Casuarina Smith – who many will know as Trucking with CJ – has made her first trip “across the paddock”, travelling from Western Australia’s Goldfields region and into New South Wales, ahead of the Casino Truck Show this weekend.
Steering a Merkanooka Haulage Kenworth T909, she left on Wednesday July 24 and made her way across the Nullarbor over four days, sharing many special moments with family along the way.
The 34-year-old South Australian truckie has worked for Merkanooka Haulage since January, doing fly-in, fly-out work.
Usually you’ll find her steering triple road trains full of unprocessed gold ore from the mine to a processing plant, however the work is quite diverse and can include various other runs too.
The “Insta-famous” truckie has over 80,000 followers on the social media platform and over 26,000 followers on TikTok, where she shares her day-to-day work as a truckie.
While Merkanooka Haulage typically operates solely within WA, CJ says her bosses were really supportive when she asked if she could take a truck to the other side of the country.
“We don’t run east to west or vice versa, so this was a project I was working on for months. I’m grateful that my boss was so understanding and allowed me to take the T909 across,” CJ said.
Though there was a slight hiccup just before she was due to set-off. “The freight I’d lined up fell through just days before the trip because one of the trailers was caught up on another job,” she explained.
“It wasn’t until the day before I left that we found a load – a Bruce Rock trailer I delivered into Sydney. I rolled into Sydney on Sunday morning. As I’m on standard hours, I could only do the 12-hour days.”
CJ also worked closely with Hella ahead of her trip, with the lighting manufacturer providing the truck with all of its new lights. “It was a project that meant a lot to me, being able to work so closely with the Hella team. I learnt about the design process and about all the different lights which was a really cool experience. I’m really proud of how it all looks now on the truck.”
This was her first major project with Hella since becoming an ambassador for the brand.
Along the way CJ was able to meet up with her mother at the rural town of Kimba on the Eyre Highway, who had driven 2.5 hours each way so she could see CJ in the truck.
“Mum lives in Port Lincoln and said she would meet me at Kimba. But I lost phone reception before I got there so I wasn’t sure if she’d make it. As I pulled into Kimba, I saw my mum rolling in too. That was the first time Mum has ever seen me in the big truck.”
Next CJ was due to meet up with her father – who is also a truck driver – and younger sister Violet, who at 15 got to enjoy her first ride in the truck with her big sister.
“They’re from the Adelaide Hills. My dad pulled Violet out of school to drive to Port Augusta, but I was behind schedule so instead they continued up further on and met me at Iron Knob,” said CJ.
Violet travelled in the passenger seat with CJ for over two hours, with their father following on behind in his car. “At first she wasn’t too enthused but now she wants to come with me again next time. This was Violet’s first taste of being in the truck. It was really cool to share that moment with her. It was great to see that moment where she really understood what I do and why I love it.
“Dad has come to the Mack Muster so he saw me there with the truck, but it’s the first time he’s seen me driving the 9-0.”
Along with these heartfelt moments with her loved ones, CJ says driving the Nullarbor was another big highlight.
“I had never done that before. I got to go on all these roads I’ve never been on and then got to stop at the Nullarbor Cliffs.”
With the site filled with caravans, CJ decided to park down the road and walk over. When the caravanners realised, she says they were so lovely and accommodating.
“They offered to move their caravans so I could get a nice shot there with the truck. I had lots of people asking me questions too, which was great.
“It was great to get a feel of what it’s like to be self-sufficient in the truck. I brought all my meals and ate in the truck each night and learnt where all the truck stops were to have showers.”
From Sydney, CJ has made her way up to the Gold Coast, where she’ll be for a few days as the truck gets detailed, before hitting the road again on Friday, bound for Casino.
The Casino Truck Show will take place this Saturday, August 3, with more than 600 trucks expected to take part.
The event will begin with the popular street parade through Casino’s CBD from 10am, before heading into the Casino Showgrounds, where there will be plenty of entertainment as well as over 70 trophies up for grabs.
At the event, CJ will have colouring sheets and balloons for the kids, along with plenty of giveaways from brands that include Hella, Lelox, Omikron and more.