I decided to start a blog about my adventures as a truck driver in Australia.
This is a big country (7.6 million square kilometres with a population of about 21 million, that’s about 89 acres each) and I now roam across it every week in a 43 tonne truck usually completing between 3500 and 5000 kilometres each week.
I’m currently driving a Western Star Constellation running a 525hp Detroit and an 18 speed Road Ranger box. This is a near new truck having only done 156000 km.
My current ride
Previously I ran a Freight Liner Century Class with a 600hp CAT engine. My first semi was a Detroit powered Sterling.
Detroit Powered Sterling
As for the blog I’m using Word Press and I’ll update it either via my laptop which goes everywhere with me or from my Nokia N95.
For those that follow my blog, thank you for your patience as it will probably be of most interest to me but hopefully it will offer some incite to truck driving in Australia. You can subscribe to my blog and receive an update each week via email, just use the subscription option down on the right hand side of the page.
Enjoy and remember to keep it shiny side up.
Fascinating site.
I’m currently in year 12 doing ext 2 English and have chosen to write a radio script based on a truck driver calling into a late night psychiartry program while dropping off one of his loads.
Your site has been brilliant in helping me to understand the journeys and experiences of truck drivers. I was wondering if you could provide me with some additional information about some of the negative and positive aspects of truck driving. In particular if you experience loneliness while travelling and how you deal with it. Any information would be great.
Thanks,
Olivia
Happy to help you Olivia, one condition though, I’d like a copy of the finished product.
The obvious negative is being away from home for extended periods and the stress brought about be being unable to be there when you’re needed. I’m usually at least a day from home and it’s not easy when you can’t be there to help out.
There are also the ‘little moments’ that occur on a daily basis. I find it very stressfull to be in an unfamiliar area with such a large vehicle, take a wrong turn and you can get awful stuck. Like the day I ended up going down Collins Street in Melbourne only to find a low bridge at the far end, peak hour traffic and I’m dropping the air bags to slip under the bridge. Phew, not a good feeling.
Being tired gets to you also, especially when you get home and you’re useless due to exhaustion and just as you recover it’s time to go again. It doesn’t leave much time for a life and is hard for your loved ones to understand when you can’t stay awake any longer just to eat dinner because you’ve been fighting to stay awake for half the week so you can stay alive.
Cabin fever is a factor also, spending all week in a cab and sleeper isn’t easy and sometimes you just have to stop and go for a walk.
I don’t consider loneliness to be an issue, I often miss my partner but that’s different to loneliness which would mean there was no one there at all. She’s always there for me it’s just I don’t see her much during the week. I meet a lot of people each week and bump into familiar faces all the time. Truck driving is a small and for the most part, friendly community, we’re all going through the same thing and that creates a bond between people who would otherwise be strangers.
There is always the phone and CB radio to have a chat with someone and at the end of the day I’ll usually hop on the net for my dose of email, facebook and obviously this blog.
It’s not for everyone and I know of drivers that couldn’t put up with the interstate lifestyle for various reasons. This can include the simple fact they are away from home too much and all the fears for your loved ones that go along with that. I have seen drivers quit because they aren’t confident in their relationships, because they don’t have support from home or because they’ve lost too many mates on the black top.
To be honest I enjoy the majority of it, sitting up here with the radio on, the police scanner and UHF cackling away letting me know what’s going on up ahead. I’ve got my phone (two actually), a laptop with wireless broadband, I couldn’t be more connected. The view constantly changes even on roads I do too often there is always something new to see and there is a certain adrenalin surge when you know you’re tired beyond belief and yet you manage to get where ever you’re going without scaring yourself.
Maybe I’m too optimistic but I’d rather sit in this office than any other even if it’s just to stare out the window all day.
G’day Mat,
The idea of driving long haul has been on my mind after being stuck in the furniture manufacturing environment since the beginning of time.
I dig driving! In January I did from the Bay of Islands in NZ right down to Invercargill in the south and loved every minute of it…..on my own!
Sure some trips were a bit ordinary but the solidarity was some-how enriching and after each stop I was looking forward to getting back on the road, even though some of the destinations were difficult to leave.
With-out a Wife and kids, I might easliy suggest long-haul might suit me down to a ‘T’ but what else would you reccommend I consider before venturing out to my local driver Training School? I cannot say I am at all mechanically minded bar the basics. Would that be a major dis-advantage at all as I would consider a driver who can solve basic issues on the road to much more employable?
Look forward to hearing from you.
Cheers,
Brad.
Hey Brad
I don’t really have any knowledge of the New Zealand driving environment but I agree that the “solidarity is enriching”. It certainly gives you time to think.
In my experience mechanical aptitude isn’t important, I’ve stopped to rewire a blokes trailer plug in the pouring rain before now because he had no idea. A lot of the drivers for the larger companies are just truck jockeys whilst if you work for a smaller operator you may have to do a bit more maintenance work. None of it is that complicated and if you are a practical person and willing to watch and ask questions then you will pick up the basics real quick. Personally I always carry my tool box with the basics and I carry a multimeter because I know how to use it but most don’t. If you can check fluids and do a visual check of the rest you’ll be fine.
As a matter of fact, just today I blew a trailer tire and was that close to town I elected to take it to the local tyre service and let them change it. They had all the right tools and did it in half the time. All for $18… not sure how they can do it that cheap, it would have cost them more to do the paperwork to charge the company account!
If you’re keen then give it a go, you have nothing to lose. I made more in the first week on the job than the training cost me and that was with a company that didn’t pay very well. Be willing to take any job and put up with rough equipment until you get a few kays up then look for the better operators.
It’s just a job at the end of the day but I don’t have to commute to work and I never have to worry about not feeling like going to work… I’m already there. Sometime it does interfere with my personal life but what job doesn’t. I sit in my office all day and get pretty much left alone.
When was the last time someone gave you a half million dollar office and told you to stare out the window all day?
Hey Mat,
Thanks so much for your response.
My delayed return response comes after a spontaneous decision to pack a few things and go for the longest drive I have ever taken my trustee AU Falcon on. Went out to Roma, up to Carnarvon Gorge (stayed there for the night), up to Emerald, dodging more than one semi-load of those massive mining truck tires, through Blackwater (missed a tour of a coal mine, as I was the only one to show interest), stopped off at Bluff, a rail action mecca (I’m a bit of a train buff), accross to Rocky and back down home to Caboolture.
Actually tried for a train driving career but the number of fellas compared to the amount of work for them is a very small ratio.
Already have plenty of tools from 17 years in the Cabinet Making industry so all good there and have certainly checked plenty of fluid levels.
Love your last line and look forward to reading your posts!
Cheers,
Brad.
PS, No email came through from the site?
Cheers Brad, sounds like you had a good run. You might have to upgrade the Haymen Reese to compete with the road trains out that way.
Hey Mat,
Hows life on the road?
I have booked my first lesson next Wednesday using a Road Ranger gearbox. Any tips? I understand shifting is not quite as simple as a sychro-mesh????
Cheers,
Brad
Once you get the hang of it it’s easier than synchro. Just remember not to push the clutch all the way in and if you get muddled stop and start again.