Aged just 24, Nick Blade hopes to continue to be a truck driver for many years and would recommend it as a career to young people.
Blade drives a 2013 Kenworth T909 for Dawson’s Haulage which is based at Albury/Wodonga on the NSW and Victoria border.
The Kenworth is powered by a 550hp Cummins motor and has an 18-speed manual gear box and Blade said it was a great truck.
He had carried steel from Sydney to Townsville and had a backload of cars to take back south when Big Rigs caught up with him.
Blade said he had been with the company for four and half years.
“I started off with the company in their depot yard and had a rigid licence and worked my way up to this. Dawson’s has been really good with providing training,” he said.
Enthusiastic Blade said he had driven in all Australian States with the exception of Tasmania and also is still to get into the Northern Territory.
The first truck Blade drove was a Volvo FM460 and he likes stopping at the Mobil Jugiong Roadhouse in NSW when in the area.
“The food is home cooked and good and I like the crumbed lamb cutlets. Facilities are great as well,” he said.
When asked the worst roads he travels on, Blade said that many in Queensland needed work.
“Especially the ones around Moonie, Goondiwindi and Dalrymple,” he said.
However, the most boring road Blade gets along is the Pacific Highway between Sydney and Brisbane.
“The road is in good condition, but it is just so boring as you drive on it,” he said.
Married with no children, Blade enjoys life at Albury and when he gets time off doesn’t mind popping into the Railway Hotel for a cold soft drink.
“I grew up at Rye on the Mornington Peninsula and went to school there,” he said.
The most unusual load Blade ever transported was a giant Australian Rules Sherrin football to Ungarie in NSW.
“It was 3m wide and 5m high and was in honour of the Daniher family,” he said.
The footy weighs almost a ton and recognises the contribution to football made by the Daniher family, in particular brothers Terry, Neale, Anthony and Chris, who played a combined 752 AFL matches for Essendon and the Swans.
One of Blade’s biggest role models is his 55-year-old father Ron who is a long-time truckie.
“Dad just started work himself with Dawson’s,”
he said.
Blade is one happy young driver who can’t think of a better place in the country to live at. “Albury is a cross between city and country living,” he said.