the Jose Parinella story, we both did.
42:41
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
42:42
SPEAKER_03: Um couldn't help it.
42:43
SPEAKER_03: So Helen's dad, uh, who's past uh Scotsman bagpipe player, piped us down the Cowrie the Cowerie Avenue onto that tennis court, and we were married at 10 o'clock in the morning uh in October of 2002.
43:00
SPEAKER_03: Beautiful place.
43:01
SPEAKER_03: And just as we're you know holding hands and uh and exchanging vows, two Ulysses butterflies came through and went between the two of us, and you know, a thousand photos were taken.
43:11
SPEAKER_03: Um Mark and Judy let us have our reception up in the old ballroom and uh we partied on in Mission Beach that night.
43:17
SPEAKER_03: One of the best events I've ever attended, and I I had I just had to pay the bill.
43:21
SPEAKER_03: All I had to do was do the fun bit.
43:22
SPEAKER_03: It was uh it was a great night.
43:24
SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
43:25
SPEAKER_00: And for anybody listening, I mean, Paronella Park is just one of those must-do things while you are in uh tropical north Queensland.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: All right.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: I put it to you.
43:33
SPEAKER_00: Number two, number two, Mark.
43:36
SPEAKER_00: Is it true that after that wedding you actually went slightly further north and honeymooned at Silky Oaks Lodge overlooking the uh the magnificent Mosman River and neighboring the World Heritage at Daintry?
43:51
SPEAKER_03: We did, and we did it again for our 20th anniversary.
43:54
SPEAKER_03: So uh it is such an incredible place.
43:59
SPEAKER_03: We did it.
44:00
SPEAKER_03: Our 20th anniversary, it's 2002, 2022.
44:03
SPEAKER_03: Um, we went back to Silkie's, we spent two nights there.
44:07
SPEAKER_03: We did a day trip with Juan Walker from Walk About Cultural Adventures, um, spearing crabs, and then going to Mossman Gorge for a swim with uh with Wansey, and we did the drift with Jason from Backcountry Bliss.
44:22
SPEAKER_03: Um, so down the Lilos, on the rainforest stream, under the rainforest canopy.
44:29
SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, it was extraordinary.
44:31
SPEAKER_03: It's um you're just so blessed.
44:33
SPEAKER_03: Anyway, you could tell a million of those stories, but um, we loved it.
44:37
SPEAKER_03: I was saying the other day, the guys at Silkies did something that I think every tourism business should think about.
44:43
SPEAKER_03: So my wife does a drink, and we are pescatarian.
44:46
SPEAKER_03: So when we sit down to a menu, usually a lot of the options drop away really quickly.
44:52
SPEAKER_03: They did tailored menus for both of us.
44:54
SPEAKER_03: They never offered Helen an alcoholic drink.
44:56
SPEAKER_03: They knew from the start that she didn't.
44:58
SPEAKER_03: So they always made her something extraordinary.
45:00
SPEAKER_03: Every single night they made her something different.
45:02
SPEAKER_03: And our menus were always tailored to us.
45:05
SPEAKER_03: Now you could go, oh, that's luxury.
45:07
SPEAKER_03: But it's attention to detail, right?
45:08
SPEAKER_03: There was just that level of comfort.
45:10
SPEAKER_03: The staff changed, but the service never did.
45:14
SPEAKER_03: And if you can do that in a tourism business, you've got it, right?
45:17
SPEAKER_03: If your staff can make sure that every guest feels as special as we got to feel on that 20th anniversary, you you're running a cracker.
45:25
SPEAKER_00: So very true.
45:26
SPEAKER_00: So very true.
45:27
SPEAKER_00: Alrighty.
45:27
SPEAKER_00: Now, before we wrap up, we've got three questions that we like to ask all of our Drive Strayer guests.
45:35
SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna have to get you to take your CEO hat off.
45:38
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
45:39
SPEAKER_00: All right, all right, okay, here we go.
45:40
SPEAKER_00: Boundaryless.
45:41
SPEAKER_00: Now, can I just say that this will not be not rewarded because there is an incentive to these questions?
45:47
SPEAKER_00: Is answer if you pass uh the Drive Straya test, and I will be scrutinising your answers with an intense screw, Mr.
45:55
SPEAKER_00: Olson.
45:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh now, if uh if the answer passes the test, you will receive a Tim Tam.
46:03
SPEAKER_00: That is right.
46:04
SPEAKER_00: It is the people's biscuit.
46:06
SPEAKER_00: All right, number one.
46:07
SPEAKER_00: Number one, Mark Olson.
46:09
SPEAKER_00: Other than your own backyard, what is your favorite Aussie destination and what makes it so special?
46:17
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, look, it's a really good question.
46:20
SPEAKER_03: Uh we had an absolute ball in Tasmania.
46:23
SPEAKER_03: We ended up spending quite a bit of time.
