ONE VERY BIG THANK YOU by David

On behalf of both Will and I, I want to say a sincere thanks to the following:

First and foremost, to Ros without whose blessing the journey would not have proceeded. Particularly however, I thank her for her tolerance of this indulgence, enormous support during our journey and for suffering almost two years of hearing me talk, plan and breathe the proposed trip, without complaint.
Hamish, who was eager to come with us at one stage, and who put up with the trip planning being in the background for so long.
Martin, who nearly came with us, but helped with the gift of a tool kit (subsequently stolen) and provided an introduction to an upholsterer for car seat enhancement and a unique car addition.
Linton at BSS for generously donating his time for the design and preparation for the signwriter, of our car logo and Melboune to London set of translations, as well as setting up our blog and web mail. Thanks Linton - you’ve been great.
Gary & Gerard for advice re web mail given to someone who didn‘t have a clue about what they were on about at that stage.
Julie, Liz, Gerard and also seasoned traveller Sean for hard earned advice re staying healthy while travelling - it worked! Thanks also, Gary & Julie, for our send off party.
Cathy for loaning us 4WD recovery equipment which, in the end, was left in Melbourne after due consideration of our likely needs.
Helen Mac, for going to great effort, while we were on the road, to collate and email us some very useful information on road, border and travelling conditions in Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, etc..
Vin for helpful advice re the car and supply of periodic service consumables and some useful equipment to assist with potential car problems.
John & Sam at Morello Motors, Essendon, for some essential car spares (wiper blades, fuses, fan belts, light bulbs etc.), further car advice and arranging Roadworthy’s on the Prado and Landrover.
Alasdair & Paul, my partners at BSS for allowing me to take six months away from the company, for nurturing the business in my absence, and keeping it running well, completing a few carry over jobs of mine and for allowing me to purchase on BSS’s behalf “our” sat phone..
Gail L and Jeanette, also at BSS for their special assistance in smoothing BSS payment arrangements in my absence, and providing camera gear (hard to come by connectors, etc.), and instructions, respectively. The camera stuff worked wonderfully, Jeanette - thanks.
David & Mick at Guest’s 4WD, Heidelberg, for helpful advice on car preparation and for preparing the vehicle (steel wheels, new tyres, replacement suspension, dual battery etc.), and also further advice while we were on the road..
Gary C of Harris Freer Toyota, Berwick, for arranging for car valuation for Carnet purposes, which was not able to be obtained from various others I tried.
Ros’s brother Richard for finding us a second-hand cargo barrier in a Brighton car yard..
Peppina S at Australian Automobile Association, Canberra for answering my many questions regarding the Carnet carefully and clearly, and who, at short notice, re-issued the Carnet to pick up Singapore where we might have needed to ship the car to, rather than Malaysia, as planned.
Brent McCunn at Passport Travel, Malvern for bending over backwards to arrange dual entry visas for Russia, arranging Ukraine visas for the family, for getting LOIs for Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and responding to my endless, sometimes urgent, emails while we were on the road. Thanks Brent for putting up so well with a sometimes anxious client, and for calming my mind, in the light of some simply awful possibilities!
Near neighbours, Russ & Tara T for their patience in witnessing what must have seemed an extraordinary number of passport applications for the family (there were 7!)
Perkins Shipping, Darwin, particularly De Mashman for forbearance in understanding the problems of first time shippers in arranging freighter transport for the car to Dili, Timor Leste.
Dave H, now back in London, for continuing to respond to my many email queries before and during our trip with enormously detailed and helpful answers re aspects of the very adventurous car journey he and his brother Chris made between London and Sydney in 2009 (see their web site Half Way Round). I look forward to meeting you and shouting you a pint or two, Dave, in London!
Jon Faine, who did a broadly similar trip to ours with son Jack in 2008, who also responded with great generosity to my many email queries before and during the journey, and who met me before our leaving to pass on further details of the conditions and difficulties we were likely to encounter. Thanks Jon for sparking my imagination and for starting this whole thing off! From the moment I heard you talking on ABC radio in 2008 about your then proposed overland journey, I knew that was what I wanted to do. I had never experienced such clarity of purpose before.
Viv & Jan H who drove across Russia and Mongolia recently (and who are presently planning a huge road journey from Patagonian to Alaska!) and who met Will & I, then total strangers, over dinner in Lygon Street to also pass on great advice and encouragement for our journey. The copies of their equipment etc. lists and contact details of a New Zealand translator of Russian, Tatyana, for translation of our background for use in Russian police road checks made my preparation work more thorough.
Tatyana (see above) who continued to assist us while were on the road with translation of our letters of support for Kazakhstan (in the end, the part translation of the documents, which were found to be in Kazakh, not the assumed Russian (looked Russian to me!), was done by Tatyana’s Russian friend‘s, brother’s employee working in Kazakhstan, which is where the documents started from!). Amazing!
Abby Z of NAVO in China for always being responsive to my many queries and concerns in the year of so leading up to our departure, and of course to our guide, Michelle, for her work in getting us through the borders and roads of China and her patience on the road - a hard job, spending every waking hour with total strangers, for over three weeks, much in the confines of a car. Thanks Michelle for making China one of the highlights.
Mariaelena of Mototouring, Milan, Italy for responding to my queries and for promptly providing Green Card insurance for Europe, immediately sending off the certificate just as we were about to leave (it arrived after we left and was express posted to Darwin by Ros).
Charlie, Mr Sudri and Mr James of PT Infinity shipping agents for their prompt responses to my queries and giving us such good service in Medan, Sumatra, in arranging car shipping from the port at Belawan, Indonesia to Port Klang, Malaysia. You made this most difficult connection for so many other overlanders, arranging vehicle shipping between Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula (and described by Jon Faine as ‘the missing link’), actually happen, albeit painfully slowly. Despite the delays, the staff of Infinity gave us personal service well beyond our expectations.
To our sometime passengers, Lauren (Will’s girlfriend, three weeks), Ros and Hamish (two special weeks from Kiev, Ukraine) for relieving the loneliness of our travelling, and providing such good company.
And finally to the many family, friends and colleagues who emailed us while we were on the road or who became ‘followers” of our blog - I ached at times for contact from home and every time I got texts or opened our web mail and found your emails it was just wonderful. Your contact, comments in the blog and news provided real pleasure for us who were such a long way from home, for so long. Thank you all.