Home again

We arrived home (Perth) late Thursday evening and started preparing ourselves for return to our normal lives, sorting through our gear and washing 'everything'. Its been an adventure for sure, one we will never forget, would we do it all again, yes we both agree we would.

Our plan for the next few weeks is to write up some more notes for the more interesting places we passed through and things we saw.  In the meantime, some photo's from the trip.

More people have climbed Everest than successfully completed the Mongol Rally......

On the road again (Kazakhstan)

Lakeside campsite (Kazakhstan)

Best bit of road 'ever'

 

Hope Hospice

 

We visited the Hope Hospice and dropped off our blankets (provided by QANTAS) and our medical gear. We also gave them medical supplies given to us by the French team (Nomadic Bogdans). The Hospice offers medical help to those with terminal conditions, they have next to nothing to work with, but offer at least something to the poor children of Mongolia.

 

 

 

The Finish Line

We made it, on the 13th of August we crossed the finish line covering one third of the worlds surface in a granny mobile, very tired, very dirty but extremely happy to finish in one piece.

The plan was to update the blog along the way but this just wasn't possible as internet access was poor to nothing, so we will now put all our notes together and write a summary of the trip for all to read. This we plan to do during the next few days.

We have 3 days in UB before taking the Trans Siberian railway to Beijing. Off to visit an orphanage tomorrow to donate our goods. The car has been handed in and will be sold at auction in the next few weeks.

Finish Line - the three cars

 Team WombatsKhan celebrate the end with their little Nissan...

On the Steppe

 Making friends with the local 'birds'

00Khan at your service sir

Kazakhstan / Russia

Kazakhstan

The longest we have stayed in the car, over 30 hours. We got caught up in the mother of all storms after leaving the border, so decided to pull over into a farm field and pitch tents for the night. The field was knee deep in mud, and the mossie situation was a joke, so we abandoned the camping idea, and agian decided our only options was to drive on. Both cars left the field caked in thick black mud, which made the first few hundred metres back on the road interesting.

Team Kangakhann then lost their exhaust, it snapped. We pulled into a closed truck stop to undertake some repairs (fencing wire.....) then carried on. Must say Ian's car sounds a lot better with a blowing exhaust pipe..

The storm then hit us, with fork and sheet lighening all round, which helped us see the road a bit i guess. WombatsKhan hit a couple of large holes testing the bash plate and our nerves. We carried on slowly for another few miles then decided thats was it. We found a truck stop, and made this our home from home. Both teams sleeping in the cars, upright - we slept surprisingly well.

We awake and set off around 8am on the 28th and head off, expecting to take two days to drive to Astana.

For lunch we pull over and make a sandwich and watch all the trucks go by, the very trucks we had spent ages overtaking before pulling over......In the late afternoon we pull over at what looks like a ramp for repairing trucks and cars, deciding to put both machines onto the ramp for a quick look underneath.

On the horizion we watch a heardsman tend his cows from horseback. It is a stunning place, hard but beautiful. The horizon goes on forever and the sky is black, blue and white with 'The Simpsons' clouds.

The heardsman slowly heads our way, after he sees Ian and Neil racing the cars back and forth through a large puddle to try and clean the mud off (thats what we said anyway). Finally the heardsman walks over and offers us a ride on his horse. Jo sort have gets pushed forward by the 3 of us, and the local chap picks her up and throws her on the horse. Many photo's later, and an offer of two cows for Jo we get her back...

The heardsman was purely interested in what we were doing, he didnt want anything from us. He spoke Kazak expecting us to understand. Again sign language got us through. He left we a single cigerate that we offerred.

The drive to Astana ends in the evening of the 28th July, the very day we made the hotel booking. Planning or just good luck - who knows.

I'm off now to see how Ian got on with the car repairs, we will then sample the local food and wine. Or next leg is across Kazakhstan to the Russian border, we expect this to take 3 or 4 days.

 

Russia / Kazakhstan Update

First stop was the 'supermarket' to pick up some supplies before crossing the border into Kazakhstan. We then drove the 100+ miles to the border and joined the queue, not really knowing what was going to happen, it was Sunday and late afternoon.