46:24
SPEAKER_03: So my wife and I on our honeymoon, after getting married at Paranola, spent a year in a transporter combi travelling around Australia.
46:32
SPEAKER_03: Um, we really enjoyed Tasmania.
46:34
SPEAKER_03: Um, but for a girl from Babinda, just a little bit too cold.
46:38
SPEAKER_03: I reckon that that was just a frozen.
46:42
SPEAKER_03: Even in December, January, it was a bit too cold for hells down there.
46:45
SPEAKER_03: Uh, I reckon that West Australian coast, um, heading south from Broom, um, down into the Pilboro, is probably some of my most fondest memories.
46:56
SPEAKER_03: This that red sand with the white sand hill and the red and white colour changing as you head south, um, getting down, you know, through the 80 mile and um down to Ningaloo, um, drifting on the reef there.
47:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there's something pretty special about that unpopulated, uncrowded place.
47:16
SPEAKER_03: And then, yeah, down to um down to the window, and yeah, it's pretty special.
47:21
SPEAKER_03: I reckon that little stretch is some.
47:23
SPEAKER_03: If you haven't spent some time there, yeah, definitely allocate some time to get yourself over onto that west coast.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: You've definitely got your guarantee of one Tim Tim so far.
47:32
SPEAKER_00: We move on to number two.
47:34
SPEAKER_00: Mark Olsen, what Aussie destination is still sitting at the top of your bucket list.
47:39
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I would love to do the Gibb River Road now.
47:43
SPEAKER_03: Um, I've done bits of it and uh it's it's been a pretty rugged journey, and we were usually in a real hurry.
47:49
SPEAKER_03: So we didn't do it on our big lap.
47:51
SPEAKER_03: I would love to go back and do the Gibb River uh properly, take the time.
47:55
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
47:55
SPEAKER_03: Um and the painted desert.
47:57
SPEAKER_03: Um Queensland, South Australia, um, cross that uh into the into the corner country.
48:03
SPEAKER_03: I've done a bit of time in Birdsville and Inamincera.
48:05
SPEAKER_03: I'd love to spend some more time going across that painted desert uh and coming into uh into the territory that way.
48:10
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful, very good answer.
48:12
SPEAKER_00: And number three, this is this is for all the the music heads out there.
48:16
SPEAKER_00: Every great road trip needs a soundtrack.
48:20
SPEAKER_00: What are you reaching for for your ultimate road trip song?
48:24
SPEAKER_03: Well, so my eldest uh just got his license and uh he was a few hours short, so we drove to Cooktown and back together uh on a boys' weekend.
48:33
SPEAKER_03: Uh we had a ball listening to Stadium Arcadium from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
48:38
SPEAKER_03: That's nice.
48:38
SPEAKER_03: And uh and quite a deep dive into Led Zeppelin, but you can't go past Kashmir.
48:42
SPEAKER_03: Got to take the lead out at some stage.
48:44
SPEAKER_03: Gotta take the Led Zeppelin out at some stage.
48:46
SPEAKER_03: If it's not a Tony George uh soundtrack, uh it's for it's for me a bit of Chili Peppers.
48:51
SPEAKER_03: And the boys grew up listening to that.
48:53
SPEAKER_03: So it's all about who you're with and um and what brings the right vibe.
48:57
SPEAKER_03: He we did it this way.
48:59
SPEAKER_03: I I programmed the music on the way up, you know, six hours in the car, um, a lot more time spent together, but I programmed the music on the way up, he programmed it on the way back, and uh, I gotta say, as a dad with a boy, that's yeah, one of the most awesome experiences to have listening to his music, letting him explain it, um, what it means to him was yeah, it was awesome.
49:20
SPEAKER_03: Road trips, special place.
49:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
49:23
SPEAKER_03: Best screen time you can have.
49:24
SPEAKER_03: Oh, wow.
49:25
SPEAKER_00: Mark, it's been an absolute pleasure and delight to speak with you today.
49:29
SPEAKER_00: And just learn a little bit more about not only yourself, but all the wonders that are up here in Tropical North Queensland.
49:36
SPEAKER_00: And if anyone's thinking or planning to enjoy the best adventure of your life, make sure you check out all the socials under Tropical North Queensland.
49:44
SPEAKER_00: Are having a look at those today.
49:45
SPEAKER_00: Stunning photos and clips on there for everybody.
49:48
SPEAKER_00: And many thanks to you all for joining us on the Drive Stralia podcast, where we share epic tips and epic Australian road trips.
49:56
SPEAKER_00: Join us again next episode as we get back under that bonnet of Australia's Drive Market and chat with another great guest helping to make Aussie road trips even more memorable.
50:05
SPEAKER_00: And don't forget to follow us on all of our socials and keep an eye out for the next episode of Drive Australia Podcast.
50:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm Tony George.
50:14
SPEAKER_00: Safe travels, and we'll catch you all again down the road.