When ABC Transport truckie Mick Moore decided to document his run from Adelaide to Darwin and back again, he didn’t expect it would generate so much interest.
Yet, since he shared ‘3 ½ Days in a Road Train’ on YouTube, it’s clocked up over half a million views and counting.
Moore, 62, puts viewers in the driver’s seat, taking in the many sights and changing landscapes as he makes his weekly run with his 2-up partner Mark Poldervaart.
“I made the video just to show my family and friends what I do. I didn’t expect it to take off as it did,” he said.
Unlike many interstate truckies his age, Moore didn’t get into trucking until he was 50 years old. And he’s glad he made the switch.
“I was a shift supervisor at Bridgestone Australia in Adelaide and have a brother who is a truckie. My wife would always ask me if I lost my job, would I go into truck driving? Bridgestone Australia closed in 2010 so it all started from there,” he said.
“My brother is a truckie too, so that opened my eyes to the industry.”
A motor mechanic by trade, Moore got his HC licence when he was about 20 as he needed it for the job. But when he made the switch to truck driving, he knew he wanted to get into the big stuff so obtained his MC licence.
“When a copper pulled me over, he asked what the hell made you get into truck driving at my age. For me, transport meant I didn’t have someone breathing down my back,” Moore said.
He started with ABC Transport in June 2015 and says he couldn’t ask for a better employer. “I don’t reckon you could find anyone better. They are a real family-oriented company.”
Moore and Poldervaart have been 2-up partners for the past four years. Their run involves leaving Adelaide in a double road train every Wednesday and heading to Port Augusta to pick up the third trailer.
Along the way they stop to make deliveries in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine, before arriving in Darwin on the Friday morning – stopping at the same places on the return leg, before finishing up the 6000km round trip on the Sunday morning.
“I love travelling through the middle of Australia – I couldn’t live there because of the heat and humidity but I just love going out there, as it fascinates me and there’s the freedom I love too. The middle of Australia is just beautiful,” he said.
“You only have to travel three to four hours and it’s a different sort of country, it just changes so much.”
Though he loves the view he gets to see from the truck cabin, he’s still surprised at how much interest his trucking videos have received.
On his YouTube channel JustCruisin with Mick & Sally, the vast majority of his videos are about caravanning. “I have three videos on there about the trucks, and they’re my top videos on the page,” he said.
Check out the video below.