David Foran and Fintan Gillespie
We covered the first leg of our journey - the first 5,000km of the 45,000km from Sydney to Dublin - in 12 marathon days of travelling along the east coast of Australia and through the outback. We were all looking forward to a break from the 14-hour drives as the Hummer was put on a ship from Darwin to Singapore.
We took the chance to fly ahead to Thailand, to visit the islands of Ko Phi Phi and Ko Phangan. Ko Phi Phi, on the western Andaman coast of Thailand, is surrounded by awesome limestone cliffs and stunning beaches. The idyllic Maya Bay was made famous as the backdrop for the movie The Beach - and it is an apt Eden.
The islands were severely affected by the 2004 tsunami, and we found it surreal, swimming in its pristine waters, trying to comprehend the redevelopment of the island's infrastructure and buildings since the disaster that took the lives of an estimated 4,000 people here.
From Phi Phi we headed to eastern Thailand, enduring a nightmare bus and boat journey to reach the "hedonist's paradise" of Haad Rin Beach, on Ko Phangan. The island's full-moon parties are notorious among backpackers, who travel here from all over the world. Anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000 revellers daub themselves with fluorescent paint, indulge in Thai whiskey buckets and party at beach bars until sunrise.
We celebrated Christmas and New Year's Eve with two of these wild parties. It was our first Christmas away from home, and, with no mothers looking after us, our dinner was a €1 chicken-schnitzel sandwich. Ten days on this crazy island is enough for anybody, so with sick bodies - and with one of us on crutches - we were glad to see the back of it.
We flew back to Singapore to collect the Hummer from the world's largest container port. Dave had a manic day visiting government agencies, shipping agents and customs officials. After three days in this spotless and ultramodern metropolis we pushed on towards the Thai-Malay border, with a quick stop in Kuala Lumpur.
Southern Thailand has a history of Muslim separatist violence that has intensified since 2004, and we had heard horror stories about kidnappings and shootings close to the border. We were relieved to get through the border, and push on, in a 14-hour slog to Bangkok, with no trouble at all.
Heading north, we stopped overnight in the ancient city of Chiangmai before reaching the Golden Triangle, where we had been invited to stay by one of our sponsors, Anantara Resort. The resort has breathtaking views of Thailand, Myanmar (or Burma) and Laos, intersected by the Mekong River, former centre of the opium trade.
The resort's elephant sanctuary organised a day of taking us through our paces, teaching us how to mount, dismount and control these incredibly intelligent and playful animals. We were also given the chance to play a game of elephant polo. Being as patriotic as we are, the teams were Ireland versus Australia; the game finished in a 5-0 whitewash to the boys in green.
We needed a barge to cross the Mekong River and enter Laos. Passing through rural villages dotted along potholed mountain roads, and with magnificent sunset views, we immediately recognised the underdevelopment of Laos compared with Thailand.
We stopped in Luang Namtha, close to a few remaining Laotian hill tribes that are under threat from the region's growing number of Chinese rubber plantations. We took a three-hour guided trek through the jungle to reach one. Our guide demonstrated the remarkable methods used by his people to survive in this environment. Dave and Rhys tried the jungle equivalent of chewing tobacco, made from the bark of local trees and the ash of burnt flowers, which they described as wooden-flavoured toothpaste - in other words, disgusting. They washed it down with some local whiskey given to us by the tribe's leader.
More next week. See www. crazyjourney.com for updates and to donate to Aware