Riding my horse Indian Style

I have to interrupt my journey to Cape Reinga again because I have been nominated for Mayor of Timaru.

Many people have said that I’m crazy standing for Mayor when I failed last time. My answer is I rode a horse to school with bare feet and no saddle when I was a boy and whenever I fell off my horse I got straight back on again. Life is life that, it will buck you off sometimes but you just have to get back on the horse and let him know who’s boss.

Many people have asked me why I don’t I serve on the council before trying to be elected as Mayor. I’m a leader not a follower. I’m a motivator of people and an ideas man who likes to lead by example. As Mayor I will put forward new ideas and policies for the council members to consider. My farming background coupled with my experience in the world of business commerce and finance has moulded me into a town and country man who can rub shoulders with people from all walks of life. My challenge if elected as Mayor would be to become an encourager not a dictator.

I have been travelling to Australia every year for many years but this is the first time for many years that I have travelled without my wife Margaret and I have been able to do what I want to do and when I want to do it which is lots of sleeping.  The reason Margaret and I have always chosen Australia as our holiday place is because our youngest daughter Sharyon married a Kiwi born Aussie with a bit of dutch blood and the live in Berwick in Victoria. Sharyon and her husband Dr Pieter Van Dijk both work at the Monash University in Berwick. Pieter is a senior Lecturer and deputy head of the Business and Economic facility and Sharyon is an administration assistant in the marketing department. They have 2 teenage sons Joshua and Samual who attend the Maratha Christian School in Endeavour Hills. Both boys are keep on sport and every winter when I come to Melbourne I have to try and learn the game Aussie rules. Everyone stares at me when yell out from the sideline that it was a  forward pass and a knock on.

Promotion of the Area
Berwick and Beaconsfield are two small townships in the southern suburbs of Melbourne. Berwick is administered by a local Government area known as the City of Casey. Beaconsfeild is only a few ks down the road and it’s governed by the Cardinia Shire Council.  Many people are choosing to live near these 2 towns because they are handy to the train and bus service, they have very good public and private schools and sports facilities. I asked at the Berwick library if there was any tourist organisation appointed to promote the area and they told my there was no such organisation.
There are not a lot of websites promoting these 2 small towns and I gathered several business cards from business owners and very few had their email address on their business card. We are now living in age of the computer and despite the billions of dollars being spent by governments in providing faster broadband the education needed to convince business owners that their very survival will depend on the use of the computer to sell their goods and services.

It’s becoming a small world
5 Years ago I started  a company called Timaru Promotions Ltd and built a website. There are now 8 websites all linked to the one website and each town has its own online business phone book. Christchurch,  Timaru, Oamaru, Dunedin and Invercargill. While it it is good to have a locally online phone book it is only seen by those who searching information about the area online. Our idea is to now put in those phone books contact details of business in other towns and countries. We have taken the contact details of some Berwick and Beaconsfield businesses in Australia and put them into 6 online phone books in New Zealand.  

Ashburton’s River Bridge is dangerous

I walked across the bridge the other day and I thought I was on a swing bridge. Every time a large vehicle crossed the bridge it shook. I said to a lady walking by can you feel this bridge shaking yes said I have been walking over her for 2 years and it has always shook. It’s only the moss that is holding it together she said. I asked another man and he told me the same thing that the bridge has been shaking for some time and he told me they have been replacing new wooden boards on the footbridge since the others rotted. This this shaky swing bridge is it situated on State Highway One SH1 linking Picton to Bluff. I counted the traffic going over it and in 2 minutes 100 vehicles passed over it that is about 3000 motor vehicles an hour and next year it will have its 80th birthday. The bridge was built in 1930 long before they had articulated vehicles and road trains. The model A motor car was not very heavy and push bikes never had motors. I’m told that the weight of large vehicles are permitted to carry on the road has recently increased.

District Councils Plans
The Ashburton District Council plans to spend approximately $56 million on the following luxuries, new aquatic and indoor stadium, funding for lake hood, new art gallery and museum, property development for industry. May I suggest to the Ashburton district Councillors that before the Ashburton collapses and people get killed and it costs the country billions in lost production they do something about it now. May I also suggest that all the mayors in the South Island, the minister of local government the minister of transport, the prime minister of New Zealand all walk across the bridge in a line and feel for themselves what it feels like to be on an 80 year old swing bridge without a bungy cord.

