You may ask why Simon and Annette are willing to leave their comfortable middle-aged lives in beautiful, sunny Perth Western Australia, to embark on a risky,looong and crazy road trip across Europe and Eurasia in a small and eminently unsuitable car!   

The answer lies not only in their altruistic desire to do something worthwhile about the plight of children less fortunate than their own, but also in coming to the realisation that it is time to seize that day and set off on one of those adventures that we all, undoubtedly have tucked away in the recesses of our minds....the ones we dreamt about as kids ourselves!

So come on!  Show your support for the kids in Mongolia via our chosen charity, the Christina Noble Children's Foundation and click on the JustGiving button on our website. Or email us at acarter@iinet.net.au.  Annette & Simon Carter

Team - Around the Bend

Perth, Australia

we're back next stop the Antarctic or over the hump by motor bike ( for those that don't know that read the Himalayas )

Ōsaka City, Japan

More types of Sushi and Sashimi than you could poke a stick at and seriously yummy, But those plates of mutton dumplings in a tiny cafe at a frozen mountain border crossing were just as great.

Beijing, China

Sorry folks there has been a lack of seen

Republic of Altai, Russian Federation

We got to the border nice and early and had a great social day catching up with all the Mongoliers we had met along the way, the line moved slowly but steadily all day and we even got to the head of the line and even had our passports on the desk of the guy with the big hat and then it was 6 o'clock and we were given back our documents and they all went home so guess what we slept in the car again and because this border crossing is one of the highest at over 7500ft we awoke to our vehicles and the surrounding hills covered in snow. Let's see what today brings us. 2nd entry Well after standing for an hour in a freezing wind to make sure I kept my place at the head of the queue we got through the gate and into the Russian Customs compound where we went through the usual rigmarole of finding out who we needed to get the 3 orange stamps from, then for something completely different they made us strip most of our gear out for an inspection, bearing in mind that this was as we were leaving Russia. Probably because a group of us arched up the day before because they were letting Locals and a group of rich Italian arseholes push through, Even Scruffy got in on the act and told one lady to F"@&$?"$&@F. We then drove about 25 km across a beautiful alpine No mans land covered in snow to the Mongolian Checkpoint where we caught up with the others who have been parked up in a compound since yesterday. (Third entry) Well we have now spent a whole day in the compound with our visas and passports stamped but we cannot leave as somewhere down the line somebody hasn't paid the import tax.so guess what we slept in the car again and this time it was so cold t ** some text is missing **

Ulaan Baatar

We ARE in UB!  Arrived last night at the edge of town after doing the last 446 kms in 5 hours with the luxury of asphalt.  And only small potholes, ie. two feet across.

It then took us two and a half hours to travel 2 kms in horrendous rush hour traffic in UB, which was bordering on anarchy!!

Today we are going to officially cross the finish line and hand Jimny's keys over...which may be  a poignant moment as she has done us proud for the last 12,500 kms, with only one broken spring.  And a lost number plate, which we think snapped off when she was pushing VW Polo 'Pedro' out of a river.  Bugger using a tow rope, takes too long and you might get your feet wet.  She had to push him out three times all up as his engine kept on flat-spotting no matter how much he slipped the clutch.

It's been an amazing trek which emails and blog postings will never do it justice.  But we have many tales to tell you and photos to show when we get back to Oz.

Bayanhongor, Mongolia

We made it across the outskirts of the Gobi Desert and arrived at Bayanhongor early evening yesterday, looking for auto repairs services.  The VW Polo needed two new springs and the Suzuki Sprint a repair to the hole in the petrol tank.  Don't want to tempt fate, but the Jimny is holding up remarkably well!   After the newly-fitted spring in Altay by a wizard of a mechanic, we had no 'car injuries' yesterday, despite the challenging and inhospitable terrain we crossed.  Nice little Jimny :))

After deciding not to set out of town last night in the direction of Arvakheer, due to the darkness and the state of the 'roads' (read a myriad of dirt tracks across a rocky terrain with cars and trucks coming out of the darkness at you from all directions), we stayed in a hotel, went to the local bathhouse and had yet another goat-meat soup meal.   A good nights sleep was had by all and was SO welcome after the punishing day we had overcome.

Today we head out for Arvakheer and if we make good time on the yet-to-be-enjoyed roads, we will vists a set of  Mercy Corps community projects just out of town.   Simon and I enjoyed breakfast this morning in the company of the Mercy Corps Civil Society Director and an American woman who has volunteered her services in Mercy Corps Mongolia.  We donated another set of reading glasses to Mercy Corps and learnt about the myriad of projects in train in Mongolia. 

The other two sets went to a Senior Union in Khovd City and the second to an eye clinic in Altay. Thanks QANTAS for the glasses!

Well we're looking at 40 degrees celsius today and the worst roads you could imagine.  But Ulaan Baataar is now the goal for this group of weary but happy travellers.  Perhaps some day trips out of UB will be on the cards, plus visits to the Christina Noble Foundations orphanages and a Buddhist centre in UB.  Onwards and upwards!!

Altay, Mongolia

We've been out of touch for a while with no service from the iPhone in Mongolia, hence the lack of updates. But here in Altay, on the edge of the Gobi Desert, we have an Internet cafe! 

Was a huge day yesterday, driving from Khovd to here.  Our convoy of five cars sustained about six punctured tyres (not in our Jimny thank goodness), a leaking fuel tank in the Terios, two tyres with serious bulging on one of the VW Polos, broken roof rack on the Sprint, rattley muffler on the Jimny, and three broken springs one on the Jimny and two on the Terios, and so much dust in every crevice available in man and car, that it defies belief!    Happily a hot shower was unearthed at one of the two hotels here and we emerged de-dusted later in the evening.

We drove for 11 hours yesterday and only covered 270km, but it was a great character-building day and we had many laughs over dinner last night.

Today we will set off on the southern route out of Altay towards UlaanBaataar, as team members have to book flights back to the UK by mid week.   We plan to do a couple of day trips out of UB to sight-see for the remainder of our time here in Mongolia.

Team Around the Bend now has a third member - Mr Ed, the has-been yak.  He's now perched on the front of Jimny.  He doesn't speak anymore because the buzzard got his tongue.

Aktash, Russia

we have about 50 km to go to the border and are spending the night camping with Tom and 2 Spanish bike riders . A nice little spot nestled amongst the trees below an eagles nest on a 4000ft Alpine plain surrounded on all sides by 10 to 14000ft snow capped mountains We lashed out and bought a doona today as last night was a tad on the cold side.will be up early tomorrow for a famous five cooked breakfast and then off to the border. Scruffs has just had the realization that there may not be any more hotels until Ulan Bataar part from the odd Urt

Region of Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation

slept like a log in a Log Cabin Gostinitsa. Last night and now we are making our way up through the foot hills

Biysk, Russian Federation

we are heading south again towards the Altai mountains which will be a welcome change from the last coulee of thousand kms of flat plains. We may find the service drops out a bit when we get into the deeper valleys@

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