June 4, 2026 • 11 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, if you've been listening to the show this week
and certainly this morning, we have been talking about the
closure of two of the most iconic Kackadoo attractions this
tourism season at the request of traditional owners while road
upgrades are undertaken. That closure is going to have a
significant impact on tour operators. Joining us now from Kakado
Tourism it is Sam Waldron. Good morning to you. Sam.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good morning Katie. How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yeah? Really good? Lovely to have you on the show now, Sam,
there's been a little bit of confusion this morning. We
had the Tourism Minister on. We also had the opposition's
Ed Smelt. We're talking about these closures and talking about
the works that are underway. As I understand it, I
mean seventy million dollars worth of works being I believe
(00:49):
it's federal funding being delivered by the Northern Territory government.
Is that your understanding of it.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Look, Katie, it's a bit difficult for me to comment
on this situation because I'm sort of non an authority
when it comes to who's in charge of which roads
and so on. But I can tell you that we
were aware of the fact that the Jim Jim Falls
Road was going to be upgraded, and we were aware
of the fact that it was highly likely to be
(01:17):
upgraded this year because that had been mentioned in previous
meetings with Parks. So, yes, that contract had been awarded
and that work was going to go ahead. We were
aware of that.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
So from from your understanding, were both of those two
areas going to be closed for this season, both Twin
Falls and Jim Jim. Were you sort of expecting that
or were you maybe expecting one might be opened?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
We were, I mean, I'm just thinking about Jim Jim.
We were very hopeful that we would have access to
Jimjym this year, but being aware that there were road upgrades, yes,
we were hopeful that possibly you would still have a
lane of traffic getting through, or that maybe possibly some
of the works may have been delayed to allow us
(02:03):
to progress with the season and get some tourists out there.
So yeah, look, I can tell you the wind was
certainly taken out of my sales on Monday.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I bet. I mean, what does it mean for you guys?
You know, we know that Kakadu is such an incredible place.
We know that so many people want to get out
there and visit what you know, it must be a
bit of a blow.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
It's hard. And can I tell you this thing that
upset me the most on Monday was this awful kakado narrative.
I think it really takes away from the fact that
we have got incredible people on the ground doing incredible things,
and we're constantly trying to activate new experiences. We have
some of the most incredible rock art in the Northern
(02:44):
Territory out there. We have all these experiences and got
people like Chizou from Never Never working really hard to
activate and then one poorly worded communication comes out and
all of a sudden, this kackadoo narrative takes right off
and people just keep pouring fuel on the fire. And
it's really upsetting because we are open and there are
(03:06):
lots of wonderful things to do, but nobody's looking at
any of those things currently.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Sam tell us, you know, because it does feel like
there are lots of areas in the park that are closed.
You know, certainly people get in contact with us and
they're worried about that, and they're sort of worried that,
you know, that international tourists might feel as though the
places that they've wanted to see their whole lives. They
may get here and they're not actually open. I mean,
(03:32):
tell us a bit about what is open and what
you would say is the most amazing stuff to see
at this point in time.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, And look, every year is very
much the same, and that's why we our tourist season
is usually a bit later because people do generally hang
back and sort of wait for things to open. So look,
Wild Jim Gym is a big draw card. It's certainly
not the only draw card. Some of the most popular
visitor sites out there is You've got Ubia which is open,
(03:59):
which is absolutely incredible. You've got a landy with it
th rock out that's open. Cable's crossing where people want
to go, and they've got the viewing platform to watch
people driving across and look at the crocs. If people
are desperate to go for a swim, we've got options
at the moment. They can go and swim at Boulder Creek.
