Veteran truckie Rocky Lord drives a new DAF for Team Transport Logistics. In my opinion, he would rate as one of the most interesting drivers I have ever interviewed at random.
Rocky, 67, was sitting in the driver’s seat of his flashy DAF when I saw him parked up in drizzling rain at the BP Cluden at about 1pm.
“This truck is only four weeks old and is great. Very comfortable,” he said.
Most truckies I speak to rate the Bruce Highway as amongst the worst they get along.
But Rocky said he has found the Bruce okay when compared to another one he recently negotiated. “It’s the Capricorn Highway out from Emerald, which is terrible. Very rough,” he said.
Rocky was hauling general freight from his base at Brisbane to Cairns in the Far North.
I asked Rocky about whether he thought there were enough rest areas for drivers and he answered with a resounding “no”.
“The one at Palm Tree Creek near Mackay is great for us because there is a sign up advising vans aren’t allowed there,” he said.
You would not have to be Einstein to know that most truckies have a lot of complaints about the habits of caravan drivers.
But then I gleaned that when he gets time off, Rocky gets to travel in either his own van or motorhome.
“So how do you find van drivers having been in both,” I queried.
“Most van drivers have no brains and they don’t have time regulations like truck drivers do. They can drive and stop as long as they want,” he said.
Rocky follows the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL and I asked him who was his favourite player. Surprisingly, it wasn’t a Broncos player but the late and great immortal Arthur Beetson. “I just loved his playing style,” he said.
Rocky was surprised that I had yarned to Arthur many times including when he was VIP guest at the Island of Origin rugby league carnival at Badu Island in the Torres Strait back in 2011, shortly before he passed away.
Rocky says his favourite roadhouse is the BP Cluden for several reasons. “They have clean facilities, lots of parking and serve up a good meal,” he said.
We yarned about trivial matters including the time I spoke to a truck driver and discovered my biro was out of ink.
“What an embarrassment having to ask a driver for the loan of a pen” I told him.
Then just before I left as the rain became heavier, Rocky emerged from his cabin with a gift for me which I gleefully accepted.
It was a biro with his company name inscribed on it.
I found Rocky to be a genuine character and a pleasure to talk to.