After what seemed like hours we moved to the Russian border, and just before going over a lady grabed the drivers (Neil and Ian) to take out car insurance for Kazakhstan (a scam i'm sure). Anyway we sat in a little hut and did the deal. Meantime however, both our cars moved up to the front of the queue, and Jo and Ruby got waved through, without the chaps. Next thing we see is Jo reversing the WombatsKhan car back over the border line, she didnt have a passport, Neil had them both. Jo was told to join the back of the queue, this now being at least 50 cars long.

After some classic driving and blocking Jo and Neil manage to get car across the car and truck lanes, ensuring we would be called forward first, and not have to go to the back of the queue again. It paid off as the nice Russian guard felt sorry for the Wombat team, and let us through, now some 10 cars behind team Kangakhann.

After a great deal of smiling and nodding we get past the Russian border formalites and join the next queue to cross into Kazakhstan.

Another 2 hours and we get called forward. The Kazakhstan border staff are very nice compared to the Russian side, however they speak little english, we get by with sign language.

Customs search the car, and we wave the big Wombat in their direction and behave like idiots, they get bored and wave us through.

After our first 10kms in Kazakhstan we both get pulled over by the police, more from an interest side of thing we think. They asked us what we were doing and where we were going, 'tourist' and going to 'Mongolia' seemd to work and they waved their AK-47's at us in a 'nice' way......

Russia Blog 3

Quick update before we head to the Kazakhstan border. After saying we'd never drive at night we had little option yesterday, we got half way through the Ural mountains we hit the traffic and had a choice of sleeping in the car, or carrying on. The owner of a truck stop offerred us space in the truck park for $100 a car, to sleep in, he was drinking Vodka and didnt seem very friendly, so we took to the road again. The trucks were really bad, overtaking us on the down hill bits, very frightening for us all.

The Ural's are beautiful, rolling hills with vaste forests of pine and what looked like silver bearch. Birds of prey, wild dogs about all the wildlife we saw. And we cannot forget the cows strolling along the road side, yes this was the main road......

We thought we'd see much more sign of the great Russian Military, but we actually saw very little, a few old tanks (WWII vintage) outside the bigger towns, and second hand gear being used on the farms. Most vehicles are imported now, there are a few Lada's around, but they look outdated and tired. Lots of Land Rovers and BMW's.

We witnessed two or three semi trucks on fire or had been on fire, brakes or engines overheating.

We arrive on the border after a hair raising 600 odd mile (1000kms) drive, over 14 hours. Both of us over the car. We still haven't falling out, and the car keeps going, albeit a little dirty now from the diesel fumes..

Russia blog update 2

A day best described as 'please pass me some clean underwear day'. Jo drove the Micra on some of the most challenging roads to date. Hundreds of trucks transporting everything from Walls ice cream to new Range Rovers ruled the roads in both directions, we saw a number of vehicle casualties on the side of the road. Truly is the land of Mad Max, we have never seen anything like it.

Ended up just outside Moscow in a small town with no english speakers, so ended up in a bar with a load of youngsters who eventually understood our mime for a bed and food, they the drove in front of us and guided us to a nice hotel in Klin. A quick meal next door and bed by 11.50pm.

Long day, but interesting....

Russia Blog Update 1

Both teams made it across the Russian border yesterday afternoon, and finally met up as planned in St Petersburg at the Grand Hotel Europe. The border crossing was 'interesting' for team WombatsKhan, nobody spoke any English and so we held up the queue, until a very nice man came to our aid and translated for us, the guards had a tertiary look inside the car, stamped a load of paperwork, and then pointed us to the road, we were in, the whole process taking just over two hours.

Apparently the road from the Finland borader to St Petersburg is one of the best in Russia, if that is indeed the case we are in trouble, it was dreadful, think half dirt road and you are close, oh and the holes, big enough to cause some serious damage to the wombat (car). The Russian drivers are best described as 'eager', insomuch as they seem eager to leave this life and enter the next. When you are planning to overtake a truck you aim for the best part of the road first, then prepare for a Russian to then overtake you at the same time, so three abreast overtaking, certainly not for the faint hearted, or those driving an overweight under powered Micra. Neil now has considerably more grey in his beard this morning.

