Mining, Outback, Truck driver, Truckie Profiles

‘This is the best move I’ve ever made’

After being offered the job of her dreams, experienced MC truckie Corrina Riley didn’t hesitate to make the move some 600 kilometres away to outback Queensland.

She and her 14-year-old son Jack relocated from Brisbane to the small town of Moura in central Queensland late last month, starting a new role with Qube on August 6.

From behind the wheel of a Kenworth C509, pulling a BAB quad, Corrina transports coal from the Baralaba mine site to a train load-out facility – pulling up to 111 tonnes of the product.

It’s approximately a 2.5 hour round trip.

Though she’s driven everything up to triples, this is Corrina’s first time in a quad – something that has been on the bucket list for quite some time.

“For me, this is like a dream job. When I first started driving triples years ago, I’d drive past the quads and would always say I wanted to drive them one day – and here I am,” said Corrina.

A Kenworth T659, pulling a BAB quad. Image: Corrina Riley

Though she admits it wasn’t an easy decision to pack up her life and start something entirely new, it’s proved to be the right move for her.

“It really was hard to leave but once my landlord put the house we were living in for the last seven years on the market, I said, that’s it, I’m doing this – and it’s been the best move I’ve ever made,” Corrina said.

“Moura is quite a small town, there’s only about 2000 people here I believe. But Jack and I came from property before moving to Brisbane.

“Jack loves it here too. He wants to train to become a diesel mechanic and has some work lined up.”

It’s also Corrina’s first time in a C509. “I love it, it is the best to drive. The truck drives beautifully.”

And as for the BAB quad, Corrina added, “They ride and track like a double, which is really good. It’s just super long and heavy. It’s 50 metres long, so when you look back, it’s like a snake following behind you.”

The new role is on a 10 days on/10 days off roster, which has been a really great fit for Corrina, who also works as a driver trainer with McCullough Training & Transport Services when she’s not hauling quads full of coal.

Operations supervisor at Qube Bulk, Warwick Ball, says it’s been great to be getting more and more experienced female operators joining the company’s Baralaba mine operation.

“We’ve had quite a few female operators in the past and they’ve all been great workers. With Corrina here, we have three ladies working with us now, who are all multi combination operators,” he explained.

“It’s really good to see that women are coming in and showing some of the guys that they can do the same job, sometimes even better. If anyone is interested in looking into the industry, don’t tell yourself you can’t do it, because these women are proof that you can.”

The role involves transporting coal from the Baralaba mine site to a train load-out facility. Image: Corrina Riley

Warwick says that he sees a lot of applications come through for these sorts of roles at Qube, but given the nature of the work, they’re looking for operators who have experience.

“Triple or quad work is advantageous, but we like to see at minimum road train or AB triple work. Although we’ve had some operators come in with only B-double experience and they’ve proved to be really good operators.”

The business also places all of its new recruits in on-the-job training. “We have a certain amount of days where they’ll go with a driver to get trained up on the run. Then they are signed off once they are ready,” explained Warwick.

Corrina added, “I did three days of training and then got signed off at the end of the fourth day so I could go out on my own.

She continued, “It’s the best job. Behind the wheel with all those trailers behind you – it’s phenomenal. I just feel like I’m on top of the world.

“Everyone there is so nice too. I’ve found everyone to be so helpful and nice. To be doing what I’m doing around good people in a good atmosphere, has been great.

“For anyone looking to come up this way, it’s so worth it.”

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