North Queensland owner-operator Garry Evans, 61, runs Evans Transport, driving a 2003 Mack Super-Liner.
“I have been a truckie since 1978 and an owner-operator for 31 years,” he said, adding that the first truck he drove was a 1978 CK-40 Nissan UD.
His Mack is dubbed ‘Cross Breed’ which is painted on the front.
“That is because it is a Mack with a Cummins motor on the old girl,” he said.
Evans had carted general freight up north from Brisbane and had a similar backload to pick up.
He rates the worst road as the mostly red dirt and corrugated one in Weipa on Western Cape York.
“It took me nine hours to travel 100km on it recently and it is always closed in the wet season,” he said.
Whilst Evans said many more rest areas were needed for truckies, he did praise one on the southern side of Barcaldine.
Rising fuel costs are a major concern for Evans and he has a swift answer for anybody who questions a rate rise for drivers.
“I tell them to pay the registration and insurance on a truck and three trailers like I have and see if they have the same opinion,” he said.
Evans barracks for the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL. “They are the local team and are going good this season,” he said.
Outside work Evans enjoys restoring old cars and his current project is a XY GT Falcon.
When I saw Evans at the BP Cluden on the outskirts of Townsville, across from the racecourse, I noticed that he is a lookalike of former Australian cricket fast bowler Merv Hughes.
He said he is often asked if he is the well-known Victorian.
“Just the other day a sheila came up to me and questioned if I was Merv Hughes and it happens often,” Evans told Big Rigs.
For those who live on another planet and don’t follow cricket, Mervyn Gregory Hughes (born November 23, 1961) is a former Australian cricketer living in Melbourne.
A right-arm fast bowler, Hughes represented Australia in 53 Test matches between 1985 and 1994, taking 212 wickets.
He played a total of 33 One Day Internationals, taking 38 wickets. He took a hat-trick in a Test against the West Indies at the WACA in 1988-89. In 1993, he took 31 wickets in the Ashes series against England.
Hughes was a useful lower-order batsman, scoring two half-centuries in Tests and over 1000 runs in all. He also represented the Victorian Bushrangers, Essex in English county cricket, the ACT Comets and Australia A in the World Series Cup.