We opted for a rest in St Petersburg when we planned the rally, and what a great decision that was, an absolutely fantastic city, vibrant, buzing with Russian and Eurpean opulance and so much history you just cannot take it all in. Not a concrete wall in site, just massive cuts of granite and other expensive stone. The old city justifies a week alone to fully explore its wide streets and hidden wonders, we will come back here.

Our first real rain today (22nd) and its poured down, but that hasn't taken anything away from our time in St Petersburg.

We are having issues uploading photo's to the blog for some technical reason beyond Neil and Jo. We will keep trying.

Both teams set off tomorrow for the outskirts of Moscow, a drive at I'm sure will bring a few white knuckle moments....

Grand Hotel Europe St Petersburg

Winter Palace St Petersburg

19th July

Finland has been a surprise for us, beautiful countryside, with next to nobody in it. We have seen Moose (elk), Reindeer and today after a trek through the woods almost to the Russian border we saw up close brown bears. The wide life is tough, like the environment, no little birds and soft cuddly animals....

The sun does drop to just below the horizon at around 10pm, but the night doesn't come, so you feel like you can drive all through the night, but fatigue creeps up on you.... We found accommodation last night beside a large lake, a log cabin for two, including a sauna. We made use of the lake (bloody cold) and then the sauna (bloody hot). But both of us struggled to get a good sleep, due to it being light all night.

We are now close to the end of the European chapter of the rally, our final day tomorrow before crossing the border into Russia, and hopefully meeting up with team Kangakhann in St Petersburg.

Albino Reindeer

Not easy to capture on camera, a Brown Bear

Finland meets Russia

16 / 17th July

500 plus miles a day for three days finds WombatsKhan in Umea, North Sweden. We left Kangakhann this morning as they headed off to catch a ferry across the Baltic, we headed North toward Finland.

Last night we arrived at our pre booked B&B only to cut and run following a quick inspection of the accommodation, pretty bad to say the least, with a dark cellar (looked like fresh concrete in the floor, something recently buried, maybe) and suspect sheets and mold on most surfaces. Photo's on line must have been taken a 'few' decades ago. We decided to ask directions to a more suitable place at the local garage, only to discover the owner was related to the B&B operator in some way, and recommended the place we had just run away from. So we eventually found a camp site by a lake, and slept like the dead.

Morning after our first 'camp'

After waving off Kangakhann, team WombatsKhan then covered the 500 miles to Umea in North Sweden. We passed some glorious sights, huge pine forests, unending lakes and rolling green hills, but we saw no Elk, Bear or Blond Nordic.....

A good hotel bed for Wednesday night, before we venture into Finland. It's 11.20pm and daylight as we type this blog, but that won't stop us sleeeeeeping........

German Drivers

Started the morning in Holland then into Germany and onto our first Autobhan, OMG.......getting into the fast lane in a overloaded Micra with local traveling up behind you with lights on at over 200km/h made up for the lack of sleep the night before, heart rate into triple figures for most of the day. Eventually crossed border into Denmark and welcomed by some very considerate drivers. They even have smiley faces at road works to keep you occupied.

Long day on motorways, hot and a little boring, only broken up by many fuel stops and white knuckle moments.

500 miles (800kms) covered. Car still good. We still have sense of humour, and looking forward to another very long run tomorrow. We plan to split up from team Kangakhann tomorrow night, leaving them to take ferry to Estonia and us to head further north.

Did anyone know the Dutch and Danes charge for tap water?

German Servo

13 / 14th July

Made the drive up to the Start of the rally, some 300 miles from Devon, a hot long drive in a packed out Micra. A night at Bodiam Castle in East Sussex with medieval music and sword fighting, drinking mead and exploring the castle, before listening to Russian music and eating some dodgy burgers we hit the tent for the first time.

We are joined by Neil's son and girlfriend then later by his mum and step dad to wave us off. The rally starts with a medieval joust between two knights, one on a horse one on a car, it didn't end well. With much fanfare and blowing of horns we set off on our 10,000 mile adventure making the car train mid afternoon.and board the train.

An hour later we are into mainland Europe and we drive quickly through France and into Belgium, struggling with refuelling the cars at a self help pump, and finally arrive at our B&B just inside Holland, at an old converted farm house in Leissel. A welcome beer from our hosts, and a meal in the nearby town brings the day to a close. We are tired, happy and the car is running well.

