Junior Reporter

Jacob checks out Round 2 of NZ Super Truck Racing at Levels Raceway in Timaru. He takes people on trips in his own little truck, and donates the money he receives to help animals at the SPCA.

For this race meet my granddad couldn’t come so I knew it was my job to help out as much as I could. I helped cook and prepare meals for the team.

I helped out selling merchandise for The New Zealand Trucking Association, and I got to work on the EFTPOS machine for The Punisher merchandise too. The whole team turned up to help out.

I was so proud of my dad getting second in Round 2 that weekend, and coming second in the championship.

I love the photo of Dad and me with The Punisher – my little truck and the legend together.

I was disappointed because I couldn’t drive my truck at this meeting. It was too big and busy so my mum stepped in and helped out raising money for the SPCA. We got $350! That’s what you do when you’re a team!

We’ve got the third and final instalment of Demi’s big road trip with her granddad, Ken, who likes to take the kids out in his truck in Australia. We left off in part two (LTDU Autumn 2024) with Demi and her granddad parked up for the night after a long day on the road. Demi’s just woken up as Granddad is starting up the truck to get going.

Still in my bunk, Granddad says I can stay where I am if I’m still tired.

“Ok Granddad, I might do that,” I say.

The next thing I remember was Granddad talking on the radio to a mate of his as we went south through Mt Magnet.

“Oh, you’re awake, are you?” he asks as I sit up and pull my jumper on.

“Yes, I’m awake but can we stop soon. I need the toilet and to clean my teeth.”

“Yes sweetheart, we can stop at Kirkalocka Station in about 25 minutes, and you can do both there. Can you hang on that long?”

We get to Kirkalocka Station, and I do what I have to while Granddad gets us both some breakfast out of the fridge – fresh fruit and muesli.

After breakfast, we had been going for about half an hour when we came up behind two eight-metre-wide loads going south, but there were two eight-metre-wide loads coming north and we were going to all meet quite soon. Granddad backed off and called the rear pilot.

“Southbound eight-metre pilots. MTA here with two at two-point-seven and light. I’ll just sit back here until we have got around those northbounds if you like,” he says.

“That would be great MTA, if you don’t mind.”

“Not a problem, mate,” Granddad says.

The art sculptures were really creative.

We had only gone about another kilometre down the road when the eight-metre loads and pilots in front of us stopped and the radio was going flat out with the wardens and pilots from both north and southbound big loads working out how to get around each other safely.

It ended up that the northbound eight-metre-wide loads pulled into a parking bay, the southbound eight- metre loads stayed parked on the road getting as far to the left as possible so that the traffic behind the northbound could come through, and then we got called around. As we pulled away, we could hear both lots of pilots getting their loads moving again.

“Well, that was a bit of fun that most people don’t get to see,” Granddad says.

“I never realised how much organising those big loads take when you have talked about them before. I’m going to do an essay on them for my monthly project at school,” I say.

“That’s good Demi. So, you think the trip was worthwhile then?”

“It’s always worthwhile coming with you Granddad and you know it!”

“That’s good then dear. I would hate to be wasting my time,” Granddad says with a big grin all over his face.

An hour later we pull into the roadhouse at Paynes Find so Granddad can have his five-hour break. He said he was hoping to get to Perth with only one break but that won’t happen now. We will have to have another break at the Chittering Roadhouse, which is almost an hour north of Perth, but we will still be in the yard and parked up by five o’clock this afternoon and home for tea.

As we were coming into Perth, Granddad was on the phone to his boss, and when they were done, Granddad said that things just got easier. He did not have to take the trailers to the yard – just drop them at the Kewdale hook-up area and go home.

That was my road trip and I loved it. Thank you so much Granddad for such a wonderful trip together. – Demi

Dustin gets the opportunity to explore the West Coast in the passenger seat of a K200 with the amazing team at Trans West.

