Adventures in Luxury Travel

Mimi Lichtenstein 0:01
If you're a traveler that believes luxury and adventure are not mutually exclusive, then you're in the right place. Every week I take you to a new destination with one of my partners, sharing the hidden gems over the top experiences and active adventures to inspire your next family vacation. I'm Mimi Lichtenstein, an experienced Travel Advisor who has also traveled with my three teenagers and my husband around the world. Let's get started. Welcome to Episode 35 of adventures and luxury travel. Just a reminder, you can see the photos we talked about on the show and a full video on truth a travel.com. Today Drew and I talk about Australia, the Great Barrier Reef koalas, kangaroos, the Outback and so much more. Australia is an ideal destination for active travelers. It's also perfect for those who love delicious wines and incredible food. We dive into the bestest Sydney, the adventures around the Great Barrier Reef, the Outback and Tasmania. We also touch on animal encounters, where to swim with the whale sharks or great whites and the best places to see kangaroos and crocodiles. Visit true a travel.com/ 35 for a video of today's show and additional resources. Hello, everyone. I'm Mimi Lichtenstein. And today on Adventures in luxury travel, we are talking about Australia, the other side of the world from the US. And happily today I have in my friend Drew Classica, who very kindly woke up early to speak with us today. I think it's about seven 730 for him four o'clock here in the States for me. Welcome to the show. Drew, thanks for coming.

Drew Classica 1:39
Thank you, Mimi, thank you so much. I'm excited to be here this morning or your afternoon.

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:44
Yes, well, you and I both love Australia you live there, you know so much more about it than I do. I will touch on a little bit your background, you have a very varied background, including working at some Safari lodges in Africa. So not only do you know Australia, well, you and I have a shared love of active, adventurous really cool, different kinds of experiences, wildlife and all of that. So I'm excited to pick your brain today. Yeah, no, it's

Drew Classica 2:10
gonna be fun. Okay, good.

Mimi Lichtenstein 2:12
Okay, let's start with I'm going to bring on a map as we usually do, so everybody can get a good overview of what the country looks like and how big it is. I love this map that you had layering on the US tell us a little bit about the different areas and the highlights.

Drew Classica 2:26
Okay, so basically, you can split Australia, you know, north south into three different sections. So if you see up the top there, Cannes, Darwin broom, can you see that needs you cursor? Yeah, so across the top there, that's all the tropics, okay, so you've got the wet season or the monsoon and the dry season. So the monsoon will run from November, December through to march. And then April through to October is generally the dry season. So most people visit that time of the year between sort of April and sort of September, October, before before it gets too hot and 100% humidity so but there's always somewhere great. So through the center, you will see if you see the line between the Northern Territory, and South Australia, right in that center is everything you've seen about Australia with the red sand and the Outback and, and all the routes and then to the south to the west, directly west, where you've got Western Australia there. That that is basically if you go to the coast that's Ningaloo, the big reef system there where the whale sharks come. And then if you go to Brisbane, Sydney, it's very, very sort of like, subtropical there. So then as you go further south and you get from Melbourne, to Adelaide to Perth, you get into more Mediterranean. So it's very, very Mediterranean in those parts of Australia. So you've got your four seasons. And then as you go further south to Tasmania, it's almost like New Zealand, or parts of Europe. So yeah, like we've got every single environment in Australia and it's always somewhere great to visit no matter what the time of year. Yeah, I love this map. This map really shows you how big Australia is comparative to Europe and the UK. I think Australia fits in 33 and a third times the UK would fit into Australia

Mimi Lichtenstein 4:43
33 And a third times Wow. Yeah. So it just gives you a good idea what the perspective is of driving for example, or if somebody was to take even a an aeroplane from Sydney over to Perth. It's like crossing the United States

Drew Classica 4:58
it Yeah, like she didn't need it. Perth is like 556 hours. But what's very interesting about Australia is we have a population of about 24 million. So if you look between Brisbane and Melbourne, right, so you can see between Brisbane and Melbourne, you've got 80% plus of the population live in that pocket,

Mimi Lichtenstein 5:22
which I was gonna say, which leaves a lot of this without any population.

Drew Classica 5:27
Yeah. So, you know, right along the coastline. I mean, if you think about Australia, and what is incredible is the fact that we have so much untouched wilderness like just millions and millions and millions of acres.

Mimi Lichtenstein 5:42
Well, I think part of the fun for people like us going over there is that it is so outdoorsy, and so adventurous. And there's so much to explore. So let's dive into some of our favorite experiences. When you and I were preparing for today, I love it. Because again, you and I have a very good meeting of the minds. We both like doing really cool things and cool places and meeting cool people. This is a photo iconic, classic Sydney picture of the Opera House at nighttime, absolutely stunning. I know, and maybe give us a little insight, you could of course, go on a boat and just cruise around it. You could see it from land, but you also have some exclusive experiences for people to go in and see it from the inside. Right.

Drew Classica 6:23
Yeah, I mean, we can do curated experiences, you know, where you can go in to, you know, things called the Watson room. And Watson was the famous architect that designed that you can go backstage and meet some of the actors you can really get under the skin of the property and, and really get an incredible experience. I mean, the other great thing is there's just right in the foreground, there's an incredible restaurant there called Bennelong, as well. So you can literally eat under one of the sails and look over the Harbour Bridge. I mean, it is so iconic. And, look, I know it's one of those bucket list items that everybody wants to tick off. But this one's definitely worth doing, you know, and we will curate the experiences so you can really get behind behind the scenes and understand how it was built. You know, it took like, I think the budget overrun was like, you know, 10 times what they expected to spend. And it took like a decade longer than expected to build.

Mimi Lichtenstein 7:32
So when did it finish? When was the build finished? Sometime in the 60s? Yeah, yeah. So my first time there was in 1992. And it was there, then I don't think I don't know if Bennelong was there. But at that time, I definitely didn't have the budget probably to eat there. We will have. We'll have a photo of that later on. And it's absolutely stunning. So definitely something to put on the list. And then another of the big classic places the Great Barrier Reef.

Drew Classica 7:58
Yeah, so the Great Barrier Reef is one of the wonders of the earth that you can see from the moon. Right. So it's actually well, 150 miles long. So it is large. So it runs from the tip of Cape York. So that's the very most northern part of the east coast of Australia. Right. 12 150 miles south, almost to Brisbane. So, you know, basically, yeah, I mean, it's just absolutely incredible. And what what makes it even more incredible is the fact that that, you know, no matter where you go, you can be there by yourself like absolutely untouched, you can go into parts of the reef where you know, that hardly a human has ever been, even though it's you know, wildly popular. So yeah, I mean, it's one of those things you really have to do. And if you can get in the air and see it, it's really worthwhile.

