Truckin’ In The Tropics

with Alf Wilson

30-year-old Kenworth doesn’t miss a beat for Qld operator

SMALL fleet operator Matt Binsted was hooking up trailers loaded with hay when Big Rigs saw him in the parking area of the Caltex Calcium Roadhouse just after noon recently.

Based in Charters Towers, his company is called BRT Transport and Contracting.

He was in a 1993 Kenworth.

“This is the oldest truck in my fleet and it is a good one. I purchased it about five years ago from an Ingham station,” he said.

Binsted’s B-double was heading back to Charters Towers, about 85 kilometres away, after it had picked up hay at a property not far away from the roadhouse.

“I like stopping here as the facilities are clean and

THIS IS THE OLDEST TRUCK IN MY FLEET AND IT IS A GOOD ONE. I PURCHASED IT ABOUT FIVE YEARS AGO FROM AN INGHAM STATION.”

MATT BINSTED there is lots of parking space. I also enjoy pulling up at the Hann River Roadhouse in Cape York,” he said.

The worst route he’s been on this year is Einasleigh Road heading to Kidston due to the solar farm traffic along with the Peninsula Development Road to Weipa in the far north, after the tourist season.

Outside work this super friendly driver enjoys fishing with some success.

“I like to go to Lucinda and fish in the Hinchinbrook Channel,” he said.

Just before I saw Binsted at the roadhouse, one of his drivers Graham ‘Spence’ Spencer had been at the same spot. I only missed him by about 20 minutes.

Spence is a golfer of some note around the Charters Towers area.

He has tried to encourage his boss Binsted to have a game, but isn’t having much luck in convincing him to join him on the fairways.

“I just don’t see the point in hitting a ball with a golf club in the sun, when I can be sitting in a boat drinking a beer!” he said with a grin.

Truckies looking out for each other on Townsville deliveries

IT is great when truckies look out for one another and that occurred just before lunch recently, when driver Tash Taylor became an unexpected Good Samaritan.

The 40-year-old truckie drives an Isuzu Automatic for PFD Food Services and had been delivering refrigerated goods to the Fat Dogz Café, which is part of the Hammett Street Precinct in Townsville.

Nearby her, also making deliveries, was a Max Stocks Hino driven by Jack Horton.

I saw Taylor on the way out of the café and asked if I could snap her pics for Big Rigs and have a yarn to her about life on the road.

The photos were duly taken and Taylor was giving me a rundown on how she enjoys her job which she has been in a for a year.

“I do a lot of deliveries

IT IS GREAT WHEN TRUCKIES LOOK OUT FOR ONE ANOTHER AND THAT OCCURRED JUST BEFORE LUNCH RECENTLY, WHEN DRIVER TASH TAYLOR BECAME AN UNEXPECTED GOOD SAMARITAN.” around town especially to businesses such as Zambreros, cafes, roadhouses, hotels and other places. The most popular deliveries are frozen chips and other food. I also can get to Ingham up north and Ayr down south,” she said.

“I also have a HR licence and hope to get into the heavy vehicles down the track,” she said.

At that point the Max

Stocks Hino drove off and Taylor noticed that the trolley they use for loading and unloading had been left behind.

“They will get to the next

Driving from north to south along Qld’s inland roads

EACH week driver Phillip Daniels does the run between Cairns and Brisbane. Daniels was driving a

Western Star for J&V Transport when Big Rigs saw him parked at a pull off area beside the Flinders Highway near Woodstock. job and discover they have no trolley. It can happen to any driver,” Taylor said.

“I am taking timber blocks to Brisbane,” he said.

Aged 45, Daniels has been a truckie for six years and with this company for a year.

“I am heading down to Brisbane along the inland roads as there are too many roadworks along the Bruce Highway,” he said.

His favourite roadhouse is the BP Mackay and he loves tucking into a chicken parmigiana meal.

“I really like spending time with my family when off work,” he said.

Not really a sports fan, I asked Daniels the reason why.

“I used to love rugby league when it was an old school sport back a few decades,” he said.

Daniels like many other drivers reckons more rest areas are needed with facilities for truckies.

So she waved hoping to attract the attention of the two in the Hino.

When the Hino was about 50m up an alley, either the driver or passenger noticed through a side mirror that the trolley had been left.

The Hino reversed up and Horton got out of the driver’s seat and retrieved the trolley.

A genuine case of one truckie looking out for another.

The right truck for the job

DRIVING an Isuzu 8.7 tonne tipper, young driver Kayle Wright, 30, is a common sight around Townsville.

He runs KMW Concreters and Big Rigs saw him pull up outside and come into the Coffee at Tiffany’s Café in Townsville, so we had a yarn.

“We do most of the work around here and have lots on at Alligator Creek just south now, but do get as far away as Mount Isa which is almost 1000km from here. This Isuzu is a trusty truck which handles the job well,” he said.

The Isuzu carries concrete, tools and a variety of other things.

Wright has had the Isuzu for two years and it has 50,000km on the clock.

“Before this I had another Isuzu which was 6.5 tonnes,” he said.

Outside work, Wright enjoys restoring old houses.

A Brisbane Broncos supporter in the NRL, Wright likes stopping at the Yabulu

Roadhouse north of Townsville.

“It is very good there and when in town I like this café where I am a regular,” he said. His father Kevin Wright is a well-known and popular fellow in the region.