Owner operator and Master Juggler, Kelly Kuhn (better known as ‘Kel’) has worked in the South Australian tourism industry for over 20 years, in private enterprise and more government departments than she cares to count. She is the creator of Juggle House Experiences and values the busy life her customers lead. Most recently while starting her tour business, Kelly was the Deputy Mayor of her local Council and tour host of Lions 360 Walk of the Brave at the world famous Monarto Zoo. Now when Kel is not on the road, she is busy juggling commitments for her two beautiful tween daughters, is a Board Member of the Murray River, Lakes and Coorong Tourism Alliance, the Governing Council Vice Chairperson of Mypolonga Primary School and Secretary of the local Progress Association. So, Kel truly lives up to her title as Master Juggler. And she can actually juggle for real – 3 in one hand, 2 in the other!
Kelly’s incredibly diverse background has seen her go from growing up on a wheat and sheep farm, to travelling the world for work through her state government marketing roles. From spending months in Mexico learning the tourism industry, to discovering stories on the back roads of Norfolk Island. Her public relations roles see her work closely with media and celebrities from around the nation, and all of these experiences roll into one incredibly knowledgeable and enthusiastic human! Kel holds an Advanced Diploma of Business in Tourism, and has inroads with oodles of fellow tourism businesses in regional South Australia to help get the best out of her customer’s adventure.
In this episode:
- We learnt how the name of Kelly’s business came about – a chance juggling of apples after lunch waiting for the last guests to get on the boat!
- We find out that Kelly was a previous Deputy Mayor of Mannum
- Kelly tells us of her three favourite tours at the moment – Star gazing experiences, trendy gin locations and a playground ……
Links
Connect with Juggle House on Facebook
Connect with Juggle House on Instagram
Connect with Kelly on LinkedIn
Want to find out more? https://www.jugglehouse.com.au/
Want to know how to Rate and Review a podcast, see this article
Follow us on our Inspirational.Australians Instagram Page
Want to nominate someone? (It can take as little as 2 minutes to recognise someone making a difference)
Like some more information on Corporate Partnership?
Transcript
[00:00:04] Annette
Welcome to the inspirational Australians podcast, where we chat to people making a difference in their communities and in the lives of others. And here is your host for today. Josh,listen.
[00:00:20] Josh
Thank you, Annette. Thank you very much and great to be back doing the podcast depending when this goes live. If we pop the curtain a little bit, let people know how we do it behind the scenes recording in early February, but sometimes we’ve got a bit of a gap between when the podcast goes live and last week I was away. So back back into it this week and chatting with Annette and also our guest Kelly for this week’s dose of inspiration from excited to do before I introduce Kelly, formerly just wanting to remind people that it’s a very exciting time for Australia. I’m don’t achieve awards in full swing, but judging announcements for that coming up. So if you feel like you wanted to hear some great stories of inspiration, young people, and now just search for the seven years, young achiever woods who find us on Facebook, Instagram, and a few other places. And one other little reminder is if you’re passionate supporting community champions, you can become an awards member. And what that does is provide some funds that we then channel into prize grants for our community champions. And as a member, there’s a few little perks I check that out of the Australia dot com slash shop. But now it’s I mentioned we are speaking to Kelly Kelly. Koon who was a finalist last year in the customer service award, which is part of the South Australian community achievement awards. And I really can’t speak to Kelly because wow, there’s just so much to talk about. There’s so many life experiences and Kelly from South Australia, which is my home state. So it’s always a pleasure to speak to people from say, kelly’s the creator of Juggle has experiences. And not only does she juggle many things in her personal life and business life in her community, yes, she actually can juggle as well. So Kelly, can we go straight to you this too much to cover in your bio? I think it would unpack it together. How are you doing today?
[00:02:04] Kelly
Great, Thank you. josh.. I’m so pleased to hear about your passion for South Australia will have lots to talk about.
[00:02:10] Josh
Yes. So can you tell people where you’re from?
[00:02:13] Kelly
I’m from Mannum, which is about an hour and a half east of Adelaide, so it’s based on the Murray river and where our business is located, predominantly taking folks that are holidaying on houseboats on the Murray into the wine regions of the Barossa or Langhorne Creek, or Adelaide hills, so that’s a really nice lifestyle. I have two teenage daughters and my husband and we live in a very relaxed frame. And when we’re involved in community projects, which I’m sure we’ll talk about, you know, it’s really lovely community because people know everybody here and it’s a great country vibe.
[00:02:54] Josh
Being from Adelaide but living in Victoria. I’ve had the experience of driving between the two Adelaide and Melbourne. Many, many times I think what some people don’t realise is that there’s so many brilliant things in between that trip. You can honestly do that trip in a week rather than just the one day that people do it in. Because even on the Victorian side there’s a lot of great stuff. And in South Australia I think, especially when it doesn’t get talked about enough, the amazing tourism opportunities on the way as you said with the river Murray. So many cool things to see along did the houseboats, and then you’ve got the winery regions. So I can, you’re really passionate about doing that as a business.
