Former students aim to raise money, cause hilarity

Former Otago students aim to raise money, cause hilarity

By Morgan Tait, Critic

Two former University of Otago students are about to embark on an overland journey from London to Ulan Bataar, Mongolia to raise money for World Vision.

The effort, named The Big Fare, will see John Eley and Dave Fraundorfer, both 28, navigating an old English taxi cab over 10 000km from London to Mongolia’s capital. Upon arrival, the first-time charity workers will present a giant cheque to World Vision’s Mongolia coordinator Tsang Mataa.

Eley and Fraundorfer met in 2001 at second year Law Camp. Currently living in London, where Fraundorfer has recently returned from travel and Eley works as a lawyer for Pfizer, the two were persuaded by Eley’s mother to help the Mongolian World Vision Orphanage in Ulan Bataar that she had visited in 2006.

Inspired, the pair purchased their black LTI TXI Fairway taxi cab on Ebay for £1000. Since its acquisition, the cab has been bailed out of impound and repaired numerous times, costing £1500.

The pair have a penchant for novelty travel techniques and Eley says they are looking forward to combining “travel, a good cause and a bit of hilarity.”

The trip is scheduled to take “around five weeks”, but with no GPS system nor mechanical skills the “typical Otago students” are predicting it will take longer. Likewise, the only certain location is the graduate’s Mongolian destination, as the specific countries travelled through will depend on “which countries have the easiest Visa regimes.”

Currently, The Big Fare has raised around $5000 NZD, but is looking to attract more corporate sponsors to the cause.

More information about Eley and Fraundorfer’s journey can be found on thebigfare.com, including information about Mongolia, the charity and the pair’s current locations. The website also provides information about donations and sponsorship for interested parties in New Zealand and overseas.

ODT’s symbol of student debauchery revealed at last

Couch burning does not doom participants to life of crime

A four year search for the star of a stock Otago Daily Times photograph has finally ended. In 2006, in the days before Undie 500 riots and chaotic Toga Parades, Critic’s ODT-Watch offered to buy some beers for a student photographed in front of a burning couch on Hyde Street. The photo became a stock image used by the paper as a way to illustrate the student menace in Dunedin. At the time, the ODT assured Critic that while the photo was “historical”, it was “definitely recent.” It now turns out that future charity taxi driver Dave Fraundorfer was the infamous scarfie-on-the-piss (and the photo was taken back in 2001). Critic will generously donate the cost of a six-pack of Southern Gold (plus a wee bit more) to The Big Fare.

This story was syndicated by the Aotearoa Student Press Association via Critic www.critic.co.nz

ENDS

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