The English 'Start', around 150 cars

Somebody had to dress up

First Night Stop in Holland

Nearly off!

Well with less than 24 hrs before we collect our registration to start the rally, the last minute mechanical parts are being fitted to the wombatskhan vehicle.

We have had a pretty intense week of preparation with Jo only leaving me for one day for a quick soirée into Wales!! The weather  has been unseasonably hot and we have suffered while working on the cars and practicing putting up the tent....we packed so many clothes for cold weather!!

We had some fairly extensive reinforcing for the cars done at Aldermans engineering in Plymouth ( photos attached), those guys were amazing working out in the heat.....yes Plymouth was having its hottest summer day! Their hard work ensured that we have some roll over protection, roof rack & bash plate which will hopefully see us arrive safely in Mongolia.  guys you are legends!!

We were also able to meet Graham from Motomotive who had very kindly not only sourced the teams cars but ensured all the necessary MOT work and paperwork was complete.  We were a little tempted to swap our cars for some of the beauties in his fore court, for some reason he wasn't so keen!!

We became radio stars for a very short 10 minutes for ABC radio in Perth, with Eoin Cameron interviewing us on the phone, all for a good cause for the PMH Foundation.
We set off in convoy with Kangakhann to Bodiam Castle in Sussex for the start on Saturday morning.

Many many thanks to Aldermans, Larry & Sue, Tanya & Will, and all that have fed and wined us...including the Barnes family!

 

 

 

Getting Ready (Team WombatsKhan)

A real family effort to get the car stickers on, a mornings work well done. Spaces left on doors for the official rally logo's....

Team Update

Final blog update from Australia. Team WombatsKhan set off to the UK tomorrow, and Team Kangakhann set off Sunday. Really bad photo of WombatsKhan taken during a rest period from Sunday Times photo's....We are not media stars....

As we depart Australia we leave knowing we have raised over $22,500.00 to date for Coolearth and the PMH Foundation. Thank you everybody for being so generous..

Adventurist Update (Yet another Start Location)

Some very important information about the UK launch

We've had a situation which somewhat affects the UK launch of the Rally. Last week the plonkers at English Heritage decided that despite confirming all was OK and telling us we should announce it to you fine folk; that they were a little scared of the great Mongol Rally and wimped out.

Anyway undeterred we just worked night and day to find somewhere better. Up yours Dover.

And by god did we find it. Just 40 miles down the road is one of the most impressive castles in the world, and they've kindly agreed to let us take it over for the weekend. If you simply cast your eyes upon the picture below we think you'll agree.

 

Curry Night

Team WombatsKhan had a lovely Saturday night with friends and family, the music was provided by our very own Welsh and Kiwi  rugby choir almost to the theme of swing low sweet chariot, yes we had the Lions tour on, and the Wallabies won (just!!)....

 

We found homes for many of the gnomes, thanks again to Helen who decided they should be auctioned off to those who bought them in the first place - magic. We have little doubt she could in fact sell sand to the Bedouins.

 

The evening highlighted again why Lindsay and Brad keep getting 'invited' back, the food was top notch - thank you both.

 

We finished the night off with a sweep stake on how far the team would make it on the rally, and when Jo and Neil would first fall out. A bottle of the best Kazakhstan vodka (aviation fuel) to the winners when we come home.......

 

Media Blast

Just a quick update from WombatsKhan, we have an interview with the (WA) Sunday Times next week, and they expect the article to be published Sunday the 7th. Here's hoping this will generate a little more interest in the Rally, and our charities.

Quick update from WombatsKhan.

We finally have our visa's and 'should' now be legal travelling through Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and finally China when we travel home from the finish line. 

Julie of Perth Graphics Centre delivered our car graphics on Friday and they look absolutely fantastic. Massive thanks to Julie for sponsoring the team we truly appreciate your generosity. We just have to sticker up the car before the rally start, must remember Julie's instructions...there are 100 Wombat footprints.........If you ever need quality decals / stickers please check out Perth Graphics Centre  first, and ask for Julie, seriously good products from such a friendly bunch of people.