[00:03:30] Kelly
Yeah, I think the great southern touring route, Melbourne to Adelaide trip, is one of australia’s bucket list items. And I think the two regions and the two states work so well together, and it is very easy to access. And in South Australia, in general, it is easily accessible to lots of the regional locations. So nowhere in Australia has a capital city, so close to destinations like the Adelaide hills or an area where you can just be 20 minutes out of a capital city and feel like you’re a world away. So there is great diversity, easy access, easy transport, travel routes to get around and, and it is Quite a close knit community, as you would know. Everyone knows everyone I’m talking about with the location where we live in Melbourne. But really generally South Australia is a very small place.
[00:04:22] Josh
And so even through this all is that’s what you were doing as a career. How did you get started in tourism?
[00:04:32] Kelly
Yes. In fact, mostly every part and every job I’ve had of divest digressed, I should say a little bit along the way. But most of my jobs have been in tourism. I started off as a teenager, really wanting to be involved in an industry that has a real connection to people. And I think there’s no better industry than that because these folks are on their leisure experiences. They’re excited about where they’re going and being a people person myself, I really knew from an early age. That’s what I wanted to do. And my career has spanned over several decades now, which is diverse because I’ve been involved in Marketing destinations and policy and planning, and also being right at the coalface of dealing with customers. It’s funny how the world turns into a circular format. That’s where I’ve ended up back at the customer service level and that’s where I feel like I’m best positioned.
[00:05:31] Josh
I think one thing you said to me was it made me laugh was that you’ve been involved with too many government departments that you care to count?
[00:05:41] Kelly
Yes, so those experiences have formed a lot of how I can deal with my customers. So the government departments, like I said, policy and planning and Marketing. And they really do help. And I have been previously a deputy mayor of our local council here in an area where I live, so they just roll into great information of what you can talk about when I’m hosting my tours and people, especially a lot of the holiday makers that we had pre-COVID in South Australia along the Murray river where folks from New Zealand and the Kiwis just absolutely love to hear about how we live here and what we doing. And you know, I think they are genuinely interested in how our lifestyle and our economy works. And so having been in those government department before really matter to me,
[00:06:34] Josh
well, I think that will be very insightful to be hearing about the region and someone who is the deputy mayor of that region.
[00:06:41] Kelly
Well, you get the stories of the people, you know, and you make people aware of, you know, for example, our council that I was involved in has the second largest road network of anywhere in South Australia. So just maintaining roads, let alone being involved in a people’s lifestyle and footpaths, and all of that infrastructure and rubbish that councils are known for. And so much more to it. Our particular council had a very high suicide rate at one time for isolated farmers in particular. So we had some programs and still running programs are involved in overcoming that issue. And so we just, you know, just general information that you can talk to people about. And Kiwis love in particular like bugs and creepy crawlies in Australia. So they want to know what’s that ant and how many different type events there are. Well, snakes and all of that sort of thing, and we don’t have crocodiles in the river and just generic information like that.
[00:07:42] Josh
that’s true that Mr. Cutts, isn’t it because people hear, Oh, my gosh, it’s crocodiles in the water in Australia, but they don’t realise that’s really only some of the tropical up North kind of locations that down in South Australia. You can swim in the Murray and say,
[00:07:54] Kelly
you know, we’ve overcome that by a lot of Marketing and you know, it’s not really an issue anymore. But the New Zealanders is surprising. A lot of people who live on the Murray in our state are surprised that a lot of Kiwis creak over that were travelling on houseboats. So it’s very much a bucket list item in New Zealand. They call it doing the Murray. We got to go do the Murray. The word gets around pretty quick. That once they’re here, they’re very relaxed. And so we predominantly were picking them up midway on their houseboat trip, so it might be day three of a dice, seven trip, picking them up and taking them to experience other regions that are very close to river. And it’s just an incredible way to get yourself immersed in a destination is to get off a slow houseboat. They’re so slow when they do get off. I’ve got to say because it only travels at a slow speed, so they truly relax. And when you’re trying to herd people through on an itinerary, it can be a bit tricky. But yeah, it’s lovely to spend a day with people when they get to know them as well, what’s their motivation and what’s been their customer journey and how they actually got to be on their holiday. And I love that. I love spending time with people and it’s not just pouring wine up on a cellar door. It’s like chatting with them over lunch and on the road. And yeah, it’s very interesting to know how people come about making their holiday choices. And I can’t wait for those folks to come back again to our area because we’ve really missed them. 50 per cent of my business being a tour operator was based on that. And we’re really, really looking forward to bouncing back. Yes.
