Big Blue Ride

Day 23 - Jakarta - Sunday 28th March

2010-03-30T23:18:00.000-07:00

Got to meet Donny's wife Abby and their two children.

Attended C3 Jakarta, met with Ps. Joshua for a briefing on today’s service.

Later introduced to his wife Sanitta and Joshua’s parents.

At the pre-arranged time Joshua introduced me to the congregation about 200 in all. Joshua interviewed me about trip, the Inspire Foundation, Reach Out my family and how people can help.

Later that day visited C3 Victory at Pluitbefore going to dinner

Day 22 - Denpasar - Saturday 27th March

2010-03-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

Three weeks down, hopefully about 23 to go.

Met with freight company at 10:00am to finalise shipment details. The Road King was on the 10:00pm Jetstar flight to Sydney and I was booked on Lion Air 8:20 pm flight to Jakarta to take one more step in this trip albeit without the Road King.

The 1.5 hour flight while .5 hour late was straight forward.

On leaving the Jakarta Airport terminal I was confronted with the hoard trying to get your business. Fortunately Donny my host while in Jakarta had sent me his driver to pick me up.

I think it was about 10:00pm when I arrived and it took sometime to get through the Jakarta traffic to Donny’s home.

I finally met with Donny , he immediately felt obliged to feed meet and took me off to a nice restaurant to have a feed and a couple of beers. It was Saturday night after all.

We must have got back about midnight, as it turns out I had my own apartment next door to Donny’s.

By coincidence Donny also owns a HD Road King, the same colour as the one I had left Australia on.

Don’t know what time I finally got to bed.

Day 21 - Denpasar - Friday 26th March

2010-03-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

Had a relaxing day.

Tried to get some personal effects from the bike crate, however no access to the crate allowed.

I was invited by Ps. Gayle to attend a meeting of approximately 10 ladies to give a summary of the ‘Big Blue Ride’ and about the Inspire Foundation and their REACHOUT.com program.

Later my host in Bali, Peter and Robyn took me to agreat place for dinner, Biku Restaurant and later a tour of Kuta.

Day 20 - Denpasar - Thursday 25th March

2010-03-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

Met with freight company Ritra.

This meeting did not go well, price to transport Road King to UK $US9,000.

I made the decision to send Road King back to Australia, thinking that it was $2,500 to get it here should be the same to get it back… Wrong… The price $US3,800 to send it back on the same Jetstar that bought it here.

After much protest they reduced the price $US300. Great…When they have you over a barrel in this country they know what to do with you.

Spoke to Adrian O’Donaghue HDA Marketing Manager, he suggested that he would try to arrange a loan bike for UK and US in order for me to continue the trip.

Day 19 - Denpasar - Wednesday 24th March

2010-03-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

Tried to get price to freight Road King to UK.

Waited all day, would it be China Air or QATAR.

Initial indications of $3000 this seemed reasonable, finally a meeting was arranged for 10:00am the next day.

When something looks like a rat and smells like a rat, you guessed it….

Day 18 - Denpasar - Tuesday 23rd March

2010-03-30T20:31:00.000-07:00

The word was out, it would appear that the entire Harley Davidson community was trying all there contacts to have this motorcycle released from Customs. This included the HD President in Jakarta.

A meeting was arranged with;
Kadek, Operations Manager HD Bali
A.A.A.Arimbawa; President HOG Bali
Tamyani; Vice President HOG Bali Chapter

They tried all their contacts, even the head of Customs in Bali, who incidently is a Harley rider and while he could possibly get a release in Bali, he indicated that I could have problems when I tried to leave Indonesia from another location.

I was also advised that Malaysia had introduced similar regulations recently, so essentially I could have the same problem there.

I made the decision to ship the bike to UK and by pass Asia all together.

I must thank Harley Davidson Indonesia and all the HOG Chapters that were trying to help with the bike release and trying to plan my trip through Indonesia.

Day 17 - Denpasar - Monday 22nd March

2010-03-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to get HD released from Customs today…

Ps. Wayan and I met with Custom officials, he confirmed their position regarding Carnet de Passage documents and went further to inform us that they required a $60,000 bond to enable to get motorcycle released from Customs. The purpose of the Carnet is precisely this however Indonesian Government had changed regulations on temporary import of motorcycles due to illegal import of motorcycles, in particular ‘Big Bikes’ with emphasis on Harley Davidson.

No joy here…

Day 16 Sunday 21st March

2010-03-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

Schedule for the day:

10:30am Attend Church Service at C3 Bali
16:00pm Conduct Worksop
18:00pm Attend Church Service at C3 Bali

Thanks to Ps.Wayan and Gayle I was given the opportunity to provide a testimonial on what the Big Blue Ride was all about, the Inspire Foundation and the REACHOUT.COM program. I was also given the opportunity to speak to a mixed group of approximately 100 on relationships and connecting with family friends and collegues.

