Couple travel around Australia on waste vegetable oil

In April this year, Australian-born Gerard Mimmo and his English wife Rachel left their fast-paced corporate lives behind to embark on a pioneering 36,000 km expedition around the continent, running their car on waste vegetable oil (WVO) collected from fish and chip and takeaway shops along the way.

The 'Battered Fish' claims to be the first to complete this route of Australia on WVO and will complete its trip in Sydney today.

Gerard and Rachel’s passion for environmental sustainability prompted them to make the entire trip 'ecofriendly', by converting an outback icon, the Toyota Land Cruiser, to run on vegetable oil as well as offsetting any carbon produced by insuring their vehicle with carbon neutral car insurance provider ibuyeco.

Gerard said the Battered Fish was suitably named due to the aroma that is emitted from the car’s exhaust when travelling.

On their journey, Gerard and Rachel’s objectives have been to:

• Stay in bush camps instead of powered camp sites or hotels;
• Use eco-friendly and bio-degradable products for washing themselves, clothes, dishes, camp ovens etc;
• Use solar panels on top of their car to power batteries instead of plugging the fridge into a generator;
• Cook over camp fires rather than a fuel-based stove and use solar-powered equipment instead of electricity.