[00:09:27] Josh
And many of us are so told me that a career really has always been in and around tourism was your passion for tourism started from being a tourist yourself and kind of experiencing other kinds of destinations and lifestyles and cultures.
[00:09:43] Kelly
Yes, that certainly helped. I was very lucky when I was twenty five years old to travel to Mexico on a rotary group study exchange. And there were five of us from South Australia chosen to go to Mexico and spend six weeks living in people’s homes and going around and talking about South Australia. So we were very much ambassadors. I was of the young age, 25 to 40 years old, were the other folks involved and that really opened my eyes as a youngster, about international travel. And from then on I also worked for the South Australian tourism commission at that moment. We were spending a lot of time on the road travelling and promoting South Australia, so we were in a team of destination marketers. And we went on a roadshow to New Zealand when they first introduced direct flights from Adelaide to Auckland. And so we did a 10 day travel show through both the South and the North island. And then not long after that my, my rotary trip was in around the World ticket. So I’m so grateful to rotary for that experience because it really did changed my life and then the tourism commission jobs, Norfolk island, we went for crumbs for a conference and I mean, just amazing opportunities that I had but truly when I grew up, I was on a farm I was the eldest of three girls. I drove tractors in my school Holidays. We picked mallee stumps for $2 an hour. My dad made us so now two time $2 an hour slave labor now, but it was more about that the understanding of the importance of documenting your hours and what you got paid. And we got nice warm fireplace to sit on with the stumps we picked, but it was really great exercise for my father to show us work ethic and and we grew up working really hard. And I had that time at the end of school where I was at a crossroads, it was suggested to me. You know, you could work at the local hospital looking for a receptionist job within you 12. And this is a great story. josh. I got, I had applied for my tourism course and I got the letter to say I got an interview and the day that I was reading it was a Friday if we only went into town once a week to get the mail. And that was the day that I was supposed to be in Adelaide two hours away at my interview for my tourism clients that I had desperately wanted. So I didn’t have to go and work in the local hospital as a receptionist and no offense, because that’s the great job you know to, to people we need. But that’s not what I want to say right from. When I was 15, 16 I had said to my student council is that school, that’s what I want to do. And gregarious industry like I spoke about before, so my mom actually made me ring straight away. That was my wife. She was ringing. I was doing it and I got hold of the student services folks at the tourism course and they were very apologetic over the timeframe and they let me do a special interview. And there was only a handful of us according to the advanced diploma of business in tourism special field. At that time I was very grateful that I got a second round of interviews and got through it. And then really I’ve just had so many mentors since then and opportunities and Doors open. So it’s been a very good industry and a very well connected,
[00:13:11] Josh
what a car, not only that, the lit up the interview, but just something that I actually really disliked saying it’s something that the younger generation won’t have to deal with. Probably getting a letter that takes that long and you know, now everything is instant. You apply, you get the notification immediately and that’s one of their stories that they won’t be comment moving forward, but yeah,
[00:13:33] Kelly
it’s true, it won’t, it won’t be common. And it is, I think what you just touched on about this instant gratification. You taught said notification, but it led me to think of instant gratification. That nowadays we’re just getting notifications all the time and you expect an answer straight away. And you know, things is just not as easy as that sometimes. And you really are about seizing the moment and taking opportunities and following them off. You know, if you, if you get rejection, like you want to know why. And how can you make it better for the next time, or how can you make it work? And I think younger people sometimes, I mean there won’t be any kids that I know that grow up. I’m only forty two but won’t be any kids that will be picking stumps for $2 an hour on the school. Holidays, you know, so you got to work hard
[00:14:22] Josh
of it was true, but the other part of your story I really liked was what your mum did. And this is great parenting, I think. And incredible advice parents and their teenage. But you put a call. I’m not calling short your career your course and sometimes the first time you do that likely to be very risky. Yes. It worked. You got through.
[00:14:42] Kelly
I’m sure that was a very credible moment on the other end of the phone call that it was me and not my mom saving my backside.
[00:14:50] Josh
I think that’s true. You know, I wanted to touch on your business. So you’re the kind child who has experiences, as we’ve heard, you had a lot of different roles in your life. And you’ve been a deputy mayor, so you would know all of that family responsibilities as part of that was the name when you created your New business. Was it straight away? Yep. This is what it’s called. How did you come up with the name?
