Wheels Wheels Wheels
Our mate Thomas loves heading out on his dad’s truck, and when they get home, it’s his job to wash all the wheels.
Hi! I’m Thomas, I’m 7 years old and I live in Maffra, which is in the state of Victoria in Australia.
I love trucks, and Kenworth is my favourite type of truck.
I have always been around trucks, and my dad drives a Kenworth T409. When I go out trucking with Dad, I get to see heaps of trucks – Kenworths, Western Stars, Peterbilt. And when Dad brings his truck home, I always help him wash it – my job is to do the wheels. There are 10 wheels on Dad’s truck, and on his B-double trailer setup, there are 24 wheels on the trailer.
All my life, all dad’s friends have been truck drivers, and they have always let me sit inside them, which is really cool. When we’re out trucking, Dad and I always wave at our fellow truckers.
I also have a lot of toy trucks, so I can pretend that I am in a real truck. When I grow up, I want to be a truck driver with two trailers carting cattle around Australia. I like trucks because inside the trucks look so cool and big.
Lots of laughs with Dustin and Roger
Dustin was lucky enough to spend the day out in a truck with his mate Roger from GVT Landline, transporting fertiliser to a couple of farms.
Hi my name is Dustin Wright. I’m 12 years old and I live in Hawarden, North Canterbury.
I recently went out on a truck trip with GVT Landline, a transport operator. That spring morning, I woke up and had my breakfast - I needed to be at the end of the drive early for the day ahead.
I was picked up by Roger Marsh from GVT Landline at 7:30am, and we were going to spread some fertiliser. Roger drives a 320hp Mercedes-Benz 4x4 fert spreader.
We went down to the quarry to pick up the fertiliser. Roger got in the loader and warmed it up and then loaded up the truck as his trailer was getting fixed. After loading the truck we went to a dairy farm and put the fertiliser on the land.
After finishing at the dairy farm, we went to our next location - this time it was a sheep and beef farm. We went up quite a steep hill - even Roger didn’t like it too much! At the quarry, the loader took one and a half bucket loads to load the truck.
I really enjoyed my day, with lots of laughs along the way.
A day in the life... Riding Shotgun with Gundy
We spent a day with Will Gunderson from Gundy Transport in Palmerston North and his 2021 Kenworth K200 Fatcab!
It’s 11.30pm when I arrive at Foodstuffs, Palmerston North ready to ride shotgun with Will Gunderson, owner of Gundy Transport. Tonight, we are in his very cool 2021 Kenworth K200 Fatcab! With 600 horsepower, run by a X15 engine and an 18-speed Road Ranger gearbox, this tractor unit and 14.1 metre semi-trailer is well equipped to get the job done.
I am a tad early so I join some other staff on their break where I meet Jordon. He works in the office doing the night shift and invites me in to wait for Will. I am told the truck is already loaded and ready to roll. Will arrives and grabs his paperwork. This includes all tonight’s deliveries – places we are going and what is going to each destination. Before we can head out onto the road, a vehicle inspection is done and log book started — now we are ready to roll!
First stop
It is 12.30am when we leave Foodstuffs, heading south to Wellington loaded with chilled goods. We arrive at Foodstuffs, Grenada North at 2.40am, back into the loading dock where we are greeted by a forklift driver who unloads five pallets containing what they call small goods. These include things like processed meats, chicken and pre-packaged salads that are then distributed further on to different shops.
Next stop is New World, Thorndon and we arrive there around 3.30am. Here we drop off six pallets and get six empty pallets to return to Foodstuffs, loaded and unloaded by the forklift driver who also checks the items we have delivered are correct. Each pallet is assigned a number and the items are listed and scanned into the system. Before leaving, Will grabs a trolley and moves the pallets for our next delivery to the rear of the trailer.
We arrive at our next destination early at 4am. We are now at New World, Courtney Place in Wellington City. Here Will catches up on paperwork while we wait for the shed to open. Seven pallets are unloaded and then we are off again! Exiting this supermarket can be quite difficult during busier times of the day with heavy traffic going by, but lucky for us most people are still fast asleep.
Taking pride in our gear
Kilbirnie Pak’n’ Save is our fourth stop and again we arrive early at around 5am. With an hour before the gates open and we are unloaded, now is the perfect opportunity for polishing the truck’s wheels. Taking pride in the gear is a big part of being a truck driver. The gate eventually opens and we reverse in, eight pallets are dropped here then we head to New World in Miramar. This is our last delivery before leaving Wellington and heading back towards Palmerston North. It is now 7am, the sun has risen and it’s daylight! Here we grab ourselves a coffee in the staffroom while the forklift driver unloads the last four pallets in the trailer.
On our way back, we stop at Fresh Pork NZ, Levin. Here we get fully loaded with pork legs, belly, and various other bits. The trailer is quite heavy now with each pallet weighing anywhere between 200 and 800kgs. Our trailer has the capacity to carry 24 pallets (20 tonne).
Back to Palmy
It’s about 10.30am when we arrive back in Palmerston North, where we stop at Premier Bacon to unload the pork, which will then be carted to Premier Bacon in Carterton for processing by another truck. Once unloaded we head back to Foodstuffs. Here, we back into the loading dock ready to be reloaded for the next driver to do his deliveries. For us, it’s now time to go home and sleep!
I had an awesome time tagging along for the ride and getting a wee insight into what goes on in the world of refrigeration truck transport.
Thank you Will for having me!
