Mates Stand Out

On the 3rd of September we made a call to our youngest daughter, Donella, to wish her well moving into her new home in Kellyville, Sydney. As soon as we got her on the phone she said she had some bad news about my brother Grant who had an accident at Old Bar Beach just a couple of hours prior to my call. We immediately explained to our travelling mates Lynn and Alan what had happened.

Some 30 to 40 mins later we received another call from our eldest daughter, Xanthe, saying there was no hope for Grant.

Alan and Lynn immediately swung into action with a plan to get us back to Australia – I was not in a state to think straight; we were in shock.

These guys are amazing…

As we were all in shock and disbelief, Alan and Lynn suggested we turn around and head back to the town we had only just driven through – Moron, some 50 odd km to the east. We were heading North West towards a well known fresh water lake some 300km north. Then 3 to 5 days to the Russian border – some 1200 odd km away.

We arrived back in Moron and found a travel agent. In the meantime Alan had been on his phone to our travel agent in Sydney, McGann Travel. I went into the local Moron Urden Air Agency and arranged a flight the very next morning from Moron to Ulaanbaatar. McGann travel looked after Ulaanbaatar to Beijing to Hong Kong to Sydney. The connecting flight from Moron to Ulaanbaatar only had a 25min break between flights so it was going to be touch and go to catch the Mongolian Air flight to Beijing out of Ulaanbaatar. We made sure we only had carry-on luggage to make things easier…

The worst happened… the Local Moron flight was delayed taking off. As we landed in Ulaanbaatar we saw the Mongolian Air plane taxi out to the runway. This really upset both Donna and I. Missing this flight added an extra 12 hours to our journey home.

We then had the issue of what do we do with our car. Prior to getting the news we were all going to the lake. Alan and Lynn then suggested we leave our car at Moron while they still go to the Lake then come back and pick our car up to take it to the border some 1200 odd km’s away. This was a huge call with having to take two cars to the border with just the two of them. Lynn driving one and Alan the other -separated for well over a week. Mind you, Lynn said it won’t matter as Alan is pretty deaf and they don’t talk anyway!

As I write this blog they are still some km away from the border having to struggle bad roads, some snow, getting bogged, blown tyre and I assume very cold weather.

Donna and I do not know how to thank these guys enough. Alan and Lynn, you are amazing mates. I have a present for you Al, some solder and Lynn – some flux for the solder. Because you have everything it was hard to choose gifts for you. Also some tax screws for you both.

Donna and I are flying to Dubai, then Novosibirsk in Russia.

Novosibirsk is some 600km from the Mongolian/Russian border to the north. We land 2.20am on 16th Sep. We then find a bus or taxi to take us to a place called Biysk about 200km south of Novosibirsk then wing it to the border.

There is a chance Alan and Lynn may get our car across the border without us, however they may not. If they do get through we may meet them somewhere in between. Mind you, if anybody could convince authorities of anything, Alan could. He has a nack of doing their paperwork for them and re-organizing them… one of the great delegators of our time! We have witnessed him in action on numerous occasions. In particular, the Chinese Laos border where he blocked a heavy vehicle transit lane until we got some common sense from customs and police. I would think he was close to being arrested.

Alan and Lynn, Donna and I thank you so much for what you are doing by making it so much easier for us during this difficult time.

It was so difficult leaving our family and friends back home after a shocking week of heartache. I will struggle for some time to come to terms with our loss.

Barry and Donna