Carl Jones and Neville Hammond After resting on stands for a couple of weeks, the day finally arrived when Bay of Plenty House Removals turned up to shift the house just a few doors away from where Gavin Myers lives in Tauranga. The company‘s oldest and newest Western Star prime movers were entrusted with the job, and Gavin wasted no time tracking down their drivers for a quick chat during lunch. Carl Jones, son of current owner Steve, was in the newer Western Star 4864FX. This 2004 550hp CAT C15- powered unit was on only its second tow for the company. “It goes good, nice and smooth,” said Carl. Carl started at Bay of Plenty House Removals at 15, about 15 years ago.

He‘s been driving for six years now and says he loves that each house move is a different challenge and a different experience, as all houses are different. Driving the Western Star 4964F was Neville Hammond, who‘s been moving houses for 26 years. He‘s personally done an estimated 400 moves with the 1982 4964F, which is slowly heading for 900,000km. Under the bonnet is a 500 Cummins ‘Redhead‘. (Interestingly, the company‘s third Western Star runs a Series 60 Detroit.) Neville says the most satisfying part of the job is getting from A to B without scratching either the house or the truck. “Actually, it could be the beer at the end of the day,” he chuckled. Both men chose the vexing question of whether they‘d rather holiday on safari or visit one of the world‘s major cities, and both said they‘d rather go on safari than head for an urban jungle.

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