When she heads to work on the first day of her job next month, the journey should be little more than 30km.
Mrs Macdonald (39) graduated from the University of Otago in December after more than 400 return trips between her home in Hampden and Dunedin to complete her degree.
Her determination has landed her a job at Oamaru law firm Dean and Associates.
''I just feel delighted,'' she said.
Mrs Macdonald will be admitted to the Bar early this year. She had expected to be taking her CV around North Otago law firms this year, in search of work.
But all that changed when the Oamaru firm approached her in December after seeing a story in the Otago Daily Times about her driving efforts during her legal studies.
Mrs Macdonald was ''very grateful'' to have been offered the job, which had vindicated all that relentless driving.
''I think I was just exhausted a lot of the time, but I knew I just had to keep going because there wasn't an option to stop,'' she said. ''It's all fallen into place really nicely.''
When she had decided to start studying law at Otago, her two young children, Max and Jake, had been well settled at North Otago schools.
She and her husband Boyd did not want to disrupt them by moving to Dunedin and, in 2009, she began the first of her many drives - of almost 80km each way - to and from university.
In earning her degree she spent about five weeks in her car - usually a Toyota Corolla, which she sold, without any regrets, last year.
Bill Dean, a partner at the Oamaru law firm, said he had been impressed by Mrs Macdonald's ''huge commitment'' in not only pursuing her legal studies from Hampden but also in caring for her two children at the same time.
He had heard about Mrs Macdonald and her ''great''work, combining law and family, ''purely by chance'', through the ODT story.
She had strong family connections in the area and would contribute positively to the firm, he said.
Prof Mark Henaghan, dean of the Otago Law Faculty, was also ''delighted'' by the outcome after all that driving.
Mrs Macdonald would be a very good practitioner because she understood human nature, was well organised and had strong analytical skills, he said.
