JULY 2010

Monday 28 June 2010  MOBIL OIL

As mentioned before we have been sponsored by Mobil Oil in both India and Nepal and now we are thrilled that Mobil Oil in Bangladesh have also come on board. They organized a company meeting in our honour at which their acting CEO handed over oil for our next change, and also provided us with some great gifts and a delicious  lunch.

We've been using Mobil1 Oil throughout the trip and have always been very satisfied with its performance. On a journey   (80,000 km to date and as much to go!) which has encompassed extremes of temperature from minus 10 (Ladakh) to 50 plus degrees (the deserts of Rajasthan) Mobil1 has done us proud throughout. Being 100% Synthetic the oil is also compatible with an older (26 years) 2 H diesel engine. After switching to this oil a welcome surprise was how much cleaner the internal engine appears which in turn protects the bearings and moving parts by stopping friction. We feel the condition and longevity of the engine is much improved, and we're very happy to be promoting Mobil1 on our trip around the world. Please see further details of their products on our sponsors' page.

 

Thanks particularly go to Waisal and Ariful in Business Development and to Fatema the Brand Executive who went to so much trouble to organise a really special presentation.

 STOP PRESS!!!!

 

We're thrilled to finally be back on line  but even more excited to welcome a new sponsor on board. Maxxis Tires (South East Asia)  have very very kindly agreed to completely replace all our tyres and both spares! As you can imagine they've had quite a pounding and so this has been very good news.

We started using Maxxis in Thailand, so  they have driven us over some very mixed terrain including the world's 2 highest motorable roads and around/over  what we're sure are some of the world's deepest pot holes and we can vouch for their strength and durability.  Please see their site on our sponsor's page. A   huge thank you goes to both Luke Chen in Taiwan and Raj Kumar Yadav in  Delhi. Raj also took us out for a great Indian meal whilst we were in Delhi so thanks for sponsoring our stomachs too!! 

The journey goes on ........

We began our overland adventure driving around the world  when we flew to Singapore - (having waved the car off from Darwin Port) - on 12 October 2007 almost 2 years ago as I type. So far we have covered 57,000 km, 10 countries ok…..that includes 3  Singapore, Vietnam and Myanmar where they wouldn't let us take the car so we had to revert to public transport!   We have driven across SE Asia and around India and are now in Nepal. From here our journey takes us back to India, and then on to Pakistan, Iran Turkey Greece Italy Belgium France and finally to England our final destination - for a while!!

Thus far the car has survived 12 punctures, 4 road side boggings (requiring recovery trucks!) 2 bust wing mirrors and 1 broken head gasket. We have driven the world's 2 highest motorable roads and around what must be some of the world's deepest pot holes. We have survived both jelly fish and snake attacks (Ann) and a nasty bout of malaria/typhoid/dengue (Andrew) which required 2 hospital stays - but all 3 of us are still going strong!!

 

The first stage of our journey is driving from Australia  to England using a Carnet de Passage or passport for the car.  The 3 of us making the journey are: Andrew :- driver /mechanic and general maintenance man Ann the navigator (who can't read a map!) and diary keeper and our trusty Toyota - 25 years old and still cruising along!!  For a bit more information on how Andrew built the car and the journey so far please see our previous site www.drivingoz2uk.com

For the journey still to come please see the pages to follow: