In a career that spans many decades, Roger Alomes has clocked up over 7.6 million kilometres in his beloved Peterbilt, and many more before that too.
From buying his first truck in the 1970s and his dream truck in the 1990s to overcoming a significant health scare that threatened to take him off the road for good – Roger Alomes has many stories to tell from a trucking career that spans more than 50 years.
For the past 29 years, Roger sub-contracted for Nolan’s Interstate Transport, transporting produce from Melbourne to Brisbane from behind the wheel of his 1995 Peterbilt 379, that he’s had since new.
“Nolan’s was the best place I’ve ever worked in my life,” Roger said. “Back when I started at Nolan’s, there were a lot of people who wanted a job there. But the only way they could make a job for someone was to buy more trucks – because no one ever left!”
A true gentleman of the industry, Roger has been described by his employer as always reliable, hardworking and extremely humble.
Roger grew up in Tasmania. His father drove bulldozers and trucks, so Roger got his start on the dozer before making the switch to trucks in 1972. As he revealed, his first truck purchase was based on a handshake and a whole lot of trust.
“Dad had a good relationship with AG Webster, who were the agent for Mack Trucks in Tasmania,” said Roger.
“They had started their own finance company and I was the first one on the books.
“A fellow called Paul Barnes said I’ll give you a brand new truck and when you’ve got $10,000 you can come back and pay your deposit! It was all based on trust.”
Roger had worked the dozer on the Gordon River Road project in Tasmania and when that road was completed, there were lots of logs that needed to be moved out – so with his new truck, Roger did exactly that.
Then in 1986, Roger decided to move to Victoria. “At the time, I couldn’t see a future in logging and thought that one day we’d all be out of work, so that’s when I left. Though I might have jumped the gun a little.”
He’s called Melbourne home ever since. After the move Roger got a job running interstate from Melbourne to Sydney. Then after 12 months, he bought his own trailer and started doing the Melbourne to Brisbane run – a route he did ever since, up until he finished with Nolan’s on June 30 this year.
Roger’s striking red Peterbilt became a very familiar sight at Nolan’s Melbourne and Brisbane depots.
As Roger explained though, it was a two-year process to get his hands on the rig he’s owned for the past three decades. In that time, Roger’s done a whopping 7.6 million kilometres in that truck alone. That’s in addition to all the kilometres travelled in the 20 years before that too.
“That was my dream truck and I still think it’s the best truck in the world. It’s still almost as good as the day I bought it. It doesn’t have a rattle or squeak or anything, it is just a beautiful truck,” said Roger.
“It was a battle to get my hands on it though. It took two years to get it on the road, but it was all worth it.”
Roger spoke of the lengths he had to go to just to buy his Peterbilt. “I was in the sales yard in California and a salesman came out and asked if I was interested in one of these trucks. I said yes I am! When he heard I was from Australia, he said that was too bad because they aren’t allowed to sell to Australia.”
Luckily for Roger, the salesman was willing to help him out. “He asked if I really wanted one of these trucks and then we went through the specs. The salesman went and asked his general manager if we could build to those specs and he said of course they could. When the general manager asked if the truck was going to Canada, the salesman didn’t answer and then put the order through,” explained Roger.
“It took two years to build because there were 30,000 trucks ahead of mine and they were building 15,000-16,000 trucks a year at the time. When it arrived in the yard and the general manager found out it was going to Australia, he said, well we can’t do that!”
The salesman told Roger not to worry. “We won’t sell that truck because it’s too heavy,” he said.
After two months and no bites from anyone else, Roger got a phone call. “The general manager had asked the salesman if that guy in Australia still wanted the truck.
“So I paid for it and it came into Brisbane on Good Friday in 1996. I had it converted to right-hand drive at John Bell in Rocklea, which took about nine months and then I finally had it registered in December 1996.
“I nearly gave up two or three times but it all came together in the end.”
“I drove the Peterbilt and maintained it. Nothing broke on it for 8-12 years. And I was doing two trips a week to Brisbane for years and years. That was around 20,000 kilometres a fortnight.
“All my truck has done all its life is travel up and down the Newell Highway. So many people would say why are you buying this thing for? But it’s been an incredible truck.”
And Roger’s driven that Peterbilt ever since. He was doing the Melbourne to Brisbane run twice a week up until 2012, when a shock diagnosis of aggressive bladder cancer saw him off the road for nine months.
“I kept my truck but I sold my refrigerated trailer. I didn’t think I’d go back to work – at one point, I didn’t think I’d get through it,” he admitted.
Roger credits his wife Joan Alomes with saving his life. “At the time, I was still feeling 100 per cent but I had passed blood, so Joan made me go to the doctor. She’s the one who saved me,” said Roger.
“I didn’t think anything was wrong with me.”
I wouldn’t have done anything about it until it was too late. I was still going to work as normal.”
After various tests all came back looking normal, Roger’s doctor ordered an MRI. “When the doctor called me to come in, I said I’d already loaded to go up to Brisbane, so I didn’t go in until four days later. When I went back to the hospital, they found it was aggressive cancer and I had surgery to remove my bladder the next day.”
Roger said that the late Terry Nolan, who owned Nolan’s Interstate Transport, would call to check on him every single week. Sadly, Terry lost his own fight with cancer in 2014.
As Roger recalled, “Terry Nolan rang me every single week to check in and see how I was. Then after nine months, I said I’m actually feeling good and think I could go back to work but I’ve sold my trailer. Terry said, ‘We’ve got plenty of trailers here.’ So I went back and towed their trailers. After that I went down to one Melbourne to Brisbane trip a week.”
By the age of 83, most truckies have well and truly retired or at the very least scaled back to shorter runs. Roger shared his reason for continuing in this role for so long. “Working for good people, it’s as simple as that. Nolan’s is just an absolutely incredible company. I had a great relationship with Terry. He was such a great, wonderful man. He meant a lot to me and a lot to everybody else as well. When he said thank you, it always came from the heart.
“After Terry passed away, I wasn’t sure if they’d still want an old subbie like me but they’ve always been so good to me, all the staff, at every single level. The job has always been here for me.
“The other reason is that my wife looked after me so well. She got me well from cancer and strong enough to go back to work.
“I could have retired a long time ago, I could have not gone back to work after I had cancer – but I wanted to go back to work.”
Now, as the curtain comes down on a major chapter of Roger’s life, he said he knew the time was right to retire.
“Time is getting on and I’m not as young as I was. I could still keep going but I know it’s the right time for me. I’ve been extremely lucky to keep going for as long as I have.
“It’s the people I’ll miss the most. I had a very good relationship with everyone in the company. I’ll still go in and say hi to everyone.”
Roger also revealed that he’s now ready to part with his Peterbilt, which he plans to put up for sale.
With more time on his hands now too, he and Joan are looking forward to doing some travelling. “We’ve always wanted to go to the Mississippi River on a paddle steamer, so we’ll do that at some stage; along with some trips to Queensland and Tassie too.”