The Travelling Jackaroo is now well on his way on a 14,500km journey across Australia on his 1957 Chamberlain 9G tractor to raise money for two important charities along the way.
The trip has been a long time in the making, with 18-year-old Sam Hughes from the Sunshine Coast meticulously planning what is sure to be a trip of a lifetime.
Behind the tractor, he’s towing a trailer with a motorbike and car inside, and there’s even a boat and a plane on top.
He is making plenty of stops along the way – so keep an eye out for him out on the road – and is raising money for Dolly’s Dream and the Royal Flying Doctors Service (hence the plane on top).
And if you see him, he said he’s always on channel 40 on the UHF.
Hughes was also careful to choose a route that avoids major highways and busy roads so he doesn’t get in the way of truck drivers’ day to day operations.
When we last spoke to Sam in October last year, he was finishing year 12 while also getting his tractor ready for the road.
He set off on Sunday March 21, departing from his hometown of Maleny. He’s been to Kilcoy, Yarraman, Blackbutt, Dalby, Chinchilla and Roma.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, with a cracked radiator putting a spanner in the works, but only very briefly. A call-out on Facebook was answered swiftly and he was soon back on the road, making it to Roma for the next stop where the tractor spent a week at a workshop, ad a so the radiator, an oil leak and fuel leak could be fixed.
Hughes also had the chance to ‘race’ the tractor at Roma’s dragstrip, clocking around 45km/h, to the amusement of many spectators. Though it was a great opportunity to raise more money for the two charities.
Back on his way, Hughes has now made it to Charleville. He plans to travel right around Australia, heading into NT, running along the coast of WA and SA, into NSW and back to Queensland.