Ps. Jake Betlam and his daughter Dimity from C3 Oxford Falls arrived at C3 Bali after visiting various C3 projects in Indonesia.

Day 15 - Bali

2010-03-25T18:47:00.002-07:00

Pancakes, Bacon and Maple Syrup, what more could a fellow ask for breakfast…

As a lot of my gear was in the crate with the Road King I need to go shopping for battery charges especially for video camera. No luck. My Sony was brand new model, not in stock yet. So not video for a while.

In the afternoon the Sydney guys turned up at C3 Bali for the presentation of the goodies that had been organised.

Ps Gayle organisated a special presentation on very short notice.

There must of been in the order of 250 people turned out for the presentation.

Words cannot express the gratitude, appreciation and delight from the community and the children.

Total investment $1000 or there abouts. These guys are going to make a big difference to this community. Congratulation guys well done.

Photos will be posted as soon as I can get good internet speed for upload

Day 14

2010-03-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

While I was waiting for the Road King to clear Customs a special motorcycle outing was organised by Ps Wayan fro C3 Church in Bali. Wayan dream is to own a Harley, he went out and hired 2 Harley’s for the day; a V Rod and a Sportster. He let me have the V Rod, way to go Wayan.

Seven of met up for a ride in the Bali country side, we headed straight for the Kintamani Volcanoe, after a brief sop we headed back to Ubud for lunch and then back to Denpasar.

On arrival back I was greated by the new that a letter of recommendation was not required and a bond was now required. Despite my protests and that I had a Carnet de Passage for this very reason, Customs advised that they had changed the regulations and that they do not recognise the Carnet. It would appear that the Indonesian Customs had not advised Governing Body of the Carnet in Switzerland as the Automobile Association in Australia the issuing body in Australia did not seem to be aware.

As Government Offices in Bali close at 3:00pm on Friday the chance of release would have to wait until Monday.

Day 13 - Bali

2010-03-22T00:24:00.000-07:00

Peter and Robyn have a very well appointed home in Bali. I had my own upstairs room that overlooked the adjoining rice fields.

After a very good night sleep and a nice breakfast, Robyn presented me with the days plan;

First stop - Bali Jail to meet Andrew and Matt, two of the Bali 9 member.
Second stop - Harley Davidson Bali
Third - Lunch
Forth - Visit C3 Bali

The visit to the Bali Jail was a humbling experience, it's one thing watching what is presented by the media on TV and the Press and another thing being there.

After the security screening we were allowed to enter a courtyard approx; 10 x 20 metres give or take. I was introduced to Andrew and his family who were also visiting and his girl friend. Andrew was very up beat and appeared to be in a positive mood.

Mathew joined us some time later and was very appreciative of our visit and was happy to chat about his time at the jail.

Robert Mc Jannett the recent Australian jailed in Bali also joined us for a chat.

The heat and humidity in the courtyard was very uncomfortable, despite fans and shade covering.

As we were leaving we run into several other Australians visiting the jail.

No mobile phones, cameras or videos were allowed in the jail.

After lunch and a couple of visits to Harley Davidson in Bali, we headed off to C3 Church in Bali to get an appreciation of what the church was doing within the community.

The plan was to visit one of the Bali slum areas, while getting ready to go we had a request that other peole want to visit the slums with us as well.

As it turned out it was the people that we had briefly met while visiting the jail.The guys that we run into at the jail turned up to talk to Ps Gayle about what C3 Church were doing to assist in the community, Gayle gave these guys an overview of the programs that C3 conduct within the community these include;

Project Hope; Adopting urban slum areas & villages that are in poverty and providing; clean water, house renovation and bedding
Child Sponsorship: Sponsoring children and young people that are in desperate need of education and have dropped out of school due to financial circumstances.
Transition Homes; Safe accommodation for Women in need.
Medical Ministry; Operation of a medical clinic each Sunday to provide affordable medical serviceman to provide a free service to those in poverty and to provide teams to visit slum areas .

After the presentation we visited the slums. The slums, for those people that have been here will understand, whole families living in 3 x 3metre rooms in what can be only described as squallier, absolutely atrocious living conditions, so you can see why the church has embarked on the above programs. To find out more or to help contact Ps Gayle at ; E: info@c3bali.org

Asked what they needed by the Sydney visitors, Gayle said: 30 school chairs, 10 Indonesia/English Dictionaries and Socks (Socks you may ask? The church purchased shoes earlier in the year and now needed socks, logical). These guys asked Gayle to order what they required and to have it all ready by Saturday prior to their departure back to Australia. Awesome.

