Peter Baines started out as a police officer in the mean streets of Cabramatta in the early nineties. Becoming a specialist in crime scene forensic investigations, he was called upon to bring his skills to the Bali bombings in 2002.

But it was the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that forever changed the direction of his life. Helping the people of Thailand identify their dead, he met the countless children who had been left behind, orphaned, with nowhere to go. With a colleague he decided to make a difference, and set about creating the charity Hands Across the Water, building an orphanage and raising funds to raise and educate the children.