Hey little truckers! How are the holidays going? I hope you got some good presents at Christmas time and the new year is going well.

While I was on holiday on the West Coast (in New Zealand’s South Island), I thought it might be good to do a transport trip on the other side of the Southern Alps, so we called in and asked Trans West (who are based just out of Greymouth). Luckily enough, Dylan and Kate let me do an article. Mum got the call on Tuesday to say I was going in a Kenworth K200 – SWEET!!

On Wednesday morning I got up and made breakfast then I got ready to go. Dad and I jumped in the car and went to the yard and met the driver, Graham (Hutch) Hutchison. For our first load we left the yard and went to Ikamatua, a small town on the way to Reefton and dropped off some bulls at a farm. As we made our way to the second job I asked Hutch why he liked transporting stock and what got him into trucking. Like many people who drive trucks, he remembers riding around in trucks with his granddad and dad, and along with the stock he just enjoys seeing rural New Zealand through the windscreen and going to many different new places; no day is the same.

The rest of the afternoon we moved cattle between farms in the Grey Valley, making our way back to Stillwater where Dad met me on the side of the road.

Another question I asked Hutch was what was his favourite truck and favourite piece of road to drive. His reply was one we can’t disagree with – driving the Devil’s Staircase near Queenstown or the Lewis Pass in his old Kenworth K108, how cool.

Thank you very much to the Trans West team, you were awesome for getting me into this truck, I really enjoyed my day on the West Coast.

We’ve got part two of Demi’s big road trip with her granddad, Ken, who likes to take the kids out in his truck in Australia.

We left off in part one (Summer 2023) with Demi listening to her granddad on the radio, carefully coordinating with some other big trucks that needed to overtake them as they made their way from Perth.

We go on up the road for about another hour before Granddad pulls into a truck bay.

“What are we stopping for?” I ask.

“Time to check the load and tyres,” Granddad said.

He lifts me down off the fuel tank under the passenger side door and we walk around the truck. He has an iron bar in his hand that he bangs the tyres with. He explained to me once that he knows whether a tyre has the right pressure in it by the sound they make when he hits them with his iron bar. As well as hitting the tyres he checks all the chains and straps holding the load on. He only had to retighten one chain. The rest of the load was fine, he said.

“Right, let’s get going shall we, otherwise that front-end loader is going to pass us if we stay here any longer.”

We get going again and drive for another two hours until we get to Wubin where we pull into the road train assembly area.

“If you want to go to the loo sweetheart, you had better go here because otherwise it’s going to be behind a bush until we get to Paynes Find, which is two and a half hours away.”

“OK, thanks Granddad, I will.”

The toilet and shower block at Wubin is a unisex shower and toilet setup that Dad says is one of the better set of facilities up the Great Northern Highway, which he says is very poorly served for the number of trucks that are running up and down the highway these days.

After a half-hour break at Wubin, we get going again and as we are pulling out the big loader that we passed pulled in for a break. Granddad says that the law requires all drivers to have a half-hour break every five hours. We had been going about half an hour when I started to yawn.

“Bunk time for you, wee girl,” Granddad said. So, I undid my seat belt and climbed over the fridge and into the bunk.

“Pull those curtains across dear. They will block the light and a lot of the noise out so you might sleep better,” Granddad said.

It was three hours later that I woke up as we were approaching Mt Magnet, which is a small mining town about 550 kilometres north of Perth.

“Have a good sleep?”

“Yes, thanks Granddad, I didn’t realise how tired I was, but I went out like a light.”

“Yes, I noticed and that is good because it can be a long day in the truck when you are just sitting there with nothing to do. Do you want to get my iPad out and read or play a game on it?”

“No thanks Granddad, I’m a bit like you, I enjoy the quiet and there’s always the two-way going off about something or other.”

“Very true dear. Do you want to dive into the fridge and grab me an apple please. Get whatever you want as well, you must be getting hungry by now.”