[00:15:12] Kelly
It’s a good question, it is what I’ve talked about tourism a lot. It’s also a business that deals with weddings and corporate and all sorts. So I didn’t want to limit myself by calling it Murray river tours or river Murray, whatever. So juggle house actually is empathy or an empathetic moment where I’m looking at my customers going into what everyone’s juggling so much in their everyday world. When you go on your leisure experience, put the polls down and let someone else do the juggling for you. So I take on board the itinerary planning and the delivery of the tools that I do and they are experiences that are not just necessarily the run of the mill. They’re very much based on relationships. So how many times do we hear people saying, you know, we’re juggling and I find this so much with women. My target audience is women aged between 40 and 55, primarily people that are really in juggling stage. And I think the other part about the juggle house experiences and name comes from a little bit of history that one of the jobs I was doing prior to starting the business was with a wonderful local regional destination here. That’s also running tours and I started working for them and we were doing trips for the big Murray princess, which is a boat that comes out of Vietnam. So it sleeps 120 people taking these folks off of the river cruise off on trips and often in big pictures. And when we get to the toilet stops, it was always really awkward and waiting for the last people to come back on the couch. So I started juggling apples that were left over from the lunch with and it got, I don’t know how this happened, but the word got around for the next cruise. The next one of people that would come on and there was a consistent changeover. There was people on the cruise that would wait and welcome the New people and then they’d have a bit of a rotation and they’d be like, Oh, going on that first tour on Monday and yeah, make sure you get sick. Know the host that juggles and then so it all just sort of came from there. So I went on my business card actually says master Juggler on it. I really like to do things a little bit out of the box. And I think that really makes my personality shine and more importantly that people really resonate with you as a human being. And as a leader there’s so many times you have to really not worry about what you’re doing yourself, but just making people feel welcome. And that is a simple thing that I did, you know, just juggling and then also went from there.
[00:17:46] Josh
It’s really cool. It does seem like you have a lot of joy in what you do and it’s really evident on your website. Oh, actually I was looking at it before our chat bot is on there and everything just looks so welcoming and happy and fitting because you’re famous in the customer service award. Can you give us an insight into what are some of your kind of tips or the things that you think have been really instrumental from a customer service standpoint in your business?
[00:18:09] Kelly
Well, Thank you for that. I appreciate your comments. I do intentionally try to make it fun and enjoy view and because I think when people are on their leisure experiences, they do want to just relax and forget about the everyday world. And I think this is a time where they’re spending their hard earned money and they want to really just create memories with their friends or their family. And so I’m very conscious of making people feel welcome. I’m very conscious of getting to know them individually. And I think from a customer service point of view, you have a real small window of opportunity at the beginning of your day. You’re like a director of first impressions. That’s 30 second grab either you’re going to, they’re going to like you or they’re not, or you’re going to like them or you’re not and you’re getting along. First of all. So it’s a real, I guess skill about reading the group and knowing what they want. If I need to, you know, just be a wine connoisseur from the beginning of the day. What I can do that if you want me to be relaxed and just talk about the general sight saying where you want me to throw in a bit of the slang so that you feel relaxed or however the group is working together. That’s my trick. I guess and also just getting an understanding I mentioned before the customer journey about what has motivated them for what they want to get out of the day. I think that’s most important in the lead up. And another part of the customer service has been the follow up, you know, I know I’m still to be honest working on this because I think we’re not good as businesses that in a follow up very often I think we’re just moving on to the next thing. So it’s really important to me to get some feedback from people about what they liked and how we can tweak in my automated response to going to people in the emails the next days. Can you please help us with this feedback because it helps us to improve our next juggling act. So yeah, people are very forthcoming with their reviews and it’s not something I feel very comfortable in asking people for reviewing because it can get a bit, I guess, overwhelming when you and I have had just so many lovely positive reviews and that’s just helps to promote and attract the next experience.
[00:20:24] Josh
know exactly what you mean about asking for reviews. The same with the podcast people I’ve mentioned I have listened to it recently with was really good. And you know, I shouldn’t be saying, put your mind to beauty because it really helps us. I always forget, so I know what you mean. But one thing he mentions that sounds fantastic is finding out about why the customer wants to go on this trip or want to get out of it in the lead up. Not just during times. Quite cool. So how do you do that?
[00:20:48] Kelly
Well, it’s very important to have the one-on-one communication with people when they’re booking, and I think that’s one of the keys to my business success is because I am boutique and bespoke and small that I’m pretty much doing the liaison with the customers and delivering the tours I have expanded towards the end of last year. I have some folks that do the tours with me and for me. But predominantly, I get a system that by either phone or email and some of them might be birthdays or milestone experiences or a case that’s John’s birthday. Can you tell me what John likes, you know, what’s his favorite type of music? ? So we can have that playing, you know, when we arrive and all of that sort of thing is important. It’s just that one percent is just not going that extra mile like just just make an effort to have a little bit of Public relations and make a real effort to get to know people’s names as well, on the tours so that they can feel connected all the way through and it’s easy enough to pick on the loud ones at the back in the back seat too. Interesting.
[00:21:53] Josh
You say it’s the one percenters but really probably the most important one percent because it shows that you actually care.