We have our curry night next Saturday, and have Jo's parents cooking for us, they fly in from Cornwall (UK) this Thursday. The food is sure to be scrumptious, if you haven't RSVP'd yet, please do so soon.  

We haven't stopped banging the charity drum just yet, we have a load of PMH teddies to sell before we head off, Jo and Neil will be placing them in strategic places around the workplace this coming week. It's another opportunity to support the PMH Foundation with a few dollars, and take something home with you. 

Our plan is halt our charity efforts once we have sold the rally car, this in theory should take place around October this year. So we have plenty of time yet to make thousands more for the PMH Foundation and Coolearth.....

Please keep those donations flowing..thanks to all. Neil from team WombatsKhan.

 

 

 

Team Update

We have 3 weeks now until we land in the UK and enter the final week of preparation prior to driving to Dover Castle for the rally start on the 13th July. Both teams are still awaiting on the final few visas to come in, hopefully this week will see our passports safely back in our hands. 

Jo and Neil (WombatsKhan) are undertaking further first aid training, including stitching a wound, and putting in a drip. Any volunteers out there with good veins, we need practise!!! Our first aid kit will take up half the car, but at least we are prepared!!!!! 

We have received a little more information on plans for the rally start in Dover. On the Saturday night all the teams arrive at Dover Castle and complete the final registration paperwork, then set up camp in a nearby field. Saturday night there is a 'black tie' ball for the teams, and guests at the castle. At mid day Sunday the 14th July we cross the start line to the sound of cannon fire from the castle battlements. Both teams then head inland a little and board the car train that takes us under the channel and into France. We then navigate our way through France, Belgium and into the Netherlands where we stop for our first night of the rally. 

Our plan is for both teams to remain together for the following couple of days, then Jo and Neil (WombatsKhan) and Ian and Ruby (Kangakhann) go off separately. We then meet up in Russia a week or so later. That's the plan anyway. 

Ian and Ruby are taking a high tech approach to navigation with GPS assistance. Jo and Neil are using maps and a compass. We will see who has the most entertainment along the way..

As we get closer to the rally start we will be able to let you know how you can follow the cars on a map. Basically each team is given an telephone number to text to each day, this SMS message updates the tracking software on a map, and those watching our progress can see where we are, updated every 24 hours..

We also plan to update the blog whenever we see an Internet cafe along the way. This might mean limited updates whilst we drive through remote areas, such as the Gobi desert. 

When we get to Mongolia the cars are handed to the Adventurist organisation who arrange for repairs to be carried out, stickers to be removed ready for the cars to be sold. The cars are then put up for auction, and hopefully sold. All money raised from the car sales goes to a Mongolian charity. 

As teams will be travelling out of Mongolia following the rally they will be reducing the amount of gear they need to take So the Adventurist do the same with camping gear, tooling and car spares, and sell it all off, profits again going to a local Mongolian charity.  

Jo and Neil expect to have approximately 160 to 200 kg of equipment in and on the car, we only have a total baggage allowance of 40kg for our flights out of China, so we will be leaving a lot behind us.

Thanks for reading, and many thanks for your donations to date.

 

 

Sponsor Update

Karen Friendship of Aldermans Tooling Ltd has kindly offered to open up her fabrication shop to enable both Teams to manufacturer some of the modifications they need on the rally cars. Without access to sheet metal tooling and welding equipment we wouldn't be able to have what we need on time and within our tight budgets. Many thanks in advance to Karen and her team at Aldermans.

 

In 1969, ambitious tool-maker Bill Alderman and his wife Lyn founded Alderman Tooling Ltd. Initially running from a modest workshop in central Plymouth, the business designed and built press and progression tools and supplied volume pressed metal components.
Moving into a custom-built, self-financed factory in Plympton in the early 1970s, the business continued to thrive and organically grow, with a local customer base maintained by Aldermans’ reputation to be innovative with tools and pressed components.
In the late 1980s, further business growth resulted in the need for even more space, so Aldermans moved premises once again. This coincided with its expanding offer, which included bespoke sheet metal component manufacture and, soon after, the supply of tubular and fabricated shop fittings.
Bill’s daughter Karen joined the business in 1998, focusing on developing retail relations and increasing the supply of shop fitting equipment to leading high street brand names. Once embedded within the business, Karen assisted in management, HR and H&S areas of Aldermans and, following Bill’s retirement in 2004, became Managing Director, retaining the long-established family connections.
Offering a wide range of tailor-made solutions, including a full design and manufacturing service, Aldermans has since become one of the most successful sub-contract metalwork manufacturing businesses in the region.

