When Big Rigs chatted with Ben ‘Bazz’ Barry, 42, he had just left the outback town of Camooweal in Queensland and was heading south in the 2017 Kenworth T909 he drives for Scarcella Transport.
Based in Darwin, Bazz grew up on a wheat and sheep farm in Swan Hill, Victoria. “But I couldn’t live down south anymore, it’s just too cold!”
Like many farm kids, Bazz was driving trucks on the family farm from a very young age. “I’ve always been interested in trucks. Growing up on a farm, I was always around trucks and machinery. I was driving trucks around the farm from as young as eight. Then as soon as I got my licence, that was it,” he said.
“I went for my truck licence at 18. I was working on a sheep station at the time and because we were in drought, we were carting hay. I got my MC licence soon after.”
Bazz joined Scarcella Transport three years ago and says it’s a great company to work for. “I do general freight, with a little bit of express. I travel mainly from Darwin to Sydney, but do the occasional run into Melbourne to pick up steel, and sometimes head into Kununurra too.”
He carts everything from mangoes and steel, to cars and wide loads. “It’s anything and everything,” added Bazz.
“Scarcella is a really good company to work for. They’re a family company and if you’re good to them, they’ll be good to you too.”
When asked what he loves most about the job, he jokes, “Being my own boss until the boss rings me. They give us general fellas anywhere up to four days to go from Darwin to Sydney, so as long as you meet your deadlines, you’re pretty much left alone. And there’s the freedom that I love too.”
Scarcella does a lot of its maintenance in-house and Bazz says the equipment is top notch. “The truck is really good and well maintained. We carry spare parts too. Being from a farming background, I’m mechanically minded, which helps when you’re out on the road.”
With daylight savings now well upon us, Bazz says it can pose a challenge when travelling from Darwin into the Sydney Markets. “It means you need to work out your times to make sure you’re there before 3am,” said Bazz.
Though he loves his work, the ongoing border situation remains a headache. “Once I got tested and then when I got to the border, I had to go back to Tennant Creek to get another test – because it went from a seven-day testing cycle to a three-day testing cycle without much notice. And because I’m going back into Darwin from Sydney, I still need to home-quarantine – yet I get tested every three days, I’m by myself in the truck and bring all of my own food too.”
‘Truckin’ in the Outback’ is proudly supported by Loadshift, Australia’s largest freight marketplace for individuals and businesses seeking to buy and sell road transport services.