BLOWN AWAY
Written by a number of IFMR Members who were privileged to spend some time with IFMR AGS Chapter Member Dieter Schneider, while he was in Australia in 2019!
“I was blown away by Dieter’s Zoom presentation on his World Ride to promote awareness of depression & prevention of
suicide” was the comment made by one of our members who logged in to listen. We know many others
were too!
There were times when Dieter must have thought about giving it away, but that’s not in his DNA!
Claus Weber & Tony Moyle
Prior to flying into Adelaide, Dieter Schneider had Googled “Adelaide, Rotary and Motorcycles”, and Claus Weber’s details came up.
Claus was about to fly overseas, and asked Tony Moyle to contact Dieter and to offer him IFMR help.
Tony contacted Franz Van der Ploeg (the IFMRA webmaster), and Franz advised all IFMR Australian Chapter Members of Dieter’s plans (or the little we knew of them) and encouraged them to make contact with him.
David Dunstan
After a few emails and text messages I found out Dieter had arrived in Adelaide albeit in one of our hot spells 42/45.degrees
I was able to make direct contact with Dieter to find out he had made it from Adelaide to the Barossa and was in his tent!!!
The date was 4th March 2019 as it was the same day I collected my new bike - Yamaha MTO9 trace GT.
The bike had a brief run in as I was in Adelaide running late to meet Dieter at the Clare Hotel at
6.00 for our Rotary meeting.
He did a presentation to our club which was well received by all, even the non-bikie members!!!
He stayed at my home that night and next day we did a quick lap around the town to show him Clare in daylight.
Later that day we rode to Burra for a bit more site seeing prior heading out on the road to Morgan, where I left Dieter, as he was heading up to Tony Moyle’s at Loxton.
That was it! A short visit, however I kept in touch with his travels on his lap of Australia.
David Dunstan, Clare S.A.
Tony Moyle
Dieter’s original plan was to spend a couple of days in the Barossa Valley and then ride to Loxton, but it had changed without me knowing, and by the time I found out, Dieter had just left Burra. I knew that if I did not meet him at Morgan, there were four routes he could choose from to continue on to my place. Burra to Morgan is 81Kms and Loxton to Morgan is 124Kms. Thanks to my little 650 V-Strom, Dieter had not been in Morgan for very long when I arrived!
We crisscrossed the Murray River, and visited historic sights, and arrived home late in the afternoon. We swam in the river then rode on a mechanical grape harvester, before our evening meal, then chatted before retiring for the night.
Next morning, Dieter and I were up at daylight and walked along the river bank, the sun was rising as we walked back. We then canoed up Katarapko Creek and some backwaters with Dieter snapping away with his camera. He saw, and filmed, his fist LIVE kangaroo whilst in that canoe.
Breakfast, then into the car for a tour of the Riverland. Some of the highlights for Dieter were the visit to a citrus packing facility, and to be given a personal tour of a large almond property being harvested.
Early the next morning, Dieter left to start the next leg of his journey, he also left behind two new friends – Julie and myself! We were both certain that we would see him again!
Don Perry
Tony Moyle sent out an email on 3rd March 2019 letting us know that Dieter Schneider was arriving in Adelaide on 1st March and was looking to hook up with Rotarians during his visit to OZ.
I couldn’t resist calling Tony straight away.
Long story short, Dieter arrived at my house at about 6.15pm on Thursday 7th and stayed Thursday and Friday nights with Cheryl, myself and our schnauzer, Rupert. The two Germans hit it off immediately. Meeting Dieter for the first time was like meeting an old friend. In the Aussie way we had a few beers and he told us of his adventures to date.
Friday, after showing him some of the treasures in my shed, we tootled around to Nev Thomas’s
place to view some of his collection. Dieter looked very happy sitting in Neville’s 1915 Model T Ford.
After a cuppa we took off in my Prado for a look around the farming area of Horsham, taking in the Wind Farm at Murra Warra and ending up at James Feery’s place in Dimboola to view his collection
of Italian motorcycles.
On his best behaviour, Dieter wasn’t saying too much and when James in his inimitable fashion, very loudly asked “does this bloke speak English?“ we all fell about ourselves laughing.
All too soon it was Saturday 9th and time for Dieter to head for Warrnambool to commence his ride along the Great Ocean Road.
We rode over the Grampians to Halls Gap, then over the Mirratwa Gap, through Victoria Valley and we parted company at Penshurst after riding to the top of Mt Rouse to see the breath-taking views of the Western District.
Four months later on 6th July I met with Dieter and half a dozen IFMR members at Newstead to enjoy a motorcycle tour to Melbourne via Mt Macedon after which we attended a send off for Dieter at Caroline Springs.
Keeping up with Dieter via his Fellow’s Ride emails has been great and his presentation on Zoom was excellent.
Long live IMFR … a great way to meet likeminded motorcyclists and create lifelong friendships.
Cheers, Don Perry… Horsham
Carron Bourke
We were fortunate enough to host Dieter for a week or so. His friendly nature and vast knowledge made him a wonderful guest. His adventures up till that point were quite amazing to say the least.
