Honda’s top brass couldn’t wait to trumpet this feel good story about Jazz owner Mary Taylor, a soon to be 90-year-old readying herself for her seventeenth round Australia trip. Seventeenth!
What’s more, young Mary will be singing her own tune as she plans to complete this latest journey solo. A woman after my own heart, Mary says “I’m addicted to solo driving. I love being by myself. I like to make my own decisions. Passengers always want to stop.â€
Mary was 75 when she completed her maiden round Australia voyage, and in preparation for her upcoming drive she booked herself in for a thorough driving assessment. The assessor’s report card read as follows: Mary Taylor’s driving ability is of a very high standard.
Mary will document her journey with a dash-mounted video camera and her laptop, complete with voice-recognition software. She will also take photographs of her Jazz at various locations she visits. She hopes to drive as many as 600 kilometers per day and anticipates her journey along the Australian coastline will take around six weeks, covering between 16,000 to 18,000 kilometers. With precision planning, Mary travels anti-clockwise in order to save petrol and reduce her impact on the environment. “The wind pushes you along. I’ve also done the trip twice in the Civic Hybrid.â€