We have world-class chefs, restaurants, hatted restaurants. Australia is far from the world of. This is the Ben Taylor podcast, the home of marine industry insights. Enjoy. Hi, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Ben Taylor podcast. This one is part of a series that we're trying to put together to profile the Australian yachting industry. And so today I'm here with Jodie Groudon. Nice to see you, Jodie. Nice to see you too, Ben. So let's set some context. Who are you? What do you do? What are you all about? OK, so I'm based in the Great Barrier Reef region of Australia. Very nice place. It's not a hard place to live or work. And I manage a peak industry body that is purely set up for the purpose of servicing or visiting super yachts to our region. OK, and you've got you've got quite a famous region for some for some really great reasons, like wildlife scuba diving comes to mind. Absolutely. Two world heritage. The only place in the world where two world heritage areas meet being the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. I did not know that. Pretty amazing. There you go. Yeah. And so in the context of yachting. Yeah. What does paint the picture? What's the scenario? Is it really popular? Is it difficult? Is it well accommodated for? What does yachting look like around the Great Barrier Reef? Well, I think that our region in particular is really it's really unique for its massive diversity, both from like a, you know, its natural diversity, but also from a regional perspective. The Great Barrier Reef is 2600 kilometers long. So it goes down as far as Gladstone. I know it's massive. You can see it from outer space. Literally. It's true. So as far south as Gladstone, all the way north to the Torres Strait Islands. We have amazing remote islands. We have world class marinas. We have award winning marinas and multiple of them. There are marinas that you can stop in for in water refit purposes. Others that you might want to stay in for months. Others where you can charter from others where you might pass through to get quick clearance, perhaps refuel and move to outer reef destinations. Well, then you can stay in cities. It's great for captains. It's great for crew. It's great for high profile guests. OK, so the the important thing, I think, to communicate here is that this is not a a really remote destination where you're kind of on your own. If you brought your yacht there, there's actually plenty of support services, infrastructure there to spend a comfortable amount of time there. Absolutely. And be confident that, you know, you've got the resources to actually practically yacht there. Yeah, yeah. Islands with resorts, international airports, multiple. And realistically, you can be a yacht owner who wants to be seen by the world and park in a really busy, beautiful resort island space, or you can be a remote explorer. Our member group. So I represent a large array of businesses, like I mentioned before, everything from mum and dad provisioning businesses right through to marinas and agents. And I mean, national fuel companies, even shipbuilders even. So, yeah, it's quite a mix. And then the what's the key message for them? What's their kind of big frustration that you're trying to support them with today? Yeah, the member group. I think the key frustrations are that, like, I don't know how well understood Australia is internationally. Not very well understood. Yeah, as a super yacht destination. From what I've learned throughout the ASMICS conference, the really nuanced challenges and how much you see it in the industry media and stuff. It's like we're obsessed with the Mediterranean and the Caribbean and to hear how much is actually going on here and how different it is. I don't think it gets very much attention at all. No, look, we don't want too much because there's a tiny bit of it that we kind of like to keep a little bit exclusive and special. But we have world class chefs, restaurants, hatted restaurants. Australia is far from the world of Crocodile Dundee. And how are you going, mate? We have a sophisticated look. As a visiting super yacht, I just think my message is come and be utterly surprised. There is nothing here that we don't have to support you in every way, shape and form. And myself as an organisation, which is the super yacht group Great Barrier Reef, we provide you with a guidebook on arrival. You can get it online. It's got cruising routes. It's got all sorts of stuff. There is nothing that you can't get from us. And we're a completely not for profit organisation, purely set up to support businesses that want to support yachts. So it's free to be on. Yeah, beautiful. And you've not got this kind of like conflict of interest where you're incentivised to go to certain certain businesses and organisations. You can sit there right in between with absolute integrity saying, here's the options. Here's what's available. Take your pick. And, you know, we know they're authentic. They're trusted. They have that capability. Beautiful produce, beautiful wines, beautiful destinations. It's here waiting. Sounds good. Sounds fantastic. Jodie, thank you so much for coming on. Thank you for your insights. I love everything you do. No worries. Everybody, if you find this insightful, make sure you're following here to see plenty more content just like this. All being well. I'll see you very soon. Bye for now. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Ben Taylor podcast, the home of Marine Industry Insights. We'll see you again very soon. Bye for now.