We began filming this documentary at the beginning of 2011 and it has already taken us across three states. Beginning in Margaret River in WA I soon realised that the bigger issue was occuring in QLD, particularly in the Tara-Chinchilla region and in NSW, across the state. The story is being told through the eyes of Dayne The Frackman Pratzky. We have also been following sub plot character stories with Drew Hutton, Jeremy Buckingham, Dr Marian LLoyd Smith, Bob Irwin, Barnaby Joyce and last week I also filmed Alan Jones at an inspirational gathering in Bowral.

Screenwest  and Screen Australia have invested in the documentary at Research and development phase but we are well into production now and have had several meetings with the ABC re commissioning. We plan to cut a documentary hour for TV and a feature length documentary for the international film festival circuit and potentially for a cinema release. It’s a fascinating tale and gaining momentum by the day and seems to be shaping up to be the biggest environmental debate of the decade.

Well Sullivan has finished his first 5 days at Leffew’s Bullriding school in Santa Maria California and yep as expected he’s battered and bruised but he’s alive and stoked for that. I’ve now realised and so has he that this is no easy feet. As I wandered around interviewing other participants of Gary’s  school, it soon became apparent, as expected, this is no doubt one of the most dangerous sports in the world. Each guy I chatted to, reeled out his list of injuries. There was no machoism in any of their tones. In fact I was staggered at how matter a fact they all were. Broken wrists, dislocated shoulders, snapped ribs. A guy that turned up on day 3 was jumping back on after surviving a broken neck! The doctor told him he’d need 12 months to recover. It was 6 when we met him and he was as keen as mustard to get back on.

First ride back he fell hard and injured his knee. The bullriders jumped in to save him as the bull turned and came back at him as he was struggling to get to the fence. Talking about heros, these Bull Fighters (formally known as clowns)  are top of the list. They risk their lives , day in day out, to help guys out that sometimes they don’t even know. This guy with the hurt knee was back again the same afternoon and yep , he got hurt again. Keen to give up…not a chance in hell. He was riding again the next day.

But back to the bullfighters. You’d think if these guys were going to risk their lives , they’d be going for the glory and be bull riders rather than bull fighters. When I asked a bull fighter called Mad Dog about this , one of our greatest protégés in the US, he  told me it was all about the respect they received for saving these guys. No doubt from a casual observers perspective it must also be about the thrill of dodging a wild animal as your heart is jumping out of your throat. Which is the biggest motivator….not sure…you’d have to ask Maddog.

Maddog, like many I’ve met,  is the consummate gentleman and it was a pleasure spending time with him and there seems alot more to him than meets the eye. I hope to spend more time with him in the US and bring him in as a potential sub story in the doco. At one stage I mounted a camera on the bull fighter’s head. So once I get the technology to upload this to the web , I’ll send you a link. You’ll get to jump into ‘clown cam” or more appropriately “bullfighters cam’ and I tell you, it’s a job that is not for the faint hearted. Meanwhile here is a quick clip of how Maddog handles a bull after its knocked him down.

So back to Sull, he ended up on about a dozen bulls in the 5 days. He took some heavy landings but in true aussie style he got straight back up there on the bull. Gary, his coach, in true country style, laught most of the stacks off…cause that’s what they do. But Gary was also there with great advice for every bull rider on every bull ride. His dedication and devotion to the sport is second to none. I was honored to meet him and we yacked our brains out every night over some aussie red I torcherously pressed upon him.  By the final couple of days Sull was starting to get some rythym happening and one ride on Pooh Bear Gone Wild, Gary’s starter bull, Sull stayed on for a full lap and got a roaring cheer from his other bullriding school mates. Sull will admit he’s no bucking bronvco but more than the achievment was a sense that the boys knew he was having a real go.

The Leffew bullriding ranch is a family affair. Gary Leffew, as mentioned in an earlier blog is a legend. His son, Jud , tends to the bulls and they are just about to have 3 bulls go to the world cup in Vegas. Brett, the other son, helps with the coaching and between him and dad, there aint much they don’t know and there is less they can’t teach. Their approach is technical, philosopshical and to a degree spiritual. Can you believe that, throw your preconceived stereotypical misconceptions out the window. Gary   teaches technique but also visualisation, you are what you think and mind over matter. Totally unexpected and he is as good of a man as I’ve met. If I had 10 people at a table from my favourites round the world from my travels, he’d by on the list. He’s solid with a cracking balance of caring, intelligent, funny and totally dedicated to the betterment of bullriders and bullriding.