Where to Build a New Bridge
If the politicians then declare that the bridge is unsafe then I suggest it would be a wise idea to start work building a new bridge the very next day not in 10 years time and the obvious place to build it is alongside the old one. If the hierarchy then get in their ministerial cars and drive down Melcombe street in Tinwald and keep going they will come to another bridge called Arundel which will link them back onto SH1 at Winchester. If they head South past the Phar Lap bronze statue they will come to a village called Washdyke.  They could then build a toll bridge from Washdyke across Caroline Bay that will take all the heavy traffic off the main highway into the Prime Port in Timaru.

Message to all local body Politicians
Your job is to take care of our roads and our bridges if you want to save lives then start building a bridge over the Ashburton river today. If you want another Tangiwai disaster costing people their lives and the country millions of dollars then do nothing. The choice is yours

In order for me to find your address I need to know where your business is located so I can delete you

I have no idea how long it will take me to reach Cape Reinga but I not worried if it takes me 10 or 20years I am only 69 years of age so I have plenty of time. I am doing every thing myself because I refuse to employ people any more. The reason I wont employ people anymore is explained on my other blog. Here is the link http://www.timarudirectory.co.nz/news/

This also is the reason why I have had to put my journey on hold. Our family home is underthreat of being taken off us by a former employee. Most of my time these days is being spent defending ourselves from the jaws of the employment relations act. I am confident that I can save our home but it is going to take time for us to get our appointment with an employment court judge.

Once we get it sorted then I will back on the road again. In the meantime if you would like to help my wife and I with some grocery money you could register your business with us online here is the link http://www.timarudirectory.co.nz/business-listing.htm

Why are you travelling the journey?

When Edmund Hillary climbed the highest mountain in the world they asked him the same question My journey is somewhat different to Hillarys but my reason for doing it is the same

Because it is there and no one has ever done it before.
Many people have travelled the length of New Zealand and back on SH1 but no one has ever called at every business along the way and picked up business cards and placed them on a website in an online phone book.

No one has ever travelled the length of New Zealand and back on SH1 taking photographs of all the icons in every town and putting them on a webpage to promote all the towns and businesses in New Zealand along SH1

How do you keep fit?

To keep fit I go for a swim at 6 am most mornings for an hour. I eat a good breakfast and my days work involves calling on about 50 businesses every day. I walk up and down the streets and the roads collecting business cards and photographing anything that I think will be of interest to people surfing the internet.

When do you go home?

My adopted home town is Timaru. I spend one week on the road and one week at home loading all the cards and photos onto my computer. I build web pages for each town and send them off to my webmaster who puts them online. Timaru is in the centre of the South Island which it makes it easier shorter to come home each week.

How are you going to come each week when you get to the North Island

Wherever there is a will there is a way. They have invented aeroplanes and all I have to do is find a company that will sponsor me some air tickets. I will work on that nearer the time and in the meantime my goal is to make it to Picton

What distance have you travelled so far?

At the time of writing it has been 50 days since I commenced my journeyand  in that time I have travelled 3625 ks in my car and walked in and out of over 600 businesses, I have also walked the roads and the streets and haven taken over 1000 photographs.

How much are your expenses

My expenses consist of meals, accommodation, car expenses, webmaster, web hosting, computer maintenance and wages. If I was to pay myself a modest wage of just $100 day I would need to earn $20 from every business I visit.

How do you fund your journey?

I sell advertising on my 6 Business Directories. I also give away $100 worth of advertising per night in return for a bed.  In some towns I ask for donations and most businesses will give you something. I stopped asking for donations in Dunedin because many of the businesses are corporate companies and chain stores and the staff don’t like giving from their own pocket

How do you sell your advertising?

I tried selling it on my journey but I found it too time consuming. It is not possible to  collect business cards and sell advertising at the same time. Calling on every business and picking up their business cards is a job on its own.
In the new year I intend to telephone all of the 600 plus businesses  that I have business cards for and attempt to sell them advertising space on one of the SH1 Business Directories. If I don’t get enough to cover my costs so far then I will return to Bluff and personally visit everyone of them again I get enough sales so that I can move on to the next leg of my journey.

How much does the advertising cost?

