To our H.O.G. members...

First and foremost, on behalf of the entire H.O.G. Australia & New Zealand community, we hope you, your family and fellow chapter members are safe, healthy and haven't been too heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We've all been vulnerable in our own ways at some point during this and that includes both H-D and H.O.G. Australia & New Zealand . Riding in some states has been shutdown as a recreational activity, meeting in groups (or chapters in our case) has been put on stop and the health of our loved ones the most immediate priority (as it should be). It sure has been a wild ride, but a wild ride isn't something we haven't been through before and unfortunately unlikely to be the last one. What's important is that we stick together, look out for each other and ride this out.

With restrictions starting to ease over the past couple of weeks in both Australia and New Zealand, we've been gifted back some freedoms and we're getting plenty of questions around riding, chapter meetings and other events.

Unfortunately, it's still not a simple situation yet. All guidance must be taken by Government enforced legislations and the safety of yourself, members and the public as your absolute priority. If you are legally allowed to ride (either by yourself or in the mandated numbers for small groups) then please feel free to do so if you are comfortable to do so. But please, and we can't stress this enough, please maintain all social distancing and hygiene requirements. We want to lead the charge in how to conduct ourselves in public and set an example for others to follow, not be the cause of any further cases or hardship.

All events are currently on hold and are being reviewed on a month-to-month basis, as communicated earlier though, unfortunately the National Rally that was scheduled to go ahead in July, will not go ahead in 2020 with the decision based on putting the safety of our employees, dealers and riders as the number one priority. We are currently assessing options to reschedule and when the concrete information comes to hand, we will advise accordingly. As for chapter meetings, AGM's and other instances where members may come together, we strongly suggest that where possible, this is still done via the many digital sources available to host such meetings (Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Skype, etc). This avoids any person-to-person contact and keeps everyone as safe as possible.

We know times are trying and we are doing our best to navigate through and out of this, whilst also supporting the community. If you'd like to see how H-D is doing this, check out https://www.harley-davidson.com/au/en/covid-19.html for more information on some of the initiatives. In both Australia and New Zealand we are lucky enough that our dealerships are open and with enhanced measures to ensure the safety of everyone they are retailing bikes, parts and accessories and also providing their typical top-class motorcycle servicing. If you do need help with any of the above, please be sure to drop in and see the team at your local dealer where they will be more than happy to get you sorted, in a socially responsible manner of course.

So, for now there's not a lot to report. If you can ride, please do so safely and respectfully. If you can't yet, hang in there, there's light at the end of the tunnel. We'll keep you updated as we navigate our way through and out of this. Ride safe.