Goodaye all, it is hot here in Mt Isa and I have just finished helping unload the three trailers I brought up as a triple roadtrain. I was asked by a driver last night, “What are you doing up this way?” and then followed up with ”I haven’t seen you with a triple on much” and then another who offered me to come round his quad with my triple, as he was turning off a bit further up and I asked did he know about the green reflectors?
He said he had seen them and thought that someone had used them to mark a parking bay, so I explained the aims and intents of the simple idea and why they are there. These sites are paved and big enough for a triple or quad at 53.5 metres long, but in the dark, they were not marked in any way, so by the time you see them you simply cannot just hit the brakes and pull in at a gross weight of 100 tonne or more with the quads.
Now the drivers of these rigs still need to have a pee at times, they have to deal with wildlife on the road and if they hit one, they need to be able to stop and inspect for damage, they might need a break or kip to get to the next rest area and there are some big gaps between Longreach, Winton and Cloncurry.
So it has been a wild start to the year, Port Hedland and have any of you seen the damage wrought there behind us, roads completely washed away by cyclones and we were so lucky to have beaten the first cyclone, let alone the two more that followed and did all the damage.
I have received a corporate response from AMPOL, saying it is all commercial and thank you for my contact and please keep in touch, of course I am paraphrasing a bit, but from where I sit, it was a fob off. Now if they were to say we closed it being a Caltex and are refurbishing and reopening as an Ampol, then we are all happy to get better facilities and new sites to use, but no, so they will get another email.
Again playing photographer, this in a parking bay north of Kynuna. You can see the triple going southbound and mine is 53 meters long as well. Please consider a UHF radio if you are going to travel into remote Australia and for your sake and ours, do not attempt to overtake a ROADTRAIN without sufficient roadspace and vision.
Same goes for Revenue NSW, they have refused my review, even with photos of my Teletrac Navman system, which cannot be tampered with without showing those changes and where and when they were done, so I have asked for a second review. Watch this space.
In this roughly 2000 k trip from Brisbane to Mt Isa, I have only had one real incident. A motorhome decided to overtake me and considering he had been there a while and I was 53 metres long and near 100 tonne travelling at about 90 kph, there are not a lot of safe places to overtake. However old mate decided to have a go, but with less than one k of road visible, he’s off. He finally got past me as the broken lines end and we approached a blind corner. After getting a friendly wave from the female partner as they passed the cab, I showed my dismay and concern for his safety and mine by trying to burn a hole in the back of his van. Less than 30 seconds later, a 4wd ute came the other way. Had he been 25 seconds earlier, it would have been not just interesting, it could have been life threatening.
Then the bloke behind him decided to pass, at least he did it with k’s of empty road in front, but did so at 91 kph, taking more than a kilometre to get past and then within 30 minutes, I was gaining on him, he had slowed, I had not speed up, so why pass me in the first place? With a little bit of light, he moved away and left me behind, but it can be a lonely road up this way. Last time before Christmas, leaving Cloncurry nearing sunset, I think I saw four trucks and two cars, all going north with not a vehicle going my way in well over four hours on the road.
Have to get some sleep to load and hit the road tomorrow, hope to be back in Brissie Thursday and home Friday or Saturday, for a special day, Monday. Safe Travelling, Rod Hannifey.
TRUCKRIGHT 