[00:21:59] Kelly
Yes. Caring. That’s it. That’s what you need to do. You need to care. There are some guys that have been harder than others in the Caring. You know, definitely in the last few years since we’ve been going through a global pandemic, that’s been really tricky. And sometimes you have to really understand that the energy of your mind is the essence of life. Like what gets you out of bed during the day, what you want to do, how you want to achieve it? ? How do you want to make people have a good day? Because when they have a good day, I have a great day. You know, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in any of my jobs when I’m on the road touring people around. It is so much fun and I think jeez, this is not even a job. I’m so lucky to be showing people around it makes you really proud. And especially people that are from interstate or overseas that have no idea about them. We might not have ever been there before, and they want to know the best of the place and some sense of place and sense of Community and a great connection.
[00:22:58] Josh
Fantastic. As we mentioned, you’ve been appointments in the awards. How was it for you being part of the awards process and from finding out your finalists right through to being at the award presentation?
[00:23:10] Kelly
I’m so glad you asked that question because I was thinking about this in the lead up to the conversation with you and it’s really good to reflect. It was a very big turning point. I feel for me in terms of motivation and how it came about was we had in COVID great state voucher government initiatives whereby local customers, local South Australians would be given a voucher to be redeemed in a local business. And it really injected this great sense of a lifeline and for us as tourism operators because you know, a cash injection also working, you know, not just getting your financial handout, you’re actually doing your job. And also the customers were locals that really exploring their backyard. So one of the customers that came on my tour, who eventually went on to nominate me, my business for Juggle house experiences for the community service as a reward. Customer service that there was a lady called Jo and she is a local person who lives on the Murray has been here all her life. And she got a voucher. She intentionally wanted to use it with me because she knew it would help financially and not expecting at all that she was going to have such an amazing day. She brought her husband and her parents and they were so blown away by what’s in their own backyard. And I’m talking 20 minutes away from where I picked her up and we went all around and she just had the best day. And she nominated us for the award and I thought, Oh, that’s really nice and you know you fill out the paperwork and don’t think much of it and think, gosh, there’s some great places around Australia and then to be a finalist. And then to make the top three, it was just amazing off my hair on my arms standing on. And just thinking about that. I mean, you can’t have any better testimonials from people to nominate you from an award perspective. And then to get that information through to stay in customer service in particular, this is the category you’ve done well in and could you please come to these fancy dinner? So my husband and I actually used our great state voucher to stay at the Hilton for three nights without our children. And we went to the gala dinner and you know, just to be amongst hundreds of people that are doing amazing things in their own fields is just very inspiring and it makes you sort of gives you an extra spring in your step. And we were locals in our backyard in our capital city that weekend and we win. I could just straight in, we did the tram ride and all the touristy things that we wouldn’t be, you know, having a vacation in a steak just just I love it. Yeah. The steak and so I, yeah, I just felt really the worst is, you know, really chuffed that somebody would just take the time to nominate and then you go through that and then the judges to look so favorably on a concept that I’ve created and had so much help with mentors and lots of people standing by me all along the way. So it’s just really wonderful.
[00:26:17] Josh
story and I love that you were nominated in customer service and it’s full circle because you showed such good service to Jo who nominated you, that she felt compelled to do something to celebrate that it’s great to hear story because that’s what the award is. This one celebrate people who are just doing what they think they want to simplify, what you do, you do amazing things. Kelly, probably thinking I’m just doing my job here for her. It was a really amazing experience. That’s what it’s all about. I think just celebrating plasmids.
[00:26:43] Kelly
Yeah, absolutely, Thank you for that. And I think the other finalists on the evening were equally as blown away. You know, I think there’s a lot of humble people in business and when you create an idea and you come up with this and evolves and plans. And there’s been a lot of hardship for business in the last couple of years with Typekit that, you know, I think you just feel blown away by the whole experience. So yeah, it was very cool and it was very well run events as well. So it was great,
[00:27:12] Josh
well, I do have to ask because I’m in Melbourne, and I love going to Adelaide alongside the Hilton same as you because they’re a fantastic partner. Burt Ward’s and supported us for 30 years now. Can you believe it? And so we will stay, go, continue and do districts. Here’s my question. Where did you eat on? Just straight?
[00:27:31] Kelly
We absolutely loved going to St. We could hardly drag ourselves away. Mrs. Q was our favourite, the famous food, so it’s like an Asian kitchen bar. Beautiful location or dance studio, but just lovely food. And the other place that we really loved is pulls on gogia, which is the very fancy fish and chips, but where we’re from at the River, we have very limited amount of fish in the, in the river. So it’s lovely to go for a seafood experience in your capital city.
[00:28:02] Josh
Now they’re both great spots. I’ve been to both Mrs. Q recently and I do remember it because it’s a striking place at the right place. You feel it’s a very cool but to eat so now that’s great. And of course you love tourism so much that you’re talking about your tourism experience in Adelaide as well. Yeah. Yeah. And. And really want to see the entire industry do what?