Mimi Lichtenstein 9:01
Yeah, that's on my list for the next time I go back. I will say the first time I went scuba diving was at Michaelmas K and Hastings brief really? Yeah, that was my first time. And we did a boat trip around the Whitsunday Islands which was stunning because like you said, there's miles and miles of white sand beaches with nobody on them and it's just completely deserted. So and this is a beautiful photo. I love this. So this is also at the reef and it's just people out there stand up paddleboarding, but it looks like you're in the bathtub. The water is so clear.

Drew Classica 9:32
Yeah, so this one is actually at Lizard Island. This this. This photo is from a book and you know, Lizard Island is absolutely amazing because most people don't realize the reef is actually about a two hour boat trip from the land. So one of the great things about Lizard Island is you are stationed right in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef so you can literally snorkel off the beach and be amongst it so yeah, it's absolutely fine. Go listen. Yeah, it's a beautiful spot. My family that I absolutely love this one, this one, the gentleman in the middle is an NFL player called Larry Fitzgerald. Now I'm not huge into NFL, but I do remember this gentleman's name because I actually now know he's quite famous. But the guy holding his thumb up on the right is a famous Australian adventurer. In fact, he was voted in the top 50 adventurers of all time. So this guy was an accountant. He's like, Oh, my goodness, life is too boring, right? I need to really stretch myself. So he's got a number of world Guinness World Records. But the one he's most famous for is that he went to the shoreline of Antarctica. And he walked unassisted from the shore to the South Pole, and back over I had, I don't know how long it took, but it was weeks, right. And the guy does his incredible experiences, he can see his canyoning, and he does have sailing and rappelling and hiking. But he's a very famous speaker, because he's just so motivational, right? And, you know, we had some Silicon Valley people out there famous Silicon Valley, people out there with him. And they just said, like, it was one of the best experiences of our lives. But as you know, me, you know, what takes a trip from good to gray is the people that you meet along the way, for sure. You know, James is inspiring to say the least.

Mimi Lichtenstein 11:43
And you know what, when you're around people like that, or you're listening to people like that, through an official motivational speech, or just having a conversation with them, it's bound to rub off on you. So it's like, you're going to leave that conversation going home more motivated to do something, you know, outside your comfort zone or tackle some big obstacle. And I love that. Yeah. All right, this one rib boats, those are a favorite of mine. Here's a picture of Sydney Harbour or somewhere around Sydney, with a huge whale flying through the air next to a rowboat, I'm sure those people were extremely excited that this happened so close to them. Have you taken your kids out on one of these?

Drew Classica 12:21
Yeah, in fact, we love this boat. It's cold ocean extreme. We use it a lot. And we use it on a private basis. So what's so amazing about this is I think it has three 300 horsepower motors. So not only can you have the adrenaline of the ride, you can get out through the heads and out to where the whales are in literally minutes. But we use it to get to private beaches very quickly and incredible picnic set up or for thrill rides along the coast. And yeah, I mean, the whales migrate all up and down the coast, you know, the humpbacks and the Southern Right whales. So, you know, between I think is May and October is the main period where we can see whales there regularly. But these guys do an absolutely fantastic job. Yeah, just one of the best experiences ever. And especially if you're looking for you've got a family and you're looking for a bit of adrenaline.

Mimi Lichtenstein 13:21
Oh yeah. Which is typically what my clients like. And these are the only whales you can see there's other places you can go see the killer whales and you can go swim with Whale Sharks. So there's a lot of great, amazing wildlife experiences and we haven't even talked about kangaroos and koala bears yet.

Drew Classica 13:37
I mean, yeah, like you got the Bremen trench where you can see the orcas or killer whales. You've got southern Australia where the southern riots calm. Then you've got the blue whales and the humpbacks In fact, you can even on Ningaloo swim with humpbacks. Yeah. So I saw a blue whale. I probably wouldn't be November 2017 now, and I must admit, I am not huge into whale watching, right? Like because like, Okay, we drive around and you see a spurt every now and again. But down off of the bottom or Western Australia. I mean, we would have seen 100 whales in an hour. And they were huge. Amazing. So I mean, we can customize to whatever you want. Maybe you know like here we have barramundi fishing, which is the equivalent of our bass. So but of course like everything gets bigger in Australia

Mimi Lichtenstein 14:34
that's that's huge. That looks way bigger than any fish I caught in Alaska this summer.

Drew Classica 14:40
Yeah, it's called a barrel Monday.

Mimi Lichtenstein 14:41
I've heard of them. And then we go to the opposite extreme where I love this. You and I when we were working on an itinerary last year, we're talking about fast cars and driving fast cars around Adelaide. And this is just an example of a couple of them and I you might know off the top of your head but I have written in my notes, Ferraris lambrick guineas McLarens Mercedes C 63 s whatever that is, I don't know, car models, but how fun would that be to just drive around these big windy roads through the mountains?

Drew Classica 15:11
Yeah, there's this company called prancing horse, they do such a fabulous job at curating the experiences. And you know, we we've had many people actually go out with these guys where the cars delivered. You know, like, I remember on Boxing Day, I'm not sure if you call the 26th of December Boxing Day there, I do not know. So Boxing Day, it's an English thing, you know, afterwards, you put all the boxes away after Christmas. So that's why it's called Boxing Day. But it's not like this, but it's more about putting in but you know, we will have them delivered to wherever you're staying, so that you can maybe go for incredible cruise through the Barossa Valley or along the coast, south of Sydney. Yeah, the Great Ocean Road, wherever you wish to go. We can customize it to suit.

Mimi Lichtenstein 16:00
Love it. And then back in Sydney, I love this photo of the Bridge Climb. So you can actually go climbing up on the bridge over the Sydney Harbour, looking down upon the Opera House. How stunning with those views be?

Drew Classica 16:15
Yeah, yeah, like, I have to admit that. Although this is very touristy. You know, people do the Bridge Climb, we can actually do it on a private basis. And we're very good friends with the people at Bridge Climb. And I actually this is quite dear to me, because I thought to myself, this is I actually arranged a private Bridge Climb, took my wife up there. And I proposed her on the top of the bridge, because I figured that if she said no, I could just push her off.

Mimi Lichtenstein 16:44
Clearly, she said yes.

