Truckies are gearing up for Crawlin’ the Hume 2024, with 300 vintage and classic trucks registered for the event this Saturday, April 6.
The biannual convoy retraces as much of the Victorian side of the Old Hume Highway as possible, winding its way from Campbellfield to Albury.
It’s an opportunity for truckies to reminisce about the old days, celebrate trucking history and show off their classic rigs.
Registrations will begin at 6.30am on Saturday, with the organisers hoping to have all trucks on the road by 8am to 8.30am.
The convoy route will head from Campbellfield through Beveridge, Wallan, Kilmore, Broadford, Tallarook and Seymour before heading up to Winton and finishing up in Albury.
A leisurely lunch will take place at Winton Raceway, before a special dinner at Albury Race Club.
Organiser Robert French told Big Rigs that truckies are coming from all over Australia for the event.
“We have one guy coming from the Northern Territory, and others from Tasmania,” he said.
“It looks like we’re going to have good weather as well, so we’re very excited.”
French said he came up with the idea for Crawlin’ the Hume back in 2011, after attending a similar event in Sydney.
“In 2011, a bunch of people in Sydney decided to get a few trucks to run down the Hume Highway from Sydney,” he said.
“It blew out of proportion and I think they got a couple of hundred trucks.
“I went to that and had such a good time.
“I used to run the Old Hume Highway myself back in the ‘70s and I loved it, so I had the thought of doing the same thing on the Victorian side.”
French organised the first Crawlin’ the Hume convoy in 2012, with 150 trucks, but the event has more than doubled in size since then.
“I was doing most of the work at first but now we’ve got lots of volunteers and hard-working people helping out,” he said.
“Jenny Cotterill and her partner Scott Hough do all the registrations, permits, etc.
“There’s an army of people working on it now.”
French said that although registrations for the official event (which includes dinner) are capped at 300 trucks, they usually have some “blow ins” on the day, which could bring the numbers up to over 500.
This event is free for the public to come and watch, with organisers suggesting the rest area atop Pretty Sally as a prime viewing spot.
For more information contact Robert French on 0409 380 090 or Scott Hough 0417 305 192.
It seems auto drive trucks can’t come soon enough.