With over a decade of experience behind the wheel, Lowes Petroleum truckie Steve Kay talks about life on the road as he delivers fuel to the ski slopes.
As a lad he was on the Perisher/Thredbo ski team, these days you’ll find him heading out to NSW’s ski resorts, reversing with precision to fill up resort fuel tanks.
At the Perisher Ski Resort, his delivery is barely 100 metres from the main lodge.
“I love it,” he said. “I’m on my own, I play my music and I’ve got my run to do and I’m pretty much left alone to do my thing. It’s good, I get the job done and then do it all again.”
Although Steve was born in Wollongong, his parents moved to Jindabyne to run a ski lodge in the 1970s, so he knows ski resorts and he knows them well.
He spent 16 years in the ski/hospitality sector before moving into the transport industry, where he’s been for the past decade.
But delivering to these areas doesn’t come without its challenges. “I have to say, every trip I come up here, there’s always a new story of someone who’s doing the wrong thing and being reckless,” said Steve. “Especially this time of year and especially around the ski fields.
“Last week when I came up here, I got overtaken on a blind corner, double yellow lines. They didn’t just overtake me quickly: they overtook another truck and four other cars very slowly. It was very rattling. To be truthful they are lucky they are not dead.
“They really need to be patient: there’s no rush, the snow is not going anywhere and it’s not a racetrack.”
When you are driving fuel into the pristine Kosciuszko National Park, safety is paramount. Steve was rattled because with the narrow roads, the accident would have been unavoidable for all the other road users.
Operating out of Lowes Petroleum’s Cooma depot, Steve also delivers to Snowy 2.0, the largest committed renewable energy project in Australia.
The project involves linking two existing dams, Tantangara and Talbingo, through 27km of tunnels and building a new underground power station.
There are two critical points Lowes Petroleum supplies fuel: Marica, where the shaft is being excavated and Tantangara, meaning altitudes can a vary significantly, from 800m above sea level at Cooma to Tantangara at 1200m above sea level.
Year round that’s a lot of elements to contend with including snow for at least three to four months of the year making conditions very trying.
The Lowes Cooma team are experienced at delivery logistics. Places like Charlottes Pass and Blue Cow, which is at the highest point, must have their fuel delivered for the season before the snow falls because by April/May there’s no access.
“We always make sure we leave time between deliveries so if the weather is bad, we are not taking any risks,” Steve added.
“The beauty is there is a lot going on in the area all year round. Thredbo is very busy in the summer with mountain biking so that’s an all year-round delivery.”
Growing up in the area, Steve’s favourite customers are often some of the graziers and primary producers he has known for 30 years.
“Like Sylvia on the Ingebirah run. I’ve got to have a cup of tea and a scone or I’m never going to get out of there,” he laughed. “It’s not so much a job when you’re doing deliveries like that, it’s like a social visit.”