Where will your life lead you? Yes, it is really important to have a plan; I’m sure you Little Truckers have one. But opportunities will come your way, and it will be up to you to do something about them … if you want to.

Working at New Zealand Trucking and Little Trucker Down Under magazines is a whole lot of fun. You meet and work with lots of truly great people, and you see cool machines doing important work. Sometimes I get asked how I got this job.

It all started in 1985 when New Zealand Trucking magazine first arrived on the shelves. I was a young person working in a transport company called Thames Freightlines, located in the town of Thames in the North Island of New Zealand. I worked in the office back then as a junior office worker putting prices on all the freight dockets.

I was truck mad; I always have been. After work at nights and in the weekends I rode in trucks, drove trucks, and took photos of trucks. I tried to make models like the ones our Capt Carl Kirkbeck makes, but I have always been rubbish at making model trucks. I think it is my ‘bung’ eyes combined with a lack of talent.

Anyway, New Zealand Trucking magazine had arrived, and many enthusiasts just like me were excited at the thought of seeing a photo we had taken in its pages. In those days the magazine was all there was – the internet as you know it now was 15 years away.

Jon Addison was an original co-owner and the first editor of New Zealand Trucking magazine and little did we know he was willing to help anyone who wanted to give contributing a go. Contributing – there is a big word, and it means taking photos and writing stories for the magazine. Some of us took up the opportunity he gave us, and that is how it all started.

You will have seen Craig McCauley’s name in the New Zealand Trucking magazine? Craig was one of the early contributors also. His daughter Milly you will certainly all know – she’s been our Little Trucker Down Under regular contributor since that magazine began, and next year she will step up to New Zealand Trucking magazine. Isn’t that amazing! It was Craig taking an opportunity all those years ago that opened doors for his daughter. Back then he did not even know he would one day have a daughter! There’s a big life lesson for you … the opportunities you make the most of in your life might just help the generations who follow you! Wow!

I have always tried to pay forward the opportunity Jon Addison gave me all those years ago.

One of the great things for me about Little Trucker Down Under when we decided to give that a go, was the opportunity it would give kids to start their writing and storytelling career much earlier in life than I was able to.

We’ve had some great successes. Milly of course, but also Dustin Wright from North Canterbury who has taken his opportunity with both hands and is now one of the team. He and Milly have both come with us on a cover story shoot for New Zealand Trucking magazine recently, just to give them a taste of what that’s like. They are on their way, who knows where it will take them? It may not even be writing about trucks. As their passions evolve, it might lead to writing about other things, but the big thing is, they know they can do it! We also have a bunch of other regular writers for Little Trucker Down Under, and soon we will start to see even newer names also! Orlando Scott from Kaiapoi just north of Christchurch is old enough to start sharing his love of trucks with us through words and pictures, so keep a lookout for his name.

That then, leaves us with you. Yes, what about you? You might be just like me and Craig all those years ago … just a truck-mad kid who would love to see their name, stories, and photos in a real life magazine. If that is you, all you need to do is contact Shannon Williams at Little Trucker Down Under and let her know you’re keen. From there, as the old saying goes … the rest will be history

Thank you so much for loving trucks.