Drew Classica 16:45
Yeah, she was very scared that I pushed her off. So she felt that she was had no choice but to say yes, but I do love the Bridge Climb. You know, I have like three or four things that you have to do in Sydney. One is the Bridge Climb. One is obviously a private behind the scenes at the Opera House and sail on the harbour at, you know, sunset, you know, they're really, really cool things to do, you know, but you need to deliver them in such a way that, you know, for example, if you do the normal Bridgeclimb with everyone else will take four hours. We do an express version, you know, on a private basis. And you know, you get all the highlights and you don't have to face. Oh, yeah,

Mimi Lichtenstein 17:29
absolutely. Well, the next one wasn't on your list. But I saw a picture of it years ago, and it's on my list for the next time I come this amazing people.

Drew Classica 17:39
Yeah, this is Bondi Icebergs, right? So the ocean, this is an ocean pool. And you know, it fills up and drains with the tide. And actually, if you look at the top story, there's a very famous restaurant. They're also by the same name Bondi Icebergs, but you don't get much more iconic than this. I remember that. There was a big trade show in Australia around luxury travel. And we walked into Bondi, and I reckon, you know, I saw seven American agents sitting in there having lunch. So I was like, wow, everybody wants the same spot. But it is absolutely beautiful. And so iconic. And so yeah, I mean, it's just so Australian. I mean, people go there and swim in the ocean pool. And yeah, it's beautiful.

Mimi Lichtenstein 18:33
Yeah, I mean, there's just so many amazing things to do there. The key is that people need to know people like you and people like me to help them even know what's possible to do, because some things aren't as well known.

Drew Classica 18:45
Yeah, I mean, I let me say something more on that. Maybe I mean, you know, what, I think, you know, you know, what you do so well is, you know, you take people's time, and you elevate it, right? You take it to a new level you take, I mean, you think about life, and how valuable holidays are for families, right? So why do you work, you work, so that you can do things with your family, or the things that you love, or the people that you love most in your life? So what better gift to give, then make that time truly special? Because if you make that time truly special, you know, what have you built, you build memories, which is what life is all about? You know? So, you know, you think about people, people sometimes dismiss the role or say, Well, I can organize that online. But tell me if you've had the best holiday of your life or vacation as you would call it, and someone like Mimi's put it together and elevated that experience, and you've created lifelong memories. I mean, I would argue in many times Was that is probably the most important time that you could possibly spend. Well,

Mimi Lichtenstein 20:06
of course, you and I are on complete agreement in that respect. Okay, moving on to a few critters before it. We'll talk about wildlife a little later. But I love this some amazing photos of one very large alligator.

Drew Classica 20:21
It's a crocodile Crocodile.

Mimi Lichtenstein 20:25
Crocodile Dundee, of course it's a crocodile.

Drew Classica 20:27
Yes. So this this guy is a gentleman called Matt Right? He's actually got his own show on National Geographic called Outback Wrangler. And, you know, he does an amazing job. This crocodile is actually called Cyclops because it's only got three legs. And so it here, you know, he takes people on these incredible helicopter safaris through the top end, you know, where they go foraging for crocodile eggs, right to then sell back to the farms and they go barramundi fishing and they go like, you know, checking crocodile traps and removing, I mean, it is extreme. So these are some of the more extreme things we can do. So the next picture above is called to the right with that crazy buggy is wild bull mustering. So you know, this is something you know, obviously, because I come off a big ranch in Australia and studied agriculture. So I went to boarding school and agricultural university with a lot of these people. So we this is something we've organized, I remember we had the guy who was the founder of Sun Microsystems, and he was in one of these buggies doing wild bull catching in his EA wrote to me, and he also wrote to me and said, This is possibly the craziest thing I've ever done in my life, but I will never, ever forget it. So you get these bulls that you know, because the properties are big, some of them are a million acres, and you have to get rid of the bad genetics. So you have to go and catch these wild bulls that may never have seen a human for a decade, right? So that first amount with helicopters. And then they catch that there's actually a mechanical arm that comes off the side of that buggy and they catch them. Yeah. So down to the bottom left is diving with the great white sharks. And this is in Port link in South Australia at the Neptune islands. And they say that this is in the top two spots in the world or three is probably South Africa, Guadalupe and here in Australia. So this is one of the huge migratory paths. And this is agony, actually about 20 kilometers from where I grew up as a child. And you know, we were very, very nervous about going too deep in the water because there was so many great white sharks. So understand then, this is a motorbike Safari, this one and it's with EX Formula One F 500 motorbike rider Darrell Beatty, who actually came, I think he was second or third in the world championships in in the early 90s. So he does his incredible motorbike safaris up a place called the Canning Stock route. And just incredible museum and they do fantastic job. But these are the kinds of things you know, Mimi and I have chatted about, and you know that, that she can deliver a true vein because you knew that she has these connections, you know, like the things that you would never see on Google or find in a brochure that that can truly elevate that experience.

Mimi Lichtenstein 23:45
And you know, what's fun about working with you actually, is when I come with very, very specific things that someone loves is there's plenty of things that aren't, haven't been written yet, right? They're not out there. It's just a matter of making them up based on what somebody's interested in. And we find cool things for them to do. And that's always super fun. And then for a few more relaxing pursuits, you can do lots of yoga in Australia. It's a very wellness focused country and doing yoga on a beach in the Whitsundays, or under a platform that Lizard Island or something like that would just be a magical way to start or end your day for sure. Yeah, and the sunsets, right and the sunrises you get both and there's so spectacular there.

