[Animation: #loveanaussieroadtrip with Adam Spencer]
[Adam Spencer]:
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Today I meet my long lost
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marsupial cousin and country legend John Williamson.
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Well, kind of... you'll see.
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And the kids take to the sand
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dunes for a bumpy ride.
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G'day Port Macquarie!
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As we prepare to point our car to the coast for the
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final stretch of our road trip
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adventure. We caught up with some
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amazing Aussie wildlife,
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some famous, some lesser known.
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Does anything say Australia
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more than seeing a koala in a gum tree?
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Sleeping, eating, sleeping,
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having a scratch, sleeping or...yeah, sleeping?
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Don't get me wrong, I love
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a good kip. But these eucalyptus
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munching snooze machines could sleep
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for Australia.
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They do it for up to 22 hours a day.
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Last summer showed us the tremendous
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ravages of bushfire on koala populations.
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And here at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital,
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they're all about looking
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after sick and injured koalas
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and rehabilitating them back to health.
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Cheyne Flanagan is the
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clinical director.
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But she's not just any old koala wrangler.
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She addressed the United Nations
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on 2020 World Environment Day about the
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impact of the savage bushfire season
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on koalas and other wildlife.
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So when Cheyne talks about koalas,
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you'd do well to listen.
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And an interesting fact, bushfires
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aren't actually the main reason
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most of Cheyne's patients are here.
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Most of our patients are chlamydia patients,
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followed by hit by cars
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and attacked by dogs.
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And then there's a number of other ones.
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Don't get me wrong, I was loving my
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chat with Cheyne, but it suddenly
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took a turn for the awesome.
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(Koala grunting)
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It's the depth of your voice. (Yeah)
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He's hearing.
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Really?
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He's challenging you.
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Bring it on!
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Well, let's get to Evans Head CW.
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And it's not unusual here for the
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koalas to have two names - both the name
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and where they're from.
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What's Evans Head CW do to wile away his hours?
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Well, Evans Head CW is on mating duties.
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Yeah, dude!
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So, umm, yes...
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Mainly because of the voice?
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He's the sort of Barry White of the koala collective.
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Yeah and he's clinically clean, that's why.
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And he's got an eye missing,
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but the rest of him's fine.
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A wonky eye with a deep voice and
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popular with the ladies.
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I love this guy.
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There's even a koala wing named
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after their patron.
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Country music icon
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John Williamson.
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Doesn't get any more true blue than that.
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'Hey True Blue'
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While I was comparing notes with the master
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and Liv was getting the obligatory selfie,
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Leah and the rest of the crew went
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to catch some waves at a nearby
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beach, but they caught some camels instead.
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Most Aussie beaches offer great surf, but this -
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wow! Hairy, sweaty, to be honest, a bit stinky.
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These long haul trucks of the
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outback used to carry pianos, bales
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of wool, mining equipment, you
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name it. So I'm pretty sure that
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lugging Leah and the kids around
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beats the old school back breaking
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kind of work.
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And it turns out with camels, once
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they're up and going, it's all
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smooth clomping.
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But the launch procedure and sitting back down,
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well, that can be a bit of fun.
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So if I can offer a piece
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of advice, of course,
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it takes a bit of planning, but make
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sure you leave some time on your
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Aussie road trip to stumble
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onto the unexpected.
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You never know what or who you might run into.
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Am I right, CW?
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Bro? Yeah, yeah, yeah?
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Left me hanging.
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Our Aussie road trip is almost over.
[Love an Aussie road trip logo]
[Adam Spencer]:
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Next, we visit one of Leah's favourite
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holiday spots, connect with
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Indigenous culture.
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And I show I'm just as bad
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at beach cricket as I am at football.
[Love an Aussie road trip logo with loveanaussieroadtrip.com.au]
[Adam Spencer]:
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I love an Aussie road trip.
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If you're loving the Aussie spirit
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that we've encountered on this road trip,
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welll it doesn't get much better than
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Australia's best talent uniting for the
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annual Australia Day Broadcast.
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Catch it on your ABC, 26 January, 7.30pm AEDT.