We also have Motorcar Fools which is open that people
(04:20):
can go and swim at. So yes, we don't have
Jim Jim, but we're really really hopeful that we will
get mcgook and gun Lom online soon. And I think
that any sort of energy directed towards parks is let's
look positively towards how quickly can we open up these
other areas that are just as popular, and.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Of those discussions happening, I mean the discussions around trying
to get some of this work done quickly, expedite it
so that you can get people out there a little
bit more quickly.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah. Look, I'm certainly connecting with parks often, as I
know many tourism operators are. And it's really great to
hear that Marie Clearbooth. He's been out there, you know,
flying the flag and really championing the cause because it
is difficult. It's a difficult operating environment when we're not
sure when things are going to open. But again I
(05:13):
do say to people, it's not that everything is closed.
Is we will get Gunloman and we will get my
book online this season. But there's still plenty of things
to do if tourists come to the park, you could
still quite easily fill up a few days.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Tell me you've had a couple of days in the
park earlier this week. How extensive is some of that
damage to the Park from the flooding. I mean, we
had an unprecedented wet season.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
It was unprecedented and to be honest, I've never seen
water like it. The entirety of Kakadu National Park was
in flood and we had on two separate occasions, we
had to completely evacuate Gwindo Lodge and take our guests
and our stuff up up to Jabbaru. And in that
second evacuation, you know, we had the hotel down for
(06:00):
a week, so we were completely cut off, completely surrounded
by water. But then as soon as the roads were
open and as soon as we could, we bought the
staff back and they put in a superhuman effort to
get the property ready to go and back open in
time for Easter, which was absolutely incredible. You think about
they had to remove all the furniture from all of
(06:21):
the rooms and get everything flood ready, and then everybody
got in there. They got everything back, the furniture in
the rooms and we were open and we had probably
the busiest and one of the best easters that we've
had because we reached out and we said to everyone,
we're open, we're activating, We've got lots of fun things happening.
But the level of work. So the Yellow Water Cruises
is probably one of our most popular activities and that's
(06:43):
the one thing people want to get out there on
the Billabong. We have to move where we depart the
Yellow Water Cruises from. So in the wet season we
have to move the Yellowater Cruises over to home Billabong
because we can't activate where Yellow Water usually goes from
because it's completely underwater. When I went down to Yellow
Water just this week, you can see where the floods
(07:03):
come through, and you've got the walkway out to the
boats where you can access, but the boardwalk that people
would usually be able to walk around is still completely
cut off, and you can see all the debris from
the floods. Like it's it's extensive.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I mean when you take that into account, like you
look at our wet season that we've had, when you
look at the you know, the cost of living, petrol prices,
that kind of thing. How big an impact has it had,
you know, and how big an impact do you suspect
that it could have throughout this year?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, and look, it certainly has had an impact. I
think with what was happening over in the Middle East,
we did see a little bit of a downturn in
terms of international groups coming in, but I'm seeing confidence
of returning and we're seeing that that sort of start
to turn around now. But then obviously with the fuel
prices and I guess the fuel scarcity, I think that
(07:52):
was very heavily portrayed in the media. And then our
concern is that, yes, there are a lot of people
say down in Victoria in New South Wales, so I
thinking about heading off on their big caravanning journey and
did they sort of rethink their trip? And are they
on their way up the highway? We're hoping so, but
looking forward at the bookings in the caravan park there,
(08:13):
they are down a little bit. And with the announcement
on Monday and then the narrative in the media and
on social media from that, I'm finding that incredibly damaging
because the narrative is don't go to Kakadu. Everything's closed,
and it's just not the case. There's us. We've got
we work really closely with all the other tourism operators
(08:35):
out there. You've got Animal Track Safaris, you've got the
Gullyambie crews, You've got Chizo from Never Never Satari to us.
