Ride Around Australia Throttles up for Charity

Allan Nash and Tommy Soderstrom of Asia Divers and El Galleon Resort gain support from dive industry around Australia to raise funds for street children and marine conservation.

Puerto Gallera, Philippines. Beach and underwater cleanups, dive gear auctions and raffles, BBQ… all these and more await divers with Ride Around Australia revving off in Sydney on the 28 August 2011.

Two dive professionals and bike enthusiasts will ride all around Australia over 14,000 km on two wheels starting from August 2011 to raise funds for charity. Allan Nash and Tommy Soderstrom are both PADI instructors and owners of Asia Divers and El Galleon Dive Resort in the Philippines. The beneficiaries of this project are Project Aware and Springboard Foundation. With increased financial resources, these organisations can be more effective at dealing with marine environmental crises such as ocean debris and helping street children with greater resources such as education.

The ride using BMW 1200GS will start and end at Sydney, with stopovers at these cities for meaningful interaction with dive communities: Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Gold Coast. On 8 October 2011, the duo will make a special appearance at ODEX in Brisbane by riding to the hall, giving a talk and conducting a raffles draw.

Five scuba dive centers are hosting these bikers with a beach cleanup, leisure dives followed by a BBQ where a bronze dollar donation will be collected from all participants with F&B purchase. The five participating dive centers are: St Geoge Underwater Centre (Sydney), Vision Divers (Melbourne), Adelaide Scuba (Adelaide), Perth Scuba (Perth) and Devocean Dive (Gold Coast). See accompanying schedule for details.

There will be T-shirt giveaways and attractive prizes to be won from top brands such as Waterproof W2 5mm wetsuit, Cressi Leonardo dive computer, Tusa mask, snorkel and fins, DAN books, and a week’s stay with unlimited Nitrox dives at El Galleon Dive Resort and Asia Divers in the Philippines.

Non-divers and non-Australians can also lobby support to this project by donating a sum or a specific amount (e.g. five or ten cents) for each leg of the distance covered (see sector chart) if not the entire 14,000 km of the journey.

“Raising a specific amount is not the ultimate goal. We have raised so far a few thousand dollars and have a few more thousands pledged if we make the distance. What's important here is to bring awareness to as many people as possible for both charities so that the donations can continue well after our ride,” says Nash, who thinks long term in helping the street children of Manila even as they grow up.

Ocean pollution is another matter that concerns Nash and Soderstrom. “Ocean debris affects us all and if nothing is done it will become a much bigger problem that will hinder our way of life. There is also the very real threat of these massive islands of debris landing on our beaches, any day. It has happened and will happen again, so something needs to be done and we intend to make a start with awareness. We hope that the people in power will make a stand and do something to curb the problem,” says Nash.

Aussie Fundraisers seeks the support of dive centres, dive equipment manufacturers and scuba divers by way of donations and sponsorships. Dive centers can pledge their support in exchange for logo acknowledgement starting with $50 while manufacturers can sponsor cash towards the cause and/or in kinds for prize giveaways during the BBQ raffles draw. Confirmed sponsors are PADI, Cressi Sub, Waterproof, Asia Divers and El Galleon Dive Resort.

People can follow the trip on www.aussiefundraiser.org www.asiadivers.com web sites or blog.asiadivers.com, PADI blog, Project Aware website, through Asia Divers and Aussie Fundraiser newsletters.

The duo will blog their experiences on Aussie Fundraiser web (http://aussiefundraiser.org), Facebook page in addition to publicity support from PADI and Project Aware.

Contributed by Tim Hochgrebe added 2011-08-24