We get through Mt Magnet and are about halfway to a little town called Cue when a southbound pilot calls.

“Two at eight metres MTA. There’s a floodway around the next bend that you will get to before they get there.”

“Thanks pilot, I’ll get tucked in, I’m 3.4m.”

“Thanks MTA.”

We get around the next bend and half a kilometre up the road is a floodway where the road gets wider and that is where Granddad pulls into, getting as far off the road as he can when the second pilot for the eight-metre loads comes around the corner followed by the traffic warden, and then about a minute later two eight-metre-wide haul pack truck chassis came around the bend. When the eight-metre loads go past there is not a lot of room on the road for anyone else.

As the rear pilot goes past, she calls up.

“Thanks MTA, have a good day.”

“You too pilot,” Granddad says as he pulls back out onto the roadway.

Thirty minutes later we pull into the roadhouse parking bay at a little town called Cue.

“Shower and food time dear, and then we will keep going until sunset, which will put us just north of Meekatharra,” Granddad says.

We have a shower and Granddad gets us each a hamburger; they are huge but very nice, and I am not hungry by the time I am finished. Granddad told me about the burgers you can get here. He says it is the only place up this road that he buys food from.

By the time we have showered and eaten we have had the 30-minute break that Granddad said he had to have, and we get going again and get to where Granddad said we would just as the sun was going down, which is a big gravel pit 10 kilometres north of the mining town of Meekatharra.

We get pulled in and Granddad gets us as far away from the road as he can so that we get as little of the road noise as possible when trucks are going past, so hopefully I can sleep better.

Granddad sleeps with earplugs in at night so the noise doesn’t worry him, but I don’t like them in my ears. I suppose you get used to them if you have to.

After checking the truck and the loads, Granddad pushes the fridge under the bunk and draws the curtains around the cab so it is nice and private, then he pulls out his folder and gets all his paperwork up to date. After reading for a little while we get my bag off the bunk and get my pillow off the top of the microwave. Granddad gets out of the truck to give me some privacy, telling me to get dressed for bed. In the truck I am just sleeping in shorts and a tee shirt, and he just sleeps in shorts. I get into the bunk with my head underneath the microwave shelf. Granddad sleeps with his head up at the other end of the bunk. He said he sleeps that way because it is the quieter end of the bunk if he has the Icepack going. The Icepack is a little air conditioning unit that keeps the truck cab and sleeper cool at night in the hot weather, but it isn’t very hot tonight so Granddad said we would just sleep with the vents open and enjoy the fresh air.

It’s 5:30 the next morning and Granddad’s alarm is going. He gets up and puts his shirt on. “I’m going to check everything sweetheart, so get dressed and we will get going as soon as the sun pokes its nose over the horizon.” Ten minutes later he’s back, starting the truck and folding the curtains away.

“Did you sleep well?” he asks.

“Yes, thanks Granddad. I only woke up a couple of times when other trucks went past and once when you stuck your foot in my face, but otherwise I slept well!”

We got going as the sun was just coming over the horizon. It took us three hours to get to a roadhouse at a place called Kumarina, which is 170 kilometres south of Mt Newman and is where we are going to. We stop at the roadhouse, and I use the loo while Granddad checks the load and tyres and then we get going again. A bit over two hours later Granddad is on the phone talking to the manager in Newman and he said we have a quick turnaround. There are two trailers at the hook-up, which is the road train assembly area. All we have to do is unhook the two trailers that we have brought up and put a dolly under one of the ones we are taking home. The lead trailer then gets backed onto the dolly that we put under the front of the other one, which becomes the dog trailer.

“What’s on the trailers we are taking home, Granddad?” I ask.

“Just a couple of 2.7m wide huts Demi, nice easy freight and they are only 2.7m so we can run in the dark with those. We will be back in Perth by mid- afternoon tomorrow.”

By the time we had dropped the two trailers that we brought, fuelled up, gone around to the Newman yard for a shower, hooked up to our southbound trailers and put the flags and banners on again it was half past four in the afternoon.