I've got Kakadu air. If waterfalls is the bucketlist item,
fly over the waterfalls of kaku Air. I mean, it's
it's never been a better time to see it. It's
it's magnificent. And then we're working really hard to to
activate lots of new experiences on site at our Orige
Uncultural Center. So we've just launched a new weaving experience
(08:58):
on site, which is absolutely incredible.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I mean, so we know that our tour operators are
a resilient bunch, there is no doubt about that. How
are they like, how are they feeling? I would suspect
that they are not They're not giving up. They want
to make sure that people get on out there to
kaka do and enjoy their experience when they're out there.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
No, that's exactly right, and we're certainly not looking at
this season and we're not sort of giving up or
saying that it's too hard. We're just saying, well, please
come and visit us. It's still a magnificent part. We
still have so many things that people can see and do,
and if anything, I just implore people online to stop
spreading this Kakadon't narrative because it's really hurting territorians, it's
(09:43):
hurting local businesses, and it's not helping us move forward
with all the amazing activities that we have planned and
scheduled for this year.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Hey, before I let you go, the Crocodile Hotel there
at Jabbaru. It's sold recently, didn't it. What does that
mean for us? You reckon?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
It is in the process of being sold. So it's
all coming together now. So that has that we see
Kakadu tourism portfolio for a while. And yes, with Journey
Beyond has entered into an agreement to acquire the Crocodile Hotel.
So the Journey Beyond is probably quite well known. They
run a lot of different tourism experiences across the country,
(10:24):
so they've got significant investment planned for the property and
I think that that's really going to help build awareness
and grow demand into Kakado And I'm really excited to
be working hand in hand with them to do great things.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Oh well, it could be really exciting stuff. Hopefully. It's
always you know, always good when there's a bit of
sort of fresh air breeds into something.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I suppose Yeah, no, absolutely from a tourism standpoint, and
from an operator standpoint, everyone out there is working hard.
We're really excited to welcome Journey Beyond into the Fold.
And yeah, let's keep cracking on and trying and deliver
the best possible visitor experience as we can. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Absolutely well, Sam, lovely to speak to you this morning.
I really appreciate your time. Thank you very much for
having a chat with us.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
And look, we appreciate your support. Katie. Thank you so much,
and make sure you come out and visit us soon. Okay,
I have to.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I want to get out to Ubia and have a
good look.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, you need to get up there at sunset.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Absolutely fac that is what I'd like to do. Hey,
lovely to talk to you this morning. Sam, thank you
so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Thanks, Katie, appreciate you.
Well, if you've been listening to the show this week
and certainly this morning, we have been talking about the
closure of two of the most iconic Kackadoo attractions this
tourism season at the request of traditional owners while road
upgrades are undertaken. That closure is going to have a
significant impact on tour operators. Joining us now from Kakado
Tourism it is Sam Waldron. Good morning to you. Sam.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good morning Katie. How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yeah? Really good? Lovely to have you on the show now, Sam,
there's been a little bit of confusion this morning. We
had the Tourism Minister on. We also had the opposition's
Ed Smelt. We're talking about these closures and talking about
the works that are underway. As I understand it, I
mean seventy million dollars worth of works being I believe
(00:49):
it's federal funding being delivered by the Northern Territory government.
Is that your understanding of it.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Look, Katie, it's a bit difficult for me to comment
on this situation because I'm sort of non an authority
when it comes to who's in charge of which roads
and so on. But I can tell you that we
were aware of the fact that the Jim Jim Falls
Road was going to be upgraded, and we were aware
of the fact that it was highly likely to be
(01:17):
upgraded this year because that had been mentioned in previous
meetings with Parks. So, yes, that contract had been awarded
and that work was going to go ahead. We were
aware of that.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
So from from your understanding, were both of those two
areas going to be closed for this season, both Twin
Falls and Jim Jim. Were you sort of expecting that
or were you maybe expecting one might be opened?
Speaker 2 (01:41):
We were, I mean, I'm just thinking about Jim Jim.
We were very hopeful that we would have access to
Jimjym this year, but being aware that there were road upgrades, yes,
we were hopeful that possibly you would still have a
lane of traffic getting through, or that maybe possibly some
of the works may have been delayed to allow us
(02:03):
to progress with the season and get some tourists out there.
So yeah, look, I can tell you the wind was
certainly taken out of my sales on Monday.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I bet. I mean, what does it mean for you guys?
You know, we know that Kakadu is such an incredible place.
