00:00 About 60 metres tall, this karri tree towers above the rest.
00:06 For decades, tourists have been coming from all over the world to climb the Gloucester
00:10 tree to the top.
00:11 It was quite exciting because you're looking at all these peaks that you've got to make
00:17 your way up.
00:18 And initially there's that rush of energy and you're climbing up in the tree and then
00:21 start looking down and you're thinking, "Can I do this?"
00:24 According to local authorities, no one's ever fallen from the tree.
00:28 The Gloucester tree and the nearby Bicentennial tree have been closed to climbers for months,
00:33 as experts work to make the structures safe.
00:36 And tourism operators say the economic impact is being felt.
00:39 It'll be into the hundreds of thousands, at least, if not millions.
00:45 As international tourists turn their back on the town.
00:49 And we are hearing it from operators adjacent to Pemberton that they are actually looking
00:55 at changing their itinerary and staying in other towns longer.
00:59 It's a further blow for the Southern Forests region.
01:02 We've copped a few hits of late with the deregulation of dairy, deregulation of potatoes, closing
01:09 of the native forestry.
01:10 So we really have been thrown into tourism quite heavily.
01:14 The state government is committed to reopening these climbing trees at some stage.
01:18 It's just not clear when that will be.
01:20 And if they do reopen, it could be a totally different climbing experience.
01:25 Yeah, I think there's options to look at, you know, replacement of a lookout platform
01:30 at the top of the trees versus a partial climbing option.
01:36 The Gloucester tree experience has always been free.
01:39 In its place, a high ropes course for $65 a head.
01:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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