Drew Classica 24:28
I love this show. This is that this is actually from our book. This is El Questro. But, you know, sitting on this gorge, you know, in the middle of the Kimberley that, you know, probably apart from the photographer, this guide would be the only person for maybe 50 miles, you know, maybe maybe even further. I mean, you can I mean one of the great facts about Australia is they discovered an indigenous tribe. I think it was about 1982 in the Great sandy desert that didn't even realize that the Europeans had come to Australia. Like, you know, it was like the last Amazonian tribe. Like, how can that happen? You know, I remember hearing it on the radio is, you know, I would have been 10 When I remember hearing it, and it was all over the news. And yeah, so they just walked out of the desert in 1982. incredible,

Mimi Lichtenstein 25:27
amazing, more gorgeous sunsets. And stargazing. What I love about Central Australia in particular, right, there's not a lot of light pollution, there's no light pollution. And right, the stars and the, the magic. This is a very

Drew Classica 25:43
interesting story in itself, you know, you see the boab tree or as many people in the the USA bay or Bab zone, you find these in southern Africa, you know, the Kalahari Madagascar, but they're only found in the Kimberley. And this is a special type of rock that they find in the Kimberley. And it's almost identical to that that you find in Sub Saharan Africa, right, really, really is where the boy trees are. So and it's completely different. It's like, black and white between the different types of Aboriginal art. So, you know, I mean, the aboriginals have we don't only did it. Well, now they claim it. But no, I think that it's very obvious that it was, you know, people came across from from Southern Africa. I mean, the other thing is, there's a very famous astronomer here called, they called him space Gandalf in that series on the inner planets and on the planetary systems that BBC documentary, and doing, you know, night vision with him is incredible. So yeah, this is some Aboriginal rock art, from in Arnhem Land and think about this Kakadu, which is one of our national parks, is the third largest national park in the world. And there's an Aboriginal reserve there called Arnhem Land. Well, Arnhem Land is five times the size of Kakadu. And, you know, it's been, you know, it's in Aboriginal control and has been for for decades and decades. And like, there's literally maybe, I don't know, maybe like 10,000 people, maybe 5000 people living there. And some of this rocker UK goes back 40,000 years, like stuff that has been extinct in Australia for I mean, extinct in that part of Australia like Tasmanian tigers. And you can see where they've obviously interacted with the mocassins from Indonesia and all of that, just incredible. And the rock art galleries. I mean, you walk in there, and you just thought, Oh, my God, when they talk about rock art, you know, in, in different parts of Europe, this is just mind blowing. You there's literally, it's like a gallery, and you can trace Australia's routes through these galleries.

Mimi Lichtenstein 28:11
Amazing. And, you know, obviously, you guys have a long history of Aboriginals in your country and a lot of cultural and historical places to visit or people to talk with to learn about those cultures. I think that for people who are coming there, and they want it to also be not just you know, outdoorsy and fun, but educational. There's so much that you can learn through the Aboriginal. The works of art. Yeah, I mean, art,

Drew Classica 28:38
the, the Australian, you know, indigenous population, the Australian Aboriginal people. They're the longest surviving human race on Earth. We these guys go back occupation in Australia, minimum 60,000 years. Wow. Yeah, I mean, it is mind blowing. Like, Australia was like Europe, like there was about 129 different 149 different clans, it was broken up and they're all with their own distinct languages and cost. Yeah.

Mimi Lichtenstein 29:15
And you know what to I think another item that you and I talked about on our itinerary last year was on Kangaroo Island going around with local people to learn about how they live down there just a little bit more contemporary, you know, culture and history, but just getting a really good understanding of how local farmers you know, live their lives and how the beekeepers you know, take care of their things. It's just a lot of farming, agriculture history, it's just you know, an amazing diverse place to be able to go see

Drew Classica 29:45
Yeah, I mean, those people to people experiences you know, because generally, and I think you would agree with these people that are taking this kind of holiday, a generally, you know, a type personality so they want to be with interesting people that they can learn from. And you have a great memory maybe because, you know you cover every country in the world and to remember that Kangaroo Island had the Ligurian v. And it's the only pure strain of that Italian library and be left in the world is on Kangaroo Island. And yeah, we take people to these sheep dairies and abalone farms and, you know, people producing you know, really fine, warm Marino's that are used in Amani suits, and it's incredible. And here, we can see a very dark, I would say be a Chardonnay or something like that. That's been, you know, fermented for, well, you know, age for quite a long time, but the brasa Valley, you know, I mean, the food and wine is fantastic. I mean, you've probably heard of places like Hench ghee and the Penfolds Grange and torbreck LED, you know, we because I went to Australia's leading agricultural, winemaking University. You know, a lot of the people that are now the owners of these famous vineyards are the chief winemaker, or the chief viticulturalist are people that I went to university with, so our access into the wine regions is just unrivaled. Do you know like, I know that nobody can be the sun that stuff now.

Mimi Lichtenstein 31:27
That's why I like you are one of the reasons I like, alright, let's transition back to one of our favorite topics on at least Americans favorite topics on Australia, and that is wildlife, including kangaroos and wallabies, which you pointed out earlier. We don't even know what a wallaby looks like, which is probably true for most of us. But seeing all these animals, whether it be in the wild or at a sanctuary or learning about them in the conservation efforts. Tell us a little bit about some of those things.

Drew Classica 31:57
Yeah, I mean, one of the things is, you know, we you know, we have very different wildlife from the rest of the world like incredibly different because we've been cut off for so long. But for example with with the kangaroos and wallabies, there's 36 different types of kangaroos and wallabies. People don't realize that there's ones adapted to the hills, there's ones to the mountains, there's ones adapted to the plains, there's ones adapted to the thick bush. Yeah, there's all different types and wallabies are basically a small version of a kangaroo. Some of them are literally only that big, right up to your six and a half, seven foot red kangaroo. But you know, I mean, the population much like your deer in North America have exploded. Now that they have pastures and water and things like that. So you know, I mean, there's no lack of kangaroos. That's the koalas. You know, like, Yeah, I mean koalas. They suffered a lot with the bushfires, but that they're certainly making a recovery. But we got, I mean, I love to show people wildlife in the wild, because the first thing I did when I started the company, I think 24 years ago was saying, Okay, I want to show people as training wildlife in its natural state, right? Because then you just appreciate it more, you know. So that's one of the big things we're on about. Yeah, yeah. He's swimming with Australian sea lions, which are highly endangered in in the southern part of Australia. So I mean, again, they're making I mean, this huge, like everywhere in the world. People are rewilding, you know, really taking care of the native environment, you know, natural environment, you know, huge conservation efforts, you know,

Mimi Lichtenstein 33:50
and by the way, this shot and the one with the whale shark, I took my kids to Baja California to Cabo two years ago. And we swam with both of those and my teenagers absolutely loved it. The sea lions were so playful, and the whale sharks are so big, and they actually swim quite a bit faster than you might anticipate. So you have to try and keep up with them, but to amazing experiences where you're right next to wildlife, you know, they're just swimming by you and interacting around you. And it's amazing.

Drew Classica 34:21
Yeah, I mean, we've got two great places to swim with whale sharks here in Australia Ningaloo? Most people don't realize that on the Western Australian coast, is another reef almost as big as the barrier reef called the Ningaloo Reef, right. I mean, it's just so untouched. I was there about maybe like, six or seven weeks ago, and it is just so untouched. And the other place is Christmas Island. Yeah. And of course,

Mimi Lichtenstein 34:50
we'll talk about that in a minute.

