Loving life on the road as his own boss

When I saw owner-operator Terrence Kruger, 43, parked at Townsville’s Port Access Road hook-up pad, I asked if he’d mind having his picture snapped.

“I am not used to being a model,” he said, but he obliged.

Based at Richmond beside the Flinders Highway, Terrence was driving a Western Star Constellation 6900 triple with a 620hp Cummins engine and an 18-speed gearbox.

He has been a truckie since he was 18 and purchased a Western Star two years ago.

“I came down empty and am transporting material for the Catholic School at Cloncurry,” he said.

The truck he was driving wasn’t his – it’s owned by another outback company called Hintz Livestock.

“I have my own Western Star 6964 which is in getting panel-beating after I hit some cattle near Julia Creek. I expect to have it back within a month,” Terrence explained.

Terrence rates the worst roads he travels on as the Gregory Development Highway between Charters Towers and Clermont, and the stretch of the Flinders from Hughenden to Cloncurry.

I asked Terrence what hobbies he enjoyed. “I don’t get much time off work as I am mostly on the road,” he said.

So what are the things Terrence most loves about his life on the road?

“It really is a good life and I am my own boss so that is really great,” he said.

When he does get some time off, Terrence likes tending to 100 head of cattle he has on rural acreage.

Terrence said that since a good friend of his from Richmond, Ryan Friend, had appeared in Big Rigs, he had been getting lots of positive comments.

“Drivers are referring to Ryan as a celebrity,” Terrence said.

Like most outback drivers, I found Terrence to be a friendly driver who is enjoying life to the fullest.