So day 4. Sull and I were expecting some carnage, hoping it wasn’t him and not wishing it on anybody. Sure enough, day 4 shocked us both into the reality of the consequences of this heavy, heavy sport.  The school had been devoid of women until day 2…..the only guy to bring his girlfriend along, a stunning lass from Montana, ended up being the first ‘real casualty’. How do I now define ‘real’, well its by the reaction of the coach, his sons and the fellow bullriders. Dislocations, sprains and even broken ribs are shrugged off. “You OK buddie?”…then they climb the fence, they walk off and deal with the pain on their own. It’s not done in a non caring way…there is a great comaradarie….but maybe its just the history of the whole cowboy thing. Not sure if the guy in pain prefers not to be ‘mothered’ or the guys that are his mates that have been thru it, also don’t want to mother but either way it is what it is and I repeat, these guys do care for eachother…in spades. There is a respect that I maynot have seen in anyother sport and I get amongst big surf and jump cliffs on snowboards. This is no backgammon tournament. Maybe it’s the unwritten law that if you jump on a wild animal you understand, accept and deal with the consequences, much like we do when we surf big waves. You against the beast…in our case the ocean, upto 30 foot wave faces icoming down like an apartment block, in their case, 2 tons of prime, stomping, cattle coming down on 4 sharp hooves. To be honest there is not much that scares me…having now seen this sport, I’d take Margaret River at 15 foot Hawaiin, anyday. These guys have ‘balls made of iron’, excuse my French.

So the inevitable occurred. A lad came down on his leg badly and his foot was twisted at 180 degrees like a pretzel. After 20 seconds of sucking it in, he whaled like a banchie as the excruciating pain  finally kicked in and he got past the adrenailin pumping in his veins, that these guys must feel once the shoot opens. I’ve never seen a break like that and I was sick to the stomach. No shit. I finally knew we had ‘arrived’. Sull told me he felt the same. But I didn’t have to get back on the bull. He did. In 10 minutes. Sull was up soon. If there was a defining moment and ever a chance for him to pull out, I’m sure this was it.  I was encouraging him again to rethink this ludacrist idea. But he jumped on and again he survived. The guy that got smashed got carted to hospital, 45 minutes away on a hell of a bumpie track and the next day he turned up on crutches to let everyone know he was OK. “You jumping back on” I asked him. “ Hell yeah, as soon as they let me” was his reply. I almost expected it but still kind of don’t understand it but kinda do. Welcome to the gnarliest sport in the world.

So day 5 Sull took on Wahtoosie. This bull, as well as the Leffew family, man, he was made for Hollywood. The most perfect set of symmetrical, gigantic horns, you have ever seen. Big step up from Pooh Bear for Sull and though he got bucked twice Sull took his first really , really good corner.  Another roar from the crowd. Sull wanted to stay on and though he got bucked early it was another giant, baby step. Gary was philosophical as usual. “You learn one thing every ride, your well on the way Sull. Remember that. You did well son, you did well”

Great bunch of people and though Sull is a bit sore no doubt, he’s taken his first big step and is pretty excited and determined as ever.

So we are off to Vegas for the Bullriding World Cup. The aussies are ranked 4^th or 5^th out of 5, currently and people aint even rating them. But if I know Troy Dunn and the team they have picked. Well, you better watch out cause they want to move up the ladder. Can they compete with number 1 the Brasilians or number 2 the USA, only time will tell. Will those coaching books that Troy has been reading have any effect on the boys from down under as they tackle the toughest bunch of bulls ever assembled for a PBR Bullriding world cup or will they flounder amongst the minors against Canada and Mexico. 5 teams, 3 days, the harshest bulls in the world and Las Vegas as the back drop. I cant wait.

