Across the Ditch & Over the Paddock

In-depth

22 Apr

Tony Karatau is a Kiwi – a proud Maori to be precise. Twenty six years ago he decided to come over the Ditch to Oz and see what life may proffer up. Coming from a family of sheep and cattle farmers. The family didn’t own their trucks, but called in transport as and when needed.

Working on the family farm until transported to Australia, Tony landed in Sydney and pushed a lawnmower around for a couple of months. Perhaps he should have brought a couple of those sheep with him to do the job.

For a country boy, Sydney’s bright lights quickly faded in Tony’s eyes and he decided to look elsewhere for opportunity and a better lifestyle.

“I was just a stockman. I didn’t know anything, I’d never lived in the city before and arriving in Sydney was a big shock. I couldn’t wait to get out.”

A mate, Jay, was living over in West Australia, driving Road Trains, and loved it over there, so Tony packed his bags and headed across the paddock to check it out.

The Road Trains and the vast open spaces they traversed held immediate appeal to him so it was off to gain a Heavy Rigid, followed in quick succession by his HC and MC licences. Then, thanks to Toll Linehaul who were willing to punt on a relatively inexperienced driver, he got a two-up gig with Jay, driving Perth to Darwin and many places in-between.

“All credit to Toll for taking a chance with me. I was lucky to escape that old cliché, ‘Catch-22’ where companies want people with experience but you can’t get the experience unless you have the job.

“Jay was another Kiwi from Auckland. There were around 15 of us over there working for Toll. Based in Perth, we drove Road Trains up to Port Headland, Karratha, Broome, Kununurra, and Carnarvon – wherever the work took us over W.A. We much preferred heading north to driving across the paddock.”

“I was thrown into the outback big time and I’ll never look back. You get up around the Kimberly’s, going through Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek, Turkey’s Creek, right round Catherine and so forth. It’s just magic. I reckon I’ve seen more of Australia than most of my Aussie mates.

“Those two-up years were all spent with Jay. Instead of fish n chips we would cook up a Maori roast. That’d attract other truckies I can tell you!”

After four odd years of two-up, Tony continued as a solo driver to the same destinations. Was it lonely after the years of two-up?

“No, because it’s a whole different trucking lifestyle in the West. Over there it’s still a family – as it used to be nationwide. You knew that when you’d break down, there would always be two or three Road Trains who would stop. The guys would make sure you were right for food and water or give you a hand to change tires - anything to make sure that you were okay. The two-way is still your friend in the Outback and through it, and the people you’d meet on the road, you make life-long friends. The job over there allows bonds to develop that rarely happen in the east.

“The East is a stark contrast. Over here nobody stops, they’ll just run over the top of you. It’s a crying shame. In the cities and on the interstate runs it’s all about schedules. It’s cut-throat and there’s no time for friendships to develop. And much of the talk on the two-way is rubbish.”

In 2014 Tony and his then girlfriend did a seismic shift and moved to Tasmania.

“I was sort of heading back to new Zealand. I suppose Tassie was a way of re-acclimatising myself and her to the colder weather we expected back home. The cold of Tassie worked out well! It took the warmth out of the girlfriend and it wasn’t long before she upped and headed back to Perth.

“I worked a Taxi in Tassie for a bit, and other stuff, but the work opportunities were drying up so I put the Ute on the boat and came back to the mainland where I got a gig driving for Red Star, running Melbourne to Townsville each week in a K200. Going home to NZ to live was put on the backburner – and still is.”

Although Red Star ended up in liquidation, the job resulted in Tony meeting Avalon who was also driving B-doubles for the company. Now engaged, the couple lived in Ballarat for a time before recently moving to Mooroopna, which is where I first came across Tony mowing his lawns in my street.

Picking up work with Visy, Tony expects to be travelling Shepparton/Brisbane and across to Adelaide.

“They’ve put me behind the wheel of a Volvo HF16. She’s a comfortable truck, but once a Kenworth man ….

“I’ll be away for most of the week but Avalon’s used to the lifestyle, having lived it herself. She’s hoping to open a B&B in the area, having done so back in Ballarat. She’s over truck driving and the hassles from some of the blokes out on the road.

“And that’s where the industry needs a shake-up. The trucking industry needs drivers and you have to welcome whomever is coming into it. We all have to be on the right page but some of these guys – and yes, they are in the minority – make it hard for others.”

Tony did his first run with Visy a couple of days before this interview from Shepp to Adelaide and back home via Mildura, where he picked up a load of wine – for the company, not himself.

“I was just hanging around waiting for them to sort out inductions. I started on the 29th, waited a week and got paid for doing nothing. They hadn’t called me by the second week so I went to see what was going on. It appears that I got lost in the paperwork somewhere, thankfully not by the Pay Office though.”

“Have you been here for a week? Did we pay you? Jeez mate, we should do something about that. We’ll do your induction right now.”

It would appear Tony could have been lost in the woodwork and spent the next 12 months doing up his new home.

“One bloke was with them for three weeks without a start for which he got paid. Good work if you can get it. Lol.

“It’s good to be back on the road. I’m guessing they’ll use me here there and everywhere until they sort a few things, and that’s just fine. Variety being the spice of life and all that. Picking up the wine on a back-load is a new contract which saves the trucks returning empty.”

I ask Tony about his most memorable time in West Australia.

“Gee, there are heaps.” He pauses for a moment to reflect. “It was breaking down outside Fitzroy Crossing. It was probably the best experience of coming to Australia. The truck had blown a turbo and it was 49 hours of sitting and waiting for it to be flown from Darwin to Broome and then by road from there.

“I was a Stockman once, and up there all First Nation boys are stockmen. We sat under a big tree and we just talked our hearts out about how they do it and how we do it. Just talking to the old people up there and learning so much from them while watching the kids running around. They’re free and nothing worries them. It was just a good time.

“Their knowledge is just amazing. Most of them had never been to the big smoke. They don’t know any crap about getting into trouble in a city or town. We talked about what the media and the cameras do when they go up there - where all they do is film the ugly, nasty side - and not the good stuff which by far outweighs the bad. They are just beautiful people. They welcomed me with open arms as part of their ‘family’. I will always remember sitting under that big old tree with those First Nations people.”

Mate Jay is back in WA doing his old runs two-up again – this time with his wife. Does that appeal to Tony?

“You bet it does, mate!” I’d do it in a blink with Avalon…and maybe one day who knows? But hey, at 57 I’m engaged to be married so the future will be all about joint decisions which I’m fine with. We’re living in the best street in a good town, and the neighbours seem OK. Want to come over for a Hãngi?”

End of story folks. There’s food to eat, drinks to consume and more stories to tell and hear. Welcome to the neighbourhood Tony and Avalon.

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