Originally from Adelaide, outback truck driver Russell Spiller made the move to Darwin around four years ago, after visiting for a friend’s birthday trip – and deciding to stay.
As he explained, “We came here for a 60th and never left! We had been travelling around in our motorhome and I saw a sign on the side of the road advertising for truck drivers at Northern Stock Water.”
Russell, 61, has been working with the company for two and a half years. He recently upgraded his Kenworth T909 for a newer model, that’s only six months old.
A veteran driver, he says he got his truck licence at 18, as soon as he was old enough. “There was a friend I went to trade school with and his old man owned Mcdonald’s Transport in Adelaide, so I started out doing dog runs from Adelaide to Port Augusta, and then it all went from there. Then I went on to the Adelaide to Sydney express runs, working for Transtar Express.
“But I’ve been in and out of it over the years. I owned a service station, mechanical workshop and Bridgestone tyre shop in Adelaide at one stage too. Then went back to driving, doing all sorts of bits and pieces.”
His current work though is definitely not for the faint-hearted. It sees him travel some of the most treacherous outback roads – tackling corrugations, creeks and more.
Based in Livingstone in Darwin, Northern Stock Water is a manufacturing and sales business that specialises in water infrastructure and installation. “The company manufactures all of the poly pipe and produces the troughs and feedlots out of concrete, and that’s what we deliver,” explained Russell. “We cart our products to stations, most of which are in the middle of nowhere – throughout the Northern Territory, all through Queensland and more recently we’ve started going into Western Australia too. I also transport their dongas around to wherever they need to go.”
Along with its main site, Northern Stock Water has two sales outlets – located in Katherine in the Northern Territory and Cloncurry in Queensland.
The fleet consists of two Kenworth T909s. “This new one is pretty flash,” said Russell. “It’s got plenty of room in it, a big bunk, two fridges, a microwave, shower, water and all that sort of stuff.”
Russell chatted to Big Rigs as he was heading down south on the Barkly Highway, near the Queensland border. When asked what he enjoys most about the work, he said, “I love the station people, the open road and being out there on my own. I’ve been to so many places you wouldn’t dream about.
“I love travelling through the Kimberley, the Pilbara – where I’m driving through now is fantastic too. I love going anywhere that’s not in a big town. There are so many great people out there, who are always willing to give you a hand.
“I’m about 50 kilometres out of Katherine now and it’s quiet at the moment. Peak time is bad though when all of the caravans are out – it just gets crazy.
“There aren’t many stations on the highways, so it’s mainly all on the dirt, which can be a challenge. All the way down to Birdsville is really narrow. The road I’m going on tomorrow is Austral Downs Road, which is 180 kilometres down to Nash and that will take about three hours to do.”
While he’s only been able to head back to Adelaide a handful of times since his move up north, Russell says he’s looking forward to taking some time off over Christmas to spend some quality time with his grandkids.
“Because of where we go, we stop over the wet season. Usually from around the end of November, so I’m going back to Adelaide and will come back up in March next year.”