Team Update

With less than 6 weeks to go before we depart Australia both Teams are well into the final preparations for the rally, panic hasn’t set in just yet…

The cars will shortly be moved up to Neil’s parents place in the Dartmoor National Park so Mr Seabrook (Larry - Dad) can help prep the cars in advance of our arrival in July. Larry is busy hunting down deals on tyres and spare wheels and trying to keep our overheads down.

Jo and Neil (WombatsKhan) are planning an ‘Open House’ Curry Night for the 29^th June for all of our wonderful Perth based supporters.  We will have the help of Jo’s parents Lindsay and Brad so the food will be top notch (no pressure Brad!!). More details to follow in next few days.

The final needles for Team WombatsKhan are due next week, these are the 3 Rabies jabs, which sound like fun. The Team are also getting trained on how to put in intravenous drips, to add to their first aid training.

Another ‘fun’ Run

WombatsKhan are taking part in the HBF Run for a Reason this Sunday (26^th). Another attempt to keep fit in preparation for 10 hour days in the car. Our aim is to beat our time from the last charity run. Feel free to support us and make a donation to the PMH please.

Gnomesville

Returning home from a weekend away (to celebrate Neil’s birthday) team WombatsKhan were met by fifty (yes 50) garden gnomes staring in through the patio windows. We assume they didn’t all decide to abandon their garden ponds, fishing rods and march across Perth and meet up in our back yard. In fact it was the Bristow Perth Office (led by Annette – ‘thanks’) who planted them there, thinking they made a fitting present for Neil’s 25^th Birthday…….now that we have stopped laughing and coached the cat back into the house (she ran away from the little plaster cast army), who can come up with a use for 50 gnomes??? Be nice…

         Plaster cast Army of Perth

 

Charity Update

We are still some way off making $25,000 for our charities, so we need you to dig deep please and support the Teams efforts in reaching our goal. Remember, Neil will dress up at each border crossing if we make $22,000 before the 13^th July – Start date of Rally. See what he will dress up as in earlier blogs.

Adventurist

288 Teams from all over the world have now signed up for this year’s event, the tenth annual Adventurist London to Mongolia Rally. The Adventurist have just advised that the top 10 teams (who make the most money for their charities) will be entered into a draw to win a prize (more on that later). At this time we (WombatsKhan and Kangakhann) are running around 3^rd place – pretty good effort, but we can do better and we are sure we can beat the other 286 teams….with your help we can do it.

Team Update

 

 

With less than 70 days to go before the Rally starts both teams are running short on time to prepare. We will have 5 days in the UK to modify the cars, buy in food supplies and finish off packing gear for the start in Dover on the 13^th July.

Preparing two very small town cars for their toughest test ever.

Work to complete in the UK:-

A bash plate – made from steel plate. Welded and bolted to the car. This will help protect the engine sump and delicate steering mechanism from damage when driving off road

A four point harness for the Driver and Co-Driver, replacing the standard front seat belts

A safety net barrier to keep all the gear in the back of the car in case of a ‘sudden’ stoppage

Rally tyres and two spare wheels carried on the roof

Up graded suspension springs to help handle the extra weight and rough conditions

A set of driving lights (spot lights)

Remote Camera (Go-Pro) Mounting on the roof

A full length roof rack – to carry spare wheels and extra fuel

A removable snorkel to allow us to cross rivers, and keep the engine running (plastic tubing)

Radio (UHF) communications between the two cars

A pull out privacy curtain – for road side showers and other ‘emergencies’…..

Web Sites and the Blog

Both teams now have functioning Web Sites and these addresses will be used going forward for those wanting to follow the adventure. The Ulaanbaatar or Bust blog will continue to used, but accessed via each teams Websites.