Talkin about the quintessential stereotypical country family. The Leffew’s, for out right hospitality, kindness and sense of humour, would be hard to beat. They have embraced Sull and I and though we are not ‘from the land’ or been brought up around bulls and the hospitality has been overwhelming.

Gary Leffew is a legend in the U.S. , a former world champion bull rider, PRCA hall of famer, 8 time NFR qualifier, NFR average winner and past bull riding director of the PRCA.  There isn’t anything this guy doesn’t know about bulls, bullriders and bullriding. But the thing that intrigues me most about this man, is not only was he one of the most forward thinking bullriders of his time, not only studying the greats but video recording there rides, playing them back in slow motion and dissecting every recovery and back arch to the frame but he spent as much time understanding the psyche of bullriding. He is a firm believer in you are what you think and this must, no doubt, give Sullivan great comfort seeing he has neither the experience, the  physique or  the upbringing of the typical bullrider.

Gary and his two sons, Brett and Jud, have been challenged with the task to turning Sullivan into a bull rider. Day 1 involved lots of class time going thru the 7 basics of the perfect bullride posture; positions of the back, the head, the knees, the thighs, the spurs, the arms, the hands etc. How to react in the shoot and out of the gate . How to deal with a bull turning in and turning out. Barrels were used to imitate the bulls and styles of legends of the game were reviewed in slowmo. Once a spring rain had past Gary raked  the arena by tractor and the boys were chomping at the bit to get out there and test their newly acquired skills on the real mc Coy.

Gary’s son Brett  had explained in the lecture that they needed to break old habits and replace them with the new. No problems there from Sull’s perspective, no habits to break. Brett, who must be one of the best Bull riding coaches in the world, explained that they may go backwards before they see the improvement in their newly adjusted styles.

The boys looked excited but also frustration at not being able to get it instantly , was evident, but if it was that easy, everyone would be a legend like Gary and there is only a handful of those in the world.

Sull looked much better already than his first few rides in Aileron. Posture and body was sitting much straighter on the bull (Pooh Bear Gone Wild) and to date it was his longest ride before he hit the dirt and smacked into the fence with his head. Lucky he had that helmet on and he got up unscathed. His second ride, again the back is looking good and he’ll need to work on his arms next but this time he was dismounted from the back of the bull and landed on his back hard, with an almighty thump. I heard and felt it 200 metres away from where I was filming on the hill. Gary joked he’s left his mark in the mud, Sull’s Lake, which even the stand up comic and the rest of the boys had a good chuckle about. There will be a few saw bones tomorrow but they’re straight back into it at 8am and day 2. Wander how Sull’s body is holding up. He seems just as determined and gaining confidence.

All the best Toddy

Like most trips I’ve been on o/s, always seems to be some type of bump in the road. After coming off the high of Sullivan staying alive at the rodeo in Aileron near Alice Springs, we said goodbye for a couple of days as I headed to Stradbroke Island to catch up with a mate David Hannan, who I do a bunch of underwater filming with and Ronnie Bakir, a guy that helped fund Schappelle Corby’s initial legal challenge when she got busted in Bali. Ron’s an absolute top bloke and was hammered in the mainstream media for trying to help the girl out. He’s become a good mate and he made the trip to Straddie for the day from the Gold Coast for a catchup.

Anyway I wasn’t to know by the time Sull and I sat down next to each other  at the airport in Brizzie heading to  LA we’d both have had a couple of travel stories to tell. Mine pailed into insignifigance compared to Sull’s. But first a bit about my mate Sullivan, the guy who is about to go on the Bullriding circuit in the US and the subject of my next doco. He’s not the kinda guy you’d expect in a bull ring. Firstly he’s a surfer. Secondly he works in his family’s bookshop and writes books for a living. He use to be a standup comedian and has done all sorts and amongst the many skills that he does possess, being travel organised doesn’t rank as one of his fortes, which he’ll admit openly.

So when we caught up on the plane heading to LA Sull said, Mate have I got a story to tell you. So it goes like this. Neither of us knew that Ayers Rock is about four and a half hours from Alice. So our idea of popping down and having a quick look after the Rodeo turned into a madrush down there, sunset, photos, beers, sleep, 4.30am start and madrush bacxk to get Sull on a Tiger flight at 9am.

