Steve Bush from Port Sorrell was driving his Mountain Dew 2001 twin steer Scania 310 14b pallet rigid, on his way back from Hobart – glad to be going home for a break after handling the Hobart operation through the festive season.
He began bagging ice by hand 30 years ago. “Our major factory is at Shearwater, but we have come a long way since then as a family business, one that Wendy and I established in 1989. We have a close connection with the Southern Tasmanian community too, as in fact I grew up on a hop farm in the Derwent Valley. Nowadays we have nine trucks on the go, and when we are busy, 11, including this Scania which does linehaul and only comes out at peak periods,” he said.
“It seems a long time since I started out doing deliveries in a HiAce van about 27 years ago. We’d load her up and go like the clappers before the ice melted on us.”
Asked about time off, he said he likes riding and still has some horses and cattle to look after, but mostly he likes getting out on the water and boating, a natural choice for anyone living at Port Sorell. Finally, he added that he was delighted to see Big Rigs out as a paper again.
“I find it a great informative paper, and I look forward to seeing each new edition, as incidentally, does my wife.”