Team WombatsKhan (Neil and Jo SEABROOK) go to:  www.wombatskhan.com

Team Kangaskhann (Ian and Ruby THOMPSON) go to: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kangakhann-and-the-Mongol-Rally/504298236293678?ref=stream

 

Team Update 23rd April

Website News

Ian (Team Kangaskhann) and Neil (Team WombatsKhan) have decided to develop Website’s for each individual Team to allow our family, friends and followers to have easier access to each Team’s progress during the Rally.

Our combined Blog (This one) will remain in place and will be updated in the lead up to the Rally start on the 13^th July. After the start the way in which you get updates will be slightly different, and will be explained in the next month or so.

In the meantime, please continue to use this Blog for all things WombatsKhan and Kangaskhann.

Visa’s

Both Teams are busy applying for entry visa’s for Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia and China. This is time consuming and at times a worrying process, as you lose your passports for extended periods of time.

Cars

Both cars are parked up at Neil’s sisters place in Devon (UK). They will be moved to another location within the next month, to allow some preparation work to start on them. New tyres, under side protection, suspension tweaks and sturdy roof racks for starters.

What would you do to raise funds for charity?

We have raised over $19,000 to date for our Charities.

The Team’s want to bring the total fund raising for Charity much closer to the $25k goal before we set off in July.

Would the following encourage you all to dig deeper and help the Team’s reach their goal, or can you think of something equally as stupid:

For reaching $22,000 before the 13^th July 2013, Neil (Team WombatsKhan) to dress up as a 1970’s Punk Rocker complete with a real Mohican Haircut, clothes and safety pin earring, as we enter and cross the border of Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia, and get photo’s with officials at each border crossing….preferably not being carted off to the slammer.

 

 

 

Thats it for now.......more later....

Sponsor Update

From the very beginning of our adventure we have been looking for sponsors to help us raise the funding to enable us to undertake the trip, and ultimately raise money for our charities. Between the teams we have contacted over a hundred Companies in Australia alone. To be honest the response has been less than encouraging from most...However, we have come into contact with a few who have just been brilliant, these are our sponsors:-

The people and companies that have agreed to support us share our goal. Sponsorship has been in cash funding and in materials and services

Neil (Team WombatsKhan) recently met up with Julie Peskett from Perth Graphics Centre to discuss the graphics for the Team's car, and Julie very kindly offered to cover all the costs for transforming a bland Nissan Micra into a visually envious beast, which can only help us make the distance.

I would encourage all those who need business or services in these areas to support these Companies who still know how to put people first.........

Our Sponsors are:-

Perth Graphics Centre

Porsham Cakes

Aviation Network Associates

Motomotive

Team Update 4th April

With less than 100 days before we set off, we thought it was time for a quick update on the teams preparations, and how we are doing on the charity side of things.

Team Kangakhann now have a car, once again a million thanks to Graham for making this all happen. Both teams owe Graham a good few beers, to be drunk before we start the rally….

 

We have made over $18,000 now for our two charities, The PMH Foundation and Cool Earth. Although we would like to take some credit for this great effort it would not have happened if we hadn’t had the support we have had from friends, family and local businesses in and around Perth, Karratha and Globally..

We haven’t finished just yet, our intention is to make over $25,000 for our friends at Cool Earth and the PMH Foundation. Every little helps – please keep your money and support coming in….

The Adventurist have had to change the start location for the rally, it’s now starting at Dover Castle, rather than the Goodwood race track. This helps a little as it puts the teams close to the ferry port, primed for entry into Europe…….

Dover Castle

 

Bear by Night Ball

This Saturday the PMH Foundation have their annual charity ball, the Bear by Night Ball. Bristow Helicopters have been very generous and purchased a table for the night, and invited a number of individuals to join in on the evenings entertainment.

The cost of the table goes to the PMH Foundation.



Thanks again to Bristow Helicopters Australia for getting behind this great cause.

 

 

You can see the total we have raised to date for both the PMH and Coolearth at the top of the blog. This figure does not yet include the money we raised in Karratha.

What a NIGHT!!!

What an outstanding turnout, the RSL was packed to the rafters. In fact we ran short on tables and chairs, resulting in a desperate dash to a nearby hotel to borrow some for the night!!!!!

