AKIPRESS.COM - Three mates from northern Australia are currently competing in the Mongol Rally and have raised over $12,000 for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), ABC reports.

The Mongol Rally from London in the United Kingdom to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia has three simple rules:

1. You can only take a farcically small vehicle;

2. You're completely on your own;

3. You've got to raise $1,000 for charity.

Taking on the challenge under the team name 'Dropbears' are Sam Chisholm, James Thomas and Patrick Kenny.

The Dropbears were keen to get back on the road after a tough run through Kazakhstan.

"We got to Kazakhstan and were thinking the roads weren't going to be too bad," said Sam. "But the roads over here have potholes, which if you drove into, I don't think you'd get out of. Within the first 10 minutes we hit a rock, which tore our exhaust off and then the shockies collapsed. We thought we were taking a short-cut, but it took 15 hours to go 500 kilometres."

"We had no clutch as we pulled into Almaty and found the only Peugeot dealer in Kazakhstan to get some parts and get back on the road," he added.

The three mates and their small car, nicknamed Black Betty, are hoping to arrive in Mongolia later this week.