Craig Andrews bumped into ‘Mog‘ Littlejohn picking up his trailer at the Waireka Saleyards in Oamaru on a beautiful North Otago day. He was heading out near Danseys Pass to pick up cattle for the Temuka Saleyards. Mog was born and raised in the Catlins before ending up in Nelson where he plied his trade as a carpenter. But he always had a hankering for driving, having seen trucks come and go from the farm while growing up. Like most of us, his bedroom wall was covered in truck posters. 

After giving away the carpentry game, he drove Hiab trucks for ITM and Carters in Nelson. These days he‘s at the wheel of one of St Andrews Transport‘s distinctive 700 Hinos. It‘s a 2004 model with over 800,000 kms on the clock, and spends most of its time towing a 4-axle Fruehauf trailer with Delta crates. Spending most of his time on livestock, he finds the work most enjoyable.

Seeing the Southern Alps every day, conversing with farmers, meeting new people and the fact he works with a great team all help make the job great. He is quite happy with the industry, but the general driving habits of the public is one topic that comes up after some thought; more so the overseas tourists he encounters.

“Just a total lack of common sense at times,” he says. The vexing question was Vegemite or Marmite. He said it used to be Vegemite but when they started making it in Australia he swapped to Marmite as the taste of Vegemite changed for the worse.

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