[00:28:30] Kelly
Absolutely. People support each other and there’s a lot to be said about market research. You know, you need to know as an ambassador for your state, what’s going on, where the newest places are, what’s happening even in the more established places. And it’s actually all about relationships because when, especially from my line of work and on packaging tours, so we’re putting together different product itineraries. You want to know that the places that you’re taking your customers to you’re going to deliver a good experience because it’s not just about Kelly and juggle house, having great customer experience. I’m nothing without the people that we go to and visit. It’s vital and I think understanding, you know, like I said, what’s New and what’s hip and what’s happening? It’s very cool.
[00:29:16] Josh
If someone is contacting you and say, Kelly, I don’t know much about it, the region. I’m just looking for my experiences. What are some of the, your favorite things to do to put together for someone?
[00:29:27] Kelly
Good question. One of the latest things that we’ve been working on is the river Murray, international, dark sky reserve, tourists. So these are stargazing experiences. This particular location is only the first in Australia to be accredited internationally as a reserve, and there’s only 18 in the world. So stargazing in just out of Adelaide. So where we’re based about an hour and a half an hour is very, the latest trend I would say, because the mount lofty ranges geographically blocks the light pollution from Adelaide. So this has been something that’s very New only really started in just before bushfires happened in Adelaide hills late 2019. Then the accreditation had happened in October and then COVID happened. So it’s really something that’s me. And we finding this is our most popular tour. Yeah, it’s really gaining great traction in the space of politicians as well. So a lot of people are very interested in South Australia is well known for, for its involvement in international space projects. That’s very cool. I really like the gene phase that’s going on around the World at the moment. So we have some very yes, we have some very trendy gene bars popping up in Adelaide and the Adelaide hills in particular. And Barossa as well. So yeah, that’s been something that I’ve sort of taken a bit of a lead on in some of our locations. So those are the two key things that are the latest. I would say
[00:31:06] Josh
I mentioned that drive between Melbourne and Adelaide and having only done it once or twice, maybe you kids. I think breaking it up is a very attractive option. Yeah. Looking forward to coming and doing tourism experiences with you Kelly.
[00:31:20] Kelly
What else? Josh? Especially with kids, you have to break it up. I’ll just interject there and say to you that we do a playground crawl, a kids tour as well. And so, you know, nature plays a big thing. When you’re on a long travelling route, you just got to get out and get the kids running around. Don’t you? Especially in Melbourne to Adelaide. Yeah, and we did this trip as well. My husband and I’ve done it three times now the Melbourne to Adelaide touring route and we stopped at Warrnambool with that lovely big location down there on the ocean front. I think it’s Latrobe or love Petro, with something I can’t Quite remember the name, but we went back to Warrnambool for a whole week, based on that, you know, some may say, you know, we thought this is a great place. We’re going to spend some time here and I think this happens in Australia like any. And especially if there’s a silver lining of it. You know, this is what is going to happen. People understanding their backyards a bit more and, and going, you know what, I want to spend some more time here.
[00:32:19] Josh
Yeah, definitely. So now I have to ask, you talked about that, what’s your favourite Gin to have, or what kind of mixing?
[00:32:26] Kelly
Well I, I love pink Gin I’ve got to say I am definitely a sort the water girl tonic and with mint and strawberry. So that says something about my sweet tooth. That’s sorry. How about yourself?
[00:32:41] Josh
Definitely negroni is what I’m liking at home. Gin and sweet vermouth and campari,
[00:32:48] Kelly
but my gosh, you’re very specific. Well done.
[00:32:53] Josh
not so much in terms of some of the other great tourism things to say that you may not be aware of because I think, you know, we have listeners outside of South Australia that may not be familiar with the jurong area, Murray, and all this, what are some other things that people love to experience in that area?
[00:33:09] Kelly
Yeah, great. So definitely when you’re coming on the river, there’s a lot of old paddle steamers. So there’s the piece marrying out of man and we can just do a day trip. There’s the bigger ones I made reference to the Maori princess and the proud Mary where you’re on board inland, cruising style. So you stay on for a week or so and you have your entertainment and your meals and everything. So be like that European cruise. But in the backyard in the Murray river, very, very internationally classed top class customer service, great preparation. The Coorong itself is stonebwoy country. So people that would relate to that movie. You know, it’s very nature orientated. Excellent wildlife great drives you head through Langhorne Creek, which is a lovely destination of premium rates. So great growing areas and a lot of people, definitely the Barossa is iconic and McLaren vale Adelaide hills. And then Langham Creek is the rising star. So this is there’s eight senadores there at the moment, but it is definitely evolving in terms of its popularity and awareness. So that area, travelling from the Murray through to Langhorne Creek and onto the Coorong where the Murray enters the ocean at the mouth. And that’s, it was a really, really good destination. I touched on the Barossa, you know, is especially the key Kiwis, like they just, everybody around the World knows the Barossa. It’s the big old Shiraz. It’s a premium destination. You know, I think they’re up to 120 cellar doors, it’s just such a vibrant place and it’s changing and evolving all the time while still retaining its character. And you know, those locations have a lot of history and a lot of old buildings and you know, a lot of really bright architecture that South Australia is well known for. And we made use of a lot of stone in the early years of European settlement and as we don’t have a high rainfall here. So we don’t have a great amount of timber that we utilised. And there’s not a huge amount of forests even now because of that low rainfall. So we really do have a strikingly different architecture of our properties and people notice that
[00:35:31] Josh
it’s true. It does look very different, you’re right. Do you? And so you would package in talking about Coorong and many of those areas and you’d go up to Barossa as well.
