After dark

Across rural Australia, the work doesn’t stop when the sun goes down. And for many, night is the best time of the day.

Story Bruce McMahon   Photo David Kelly

Interstate trucker Colin Jamnikar says driving at night is more relaxing, with fewer idiots. Stargazer Stephanie Soy finds beauty and stillness in darkness and nurse Harriet Rowe says night work fosters closer teamwork. Ringers in the Top End love campfire yarning. Beekeeper Marina Elliott says the moon amazes her, and bush baker Brett Gorry claims night work is prime time for business and lifestyle.

There are extra risks, and extra rewards for working through the night. Across rural and regional Australia, many work through the dark to keep the country safe, and stocked with supplies and earth riches.

Tonight, Colin is fuelling his 550hp Kenworth, with two trailers loaded with 30 tonnes of irrigation pipe, at a Boggabilla service station on the southern side of the border. He’s headed to Jerilderie in southern NSW, with 1,000km left to run down the Newell. Just across the river some 30 interstate haulers are parked up, drivers heading into the bright lights of Goondiwindi’s BP Roadhouse for dinner and showers.

Colin’s been a long-distance road train driver for more than 20 years, and been all over the country from his home on the banks of the Murray River. He loves the nights. “Not a fan of daytime driving. Nights I find more relaxing, more enjoyable and there are fewer dickheads on the road. Especially around 2 o’clock in the morning, everyone’s gone to sleep and you’re just minding your own business, less people coming at you.”

He appreciates that trucks such as his gleaming, red, white and chrome prime mover, nicknamed General, are more comfortable than before, but he’s not keen on the new LED lights – too bright he reckons, freezing wildlife in their tracks. The 48-year-old rarely has the UHF radio on, gets sick of keyboard warriors and instead listens to music – a weird range that can go from Slim Dusty to heavy metal to yodelling.

Posters across the Goondiwindi roadhouse windows promote the Healthy Heads in Trucks and Sheds app. BP sponsors the app and website promoting the mental health and physical wellbeing of trucking industry workers. The app provides access to crisis hotlines, counselling services and lists BP roadhouses offering approved healthy meal choices for dinners on the road.

After 18 years on the road from east to west, veteran trucker Bill Manton says stops through the night may depend on the long-distance route and hours driven, but many drivers will have favourite roadhouses, whether that be for good meals, good coffee or good night staff behind the counter.

As Simon National Carriers’ training manager, Bill says independent drivers, remote area drivers and the more experienced make for the best night drivers. He doesn’t think the old-school business of having a coffee every five hours will ever go away, but does see drivers trying harder to look after themselves, whether it be healthier choices at the servo or drinking more water rather than a can of Coke. “I think drivers these days are trying harder to look after their body and when you look after your body you can make a better mile,” he says.