Day 8 - 12 - Darwin

2010-03-21T23:57:00.000-07:00

Day 8 Saturday 13th March:
Woke early to the sound of fire arms going off in the hotel Mantra, the entire hotel was evacuated, some interesting site seeing amongst this lot.

We met up with the guys from NT Motorcycles to let them know we were in town, they were kind enough to allow us to give our motorcycles a thorough clean, especially with all the bugs that we picked up through central Australia

Day 9 Sunday 14th March:
Moved over to Value Inn to minimise accomodation costs.

Day 10 Monday 15th
Back to NT Motorcyles, HD Road King was in for a service, Chris had to look after his own bike, he was allowed to use the work shop.

The Road King was fitted with some bits that were outstanding, the NT guys did all this in a flash, then they organised the crate.

While was crating his bike he received word that a friend had died in an motorcycle accident in Argentina and that he would not be continuing the journey and decided to head back to be with his family when I was ready to leave the country.

Day 11 Tuesday 16th March
An opportunity to get to see a little of Darwin.

Day 12 Wednesday 17th March
Essentially a waiting day, no bike, a flight that was scheduled for 7:30pm to Denpasar.

Flight to Denpasar was on time, however, processing at Immigration was punishing about an 1.5 hours to get through.

Pick-up by Ps Wayan an Gayle from C3 Bali.

I was driven to the home of Peter and Robyn for my stay in Bali.

Day 7 - Three Way to Darwin

2010-03-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

The original plan was to stop at Katherine over night, however like the day before it was only 330 kilometres to Darwin.

After some brief discussion the decision was made, could we make Darwin in under three hours? Yes... What else were we going to do for three hours anyway?

Day 6 - Mt.Isa to Three Way

2010-03-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

Three Way you might ask is in the South West corner of the Northern Territory.

This was another 700+ kilometre day.

Camooweal, Barkley Road House then Three Way, three stops.

This is about when you start to realise how big this country is, you really start to appreciate the sheer wastness of this country.

After long periods of drought in some of these regions the rain that they received prior to our arrival was the best these areas had for some 30 odd years, as a result was beautiful and green.

The bugs were a starting bit of a problem though...

Day 5 - Logreach to Mt.Isa

2010-03-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

We had planned to stop at Cloncurry, however with the roads so good and the weather clear what's a couple of hundred kilometre between friends.

The weather was good and the people we met along the was were fascinated by what we are doing and were genuinely interested and understanding.

On arriving in Cloncurry we pulled into a Shell Service Station to fill up for our run to Mt.Isa. While there we started chatting to a fellow and his wife selling seafood from his van, he was so taken by what we were doing a went off and packed a kilo of king prawns to have along the way.

King prawns and a cold beer at the end of the day is great.

On arrival at Mt. Isa we decided to stay at Moondarrah Accomodation Village just north of town, once again when manager Jenny found out about what we were doing she greatfully handed back the monies that we had paid for owe meals.

Thanks Jenny.

Day 4 - Rockhampton to Longreach

2010-03-09T02:45:00.000-08:00

Another 7:00am start for the long haul west to Longreach approx 700 kilometres to be exact.

This was essentially the first rain free day of this journey, the clouds progressively cleared the futher west we went.

This road is straight, thank 'God' for cruise control, just set and forget, well almost, certainly takes the pressure off the wrist and back.

Word to the wise always fill up at major towns, I nearly had a problem running out after riding through Emerald however a qick detour to Saphire fixed that dilema.

Day 3 - Brisbane to Rockhampton

2010-03-09T02:33:00.000-08:00

Today we bid farewell to family at 7:00am.

This Monday 8th March a work/school day for everyone else.

Rain again was the order of the day, somewhat heavier than the previous day. The further we went north the heavier the rain and the bigger the pot holes. After several weeks of sometimes very heavy rains throughout Queensland it was inevitable that the roads would succumb to damage. A 350+ kilo Road King hitting of these holes is not a comfortable experience.

Needless to say Chris managed to drop his bike whilst in service station at Childers, how so you may ask, unfortunately I was in paying for my fuel and missed it and Chris made sure that it was upright before I had a chance to take any photos.

Day 2 - Coffs Harbour to Brisbane

2010-03-09T02:26:00.000-08:00

After a reasonably comfortable nights sleep we headed north at 8:00am, overcast and rain was the order for most of the 380 kilometre trip to Brisbane.

My son and daughter-in-law put us up for the night. This was the first time that Chris and I were to sleep together, well not exactly together in the same room anyway. Fortunately Chris does not snore just accassionally talksin his sleep. Stay tuned...

