21/08/2026
The MacGyver’s — Day 11
Timber Creek to Darwin — 609 km 🏁
We woke up this morning not to a rooster, but to bats. Because apparently even the local wildlife wanted to make sure we got absolutely no sleep!
After a questionable night’s rest, the big question was: how the hell was our beautifully blended team of 12 going to make it to Darwin the rally’s cars were dropping like flies?
Timber Creek was a ripper spot — amazing boab trees, crocodiles and enough cane toads to make you wonder if we’d accidentally driven into a cane toad convention.
We hit the road around 9:00am with one simple mission:
Get the bloody cars to Darwin.
That’s it. No heroics. No unnecessary stops. No mechanical dramas.
Well… that lasted about five minutes.
The rally had now reached around 30 dead cars — a Sh*tbox Rally record! At this point, seeing a broken-down car on the side of the road was basically just another landmark.
The temperature was climbing, the roads were long and we were nervously watching the temperature gauges. Then came the first casualty:
Flat battery.
Then Bit Future decided it wanted some attention with a buggered shock, followed by a bludged front tyre.
Stress levels: 📈📈📈
We eventually limped into Katherine, grabbed some fuel and had a quick chat with the cars:
“Listen, we don’t need you to be good. We just need you to survive.”
And somehow, they listened.
We had a great run for another 1½ hours towards Adelaide River. The scenery was beautiful, the temperature was a toasty 37°C, and naturally there was no air conditioning.
Because why would we want comfort at this stage?
We made it another hour out of Adelaide River.
Darwin was so close we could practically smell the finish line.
Then…
ANOTHER BREAKDOWN.
Nobby’s oil pressure was sitting on max , he was telling us “Mate, there’s bugger-all left.”
A quick fix ( rip the wire of the sender), a bit of crossed fingers and we decided the best mechanical strategy was:
Drive slower and hope for the best.
And somehow…
WE MADE IT! 🏁🎉
609 km of heat, bats, cane toads, flat batteries, stuffed shocks, dodgy tyres, disappearing oil and some of the quickest fix a team of bush mechanics could do!
But our blended team of 12 made it to Darwin.
The cars may never be the same again.
Neither will we.
THE MACGYVER’S MADE IT TO THE FINISH LINE! 🍻🚗💨🏆