Each Business is listed in our online phone book with their name and address only. If they want to have their phone, fax number and other contact details listed with links to email or website highlighted in bold bright yellow their is a minimum fee of $100 plus Gst  PA

Other positions on the website include business categories of your choice, business cards revolving on the top of every page and a business or personal profile with a story and photos telling people why they should deal with you. Each position is $100 with a maximum of $400.  An investment in the 4 positions qualifies your business to become a Gold Subscriber where your logo will be appear with other Gold Subscribers on a special page

Do you raise money for any Charity

I would love to raise money for charity but it is something that takes time and I cannot do it on my own. I would need an assistant to help me do that.  I would also like to give discounts to groups who advertise together so what I have decided to do is not to give group discounts but instead pay the discounted amount to a charity of the groups choice.

e.g.  If the tenants of a group such as a street, building or shopping mall advertised together in a SH1 Business Directory with their own home page we would give 10% of the total revenue received from the group to a charity of their choice and this would happen annually.

Are there any other reasons why you are making this Journey?

Yes, Ever since Queenstown learnt to promote itself most of the tourist traffic now either fly direct to Queenstown or travel by car inland from Christchurch via Geraldine through the lakes and they by pass SH1.
My goal is to change that and I believe that with the help of all the businesses on SH1 we can promote all the good things that there is to see and do along SH1. With 6 Business directories online and more to come we are already well exposed worldwide with over 100,000 hits a month and climbing

 What is a Motivational Business Coach

I have been a motivational speaker for many years and I’ve done many motivational seminars and one to one self development coaching. One of the things that I teach is how to be role model for others. My philosphy is don’t try and teach anyone something you have not done yourself. One of the things that motivates me is that I like to do things that have neve been done before in order to uplift and inspire others.

World Records

At age 64 I became the first man in the world to row 100,000 metres in 9 hours on indoor rowing machine. Now I am looking for my next challenge in life which is to travel from one end of New Zealand to the other calling on every business on SH1 collecting business cards taking photos of icons and building the first online phone books for every town along SH1. If I make then I will be the first person in the world to do it

In January I will  69 years of age and if I can make it to Cape Reinga by the time I reach 70 then  I’m hoping my acheivements will motivate, uplift and inspire others .
I then want to travel New Zealand and the world giving motivational seminars to businesses and the public demonstrating that you can do anything if you have the right mental attitude

On my journey I don’t have time to explain to people what I am trying to acheive so I have put together some questions and answers and I hope you will learn from them

Sorry folks no more Photos
The answer of course is to employ somone to do the computer work but I cant do that until I increase my income. What I have decided to do is stop putting photos online for each town  until I get sponsors for each town. If people want me to promote their town then they will have to buy advertising on the SH1 Business directories or make a voluntary donation it is as simple as that. If you want me to continue writing travellers guide stories and put photos on this blog then you will have to advertise with me or send me a donation to pay for the cost. I have one more week on the road before Christmas and I will not be going on the road again until I find some people that believe enough in what I am doing to support me.

Donations
If you woud like to see me make it to Cape Reinga and back and promote each town  along the way and write a book about it all then please make a donation ito my bank account with the National Bank 060 889 0257897 00
or post it to Ron & Margaret Bishop 132 Gleniti Road Timaru

Merry Christmas to you all and a very Prosperous new year

Ron E Bishop
Motivational Business Coach

Invercargill and Gore are online
All you Southland people are lucky because there is an Invercargill and a Gore page online. These pages have come to you with the compliments of the Coachmans Inn in Invercargill and Charlton Lodge in Gore and this is why we have written a story online about them.

Balclutha & Milton
There is some wonderful people in South Otago and they are some of the friendliest I have met on my journey so far. I have lots of interesting photos to show you and stories to tell you about Clutha and its people but unfortunatly I cannot share them with you just yet until I earn some more income. I called into Mosgiel an found 2 friendly business people who bought some advertising from me. Derek Payne of Paynes Wholsalers ltd sponsored a full page for Mosgiel so a home page will be going online soon.

Dunedin
I have never done much selling in Dunedin but I have been told it is a Salesmans graveyard. After calling on all the businesess along Crawford Street I soon found out why. Most of the businesses along SH1 in Dunedin are corporates and chain stores with their head office in the North Island or Australia. The staff that work in these places are not allowed to carry any cash to work with them and petty cash tins are a thing of the past so my idea of getting donations to pay for my travel expenses has stopped against a brick wall in Dunedin.