Ian is still totalling up the dollars to see how much was raised for our charities, but we do know it was a good night. Details to follow shortly.

A very quick thank you to the RSL team for opening up the venue and running the bar. The McKenny family, all of you for making the night work, thank you.

Jo for 'wearing' the bear - certainly one way to lose weight - not recommended..

Quiz masters Ian and Neil - well..our microphone work needs more practise....but we didn't get lynched, so it must have been reasonable on the receiving end.

A very special thanks to all those individuals and businesses who gave us support on the night, and provided a huge amount of goodies to auction / raffle away.

And finally, a big thank you to those that turned up and took part. A very good natured bunch you were.

Karratha - a community to be very proud of...

Thank you.

The Teams - Kangakhann and WombatsKhan (Ian/Ruby/Jo and Neil)

Karratha Trivia Night TONIGHT

A whole lot of hard work has gone into tonight's Trivia Night in Karratha. Special thanks to Darrin McKenny for helping Ian put the event together. The volume of support from the local community is outstanding - great effort from all involved.

There are still a few (very few) tickets available. If you find yourself in Karratha tonight, with nothing to do - come along..it will be a fun filled night for sure.

Color Run done (Tick)

A great fun run, with paint powder. Jo (Wombat) Seabrook screamed off at the start, losing Neil (stopped for a wee). Jo shouted as she went off 'shouldnt be a problem picking each other out from the crowd at the finish line' - oh really....

The Start

The Finish

Short Video - Finish Line

The result

 

 

Great mornings exercise, followed by a massive Full English breakfast at our local eatery...perfect!!!

 

 

 

 

 



COLOR RUN PERTH

Well its upon us - the Color Run is tomorrow (Sunday 17th Feb). Jo (Wombat) Seabrook is all set to run, following up the rear (long way back) will be Neil (Backache) Seabrook. We are being joined now by Kylie Cardinal, as Jo Francois had to drop out.

Come on everyone, please get behind the intrepid trio and support the WombatsKhan team. Link on left side of the blog.

Adventurist Thoughts on Cars!!

As you might know the Mongol Rally has been going for 10 years. In that time we've had our fair share of weird & wonderful vehicles, with everything from the ridiculously crap to the ridiculously overqualified. This seems like an ideal opportunity to choose the ideal car to take on the might of the Mongol Rally, so we're looking for a bit of assistance from you to find us a champion.

If you are thinking of joining us on the Rally, what car would you bring and why? If you've already done the Rally; what car did you take, would you choose it again and what made you make that decision?

Folks often ask us what is the best car for the Rally, and we always tell them it depends what you want; if you want something reliable you should choose something Japanese or Korean, if you want something that will challenge your mechanical skills go with something French, if you want something true to the spirit of the Rally go for something under 1000cc, if you are a massive wuss it's probably best to take something 4x4 like a Daihatsu Terios. Today lets cast all the details aside, lets just work out what is the ultimate Mongol Rally car.

SMART CAR

We like this firstly it's very small, secondly because despite being built by a Swiss watchmaker it doesn't quite run like clockwork. There have been a few of these over the last couple of years and the closest one got to the finish line was being unceremoniously carted there on the back of a truck.

 

NISSAN MICRA

The Nissan Micra, beloved of Ralliers perhaps more than any other car, the epitome of 'granny-mobile'. Proven to be reliable to the point of being boring, is that its only disadvantage?

 

 SWIFT

This incarnation of the Suzuki Swift along with the K11 Micra and First Generation Fiat Panda made its last appearance on the 2012 Rally, now sadly falling foul of the 9 year old rule. But it will be fondly remembered as a Rally stalwart, another Japanese hero doing the Rally proud.

 PANDA

These boxy little beauties have a cult following in Italy and Italian Ralliers would consider little else, we had 26 of them on the 2012 Rally alone, is there anything that has done more Mongol Rally miles?

 

TERIOS

If you are a massive wuss this is the Rally car for you, not only does it have 4x4 but it even looks like a normal car. Only recommended for people with inflatable girlfriends.

 

RELIANT ROBIN

This is a really fucking stupid vehicle to take to the Rally in. You would have to be batshit crazy to take one of these on the Rally, which likely makes it the perfect Rally car. British engineering at its most bonkers.