Drew Classica 34:52
The ubiquitous saltwater crocodile? Yeah. So up in the north of Australia, I mean, these are hundreds of the Brink of Extinction but now, like dial literally everywhere back to, you know, pre European numbers.

Mimi Lichtenstein 35:07
Wow. And this little guy is so adorable and cute. Tell us about him.

Drew Classica 35:12
This isn't a Kidner. And it's one of only two egg laying mammals in the world, the other being a platypus. And you know, they they eat ants. And we have the world expert, Dr. Peggy Rizz. Miller on Kangaroo Island. And we very, very often take people out with her. That's something that we really pioneered with a company called exceptional Kangaroo Island, you know, and people just find it fascinating finding the whole history. I mean, she's the David Attenborough of over kidness. Yeah.

Mimi Lichtenstein 35:48
Well, there's so tiny and prickly how many how big are these?

Drew Classica 35:53
Yours are like that big? Yeah. Oh, they're

Mimi Lichtenstein 35:55
pretty big. Okay.

Drew Classica 35:56
When you get a baby, it's called a Puggle. P U, Double G le these little tiny things. Yeah.

Mimi Lichtenstein 36:03
Oh, cute. Well, it looks like it would be like stepping on a sea urchin. So you definitely don't want to do that.

Drew Classica 36:08
Or they're actually very soft. Yeah, I mean, they look worse than they are. Okay, good. Call up into a big bowl if that's right. And yeah.

Mimi Lichtenstein 36:17
All right off the beaten path. I sort of joked with you ahead of time saying like everywhere in Australia is off the beaten path other than the big cities, but not so we're going to talk about a few places Tasmania, I didn't make it there when I was in Australia. But you know, looking at this picture of this gorgeous blue cove with beautiful white sand certainly makes me want to go there. How many people were coming to Australia from the US add Tasmania onto their itinerary would you say?

Drew Classica 36:42
I would say a decade ago, literally no one. But now I would say maybe like 30%. I mean, it is just so untouched. This is a place called Wineglass Bay was I think about seven, eight years ago voted the best beach in the world. Just absolutely stunning. But the hiking the nature I think in Tasmania, there's only maybe a population of four or 500,000 people. And something like 40% of it is untouched wilderness. In fact, in the southeast part of Tasmania, they say that it is the purest air in the world, because it drops up from Antarctica. On top. So here we've obviously got all the row in Central Australia,

Mimi Lichtenstein 37:32
which as you know, Americans know more by the name of Ayers Rock, as rock. Yes. And if you go and stay at the one and only out there, you'll see it from the one and only which recommendation.

Drew Classica 37:45
Yeah, that's the place to go. Longitude 131. Is that is the definitely the place to stay. Oh, is

Mimi Lichtenstein 37:51
it? I'm sorry, I mixed them up. Thank you for correcting me. All right.

Drew Classica 37:55
You corrected yourself.

Mimi Lichtenstein 37:58
All right, this one the crabs tell us a little bit about this, which has been called I think David Attenborough also had some expression for the all these crabs on Christmas Island.

Drew Classica 38:08
Yeah, he said it was in the top five greatest migrations in the world. And I mean, I've only recently and I'm talking like eight weeks ago went to Christmas Island because it is remote. It's like five hours by plane from Perth, which is the remotest capital city in the world, right? It is like really, really remote. But I mean, just incredible. These red crabs that that migrate from the ocean, up onto the mainland and onto this island to, to breed. And also, there's just incredible whale sharks here as well. But I mean, if you're looking for destinations that are just far off the beaten path, you're actually closer to Indonesia than you are Australia to go and visit Christmas Island

Mimi Lichtenstein 38:58
really? Well. For those of you who are listening and not looking at the photo, it's definitely worth going to look at the photo. There's a guy who has bicycle riding down a path and there's probably 1000 red crabs crossing the path in front of him. I'm not sure who this guy is who thought to go bike ride down the path with all these crabs. It seems a little treacherous. Yeah, well for the crabs, look for the crabs and the guy in case he falls off. I don't think I'd want to be him. And then this is a beautiful photo of from above, and the red that you see on the beach here are all crabs. Yeah. Amazing. Okay, exclusive and over the top ideas between you and I we have a lot you come with a lot and I can come up with a lot and between the two of us I know we can come up with some really good over the top ideas. One of them that you brought to my attention that I absolutely love is the pearl. So tell us a little bit about this experience.

Drew Classica 39:51
Yeah, this is amazing. So the past Bailey family in Australia, have been farming pals for like four generations. shamans, and they only produce like, maybe like one or 2% of the world's pearls, but it makes up like more like, some like 52% of the value of all pearls. So globally, point four, you know, like, and they have this, this showroom in, in Sydney, one marketplace, Sydney. And underneath this showroom is an old bank vault, and you go down there with the family. And they literally bought pull out hundreds of millions of dollars of pearls. And they actually show me the biggest Pearl ever created in human history. I mean, got these five Japanese guys, because I didn't realize all pearls are graded manually by hand, right. And they put this one strand of pearls together. That is so perfect. It took them 18 years to get the pearls required for one necklace. And I mean, these things are so rare, and so untouched. I mean, like you would have all heard of the De Beers diamonds, right? She's there going to me, like, you know what, there's a lot more diamonds in your thing. But these, these things, we have to grow them, you know, they take. And also we can actually go and visit. I mean, it's amazing. So we've organized exclusively to take our clients down in Sydney, or Darwin or broom, or we can even take them out by sea playing to the farm in the Kimberley. But I remember I brought a client out and the client, I don't want to go and see pills, I'm not even interested in pills. I just said trust me, you know, give me an hour of your time. Three hours later, I had to pull them out of there. They're like, this is probably one of the best things I've ever done, because you go through the oldest elevator in Australia down to this bank vault. And now you've got these five little Japanese guys who are the best grinders on the planet, going through these pearls and in the family, the oldest, you know, Pearl producing family in the world with the most pristine pearls. And it is just fascinating. I mean, trust me, I'm not into pearls. But every time I do it, I go. This is just amazing.

Mimi Lichtenstein 42:24
Well, I think when you meet somebody who is so immersed in what they do, and so passionate about what they do, you can't help but be brought into that right? Yeah,

Drew Classica 42:34
drawn up in the excitement. Yeah. And that if you

Mimi Lichtenstein 42:37
buy some pearls, that'd be the perfect thing to then wear to your white party that you might have on your yacht, running around the Lizard Island or the Whitsundays or something?

