Every August for the past couple of decades, all roads lead to Alice Springs for Australian truck drivers for the annual road transport reunion. However, this year’s reunion marked the first gathering of the event since the forced hiatus due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Occasionally, the freight takes a back seat to the journey and the people along the route. This story is about one of those rare occasions. For Highland Haulage owner Mick Linger and his son Marcus, the pilgrimage from their hometown in Deloraine, Tasmania – halfway across the continent for the Road Transport Hall of Fame’s reunion in Alice Springs – was a few years in the making. But one they’d both been looking forward to for some time.

Even if you’ve never met Mick or Marcus, one look at their impressively restored trucks speaks volumes about the passion these men have for their machines. For this trip to ‘the Alice’, Marcus had chosen to take up the Ford LTL 9000 they’d restored a couple of years ago. Mick, meantime, was eager to climb behind the wheel of the ex-TNT 1978 SAR they had not long finished rebuilding.

For Marcus, though, the first leg of the journey was no holiday. He loaded his tautliner in Deloraine with freight bound for the mainland, then caught a ride on the Spirit of Tasmania earlier in the week. Finally, in Melbourne he unloaded and reloaded his tautliner with cargo bound for Adelaide.

“All our trucks are working trucks,” Mick says as he tightens the ratchet strap. “But this old Mack I’m taking up to the Alice is the first new truck that Byron Bonney ordered. A keen team from Lloyds North found it still working up in the state’s northeast. So consequently, they negotiated its purchase and organised its restoration. But have a chat with Robbie Maher. He’ll fill you in on the details about the Mack,” Mick suggests.

“I’m on a bit of a mission at the moment as I have to catch the boat tonight,” he adds, hurrying off towards the office.

Later that night, Mick leans on the aft rail of the Spirit of Tasmania and sends a simple text as the side thrusters churn the waters of the Mersey River, spinning the ferry around to face north.

The phone on my desk pings with the incoming message. It reads, “We made the boat, talk to you tomorrow.”

Google estimates the journey will take 23 hours and 58 minutes driving and warns of severe weather with damaging winds. Undeterred, the intrepid travellers set off, overnighting in Adelaide to unload the freight out of Marcus’ tautliner before continuing northward.

And no trip to the red centre would be complete without a photo with the famous Coober Pedy opal truck sign. Later, Mick and Marcus park up in Coober Pedy next to the Star Wars spaceship before hitting the road early the next day.

When they arrive in Alice Springs, Mick is thrilled when the event organisers offer him the prime parking spot in front of the Kenworth Dealer Hall of Fame shed.

“Several people thought the old Kenworth SAR was one of the new legend models,” Mick smiles. “It’s not till I pointed to the 8V92 Detroit Diesel under the hood that they believed it’s an original SAR.”

Mick and Marcus assemble at Highland Haulage’s Melbourne depot for a final check-over of the trucks. Even though Mick and his crew are meticulous regarding their restoration work, the additional checks will ensure a trouble-free journey to the red centre.

R-Model Mack

The R-Model Mack on Mick’s drop-deck is a significant piece of history in the Lloyds North organisation. The company, founded by Byron Bonney in 1977, commenced operation from a small tin shed at the Long Reach woodchop mill, shuttling waste bark from the mill and employing nine people using second-hand trucks.

Byron Bonney was posthumously inducted into the National Road Transport Hall of Fame during the event’s Covid hiatus. Still, family, friends and his original new Mack R-Model officially made the journey to accept the plaque this year. It had long been a dream of Bryon to have one of his trucks displayed at the museum after a visit prior to his death.

The inscription on his induction plaque reads: ‘He was born into a transport family and left school at 15 to pursue a career in the family business. He worked in various roles and eventually managed the Bonney Mix Concrete division. In 1977, Byron had the opportunity to purchase the family’s tree bark division and establish Lloyds North.’

Byron led by example and was extremely driven. He worked within all levels of the business and worked long hours to stay on top of operations. By 1978, when Byron took delivery of his first new Mack prime mover, Mack Trucks flew him to the Mack factory in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA, where he was presented with a Mack key to the city.

This truck has been painstakingly restored, and the company has kindly left it on display at the National Road Transport Hall of Fame for the next 12 months.

“A lot of people helped fulfil Byron’s wish to have one of his trucks displayed up at Alice Springs,” Robbie says. “Laurie Kelly in Launceston did a lot of the restoration, Scott Barker painted it, and the master signwriter Kevin Brown worked his magic on the mural and signwriting. Finally, Mick helped us by transporting the Mack to Alice Springs.

“Back in 1978, the old R-Model was a reasonably heavy-spec’d truck,” Robbie continues. “It’s powered by a 285 Maxidyne engine, coupled to a twin-stick six-speed Mack transmission. It had the bigger 44,000-pound Mack carriers on a camelback suspension. It had a top speed of around 90kph.”

While the attendance roll-up wasn’t anywhere near the bustling crowds of pre-covid events, the journey and experience didn’t disappoint. “We had a great time,” Mick smiles. “It’s great to get away for a few weeks with the boys. We all enjoy our trucks, and we caught up with many old friends we’d worked with over the years and hadn’t seen for some time.”

“Thankfully, our trucks ran up and back without so much as squeak or rattle out of place,” Mick adds. “But next year, you can tell your boss he’d better send you along with us so you can take your own photos.”