Day 6

The road leads to Crisis Support Services

Day 6 started with a whirlwind media tour with Lion Ross Parkinson. Two live radio interviews and a session with WIN, a quick stop to meet up with Johnny again and a few other local Ulyssians then we were on the road to Melbourne. The weather was still not great but did improve as we neared Melbourne. We had a scheduled stop at Camperdown but just before we reached there I spotted the turnoff to Timboon.

I wanted to go down that road so I could see the little town whose Lions club made the very first donation to Black Dog Ride but as has so often been the case on this ride, we had to press on. Camperdown was another one of many stops which aren't in the itinerary but which have resulted from email requests from Lions Clubs enroute who just want to say hello, meet Winston and often make a donation. This time Johnny and I were also treated lunch at the local bakery. We didn't really have the time but how could you refuse that!?

We made good time after that stopover and would have reached Hoppers Crossing almost on time if we hadn't been led astray by John from Macedon Ulysses who had joined us a bit further back. He blamed his GPS, our 3 GPS units seemed to have different ideas as to how to get there!

Finally we met up with another 6 riders from different Clubs and headed through Friday peak hour traffic for Melbourne and the Head Office of Crisis Support Services. We received an enthusiastic welcome with lots of photos taken in the fading light. Winston was definitely the centre of attention, honestly sometimes you would think he was riding the bike! A few speeches, lovely hors douvres and this rather incongruous bunch (the leathers and the suits) made for an interesting and very pleasant occasion. I also got to meet Michael who has battled depression and was the generous co-sponsor of the fuel for BDR. A personal our of the SCBS call centre helped to confirm my decision to support this wonderful service.

Later that evening I met up with Jerry Farsoun and got to see the "'flying hanky" which he flew around Australia last year raising awareness of depression.

Jerry is inspirational.