Murphy has returned to his hometown with wife Monique and their three children, Ronan, Cormac and Neve for a "permanent situation" after 21 years of a shoe-box existence in inner-city Melbourne while plying his trade.
The four-time Bathurst 1000 champion, who frequents Auckland to "do other things", such as TV motoring stints, didn't waver about returning to New Zealand when he retired from the V8 scene after 28 wins from 448 races, including successive SuperTourer titles in 2013-14.
He severed ties with the fulltime V8 Supercar Championship at the end of 2010.
"I grew up here [Bay] so competing in a local event is really cool.
"The roads are amazing and it's a great chance to be involved with a local club to give a little bit back."
Murphy hastens to add the Bay rally will only be his fourth one since he made his gravel debut in Canterbury in May, withdrawing with co-driver Jimmy Hewlett when the car's engine expired.
The Royce Watson Memorial Hanmer Rally followed in early September in north Canterbury, this time with Mark Leonard alongside him.
"I always had a bit of passion for the [rally] watching side of things ... so I want to experience other forms of motor racing."
The former Holden pin-up boy from Havelock North never dreamt of progressing beyond karting when he got behind a wheel at 8 with dad Keith watching over him at the Roy's Hill circuit at Fernhill.
He was just a normal karting kid with minimal opportunities, so to slip behind the wheel of a national circuit, let alone going on to savour "The Lap of the Gods" in 2003 which was the fastest pole position (2:06.8594) at the Mount Panorama Circuit of Bathurst until it was eclipsed seven years later.
Murphy simply puts his ascendancy down to "the right time and taking chances that sometimes work or sometimes don't".
The national arenas beckoned when he won a Manfeild scholarship at 19.
"I was only karting nationally so there was no opportunity for us to go further," he says.
That's before Formula Ford nationals kicked in with single seaters and saloons preparing him for the high-octane stuff across the Tasman.
He was always conscious about boosting his profile, joining Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond to present Top Gear Live when it made its first international show in Auckland in February 2009 and again when it returned the following year, this time with James May replacing Hammond.
Murphy, who has his own motorsport TV show, #Skyspeed, on Sky still keeps speaking engagements and has been the face of road safety in New Zealand.
His spectacular 2005 crash and the dust-up with fellow Bathurst competitor Marcos Ambrose on YouTube never fail him guest speaker.
Murphy was cagey about revealing what sort of car he will drive at the Bay rally except to say: "It's a classic vehicle, older car."
The wily old fox who wrote off his first car, a Datsun 1200SSS, has a penchant for early-1970s muscle cars.