“That’s pretty good, dear. We will get to Meekatharra again tonight, which will get us in to Perth about three tomorrow afternoon and home for tea.”

“Why are we allowed to travel in the dark with this oversized load Granddad, when we weren’t allowed to coming up?” I ask.

“That’s because the load coming up was 3.4m wide and the one going home is 2.7m. Up to 2.7m you can run in the dark, but anything wider than that must be daylight hours only.”

We get going and stop at Kumarina, where Granddad gets me a small bag of hot chips. He didn’t want any. It is almost boring what he eats when he is out on the road. Almost no fried food at all and no lollies or biscuits; he eats a lot of fruit and nuts as well as raw vegetables, but as he says, he is in pretty good shape.

It’s just on 9:30pm when we get to the gravel pit at Meekatharra at the end of a 15-hour day. I am very tired, but Granddad seems fine. As he said, “I am used to it dear, you aren’t”.

Granddad gets the truck parked, pushes the fridge under the bunk and draws the curtains and goes for a walk around the truck while I get into my shorts and tee shirt for bed. I lay down on the bunk and that is the last thing I remember until I woke up the next morning.

Lukas Jimmieson heads out with his dad in his Scania R620 visiting some farms.

It’s 10am on a Tuesday morning and we are loaded up with 500 lambs that we have picked up, headed towards the processing plant in Feilding.

Our day started after an overnight stop in the Martinborough Transport yard. To kick things off, the 5.30am alarm goes off and we are up, bunks made, and a tidy of the cab before heading over to the wash bay. A quick hose out getting rid of yesterday’s animal poop – one of my favorite jobs because I can get stuck in and can see the cool end result. Then we have a wash up of the outside, getting Dad’s Scania R620 shining bright.

Now with everything clean, it was time for a quick hot drink and we were away, heading away from Martinborough and over to Wairere Farm.

Wairere Farm is one of my favorite farms we visit because it’s so big and everyone there is welcoming and willing to teach me things.

This is our first pickup of the day. We back in and get stuck in loading up the truck. Only 60 lambs from Wairere today, and off we go.

We had four pickups overall that day totalling 525 lambs. Over to Fielding we go, but not before a stop in Pahiatua for some lunch. Chicken and chips it is. Yum.

Dustin’s up bright and early around Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand, spending a day in a log truck with Canterbury-based transport operator Steve Murphy Limited.

Hey there Little Truckers, how are we getting on? While you were sleeping the other morning I was up bright and early, trucking along in a Mack Granite with a load of logs, heading to Rolleston.

Once we got there, we were a bit early for the loader driver so our driver Jimmy unloaded. When he finished I was allowed to jump out, and Jimmy handed me the broom and got me to sweep down the chassis. Then we went off to a crane called a gantry and put the trailer up on the back of the truck.

We jumped back in the truck and headed for a small North Canterbury town called Greta Valley where our first load was. When we got there, there was another trucker there that had just got loaded so he pulled forward and we backed in. Then the digger took the trailer off the back of the truck, and we went and helped the other truck chain down. When we were getting loaded I was lucky enough to get out and take some photos.

Once we were loaded we pulled forward and chained down. This is when you throw the chains over the logs, and then pull them down tight to make sure they are secure.

Jimmy and I got on the road back to town heading for Rolleston again for round two. Once we got there the loader driver was moving some logs around so we took off our chains and moved forward for him to unload us. Then we headed back north once more to get loaded at the same place. We got loaded, chained down again and this time we were going to a place in Rangiora called McAlpines, where we unloaded the third load of the day.

After that, we headed home as Jimmy and I live just down the road from each other. Once he dropped me off I just stood there as the big Mack gave a grunt and took off and I got the big toot.