Drew Classica 42:46
Yeah. I mean, I love this idea. I mean, I think this idea was super creative. And you know, you've got the White Sands, you know, I mean, what looks better than white? And the turquoise blue? You know, I really liked this idea. Yeah, I

Mimi Lichtenstein 43:02
did. Yeah. Okay. More boats. Tell us a little bit about this one, I think, is this the one that's in the Kimberleys?

Drew Classica 43:09
Yes. So this is the true north. These are the guys that were the real pioneers of this region. So, you know, like one of the last true great wildernesses left on earth, and they've built this special boat with a very low draft and with a helicopter. So, you know, like, they'll go out even out up to 200 miles offshore out to these remote atolls, and, but the tides here are like 13 meters, I think they're the second largest tides in the world. And if you go in April, May straight after the monsoon, you've got incredible waterfalls like this, where they just nudge straight up to the unit. They take you to ancient Aboriginal rock art sites, they take you to, you know, incredible, gorgeous swimming holes. I mean, I've done this, and it's definitely worth it. I mean, I just can't even describe it. I convinced one of my friends to do this recently. He's like, What am I going to do Dre I said, you haven't done this, go and do it. Now they've got it as their homepage on their Facebook and you know, you know, the become the biggest app because they're like, who's the best thing I've done in the world? You know,

Mimi Lichtenstein 44:24
you know what, that's what life's about. Right? You got to do these cool things. This is a photo op near Lizard Island going out on a boat again. And now I love this next boat. This is a very cool boat. You have

Drew Classica 44:38
this one spirit luxury charters, and they're on the Great Barrier Reef and they just do an absolutely this is a catamaran. That's why you see you know for extra stability, but it comes with all the toys, but you know, they'll go out to rain Island, for example, which is the largest largest green turtle rookery in the world and We're all the great but oh, you know, where they all, you know, nest and obviously if it's a rookery, that's where they nest but you know, they'll take you to hidden parts of the Great Barrier Reef and you come back to your floating hotel. I mean these guys, you know, the divemasters there. You knew, botanically, they know every plant you go to the rainforest, you dive you snorkel, you have incredible, you know, beach barbecues, you know, you see amazing wildlife, you go to untouched places. I mean, this is what these boats open up. I think it's so underestimated. Cruising the Great Barrier Reef. If I could say to someone, what is the best way to do the Great Barrier Reef? I would definitely, if you've got a large group eight to 10 people, it's no more well, it's slightly more but not great to rent a boat like this. Stay at Lizard Island, and just go to the best spots. I mean, you can get in I mean, that's a great thing about the reef is you got all these incredible anchorages, you know, so you can get in behind the reef, and it's always calm and Yeah,

Mimi Lichtenstein 46:11
well, anyone who listened to the podcast before knows I'm a huge fan of boat charters, I love chartering catamarans. For a family vacation. It's just an amazing experience to wake up one place, go somewhere for the afternoon, then go dock somebody somewhere else for the night. And you get to see so much you get to go places people will never get to go unless you're on a boat. And it's just an amazing way to travel with your family with a couple couples. It's just so fun. So highly recommend I agree with you. Alright, we're gonna quickly go through a few of these things. Or I know you and I will be here for four hours. So obviously, if people want private jets, we've got private jets, we've got helicopters. I love this next photo. As far as fascinating people go, we talked about how important it is to connect with interesting people. And this guy just looks like a real classic Australian guy. Tell us a little bit about him.

Drew Classica 47:04
Yeah, so this is a in fog. And he comes from a place called the Flinders Ranges in the, the northern part of South Australia, which is really, yeah, so it's about 500 kilometers north of Adelaide, and pilot rancher, you know, ecologist, you know, like, you know, these guys can do anything, you know, he, one minute he'll be taking you on a hike. And the next minute, you'll be in his playing mustering shape from the mountains, you know, like, and these people have been there for like six generations, you know that people just find it fascinating, you know, like, they want to meet people like this.

Mimi Lichtenstein 47:45
Yeah, I agree. All right, before we transition to talk about some of the gorgeous hotels and lodges throughout the country, I know you have a term crazy and cool. Tell me at least one or two of your crazy and cool experiences we haven't talked about.

Drew Classica 48:00
I mean, crazy ENCODE is things that you would not normally do. So you know, for example, we've got a gentleman called Stuart O'Grady, who won a gold medal in cycling, he also won 17 stages of the Tour de France. And we have done a number of cycling trips with him. He's the race director of the Tour Down Under which is the Australians version of the Tour de Italia or the Tour de France. And so you know, people can go go go riding with him. And we've also organize people like Fidel Evans, who won the Tour de France to go riding with him, you know, or, you know, one of the other things is you can go racing monster trucks in the outback with the gentleman that won the Paris to Dhaka like you know, anything you can think of, we can put together the you know, the ultimate fall drive some far either a pop up camp in the middle of the Outback, whatever you can think of, you know, we have done over the last 24 years.

Mimi Lichtenstein 49:07
I love it. Love, love, love it. Okay, so, this is one of my favorite shots because it's of a ridiculously amazing view from the terrace at the Park Hyatt Hotel overlooking the Sydney Opera House. I know this is not an inexpensive room to rent in general, would you say that the Park Hyatt has the best views of the Sydney Opera House or are there other hotels that also have this kind of a view?

Drew Classica 49:33
I mean, undoubtedly, the Park Hyatt has the best location. But there's a new hotel that's just been completed called the crown, which is directly behind it maybe like half a mile. But because it's so elevated, the views are incredible and no expense was spared. But in terms of a boutique hotel in an incredible location. The Park Hyatt is very hard to compete with. That's it right there. It's only 110 rooms.

Mimi Lichtenstein 50:03
Yeah, it's just beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. And you just get to watch what's going on in the water all day long. And you directly below the bridge as well. Yeah. Oh yeah, you could see the bridge in the background over here. Very well located, that's for sure. Okay, now we're gonna talk about the one and only for a second. So I love one and only hotels, I love their ethos. I love their vibe. I love everything about them. Why do you like the one and only in the wolgan Valley?