No Free Lunches
Lunches are not cheap these days and it is very hard to find a free one.
In Invercargill one cafe owner gave me a free cup of coffee and a mufffin as a donation. A resturant owner gave me a $10 donation so to return the favour I went back there for dinner and it cost me $52 so the next night it was fish and chips on the beach. There are some kind people still about in Edendale a lady gave me free dinner and breakfast.

Donations have saved me.
Trying to sell advertising while calling on 40 to 50 businesses a day picking up business cards was impossible which is why I started asking for donations. I have been amazed at how generous some people are. I man who was a manager for a large company had no money in his petty cash tin so he reached into his wallet and gave me a $50 note. Another young man who had just started his business also gave me $50 note. It funny where money can come from we were sitting around having a beer one night and a man who I had only met for the first time pulled ot a $50 note and put it in front of me said take this I don’t need it. It is well known that corporate companies and chain stores have no money when it comes to giving back to the local community where they get their money from however I was moved with emotion when a young bank manager photocopied 25 colour copies of my newsletter free of charge. The young lady said I admire what you are doing and she gave me $15 from her own purse. The next bank manager gave me 20 cents for a copy of the newsletter their opposition bank had printed for free.
My travel expenses are averaging about $200 day which is a lot of money to raise from donations and I go to work each day with no pay.

Photographing the towns
My journey is not just about promoting the businesess its also about promoting the towns. My camera never stops in its search for things of interest to capture on my journey. I am building a collection of Photos that in years to come will fill the history books of tomorrow. All this I do at my own cost.

When I first saw this sign on the side of the road I thought what a stupid slogan. I had not been in Balclutha very long and I realised that the slogan was working.

Everyone I saw said hello and some even waved when they said hello. What a great place to live the people in Balclutha are by far the most friendliest people I have met on my journey and it is all because some clever person came up with simple slogan that works.

If it works in Balclutha the why would it not work in your town. Can you imagine how happy people would feel if everyone said hello. Try it on the person you have not spoken to since your last argument and you may be surprised at the reaction.

I fell in Love

While I was in Balclutha I fell in love with a concrete bridge. This magnificent structure of arches straddles the Big Balclutha River. The Railway bridge further down  is equally impressive.

The motor vehicle bridge has a walk bridge both sides of it and I just had to walk up one side and down the other. There is no pedestrian crossing at the northern end of the bridge and I very nearly became a piece of meat in the sandwich between the bridge and a Mac Truck.

It was then I decided that Balclutha could make a fortune from tourism if they built a pedestrian crossing on top of the concrete arches. Some may even want to bungy jump from it down into the river below.

Hotel South Otago

I have a soft spot for old hotels and hate to see people not look after them. I stayed 3 nights in the Hotel South Otago and I loved the place. Like all these old hotels they have a certain charm that you don’t find in modern accommodation houses. The Hotel is owned by the Balclutha Licensing Trust and while they have done a great job in preserving the hotel downstairs the outside of the building and the accommodation rooms upstairs have been neglected.

Hotel South Otago is situated in the centre of the town  and it should be the focal part of Balclutha but unfortunately its not. I left a note for the management staff of Balclutha’s greatest Icon and I hope that when I return to their town I will see big improvements.

Begging for Donations

One of the reasons I have taken on this challenge is to promote business and tourism in the towns that I call on. I also want to uplift and inspire other 69 year olds like myself  that have a crook shoulder a gammy leg and two teeth missing on the bottom jaw that old age and arthritis is no barrier if you have a determined attitude and a good sense of humour.

I get no funding from Local or Central Government so I have to beg for my supper.  I ask each business to give me a donation to pay for my travel expenses and by far the most generous people have been the business people of Balclutha. I will never forget the bank manager who photocopied 20 colour copies of my newsletter and then gave me some notes out of her own purse. Despite the generosity of people I still don’t have enough to buy a new pair of shoes. If you feel sorry for me and have not yet made a donation towards my cause but would like to you can do so. Just put it in my bank  account online.

National Bank Timaru 060  889  0257897  00 or send your donation by post  c/ Margaret Bishop 132 Gleniti Road Timaru New Zealand. Margaret is the women I married 45 years ago and she also has a crook leg a runny eye and a deaf ear. She often tells he friends thats its all right for you but I am the one that has to live with him.

Anyway I will let you know if Margaret gets enough money in donations to buy me a new pair of shoes.  Keep tuned in because I have a good story to tell you about shoes next week.