We arrive with 10 mins to spare only to find out Sull’s flight to Sydney via Adelaide is delayed. Could have slept in for an hour. Next Sull, who is on the bones of his ass cashwise, finds out from the not so lovely attendant that he’s ticked the wrong box on line, so instead of his baggage costing him 15 bux it will now cost him 50. We say goodbye and I can’t help feeling sorry for him having paid 100s in excess in the past.

I head back into Alice and I have still a few things on my list before I start filming him in California at Gary Leffew’s Bullriding school. I drop into an electrical store to pick up something and as I’m heading out of the carpark in the Britz camper van we’ve shared for 4 days I hear an almighty crunch like I’ve just run over a kid. My hear was in my mouth as I jumped out and looked under the car. Nothing. I looked up to the sky and the top of the camper van had smashed into a cross beam of one of the sails I’d parked under.

My convict crim DNA’s first thought is to say nothing and hope the guy at Britz misses it but I’ve been round long enough to know that Karma will chase my fat ass down and I’ll pay for it in other ways. So I head back to the office and tell the guy straight up, thinking the replacement of that vent once the panel beaters get hold of the quote is going to turn into hundreds of dollars and NO I didnt take out the extra insurance.

He turns around and smiles and says no worries mate, people knock them off all the time. I’m stoked. There’s a thing to be said about being honest.

2 days later Sull get’s on V Australia flight VA 007 with a big grin on his face. ‘Mate you are not going to believe what happened to me when I got to Adelaide’.

Now Sull aint the kind of guy that writes down flight confirmation numbers. He doesn’t print itineraries and now and again he checks his inbox to see where that email is that tells him what flight he’s about to catch. He’s bloody focussed in other areas, you have to be to write a book but as I said travel organisation well…read on..

He wasn’t sure who he was connecting with in Adelaide so he thought he’d go try Tiger first, so he lined up waited got to the front of the queue and no go. Not Tiger. He tried Qantas…zip….Virgin…no go…starting to get closer to dpearture….must have been Jetstar….NOPE!! Can’t get on line to check his confirmation email. Goes back to Tiger, lines up and has a brawl with the attendant, she asys NO WAY your not on. Goes back to Jetstar buys a ticket…300 BUX one way Adelaide Sydney…spewing.

Finally jumps on the flight. Sits down and a hostey comes up to him and says sorry Sullivan can I have a look at your boarding pass….please follow me, your on the wrong flight this flight goes to the Gold Coast…even though his luggage is now heading to Sydney….he finally gets on the right flight.

So we laugh our head offs and celebrate the fact that we are both on the right flight and he is still alive after the bullriding with a glass of red compliments of V Australia.

We jump out at LA and decide to split as we head thru customs…Sull doesn’t have enough money to be asking for 6 months in the US and I have a bunch of camera equipment that may or maynot pass customs for the visa I’m on ie Biz/pleasure vs Journo with a carnet.

I get straight thru and whilst I’m at the carousel I see Sull being dragged off by a customs guy that may or may not get his sense of humour. After a nervous 15 minutes wait he meets me at the carousel….both relieved once again.

We pick up the rentacar and head into downtown LA. I’ve pre-loaded the American maps onto the GPS I’ve brought along and punch in the address. WQe are going to see ROAR entertainment on Wilshire Blvd. We grab a small map from AVIS just in case. Mr Organisor(at the helm..that’s me) drives us around in circles for about an hour and a half as we debate the merits of the new map system, the GPS and the english lady giving us directions in a computer voice that we are really really starting to hate!! We drive downtown only to find out that when she tells us…you have reached your destination….you have reached your destination we are actually about 20ks away. I’m guessing I’ve hit a button for police station downtown LA or something.

We try again and its is about 45 minutes away in the direction we have just come from…spewing, half asleep and getting late. We are still in good spirits and laughing about the ridiculosness of this travel week and how dead we are and all we want to do is go to sleep. It is now about midnight in our body clocks.

We finally make it to Roar but can’t find a carpark in Beverly Hills. We spot one and I do a quick u turn, driving on the wrong side of the road and collect the gutter and puncture the tyre….just about to cry…no still laughing but spewing …can do with this like a whole in the head….get out the spare…it’s a donut…size of a motor bike tyre and then we cant find a wrench to get the nuts off the wheel…..we push the car into a park and head to the meeting.