Drew Classica 50:30
Well, it's a great way to start a trip into Australia. So you can land in Sydney, you can jump on a helicopter. And within 45 minutes, your one and only wolgan Valley where you literally will see 1000 Kangaroos a day. And like it's straight out of central casting for what you imagine Australia is going to be. So you know, it's a great way to start. You know, like because all the flights arriving to Australia very early from the US like 10 o'clock in the morning or 930 You're already there starting your holiday right then you can slowly drive back through the Blue Mountains spent two or three nights in Sydney and then satellite out but yeah, I think the wildlife and the views are what make you know one and only special. Of course the combination is great as well. It just goes without saying when it comes to

Mimi Lichtenstein 51:28
and you have you know beautiful picnics with us like this. You have stargazing of the kangaroos, most bike

Drew Classica 51:35
riding mountain biking, hiking, rackets tough.

Mimi Lichtenstein 51:41
All that good stuff. So highly recommended. And then this looks like it's actually like a golden hour sunset picture. Tell us a little bit about about this one. Oh, this is actually the same one, isn't it?

Drew Classica 51:53
Yeah, it's one of the only be I mean, you didn't that beautiful valley, you can see that. You know, the sun setting there and you know, you've got the hugest Scarman behind you. It's just a great shot that shows how beautiful it is. And you just say, when people have you know, put the place into conservation, how many kangaroos there are. Beyond, you know, like you will literally see 1000 Kangaroos in a day.

Mimi Lichtenstein 52:25
So fun. All right, the next one is equally beautiful and very romantic, just by the shape of it and owned by one of my favorite people in the hospitality industry. Richard Branson, tell us a little bit about this one.

Drew Classica 52:39
Well, getting Newser in the Sunshine Coast region. This is obviously Makepeace Island, which I've been to I've been lucky enough to have been there probably eight or nine times maybe but Noosa is what you would call it the Hamptons of Australia. Maybe the Cape Cod is a it's just this hidden gem with no international tourists Koba imagine the most perfect client climate the most perfect white beaches, and most beautiful scenery and tropical this this is what these places like. So this is really close to a little town called Noosa. And it's his private island on the river. But you know, they have this really high speed ribbed boat, like the similar to the one we saw in the earlier photo with the whale next to it. And they in 10 minutes, you can be anywhere and yeah, I mean, it this place is just beautiful. Like the gardens you cannot even imagine how it feels like you're in the rainforest, you know.

Mimi Lichtenstein 53:48
And it's shaped like a heart. It's called Make peace Island. It's owned by Richard Branson. The next time I am down in your area, I will absolutely be going there. It's just a you

Drew Classica 53:58
just go north of here. It also has has its own Everglades almost like it's the second largest Everglades in the world after Florida. And they're just so different to what you see in Florida but just have to get up again.

Mimi Lichtenstein 54:13
And from this island, you're not just staying on this island when you're staying there. You're going out and about going mountain biking, you can go golfing, like there's access to so many amazing active outdoorsy things to do. So

Drew Classica 54:24
yeah, probably the best outdoor market in Australia is very close. They have incredible cooking schools, you know, treatments, the treatments are just to die for in that region, you know, spa treatments.

Mimi Lichtenstein 54:37
Awesome. This is an inside view looking out of Lizard Island which we touched on before and the next one is one of my favorite photos for I collect great bathtub photos with a good view. And this is definitely one of them. Tell us a little bit about where this is.

Drew Classica 54:54
This is on a beautiful beach called island beach on Kangaroo Island. And it's a property called one Kangaroo Island Majan the most turquoise untouched beach. I mean, we have so, so many of them in Australia just because our population is so low. Yeah, I mean, I just love this property. They never put a foot wrong and the service is fantastic in the food. Obviously, being on Kangaroo Island is, you know, sensation man came along, it's a lot bigger than people realize it's the third largest island off of Australia. So it's about 90 miles long by 50 miles wide. So

Mimi Lichtenstein 55:33
it's big. That's pretty big. And I know this is one of your favorites down in Tasmania, and I think it's reason enough to go to Tasmania.

Drew Classica 55:41
I think you're right. I mean, this is a 20 suite lodge called sapphire sa WF i e, and I would say it is the number one lodge in Australia right now. Like just in terms of service food, feed out, they do a good job, like really cool job. One of their favorite things is you go and shuck oysters straight from the ocean and sip champagne while you're shuffling the oysters are

Mimi Lichtenstein 56:09
amazing. I did that in Croatia in October and it was fabulous. So I'm a fan happy to do it in different parts of the world. Okay, so the red, you can see if you could see this photo, if you're watching, you can see the red dust of the earth right where they are. Tell us a little bit more about where this is. So

Drew Classica 56:28
this is in the sand jeans adjacent to Ayers Rock slash already. So this is longitude 131, which is part of the Bailey lodges portfolio. And you have to say everything that the baby lodges do is top of the line first class. So they really know how to do great hospitality, food, wine experiences. Yeah, they've done a really, really good job.

Mimi Lichtenstein 56:55
Beautiful. So if you want to go out and see Ayers Rock, this is definitely the place to stay.

Drew Classica 56:59
There's only place I would be going.

Mimi Lichtenstein 57:02
So many of us most of us know about the fires that happened in Australia a couple years ago. And you guys lost one of your most iconic properties Southern Ocean Lodge. And this is a photo of it from before. Can you give us an update on I know they're rebuilding? What's the status? And is it Are they rebuilding exactly the way it was? Are they changing things.

Drew Classica 57:24
So I actually was lucky enough to have a coffee while he came into our office, the CEO, Craig on Tuesday morning. So he gave me an update. And the great news is that Southern Ocean lawns is slated, Mark to you know, is slated to come to life and be finished in June 23. So that's only just over 18 months away. So yeah, they've made it's very similar, but they're going to have a big private four bedroom villa. Now, they're also going to do slightly larger rooms, a bathroom in every room, they're going to add hot and cold plunge pools out the back. So you know, they're really taking it to the next level. So that's the picture there. It'll be it'll be very similar, but anything that they missed, they are incorporating into the new design. And I know that you know, Sapphire and Southern Ocean lodge up until the when Southern Ocean lodge burnt down a couple of years ago was the absolute to stand out properties in Australia. So they're very, very keen for this to be again, number one in Australia. So I would say that, you know, I they have high aspirations, so I think they'll probably achieve it.

Mimi Lichtenstein 58:54
I can't wait. I think I'm gonna wait to come just for that reason. Yeah, so then you have even remote. This one you call an Outback station, tell us a little bit about these very remote places.