Now a bit about Jimmy. Jimmy has loved trucks ever since he was a little boy. He got his licences on his 18th birthday. Jimmy’s favourite truck was a DAF 430hp until he got the Mack Granite 500hp. Some of the questions I put to Jimmy were if you were to go to the Australian Outback, what truck would you have? How much horsepower, what motor? And who would be his passenger? Jimmy said he would drive a Scania V8 770 and his passenger would be his late Dad.

Thanks to Chris Murphy (as always) the boss, Burt the dispatcher who pulled the strings to get me into the private job, Jimmy the driver, and Will Cowens for getting my hard hat and some merchandise.

Hi, I’m Demi and I’m 11 years old, and this is my first big road trip with Grandad. He takes us kids out with him on short day runs and we take turns. This is part one of our trip from Perth to Mt Newman.

Someone has a hand on my shoulder and is shaking me gently.

“Come on sweetheart, it’s time to get up.”

It is my grandad waking me up. I am going with him today and we are driving from Perth to Mt Newman, although Grandad said that we won’t get to Newman, as he calls it, until tomorrow.

“What time is it?” I ask.

“A quarter past four and we need to get moving so come on, get dressed. I’ve got the bread in the toaster and there’s some milk in a glass for you.”

Grandad goes back to the kitchen, and I get myself dressed and clean my teeth. I packed my bag last night so I would be ready this morning.

Grandad drives road trains out of Perth going all over northwestern Australia for MTA Transport and is often away for a week or more at a time. A month ago, he went to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory and was away for 12 days. Today he has got a double road train with an excavator on his back trailer that he calls his dog and a front-end loader on his front trailer that he calls his lead.

I walk into the kitchen with my soft pack with my clothes and stuff in. Grandad has my milk and toast on the table waiting for me. I eat my breakfast and wash up before getting into the Suzuki to head to the transport yard where Grandad’s truck is.

“Why do we have to be so early?” I ask.

“Because I still have to flag up, put my banners up then put the flashing light on before we go anywhere, as well as check all the straps and chains to make sure that the load on each trailer is secure and we need to be ready to go at daybreak, which is at 5.50am this morning,” Grandad says.

“I don’t want to be late getting out and be caught behind any of those eight-meter loads that always come out on Saturday mornings.”

We get to MTA’s yard at 5:05am.

Grandad checks his truck out and starts it up. His truck is an almost new Mack superliner with a 600-horsepower engine, and it is an automatic, not an 18-speeder as he calls the other trucks that have a manual shift.

“Put your gear on the bunk and the food in the fridge Demi and then you can help me flag up,” he says to me.

We walk down the side of the truck and Grandad pulls a roll of four yellow and orange flags out of a black bag. The flags have got elastic cords running through the top end with hooks on them. Grandad is putting a hook onto a metal bar on the side in the truck at the front of the excavator and the hook on the other end onto the rail that runs under the edge of the trailer. Grandad said that it is called the rope rail. We walk a bit further down the excavator and Grandad puts another flag at the back of the track frame.

“You have to have a flag at each end of any oversized load, and you have to do the same with each trailer and on both sides of each trailer,” Grandad explains.

Grandad works down the second trailer putting flags onto the front-end loader and then we go around the other side and work our way back up to the front of the truck.

“Now we will put the oversized banner on the back and put the flashing light on the back. Then we will be ready to go – and on time too,” Grandad says.

“Why do you have to put a flashing light on the back, Grandad?” I ask.

“When you are over 2.7 meters wide, you must have flashing lights going at the front and back of the truck, and we are 3.4 meters wide this morning, so we have to have all the flashing lights as well as headlights on. That’s the law and we are not just a single oversized, but an oversized road train and the heavies will be watching, it being Saturday morning.”

“Who are the heavies, Grandad?”

“They are the Main Roads inspectors that enforce all the rules and regulations about what trucks can go where and what they can carry. It is my job to make sure all my permits are current,” he says.

