Originally from Devonport in Tasmania, Craig Walsh has been in Queensland for 32 years and has worked for Lumbar’s Transport out of their Mount Garnet depot for the past three years.
The 53-year-old was driving a red Kenworth K200 Aerodyne when parked up beside the Townsville Port Access Road.
“I have carried zinc from Chillagoe to Townsville Port and have been a truckie on and off for about 30 years,” he said.
Walsh lives at the scenic town of Ravenshoe on the Atherton Tablelands and I asked him what his New Year’s resolution was.
“To keep working,” was his short and to the point reply.
The worst road Walsh gets along is the dirt Ootan Track in the far north which is an opinion echoed by many other drivers. Walsh says he hadn’t been adversely affected by Covid-19 in his travels.
Lumbar’s Transport has its head office at Deniliquin in New South Wales, with depots around the country.
“They are a very good company to work for,” Walsh said.
A football fan, Walsh barracks for the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL and the Richmond Tigers in the AFL.
As a backload, Walsh was transporting empty containers from Townsville to a far-away mine.
Walsh has been back down to Tasmania visiting numerous times since moving to the tropics and rates Devonport which is on the banks of the Mersey River as one of the nicest towns in the Apple Isle.
The famous Spirit of Tasmania ship anchors in the Mersey River after cruising across Bass Strait from Victoria.