Drew Classica 59:05
So this one is in northern South Australia. This is the Flinders Ranges and you can see the older range we on. The big thing is we calls you you call properties like this ranches. We call them stations. So a station so this one is probably 60,000 acres, which is very small by Australian standards. But the gentleman who owns this has completely removed all the sheep and he's put it all back to wildlife conservation. So absolutely incredible. They hadn't seen some species there for 2030 years. And now they're seeing you know, a kidness and they're seeing possums and, and like species like that, that haven't been seen there in decades. You know, just by removing the rabbits, the feral cats, the foxes and things of that nature. Okay, Questro homestead in the Kimberley absolutely stunning on the chamberlain gorge.

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:00:06
Love it looks beautiful private islands. Yeah. So

Drew Classica 1:00:10
this is the ultimate Robinson Crusoe island in the very north of the Great Barrier Reef.

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:00:17
Yeah, who wouldn't want to stay there? How? So is this island? Is this like a buyout situation? This island or you can have rent individual rooms?

Drew Classica 1:00:26
You can rent individual rooms, but they only have five rooms. Okay,

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:00:31
how many? And villas there's obviously.

Drew Classica 1:00:35
This one's up at Noosa, the one near Richard Branson's place and overlooking the ocean. Yeah.

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:00:42
Standing. All right. You've told us many of your favorites already in terms of lots of different categories. But I'm going to dive into a few more. The food in Australia is beautiful. I know there is no Michelin Guide and Michelin stars in Australia. But that doesn't mean that there aren't Michelin deserving chefs in Australia. And they make absolutely stunning dishes, you can have that. And then you could range all the way to the other end where you're having a barbecue in the backyard, you want to give us a little insight into a few of these photos.

Drew Classica 1:01:11
Yeah. So this first one is Mr. Chow's which is a fantastic, incredible restaurant in Sydney. This one, the next one down where you've got the Marang on fire as a property is a place called fire door where everything is cooked over open flame every single ingredient, like the only place in the world. The other ones could that could you pavilion, which is the ultimate sort of beach dining land. And then there's the other one is Sarah Glover, who again cooks everything over fire, who's a fantastic chef, but she goes out and spends the day hunting and gathering with you. And then you come back and cook everything that you've, you know, gathered during the day, from abalone to lobster, to I don't know, whatever it might be mussels, and you cook it all over an open fire. I mean, we just get rave reviews about her. But you know, one of the things we can do is we are very, very well connected. So to probably all the top restaurants, we can call them at any time and get access to them pretty much right and we can do you know it's taken us 20 years to be able to make that phone call.

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:02:25
Yeah, well, I love having partners like you who could do that for me. This is such a beautiful picture from nomad. I have a couple of restaurants on my list after getting ready for today. And one of them is nomad. And I definitely want to go to Bennelong, too, which is this is the photo of the restaurant that drew was referring to earlier that is in the Sydney Opera House. stunning news. And then this one which I showed Drew, he's not had it yet. But the crab cake and Esther I mean, you look at this, and you're like, Okay, no, it's not healthy, but I'm sure it's worth every single bakes.

Drew Classica 1:03:02
Yeah. So I mean, you know, one of the things that people this is one of the big comments we get back from guests was, I didn't know that the food in Australia and the wine would be so good. Like, I just never even thought about it. But it was absolutely outstanding. You know that. I mean, I've heard that for 20 odd years since I've been doing this business. And you

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:03:27
know, what's crazy is what draws people to Australia, you know, a lot of people Great Barrier Reef, Sydney, the animals, but then to have the surprise of, you know, all these amazing people to meet eating amazing food like this going to those wineries. Like, it's, you're gonna leave there with so much more than you even thought you're going to, you know, do while you're there. So it's, it's a place that's worth making that big trip around the world for us Americans.

Drew Classica 1:03:53
I mean, it's very interesting, because I spent, you know, almost three years doing Safari and you know, that was my basis. I want people to have the same wonder and or that I felt when I went on that first safari, right of just mind blowing, expanding, like I just never imagined, right. And it just being so much better than, like, that's what I want people to experience in Australia. And I mean, I was very lucky in Africa that I was with my friends who were like, you know, fourth and fifth generation Kenyans. Right. And I want to, I want to give that same experience to people, you know, when they come to Australia. And you know, I don't want them saying safaris better, either. I'm, I'm biased. I want them to say Australia was incredible.

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:04:46
They're just different. You know, right. I think Safari, everybody says, you leave there and it stays with the fabric of who you are. And I would argue that Australia could have as equally as large of an impact, right.

Drew Classica 1:04:58
So Just to finish up again, for for first time visitors, this is my own creation, right? Like, I was like, Okay, if I didn't know anything about you, right like 00. And I just had to use my experience to build something that I thought people would love, I would go with these four things, I would put it in Sydney, I will make sure you go and stay on an island like lizard so you can see the best of the Great Barrier Reef, I want you to see the red dirt or the remoteness of the Outback. So you can feel that wilderness, right? You know, you feel that. And I want to make sure that you see koalas, you see kangaroos, you see a kidness all those things in the wildlife, right. But in a, in an untouched environment. I mean, we can deliver this experience 100 different ways, you know, depending on what you don't what you like, and what you don't like, for example, you could stay on an island on the Great Barrier Reef, you can stay on a boat, you can visit for the day, you can fly to San K on a helicopter and snorkel. Like, there's 100 different ways you can do it. But you know, it's, I know that we're going to finish up, but I just wanted to personally say thank you to you for the opportunity today to, you know, chat with you and talk about, you know what true vein travel offers, and you know, your expertise. And thank you so much for inviting me into your world to chat.

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:06:44
While you're so sweet. I appreciate that you came on to share your love and passion for your beautiful country, you know, the amount and breadth of experiences and people and connections you have and the knowledge from going to see all these hotels all the time, you know, routinely so you know, they're staying up to standards. It's just tremendous wealth that I get to draw upon. So I appreciate it very much. And thank you for coming on and spending your time with me.

Drew Classica 1:07:10
No worries, I'm sorry for going not maybe maybe like 14 minutes over.

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:07:17
So no worries, I knew we would go over it. Honestly, we could again talk about it for four hours. So you can only you can't fit a square peg into a round hole. You can't talk about Australia for less than an hour. It's just not possible.

Drew Classica 1:07:30
Well, and really appreciate your time.

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:07:33
Absolutely. Well, thank you and we will be in touch. Hopefully when you know everybody the world cooperates. We all the Americans are coming back to Australia. Look forward

Drew Classica 1:07:43
to that day very soon.

Mimi Lichtenstein 1:07:44
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