“Ok sweetheart, jump in and put your seatbelt on,” Grandad says as he opens the passenger door for me. It is too high off the ground for me to reach so he lifts me up onto the fuel tank so I can get in the passenger’s door.

We get in the truck and Grandad checks to make sure that all his paperwork is up to date. He puts his paperwork folder beside his seat, puts his seatbelt on and puts the truck into gear.

“Spot on time sweetheart, ten minutes to six and we are rolling, none of those eight-meter loads have made any noise on the radio yet so let’s hope that we are in front of them all.”

We hadn’t been going for more than five minutes when the radio came to life. I didn’t understand what they were saying but Grandad said that it was one of the eight-meter loads. It must take a lot of organising because Grandad said that those eight-meter loads must have a pilot out in front and then another one behind them, and then the police traffic warden and then the eight-meter load or loads and then another pilot behind the load to stop traffic passing where it shouldn’t. I see now why Grandad wanted to get out in front of them.

We get going and are about 20 minutes up the Tonkin Highway when Grandad says, “Damn.”

“There is another big load in front of us and they are just getting ready to pull out of the Chittering Roadhouse now, so we will catch them up the other side of Bindoon in the hills. We may be stuck behind them for a while until there is a spot where they let traffic around them. When we get close, I will tell you what they are saying, and you will see what I mean.”

Forty minutes from the yard and we are getting close to Muchea. The radio is quite busy with two or three big, oversized loads getting out of Perth and Grandad said that the load that came out of the Chittering Roadhouse is just going through Bindoon and he doesn’t think we will catch them in time to get around them, so we may have to sit behind them until we get to the three lane at Long Bridge Gully, which is about 10 minutes further north. We come past the Chittering Roadhouse as another oversized load is getting ready to pull out heading north as well.

“It looks like it’s going to be a normal Saturday morning,” Grandad says.

We come down the hill and across the bridge before getting to Bindoon and the radio is going almost nonstop, and Grandad is listening to it all and I know not to talk when he is listening like that. He told me that he must know what is going on in front of us as well as behind us because being oversized we can only do the speed allowed on the permit, which is 80km/h. At that speed there are a lot of trucks coming up behind us and wanting to get past. Most of them call up on the radio.

“North bound over sized, I’m just behind you, let me know when it’s good to come around.”

Grandad waits until he knows it is safe and there is the room and calls the trucks behind us.

“North bound behind the double oversized. Get your boot into it mate, you are good to go.”

The overtaking truck or trucks get past us, and Grandad will call them to let them know they are past and can get back on the right side of the road.

“You are done mate, have a good trip.”

Five trucks pass us before we come up behind the 7.5m-wide load that came out of the Chittering Roadhouse. They are at the top of Bindoon hill and Grandad said that we have just missed getting around them on the three lanes, so we will have to wait until we get to Long Bridge Gully now before we can pass them.

We sit behind the 7.5m over size, which is a huge front-end loader. Grandad says that it is a Caterpillar 992, which he says is a big loader.

The radio goes just as we are coming up to the three lanes at Long Bridge Gully.

“MTA oversized, copy.”

Grandad picks up the microphone. “Copy pilot.”

“Great, are you good to go when I call.”

“Good to go pilot. I’m 3.4 wide and a double road train at about 65 tonnes.”

“Thanks MTA, get ready.”

“Will do,” Grandad says.

There was a lot more chatter and then:

“MTA crank her up mate, you are good to go.”

“Rodger pilot, I’m on my way.”

You can feel the difference when Grandad puts his foot down, the truck changes gear and then we start to move onto the other side of the road and slowly pass the big front-end loader. We get past and the lead pilot calls us back into the left lane.

“That made you grunt, MTA,” the lead pilot said.

“Yeah, but I will stay out of your way from now on, have a good day guys.”

Stay tuned for part two in the next issue of Little Trucker Down Under.

Our mate Jacob is a member of Team Quality Supertruck Racing. He recently attended the race meetings at Invercargill in the South Island and Pukekohe in the North Island. Jacob takes people on trips in his own little truck – and donates the money he receives to help animals at the SPCA.