[00:35:43] Kelly
Yes. Yes. So it just depends, but we travel all around South Australia. We sit to some of the larger we probably are day trips. So in some of the larger distances, we don’t have to like just clear valleys, a little bit out of the way. My spectacular lovely place, but Yorke peninsula Eyre peninsula, some of those, you know, there are the tour operators that do those places. So we will pick up people from Adelaide and we’ll pick them up from any of the other regional destinations and take them on trips, but mainly based at the Murray and taking folks that are holidaying here on the river around to the alternate destinations. So that hot spot makes us a little bit different than being based in Adelaide. So we’re already based in the regions. And then as I said, and you alluded to being past deputy mayor and, you know, really immersed in the community definitely sets us aside.
[00:36:36] Josh
And you’ve got your own vehicles as well, vehicle development, right and saying,
[00:36:40] Kelly
Yes, yes, we have some very unique vehicles to entertain. A limousine is a Mercedes sprinter which is decked out with side facing leather seats, a mini bar DVD screens, karaoke. I really really do. It’s a very communal space, you can fit 10 in the back. So it’s not you standard image of a stretch limousine. As such, you can stand up in it and very much, you know, the conversations like the, the journey is just as good as the destination. And in that vehicle It’s the first of its kind in Australia’s history to be classified as a limousine without having modifications to the chassis. So it’s not a stretch, as I was mentioning, it’s very unique vehicle and we’ve had way too much funding there. It’s been really good and the other vehicle which I just purchased last year, my husband and I, it’s called the stereo, which is the New high end by stereo that’s only released this year. I know I’m forgetting it’s 2022 already. Josh late last year. Aren’t we all telling me? Yes gosh. So this story is predominantly to add value to the entertainer and travel with it and it has really the purpose of being involved in a stargazing tour is because it’s got the most amazing moon roof or star gazing opportunities out of the sunroof. I call it the moon roof and one of the front and one right at the back. And if you have to look, if people who had done a star here, honestly was designed for my stargazing tourists like you. But when I saw it, I thought, you know, I just have to have that. So the global pandemic head off any time like so that we can get some more people on those seats.
[00:38:29] Josh
And I just say Google, it just goes to jungle house that you
[00:38:33] Kelly
know. Thank you so much.
[00:38:35] Josh
Marketing. Got a great video of it there. I love that you have your section of the website that talks at the vehicles for the Chariots. It’s great. Thank
[00:38:43] Kelly
you. Yeah, well everybody needs to feel like they’re in a chariot, you know, when they go with their leisure experience, you want to have something different and it feels relaxing and comfortable. And that’s the main thing. So yeah, it’s all rolled into one giant, great deal of fun.
[00:39:00] Josh
Luckily, all we do wrap up that we’ve got here an inspirational and podcasts, and we’re Thank you for your time. I also want to ask you who or what do you find inspirational?
[00:39:12] Kelly
Great question. Most of my inspiration comes from people who have had hardships and how they’ve shown resilience and overcome adversity and without sounding too cliche about these Delta Goodrem I think has been one of those people who have followed her journey. And I think how amazing it is that she overcame such drama with her medical issues of having an operation and not being able to speak and let alone seeing and to be able to learn to, to use her tongue again. I think that’s just incredible. I mean, I can’t imagine my voice is my tool when I’m on my tours and I can just imagine that’s her life. And she just was so brave and how she released that story. And nobody knew about it at the time when she had some dramas of, obviously with cancer and the landing timer and everything previous to that as a young person. And I mean, she just shines everything about her. She’s just so bright and vibrant. And I’m sure that’s not always the case for people behind the scenes. It’s not always the case for me, sometimes very anxious and awkward and worried about things behind the scenes. And I think a lot of people are dealing with anxiety. But, you know, worries, interests sometimes paid in advance for a debt. You’ll never Oh, so you need to overcome those things and jump and make things happen and take risks. And I think people that are inspirational to me and people that take risks because I’m not innately a risk taker. And so to be able to just move ahead and keep going. My business has been in operation coming up for years now. And 18 months of that was pre-COVID and it felt like I was growing and growing. So a majority of my business has been my time has been really struggling and to be able to advance and to grow my business, which has grown significantly and is simply because of being and having a great outlook and just accepting help from people when you need it
[00:41:18] Josh
that’s a great answer and I think it shows by the fact that you’ve added another vehicle in what’s been tough times that you do. You are committed to advancing forward into moving forward and building. And I think that’s a really great example of staying positive and knowing that better times are ahead and you just easier, she said, but if you can stay motivated, then you can get there.
