17 laps of Australia

Mary Taylor is a 90-year old Honda owner from Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. Sounds like she's just about at the upper age limit of Honda's target demographic for the company's small car range.

But Mary is not your typical Honda owner and she isn't easily 'pigeon-holed'. She is about to embark on another tour of Australia -- her 17th such trip.

Her chosen ride for this excursion -- circumnavigating Australia anti-clockwise and sticking to the coastline as far as possible -- is a Honda Jazz. She anticipates that the Jazz will cover between 16,000 and 18,000 kilometres over the approximately six-week duration of the event.

Mary began travelling around Australia when she was 75, driving a 1987 Accord for that inaugural trip. In all the trips since, she has never had an accident and was recently assessed for her driving ability, which was rated at "a very high standard". This year's trip may be her last, although she remains "addicted to solo driving".

"I love being by myself," she says.

"I like to make my own decisions. Passengers always want to stop."

Mary will maintain a log of her journey with a dash-mounted video camera and a laptop complete with voice-recognition software.

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