Front Page News- Sixth Sense-30 th May 2009
An Elmpt-based couple are emigrating to Australia the rough way – by taking part in a London to Sydney rally.
Pat and Simon Marsh have purchased a one-way ticket down under as they prepare for the epic journey on July 3.
Dubbed the world’s toughest overland rally, the Oz Rally will see the intrepid couple driving unsupported for more than four months and covering more than 30,000kms.
The event, which comprises only four teams and promotes the No More Landmines Trust charity, will be filmed for UK TV.Simon, 44, a former military chef, quit his job with NAAFI last December to spend several months preparing his team – ‘myescape’ – for the big adventure.
He said: “For many years Pat and I considered emigrating to Australia, as her son and his family live in Melbourne.
“We originally planned to do this journey on our own before we spotted a small group chatting on the internet about planning the rally, led by Fiona Easterby who works for Sky.”
The duo from Elmpt will be using a converted Land Rover Defender 130 TD5 camper, which is currently undergoing a major technical and mechanical overhaul, with the help of experts in Bavaria.
Moreover, local artist Chris Morrell donated a week of his time to custom paint the journey around the Defender.“While its initial appearance may look different, it actually has a serious purpose and beneath its multi-coloured skin is a state-of the-art Defender with a list of off-road trickery that makes the mind boggle,” said Simon, who left the Army in 1993 after serving 12 years.
After a year’s planning, the rally’s route has recently been confirmed. The teams will drive through Europe, exiting Turkey into Iran through Pakistan, followed by India and Nepal, continuing east through China before shifting south through Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia.
Next, the teams will do some island- hopping through Indonesia beforetaking a slow boat to Darwin. Then it’s on to Adelaide, through Melbourne then finally looping back up to Sydney.
Pat, 62 and from Blackpool, has recently left her job as assistant station auditor at Javelin Barracks in readiness for the trip.
She and Simon have been in Germany for more than 20 years and while sad to be leaving the BFG community, they are looking forward to their new life in Australia, where they will celebrate 25 years’ marriage next year.
The pair are keen travellers. In 2001 they back-packed around the world, visiting 12 countries before buying a camper and driving 27,000km around Australia.
Winchester born Simon, who last worked in Rhine Garrison as a part of the PAYD implementation team, said: “Travel and discovery are for us the be-all and end- all. There is nothing more satisfying than travelling a path that few have taken before and taking the odd risk. ‘Can’t do that’ is not exactly in our vocabulary.”
The rally has charitable status and supports the No More Landmines Trust, a non-political charity that concentrates on land-mine clearance and rehabilitation of those injured by mines, particularly children.“Fiona, the rally organiser, who is a professional camera operator for Sky, will be filming the whole journey for a UK TV documentary,” said Simon.
The Sergeants’ Mess at Elmpt has adopted the Oz Rally as its preferred charity alongside the ABF, and NAAFI has put out some 20 coin collection boxes throughout the station.
Readers can follow the journey by logging onto oz-rally.blogspot.com or if you wish to donate to the fund raising for No More Landmines, visit
www.justgiving.com/myescape
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