[00:41:39] Kelly
Thank you. Once said,
[00:41:41] Josh
so Kelly, where can people connect with you? I’ve mentioned that JetBlue has taken that. Are you, is your website, is there any other areas that encourage people to check out in that second?
[00:41:52] Kelly
Yeah, Thank you. We have an Instagram page, Jugglehouse experiences and also Facebook and I’m on LinkedIn. As Kelly Kuhn came in, some ways welcoming people there. I think I was listening to a previous podcast that you’d suggested, which was in the Riverland, a young guy who’s created a clothing label when he talked about his TikTok channel and how positive that was. I asked my 13 year old, you should be able to help me make a tik Tok channel and she was so embarrassed. So I have to ask one of her friends and she wouldn’t do it for me. So because she thinks I’m cool because she’s 13, but I’m going to ask one of her friends to help me. I think I’m cool. So yeah, we’ll be on tik. Tok saying watch out for that. Gosh,
[00:42:38] Josh
I need, maybe I need to get bigger. I haven’t got it I don’t know. I can’t help you there either. I’m sorry.
[00:42:44] Kelly
That’s okay. I think it’s all about dancing. You know. And so yeah, that’s right up my alley. I love that love of dance can be good. Boogie will be right there.
[00:42:55] Josh
So you said you have two kids.
[00:42:57] Kelly
Yes, I have elway’s, she’s 13 and I have a daughter who’s 11. And both of those girls are born through IVF conceived in IVF, because my husband had testicular cancer when he was 21, and he has Australia’s oldest frozen sperm resulting in our two lovely girls. And that an amazing story on its own. But the woman’s day did a feature and she was on the front page of the Herald in Melbourne in all sorts when our children were born. So it was just amazing to be able to have those beautiful girls and very lucky, even I’m my 13 year old is at that teenage stage where her mum’s not cope.
[00:43:39] Josh
Well, I tell you what, I’ll be in the exact same situation as you soon enough with two girls, two years apart. So any advice you would give me upon parting?
[00:43:51] Kelly
The advice is choose your battles wisely. Yeah.
[00:43:57] Josh
Sage advice, it’s great wisdom.
[00:44:00] Kelly
I’m still learning myself now and they could, you know, you’ve got to try to relate to your children, but you don’t always have to be different parenting just like my mother made me bring up that day when I had had my interview and my dad made us work, you know, with two dollars an hour, like he can’t always be friends, you have to show them the way and I’m truly value, truly grateful. I should say, for the upbringing that I had. And you know, it’s a good thing to be able to be a parent.
[00:44:29] Josh
Yeah, for sure. Well, Thank you for your time today. Kelly. I love speaking with you can’t wait to that Instagram page and looking forward to hopefully then the track coming and checking out the racing because it’s an absolute wonderful.
[00:44:41] Kelly
Thank you so much josh.. It’s been really lovely speaking to you as well as a good reflection and I would be very, very happy to host you and any one of your friends to come along one day to say Thank you.
[00:44:52] Josh
I hope you enjoyed that interview. If you liked it or any of our other episodes, it would be great if you can write and review the inspirational Australians podcast. It really helps us out if someone you know, needs a little dose of inspiration. Why not let them know about this podcast? And if you haven’t already, make sure you’ve subscribed, so that you won’t miss an episode. Join us each week as we talk with ordinary Australians, achieving extraordinary things. You can always head to our website at awards, Australia dot com slash podcast for more information and details on each guest. Now before we go, I’d like to Thank Annette our producer. Here’s a fun fact. Annette is my mum and our other host, Jeff is my dad. This podcast is brought to you by awards, Australia, a family owned business that proudly uncovers the stories of people who make a difference for others. We can only do this with the support of our corporate and not for profit partners as they make our awards programs possible. So do you know someone making a difference? If you’d like to recommend someone to be a guest on the podcast, get in touch through our Instagram page, inspirational Australians, or maybe your business might like to sponsor the podcast or get involved with the awards. We run hitto website awards, Australia dot com for more details until next week. Stay safe and remember together we make a difference.
[00:46:18] Annette
Thanks for joining us today on the inspirational Australians podcast. We hope you enjoyed listening and have been inspired by ordinary Australians achieving extraordinary things. So it’s goodbye for another week. Remember together we make a difference.