His story of his son’s tragedy and Dieter’s depression afterwards he openly talked about. He didn’t want anyone else to go through the same situation.
While he was with us he spent a couple of nights in mountains riding some of our motorbike roads. A time he enjoyed.
Dieter and I went for a “Black Dog ride” on the Mornington Peninsula. Dieter had not heard of them and was
keen to learn what they did how they helped people with depression. A day to enjoy a wonderful
ride with 100 other riders. Also making more contacts for his network.
He also spoke at one of our “Men’s Breakfast” that we run every 6 weeks on the Island. This is a chance for men to get together and talk to each other and listen to a guest speaker.
Dieter spoke of his mental and physical journey he was on.
Carron Bourke – Phillip Island
Dieter Schneider
When asked for some photos, amongst them was this one with the following explanation: “The picture with Sharon Dean! She is the great, great, great, great, great, great, great niece of James Cook. I met her in a yoga session on the east coast ;-) “
Peter Brown
I first heard of Dieter’s journey via Facebook before he left for the trip and I ‘liked’ his site, but hadn’t heard much more until he turned up in Queensland, when I was in touch with another local IFMR member who had had better communication with Dieter, so I jumped on my bike and took off the same day to meet them in Dayboro, only less than an hour from my home. Dieter was a very interesting companion and enthralled us with just a few of his adventures so far, including issues with bike mechanics in the NT, that could be useful information in coming trips. We went for a short ride and bid him all the best for the rest of his trip. I thoroughly recommend to all members to take whatever opportunity they can to listen to Dieter talk about his travels.
David Dunstan
After which seemed a short time he was back again.
His first comment was it’s a f----- big place.
Tony Moyle and I had been in contact and Tony had the idea we should show Dieter some more sights!!!
So the three of us set off in my ute this time, to meet up with Bryant Chivell at Port Pirie, another mate of Tony’s and IFMR Past President.
Dieter and myself in my ute and Tony and Bryant in his, where after a bit of shopping for food and drink, we headed off to BELTON (32Kms north of Carrieton) where Bryant has built a very comfortable shack!!!!!
Bryant has done a very good job developing his piece of paradise (only place in town) we did some exploring of an old copper mine, really good old stone buildings in the middle of nowhere - even made it to Cradock hotel for a few beers .
Four days of good fellowship and a few stories. Very entertaining and we have pictures as proof! Thanks Bryant.
All too soon the three of us were on the way back to Clare
Next morning I had to say goodbye.
Tony and Dieter were back on their bikes, overnighting in Loxton, then collecting other riders on their way to Melbourne to farewell Dieter .
I was very disappointed that I was unable to join them on the final leg.
I have been watching with interest as Dieter continued his adventures and was excited to see his film on Zoom of his travels, some amazing sights and what memories.
Safe travels Dieter and keep the shiny side up till next time!
David Dunstan, Clare S.A.
Tony Moyle
After having spent four days in Belton and saying goodbye to David Dunstan in Clare, Dieter and I overnighted in Loxton, and next morning headed east into Victoria. We took the back road through Werrimull to Red Cliffs for a pre-arranged rendezvous with IFMRA Secretary Phillip Smith (Smithy).
The three of us then rode to Bridgewater, to find Carron Bourke waiting at the motel for us. There were lots to talk about over dinner.
Next morning, under Carron’s guidance, we rode through some very interesting scenery to the small country town of Newstead, where we met up with Don Perry, Frank Dri, Peter Schultheiss, Tony Thatcher and, much to Dieter’s surprise, Julie!
Coffee and cake at Dig’s Bakery, then Peter, Tony and Frank lead the group on a well-planned tour of the countryside back to Caroline Springs via Mt Macedon.
Peter Schultheiss and Frank Dri had organized Dieter’s “Deportation Celebration” to be held at Billy’s Paddock in Caroline Springs.
Bob Kendell
I met Dieter for the first time at his farewell dinner - I’d ridden the Moto Guzzi down from Lockhart.
I really enjoyed his talk at the meeting in Melbourne last year.
Excellent presentation on his [nearly] round the world trip on Zoom recently. Glad you enjoyed Australia and South America - it brought back memories of my trips with Tony!
Peter Schultheiss
I believe it was I that spoke to Dieter last and hosted him.
I should give the credit to my Darling Amara as she spoiled him with a beautifully prepared Thai meal which he dutifully polished off.
After a couple of bottles of wine to loosen his tongue we had a great conversation about his time in Australia a
nd the fellowship and friendships he made here and I would not be surprised if we see him again on our shores.
The conversation was deep and meaningful and his sadness came thru about his son's struggle with mental illness, he was surprised how strong the conversation about mental illness is in Australia in comparison to Europe, especially Germany.
He spent 2 nights with us and I gave him a lot of space as he needed to wash his clothes write his journal and also prepare his bike for the flight to Canada. The company that took care of the shipping arrangements for his bike was only a few Kms from my place which was very convenient.
When the time came I took him to the airport and promised to visit him in Germany, hopefully next year, as I intend to meet up with my old school mates for our anniversary, we are all turning 75 years young and his hometown Wurzburg is not far from my place Schwabisch Hall.
Peter Schultheiss