Gail Ritchie and Robbie Miller had just arrived in Perth and were on their break, mid-way through their seventh run together doing two-up, when Big Rigs caught up with them recently.
The couple tackles a weekly 8300-kilometre run.
Though they’re both doing the same work now, working for HPS Transport, based at Regency Park in Adelaide, their journeys into trucking looked very different.
Robbie, 53, has now been in trucking for just over a decade. “I was a diving instructor before that. Being a dive master, you’re only working at certain times during the season. I wanted to get into something with more consistent work, so I got back into trucking,” he said. “I had previously done a few small stints driving trucks before that.”
For Gail, 50, there was a long time where entering the trucking world seemed like a pipe dream. Inspired by Robbie, she had tried to make the switch from office work to trucking on several occasions. “I had a bumpy start. I didn’t think it was ever going to happen for me,” she admitted.
Gail’s first attempt to make the switch to trucks back in 2021 was only short-lived and within a few months, she was back working behind a desk.
Not one to give up on her dream, Gail’s big break came in November 2023, when after a few different roles driving trucks, Gail found work with Qube, which helped her to upskill to her MC.
The role saw her doing the 500-kilometre round trip from Qube’s Adelaide depot to Port Pirie in a road train. “I left Qube in April this year, then went to Energy Logistix for five months to get experience driving triples in remote South Australia,” said Gail.
“The role at Energy Logistix was a good opportunity to get some more experience in the Roadranger. And I wanted to be able to do things on my own, from changing my own tyres to reversing with the dolly. I’m glad I had the opportunity to do that.”
With Robbie already working at HPS for six to seven years, the opportunity to be able to work together was too good to pass up, so Gail joined him just a few months ago.
“I’ve been driving on and off for four years now,” said Gail. “When I first decided to get my truck licence, the goal was to come in and do this with him. It was a rocky road to get there but now I’m here.
“I think the biggest thing for me is that I didn’t have a truck licence and then suddenly I did. I’m proud of myself for finally doing it, especially learning the Roadranger. I still pinch myself.”
As Gail continued, “When I was driving solo up to the mines and Olympic Dam, there was that freedom of being able to stop wherever you want and enjoy the scenery. It felt like being your own boss to an extent. And now with this job, we get to spend more time together.
“When I was at Energy Logistix and Robbie was at HPS, sometimes we’d get to travel some parts together and then go our separate ways. Often, we wouldn’t see each other for four or five days.
“Robbie has been driving longer than me so now in this job, he’s been able to give me some good tips on different things – I’m still learning.”
Family owned and operated, and started over 30 years ago, HPS Transport specialises in refrigerated transporting perishable and temperature sensitive goods, including meats, seafood, dairy, confectionery, fruit, vegetables, wine, medicinal products, frozen and dry lines. The company’s main runs are between Adelaide and Perth, with daily services on this route, however the business also transports to all other capital cities too. It has a fleet of over 50 prime movers and 100 refrigerated trailers.
“They have some really nice trucks in the fleet. They’re mainly Western Stars, along with some MANs and Freightliners for the local work,” said Gail.
Robbie and Gail are in a 2021 Western Star 4900 FXC Stratosphere, with an 82-inch ultra high roof cab, pulling a 36.5 metre double road train with tri axle dolly.
“I like these slightly older Western Stars more than the new ones as there’s less tech in them,” said Robbie. “I was in the same model previously too, but in a different truck. We’ve been really happy with this one.”
Gail added, “The cabs in these trucks are huge. I didn’t have that much exposure in the manual Roadranger so this has been a massive learning curve for me.”
“We also have two fridges in the truck,” said Robbie, “so we tend to bring everything with us, but sometimes we like to stop at Mundrabilla Roadhouse. It has a pool table and a beer garden.
“Nullarbor Roadhouse is also really good,” said Gail. “And the BP roadhouse at Southern Cross does really good hot chips, so if we’re feeling a bit naughty, we’ll stop there for chips.
“There’s also a town called Kellerberrin in WA that has a great servo with about 40 different pies to choose from, so sometimes we like to stop there too, and it’s absolutely immaculate.”
As Robbie explained, “We leave Adelaide on Monday night at around 8pm and get into Perth in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Then we have 10-hour break at the depot and wait for the next lot of trailers to take to Mundrabilla or Border Village, where we do a changeover with another truck coming from Adelaide. Then we head back to Perth and get another set of trailers and arrive back in Adelaide on the Saturday morning.”
Though it’s generally all refrigerated, the loads change each week. “Last week we had a trailer of avocados, this week it was seafood. We also do a delivery at the border to the police and quarantine station every few weeks and they get so excited when the delivery rolls in,” said Robbie.
Gail added, “It’s a long trip and we haven’t killed each other yet. We get along like a house on fire, we’ve been together 13 years now.
“One of the reasons I didn’t get into two-up sooner was because I was worried I wouldn’t be able to sleep in the truck – but I’m out like a light. You get used to sleeping while the truck is bouncing around. I’ve woken up sometimes on a straight stretch of road thinking I’m in my own bed but then there’s a big jolt and I remember I’m in the truck!” she laughed.
“We have a nice set up with the bed. We’ve put a memory foam mattress in the back to help with the bouncing around.”
Robbie says that while they’re mostly on the bitumen, one of the roughest stretches of road they get along is the section of the Great Eastern Highway, from Coolgardie to Southern Cross.
Gail was happy to add, “I’ve been driving that stretch so haven’t had to sleep through it for a while which is good. There’s a bit of cursing and swearing when I go down that road. It’s really uneven and rough. They’ve done repairs, and then those repairs have sunk. There’s a lot of the roads where the fog line ends… and so does the bitumen!
“We’re only coming up to the end of our seventh week on this run and we’ve seen three rollovers already. It really does open your eyes. A lot of them have been on those roads where there’s no bitumen on the other side of the fog line.”
Asked what they love most about being on the road, Gail and Robbie both had similar responses.
“I enjoy the scenery and the open road, and there’s no one to annoy you. The scenery is always different every time you come out,” said Robbie. “I enjoy most of the drive but really love the Nullarbor and then at the Goldfields you get nice lightning storms that are all different colours. I’d never seen green lightning before I went through there – you get blue lightning, magenta lightning, it’s always changing.”
Gail agreed, “There was a huge storm that came through Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie last week when we were driving through and the lightning, oh my goodness, it just looked spectacular,” she said. “And the Bunda Cliffs are absolutely beautiful. As soon as we come over and see the rise, we look to see what colour the water is, and then there’s all the wild flowers coming up in the west, so there’s heaps of colour on the side of the road.”
And there’s also the wildlife. “I also got to see camels near a town called Cocklebiddy,” said Gail. “I came over the rise and there were six of them crossing the road which was exciting to see, including some baby camels. I even had time to stop and take photos. It took Robbie three years to see camels out there for the first time. I’m glad that happened during the day though. It would be a different story at night.”
Rob added, “You usually get them far enough away from the highways but I had one camel run out of the bushes just on sunrise one morning.”
Though they’re only a couple of months into the job, this husband and wife team are enjoying the ride. “I’m just glad to finally be working together after all of these years, and annoying each other very well,” laughed Gail.