Four days after the Gunbarrel went from “no big deal” to lightning, fire and breaking camp in the middle of the night, I turned south onto the Connie Sue Highway—one of the most isolated desert tracks in Australia, and one I’d never driven before. That meant no comfort in familiarity for the crew, just long, hot days pushing into the unknown while still keeping one eye on storms, wind direction and where the fires might move. The heat was savage—47–50°C at times—and it wasn’t the driving that got us, it was the exhaustion, dehydration risk, and the flies once the temp dropped enough for them to come back and treat us like a water source. We rolled through country that looked like Mars—burnt-out wasteland and ash—then straight back into green “tinder box” vegetation. I kept a close watch on how the INEOS Grenadier Quartermaster sat in the sand tracks (it’s wider than a lot of rigs), dealt with tight bush, ruts and dunes, and it’s been solid in the searing heat so far—touch wood. We even improvised a bush well-bucket to pull fresh water from about 30 metres down, then later had to abandon camp multiple times, driving through the night to stay ahead of fire and lightning. Eventually we hit Neil Junction and later Rawlinna, then the country opened right up onto the Nullarbor. Cooler air, a bit of rain and mud on a dry-weather-only track, and finally a proper reset after one of the toughest stretches we’ve done.