We travelled all the way to the bottom of the South Island to race at Teretonga Park Raceway in Invercargill. Peter and I played corn hole together, he made it for me. Lots of kids played with me, and we played footy and cricket. Then all the kids went for a ride on my truck.

After all the racing was finished, the team went on a ride in William the bus down to the Bluff sign.

The following week, we travelled all the way to the Pukekohe round, which was called The Final Farewell as the track has been sold. My mum and some other helpers cooked the biggest BBQ for all the teams on Friday night and my truck got used as a BBQ table. I like doing some night rides with all my lights on. Man, the guys raced hard at the end of the meet at Pukekohe.

We all went to prize giving, and my dad won the 3nz trophy and best presented for the whole team.

Hayden also received the trophy for the work he does on the race truck, The Punisher. He works hard keeping The Punisher looking good because Dad gets a bit rough on the truck sometimes. Then all of a sudden the man presenting the awards at prize giving called out my name! I was surprised and got up straight away – I received a trophy! Junior Trucker Service to the Sport award for all the work I have been doing for the SPCA. I felt emotional and didn’t know what to say besides thank you.

I went to Wellington SPCA to give the last of the money we raised from rides in my truck. I wanted the SPCA to meet my dog Carly. In total, we raised $1076 over four rounds of truck racing. Pretty amazing. I would like to thank everyone that helped me. And remember, people can help themselves but animals can’t!

Hope to see you at the track next time!

Leah headed to the Wheels at Wanaka show earlier this year, and after a little road trip seeing all the stunning sites, she checked out what was on display at the amazing event.

After arriving in Dunedin, we met with my sister who studies at the University of Otago. She picked us up and we headed to Wanaka, making a few stops at Milton, Alexandra and Clyde. On the first full day in Wanaka, we had lots of fun seeing the amazing scenery as well as driving an hour out to The Blue Pools and seeing the clear, blue, cold water glisten as the sun bounced off it.

On the second day in Wanaka, Saturday, we got our tickets out and ready for Wheels at Wanaka. We arrived at 9:30am and were greeted by the friendly staff. As soon as you walk in on your right there’s a bunch of classic trucks – we’re talking Macks, Internationals, Kenworths, ERFs and more. After window shopping the trucks, we left Dad to go to the motorcross area, where we watched the dirt bikes practising for the Sunday competition of semifinals and finals. We watched a dirt biker jump over eight cones as well as two people! After checking that out we made our way to the parade ground whilst walking past the steam engines and steel wheel tractors. At the parade ground we watched the last bits of the 100 Years of Kenworths and the whole of the 50 Years of Mack truck parade.

We headed to the food trucks for lunch – I got pork dumplings! As we ate our lunch, we watched the scrapers parade. Next, we watched Haydon Paddon drive the PRG Hyundai Kona EV car around the parade ground and make a few donuts on the grass. On our way to the earthmoving pit my sister bought me a snow cone. At the earthmoving pit we watched the 1960-1980 classic earthmovers. Next, we checked out the vintage cars, some looked like they were old, like 1900s old! Next to us we had the modern tractors, classic muscle tractors and tractor pull modified show, so we watched that. Whilst my dad and sister went to the Mack pop up shop, Mum and I went to a shuttle stop near the earthmoving pit. On the way to it I was shocked by the size of the CAT 789 dump truck. Mum and I hopped on the trailer of a tractor for a free ride that took us back to the entrance as a fun way to end the day.

I loved it and will definitely come back again in two years!

After fun at Wanaka, we travelled to Te Anau to have a day trip at Milford Sound, Bluff at the bottom of New Zealand (it was very cold!), Invercargill to see the world’s fastest Indian, the highly modified 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle made by Burt Munro, and back to Dunedin to stay at my sister’s flat for the night! I had the best trip ever!