We know that so many people want to get out
there and visit what you know, it must be a
bit of a blow.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
It's hard. And can I tell you this thing that
upset me the most on Monday was this awful kakado narrative.
I think it really takes away from the fact that
we have got incredible people on the ground doing incredible things,
and we're constantly trying to activate new experiences. We have
some of the most incredible rock art in the Northern
(02:44):
Territory out there. We have all these experiences and got
people like Chizou from Never Never working really hard to
activate and then one poorly worded communication comes out and
all of a sudden, this kackadoo narrative takes right off
and people just keep pouring fuel on the fire. And
it's really upsetting because we are open and there are
(03:06):
lots of wonderful things to do, but nobody's looking at
any of those things currently.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Sam tell us, you know, because it does feel like
there are lots of areas in the park that are closed.
You know, certainly people get in contact with us and
they're worried about that, and they're sort of worried that,
you know, that international tourists might feel as though the
places that they've wanted to see their whole lives. They
may get here and they're not actually open. I mean,
(03:32):
tell us a bit about what is open and what
you would say is the most amazing stuff to see
at this point in time.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, And look, every year is very
much the same, and that's why we our tourist season
is usually a bit later because people do generally hang
back and sort of wait for things to open. So look,
Wild Jim Gym is a big draw card. It's certainly
not the only draw card. Some of the most popular
visitor sites out there is You've got Ubia which is open,
(03:59):
which is absolutely incredible. You've got a landy with it
th rock out that's open. Cable's crossing where people want
to go, and they've got the viewing platform to watch
people driving across and look at the crocs. If people
are desperate to go for a swim, we've got options
at the moment. They can go and swim at Boulder Creek.
We also have Motorcar Fools which is open that people
(04:20):
can go and swim at. So yes, we don't have
Jim Jim, but we're really really hopeful that we will
get mcgook and gun Lom online soon. And I think
that any sort of energy directed towards parks is let's
look positively towards how quickly can we open up these
other areas that are just as popular, and.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Of those discussions happening, I mean the discussions around trying
to get some of this work done quickly, expedite it
so that you can get people out there a little
bit more quickly.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah. Look, I'm certainly connecting with parks often, as I
know many tourism operators are. And it's really great to
hear that Marie Clearbooth. He's been out there, you know,
flying the flag and really championing the cause because it
is difficult. It's a difficult operating environment when we're not
sure when things are going to open. But again I
(05:13):
do say to people, it's not that everything is closed.
Is we will get Gunloman and we will get my
book online this season. But there's still plenty of things
to do if tourists come to the park, you could
still quite easily fill up a few days.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Tell me you've had a couple of days in the
park earlier this week. How extensive is some of that
damage to the Park from the flooding. I mean, we
had an unprecedented wet season.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
It was unprecedented and to be honest, I've never seen
water like it. The entirety of Kakadu National Park was
in flood and we had on two separate occasions, we
had to completely evacuate Gwindo Lodge and take our guests
and our stuff up up to Jabbaru. And in that
second evacuation, you know, we had the hotel down for
(06:00):
a week, so we were completely cut off, completely surrounded
by water. But then as soon as the roads were
open and as soon as we could, we bought the
staff back and they put in a superhuman effort to
get the property ready to go and back open in
time for Easter, which was absolutely incredible. You think about
they had to remove all the furniture from all of
(06:21):
the rooms and get everything flood ready, and then everybody
got in there. They got everything back, the furniture in
the rooms and we were open and we had probably
the busiest and one of the best easters that we've
had because we reached out and we said to everyone,
we're open, we're activating, We've got lots of fun things happening.
