Now aged 63, Victorian driver Leigh Butterworth had transported trailers from the Dandenong region to Cairns in Far North Queensland when Big Rigs saw him recently.
Butterworth drives a Kenworth K200 powered by a 500hp motor for Victorian Crane Hire.
“I have loaded a Kenworth 404 picked up here in Townsville as a backload to take down to Melbourne,” he said.
Butterworth used to be a dairy farmer and started his career as a truck driver 13 years ago, and was having a break in the parking area at BP Cluden.
“This is a good place to stop and I rate it amongst the top 10 in Australia. There is plenty of parking, good food and clean facilities,” he said.
This happy truckie also carries a gas cooker and a small fridge when away and enjoys delicious meals.
“My wife prepares roast meals and they are good,” he said.
Outside work Leigh enjoys getting into a 4WD in the Victoria high country and also barracks for Collingwood in the AFL.
Because of COVID-19, Butterworth had four different permits to enter various states.
“I have also had four COVID tests and they aren’t pleasant,” he said.
Butterworth rates the Warwick to Goondiwindi highway as the worst he gets along and reckons some regions could do with more rest areas. “Especially around Cairns where I had difficulty finding a suitable one. Between Newcastle in NSW and Brisbane there are lots of good rest areas,” he said.
When I yarned to Leigh about midday it was a burning 30 degrees in stark comparison from reports he had received from back home in Victoria. “It was five degrees and snowing in some parts,” he said.