One of the best things about the December break is you have a bit of time on the days when you’re not spring cleaning the house, catching up with friends and family you haven’t seen since last Christmas, or finally getting to that project that’s been gathering dust in the shed for the past six months. Many a truck enthusiast kicking around the house might have found themselves spending this time stuck in a YouTube rabbit hole, as watching one trucking video very quickly leads to a whole afternoon of quality viewing.

I know all that because I can speak from experience – but it was the YouTube rabbit hole I found most interesting.

It kicked off when Lana Coc-Kroft’s two On the Road shows were suggested to me by the all-knowing algorithm. Then the Truck Archive channel posted an old video of the famous ex-Mike Lambert V12-Detroit-powered LW Kenworth Concorde, filmed while it was in the care of George Wallis. This treasure trove of a channel contributed greatly to keeping me very busy for many hours. I even came across Bruce Honeywill’s Truckin’ Around New Zealand show on his Long Highway YouTube channel – and heaps more.

Except for some home-movie-style videos of trucks driving around shot some three and a half decades ago, most of these productions were made in the late 1990s or early 2000s. What I found interesting was that what drivers had to say back then is so often still said today. Poor roads – check. Impatient and inattentive drivers – sure. Long hours alone away from home – yep. Fine margins, economic barriers and legislative and representation concerns – of course.

Happily, all the things we still know and love about the industry and its people were (and still are) all present and correct, too – good humour, camaraderie, love for the craft and the machines, a professional approach to the job … you name it.

It was an awesome education, expanding my historical knowledge of New Zealand’s trucking landscape. It was also somewhat of a reinforcement that the more things change, the more they stay the same and that whatever has been overcome before can be risen above again.

That’s especially poignant as we roll into 2025. Taking a glass-half-full view, considering we’ve been doing it tough for the past few years and come this far, we can surely ‘survive through 25’ to take full advantage once things start easing.

Sadly, the magazine’s production has not been immune to inflationary pressures, and you will have no doubt noticed the increased cover price of this issue. However, rest assured that while the price may have gone up, the quality content you’ve come to expect will always remain. We’re also aware that some readers have been struggling to find the magazine for sale in certain locations, and we’re working with our distributor to overcome this. We strongly recommend purchasing a yearly subscription to the magazine from nztrucking.co.nz/shop to have each issue delivered direct to you – you will also receive one copy free!

We already have an incredible amount of exceptional content set for this year and are especially excited about the March issue, which will be a special celebration of a huge milestone – the magazine’s 40th anniversary!

All that said, as we went to print with the December 2024/January 2025 issue, we received our audited Nielsen Annual Readership Report, and we were delighted to see that an incredible 81,000 readers read each issue for the period October 2023 to September 2024. We were even more excited to see this number was greatly increased compared with the same period over the preceding two years. It’s impossible to explain how that sort of thing spurs us on; thank you so much for choosing New Zealand Trucking.

May that remain, no matter how much things change…

Gavin Myers
Editor