But the level of work. So the Yellow Water Cruises
is probably one of our most popular activities and that's
(06:43):
the one thing people want to get out there on
the Billabong. We have to move where we depart the
Yellow Water Cruises from. So in the wet season we
have to move the Yellowater Cruises over to home Billabong
because we can't activate where Yellow Water usually goes from
because it's completely underwater. When I went down to Yellow
Water just this week, you can see where the floods
(07:03):
come through, and you've got the walkway out to the
boats where you can access, but the boardwalk that people
would usually be able to walk around is still completely
cut off, and you can see all the debris from
the floods. Like it's it's extensive.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I mean when you take that into account, like you
look at our wet season that we've had, when you
look at the you know, the cost of living, petrol prices,
that kind of thing. How big an impact has it had,
you know, and how big an impact do you suspect
that it could have throughout this year?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, and look, it certainly has had an impact. I
think with what was happening over in the Middle East,
we did see a little bit of a downturn in
terms of international groups coming in, but I'm seeing confidence
of returning and we're seeing that that sort of start
to turn around now. But then obviously with the fuel
prices and I guess the fuel scarcity, I think that
(07:52):
was very heavily portrayed in the media. And then our
concern is that, yes, there are a lot of people
say down in Victoria in New South Wales, so I
thinking about heading off on their big caravanning journey and
did they sort of rethink their trip? And are they
on their way up the highway? We're hoping so, but
looking forward at the bookings in the caravan park there,
(08:13):
they are down a little bit. And with the announcement
on Monday and then the narrative in the media and
on social media from that, I'm finding that incredibly damaging
because the narrative is don't go to Kakadu. Everything's closed,
and it's just not the case. There's us. We've got
we work really closely with all the other tourism operators
(08:35):
out there. You've got Animal Track Safaris, you've got the
Gullyambie crews, You've got Chizo from Never Never Satari to us.
I've got Kakadu air. If waterfalls is the bucketlist item,
fly over the waterfalls of kaku Air. I mean, it's
it's never been a better time to see it. It's
it's magnificent. And then we're working really hard to to
activate lots of new experiences on site at our Orige
Uncultural Center. So we've just launched a new weaving experience
(08:58):
on site, which is absolutely incredible.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
I mean, so we know that our tour operators are
a resilient bunch, there is no doubt about that. How
are they like, how are they feeling? I would suspect
that they are not They're not giving up. They want
to make sure that people get on out there to
kaka do and enjoy their experience when they're out there.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
No, that's exactly right, and we're certainly not looking at
this season and we're not sort of giving up or
saying that it's too hard. We're just saying, well, please
come and visit us. It's still a magnificent part. We
still have so many things that people can see and do,
and if anything, I just implore people online to stop
spreading this Kakadon't narrative because it's really hurting territorians, it's
(09:43):
hurting local businesses, and it's not helping us move forward
with all the amazing activities that we have planned and
scheduled for this year.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Hey, before I let you go, the Crocodile Hotel there
at Jabbaru. It's sold recently, didn't it. What does that
mean for us? You reckon?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
It is in the process of being sold. So it's
all coming together now. So that has that we see
Kakadu tourism portfolio for a while. And yes, with Journey
Beyond has entered into an agreement to acquire the Crocodile Hotel.
So the Journey Beyond is probably quite well known. They
run a lot of different tourism experiences across the country,
(10:24):
so they've got significant investment planned for the property and
I think that that's really going to help build awareness
and grow demand into Kakado And I'm really excited to
be working hand in hand with them to do great things.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Oh well, it could be really exciting stuff. Hopefully. It's
always you know, always good when there's a bit of
sort of fresh air breeds into something.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
I suppose Yeah, no, absolutely from a tourism standpoint, and
from an operator standpoint, everyone out there is working hard.
We're really excited to welcome Journey Beyond into the Fold.
And yeah, let's keep cracking on and trying and deliver
the best possible visitor experience as we can. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Absolutely well, Sam, lovely to speak to you this morning.
I really appreciate your time. Thank you very much for
having a chat with us.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
And look, we appreciate your support. Katie. Thank you so much,
and make sure you come out and visit us soon. Okay,
I have to.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I want to get out to Ubia and have a
good look.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, you need to get up there at sunset.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Absolutely fac that is what I'd like to do. Hey,
lovely to talk to you this morning. Sam, thank you
so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Thanks, Katie, appreciate you.
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