Steve James was about to unload logs at Mitchell Brothers Darfield sawmill when Craig McCauley caught up with him recently. His driving career spans more than three decades, commencing in the North Otago town of Herbert where his family operated logging trucks.

A lengthy period followed carrying livestock and seeing much of New Zealand in the process. He thoroughly enjoyed his time on the stock but concedes, as many others do, he missed out on seeing a lot of his children growing up.

His current rig is a Kenworth K200 8×4 sleeper cab owned by the wellknown Canterbury logging operation Steve Murphy Limited. It is fitted with Patchell gear and operates as an HPMV combination carrying logs from Canterbury forests to local mills and the export port at Lyttelton.

Following some discussion about the New Zealand industry in general, Steve thought the biggest problem facing it at present is too much unnecessary health and safety nonsense, creating a driver who lacks common sense.

Our light-hearted question was on the topic of rugby; when asked did he prefer to watch the game on TV or go and see it from the sideline, Steve told us his armchair at home nowadays is much more comfortable than those grandstand seats, so the TV wins.

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