Hey Little Truckers, recently I joined Dad on a trip to the West Coast from Motueka to deliver some dolomite (a type of fertiliser used to keep the soil healthy) to a farm north of Westport.

We rolled out of Motueka shortly after 5am and headed down the Motueka Valley towards State Highway 6 at Kohatu in darkness.

As we crested the Hope Saddle, I was treated to a spectacular sun rise, which we managed to get a photograph of, out the rear-view mirror.

In Murchison, Dad topped the truck up with fuel and I was dispatched down the road to get us a hot drink each from the tea rooms.

When I arrived back a Centaland DAF CF was also at the service station, and we followed him south to O’Sullivans Bridge where the road to the West Coast begins.

The Buller River was at our side as we travelled through the Upper and Lower Buller Gorges towards Westport.

Once through Westport, it was onto Waimangaroa (a small town about 16 kilometres north) where we turned down a side road just north of the town.

We met the farmer who was getting our load and he led us to his fertiliser bin where the trailer load was tipped off.

After unhooking the trailer, we took the truck load to a different bin a couple of kilometres further north of the first one.

When we returned to hook up the trailer, with Dad’s help I hooked up the air, electric and hydraulic lines making sure everything was connected properly before we drove off.

Reefton was our next stop, both bins were given a hose out to ensure they were clean before we pulled up alongside the loader.

Just over 38 tons of coal was loaded, we drove across the weighbridge to check the load weight was correct before having our half-hour break.

Once all the paperwork was sorted, we re-traced our steps back up the Upper Buller Gorge and onto Murchison, over the Hope Saddle and along the Motueka Valley to home.