The guys at Roar borrow some tools and we haed back to the car only to learn that the lift has a wrench ‘hidden’ in the body of it. We feel stupid, laugh and the guy from Roar, Ben looks at us like’ You aussies” He’s a great guy and was very happy.

We head to Santa Monica and then onto Topanga Canyon to stay at a mate’s house. We dont trust the pom on the GPS so I go on my memory of the last time I visited..in the dark…we head past malibu and its about 6pm(Now 6am on our body clocks) Sull crashes out and I’m keeping my eyelids open using matchsticks. I drive past the turnoff by about 10 miles. I stop and buy a 6 pack of Corona and ask directions back that way about 5 miles..I ask another lady just in case…back that way about 10 miles…I get Sull to ask when he’s in a gas station..about 8 miles…we head back..we fine the turn off we drink Corona and die. It’s now noon(we slept about 16 hours) and we are heading to Gary Leffew’s Bullriding ranch where Sull is about to learn to ride bulls for 5 days. Then we are off to the World Cup Bullriding comp. Should be a blast.

So last weekend Sullivan and I headed to Aileron station , 1 and a half hrs North of Alice Springs to give him a taste of what bull riding was all about. Wow , what an amazing place and incredible experience. Those country fold really know how to put on a shindig. Sull was going to have his 2nd ride on a bull and his first on a real one. X world Bull Riding champ , Troy Dunn was on hand to give him plenty of tips and Mad Dog, bullfighter and Troy’s good mate was there to coaxe the bull away if things went wrong.

Neither Sull or I have spent alot of time around bulls or rodeos. We are surfie type. So when the first supoosedly placid bull hit the ring I looked at Sull and went…OH MY GOD…are you sure you wanna do this!! To his credit he said, I gotta get this over with and just start riding some and so he did. He went for it on 6 bulls and survived the lot. Got a hoof in his shin, which didn’t look like fun but he’s campaigning on. The hospitality was incredible. It was a family event and boy do they know how to put on a gig.

Thanks a million to Rob Cook, Troy Dunn, Mad Dog  and all the workers. Top weekend. So now we are off to LA April 9 and Sull will be attending Gary Leffews Bullriding School in Santa Maria California. Keep you posted .

When searching for a flat, plastered up on an sheet of paper on the white brick walls of an inner city bohemian-like communal laundry will be the words “Flatmate required – must be house trained.”  I have never responded to such an ad - believing it to have been placed by a woman in her mid-forties who has spent too long living with a cat.    Instead of house trained, to become a bull rider I must be horse trained.      (Sigh – what a lame little piece of word play….thinks the reader.   Double sigh, who does this guy think he is?  Trying to intone the reader’s thoughts inside the brackets of his very own blog.)

The brutal facts are these – I am going ahead with this bull riding idea.  Honestly….I’m committed to it.  There is a very chirpy and resourseful young man called Toddy (Richard Todd) - who is an award-winning film maker and will be following me around America to make a documentary.  Also, I now have a literary agent, who will be approaching publishers with the idea.   So, unlike my year on the pro surfing tour, which was done ad-hoc by loaning 20 grand off my brother (who had loaned it off a bank) there are others who are committed to this project.

My plan is to participate at a bull riding school in America in April, then practice for a month on a ranch in Texas in May, then hopefully be good enough to sign up for a few rodeos by June.  I’m not sure how, but Toddy has lined up some pretty good contacts in the States:  Before arriving in America, we will spend easter weekend with Troy Dunn – who is running a bull riding school in Alice Springs.  Troy, who was a legendary bull rider on the P.B.R., is also the coach of the Australian team at the Bull Riding World Cup in Vegas in April.  At the bull riding school,  I will be coached by Gary Leffew(who taught Luke Perry how to ride bulls in the movie 8 Seconds and apparently is the most accomplished bull riding trainer in the world).  We will then head to Vegas for the PBR World Cup to watch all the action from up close.

To successfully ride bulls in America I’ve reasoned that I need  three things: insanity (check) money (nope) and bull riding skills (working on it).