Day 1 - Big Blue Ride

2010-03-09T02:07:00.001-08:00

A Fantastic Start to a Fantastic Event - Big Blue Ride 2010.

Over 100 people were on hand to support and send Chris and I off on our 40,000+ kilometre, 30 country quest in 180 days raising awareness for youth mental health depression and suicide and money for the Inspire Foundation around the world.

The first day of our journey took us from C3 Church ground at Oxford Falls in Sydney to Coffs Harbour. We called in at various location; Raymond Terrace, Taree and Port Macquarie to drop off and pick up new riders in our trip to Coffs.

I would like to thank; Harley Davidson for lending me the Road King to undertake the journey, C3 Church for their financial support and for the the organisation of the the send off breakfast for the riders, our various sponsors for their contribition to this event, Chris Dolan for his support in travelling with me, my wife for encouraging to support the Inspire Foundation, to all the riders who supported us on our way these included; memebers of the NBSR, HOG members, C3 motorcycle community and all the other riders who participated and lastly to the NSW Police in providing a safe escort on our way north.

Harley Davidson Sponsorship

2009-10-24T02:56:00.000-07:00

Harley Davidson Australia to sponsor the Big Blue Ride 2010.

2009-09-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

If you saw Ray on Deal or No Deal and want to find out more abbout 'Big Blue Ride' visit our website at; http://www.bigblueride.com/ .

To support 'Big Blue Ride' go to; http://globalroadtrip.com/Support-the-Big-Blue-Ride-BBR-Donate-2.htm

Big Blue Ride is a 'Not for Profit' organisation and all contributions over $2 are tax deductible.

If you would like to be involved, contact us at; admin@bigblueride.com

Inspire Foundation CEO Kerry Graham supports 'Big Blue Ride'

2009-09-13T03:09:00.000-07:00

Kerry Graham CEO Inspire Foundation

2009-09-13T03:02:00.000-07:00

Harley Davidson or Victory Motorcycles

2009-09-05T05:37:00.000-07:00

The heat is on; will it be newcomers to the Australian market Victory who are keen to make in roads into a Harley dominated market place or will Harley Davidson Australia step up to the plate to avoid us riding Victory Motorcycles in traditional HOG areas. So far there has been a lot of talk from both camps.

With my partner Ray appearing in Deal or No Deal in a few weeks promoting Big Blue Ride, time is running out to take advantage of this publicity.

Stay tuned...

Big Blue Ride Online Shop

2009-09-05T05:26:00.000-07:00

Support us in our quest to help raise awareness for 'Youth Mental Health, Depression and Suicide' around the world and help the Inspire Foundation to continue development of their Reach Out program http://www.reachout.com/ to help these young people. Now located in Australia, USA and Ireland all monies would be greatly appreciated.

Visit http://www.bigblueride.com/ and go to the 'On Line Shop' for further information and product selection.

Youth Mental Health & Suicide Facts & Figures;

2009-05-30T23:28:00.000-07:00

Australia (Current as of May 2008)

Mental Health issues for young people:

> In every Year 12 classroom, 7 young people have a mental health difficulty, but only 2 seek professional help. 1 young person will have attempted suicide.[1]

> 75% of mental illness begins before age 25 [2]

> Intentional self-harm / suicide is the second most common cause for death and injury among young people aged 12-24 (27%), only exceeded by transport accidents (45%). [3]

> Almost 75% of all intentional self-harm deaths among young people are males (2.7 times the rate of females) [3]

> Overall rates of youth suicide have declined by 56% since 1997, with 244 deaths in 2006.[4]

> At the same time, however, more young people experience high to very high levels of psychological distress (13% of males, compared to 7% in 1997; 19% of females, compared to 13% in 1997) [3]

> When including moderate psychological stress, the figures jump to 40% males and 51% females.[3]

> At the same time, the Internet offers new opportunities for young people to connect and find support:

>>In 2006-7, 90% of 18-24 year-olds and 92% of 15-17 year-olds used the internet[5]
>>Between 1998 and 2007 the proportion of households with Internet access quadrupled from 16% in 1998 to 64% in 2007 [5]
>>Young people are 2-6 times more likely to go online than call a helpline, visit a school counsellor, or see a doctor, minister or “someone else in the community”.[6]

[1] Sawyer et al, 2000[2] Kendall and Kessler, 2002[3] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007[4] ABS 2006[5] ABS 2007[6] Mission Australia Youth Report 2007

Introduction

2009-05-30T05:37:00.000-07:00

Big Blue Ride 2010 is about two guys riding motorcycles 42,000 kilometres around the world in 180 days or one big road trip essentially starting and finishing in Sydney, Australia, traveling via SE Asia, India, Middle East, Europe, UK and North America, raising awareness for youth mental health and suicide throughout the world.