“Yeah, it’s really good down here, eh? In fact, it’s a bit of a trap in some ways. It’s like you’re in a corner, away from the world, and you think ‘Oh, I’ll go to such and such, and then you think of the rat-race it’ll be and often end up not doing whatever it was. It’s low pressure and easy, but you could end up quite isolated if you weren’t careful. Sometimes you have to make the effort just to get out,” says Greg Harding, driver on the new addition in the T A Arnold fleet. “I love the job for all the same reasons. Community, people, you’re so close to the customers, you know them all, they know you, and some are your good mates. You all feel like you’re contributing to the community together and doing your bit.”

Greg has every right to enjoy his place of work and close community spirit. Having served his country in the military for eight years, he’s done tours in East Timor and Afghanistan, so he certainly knows what’s ‘beyond the ramparts’ so to speak, and appreciates the value of a place like T A Arnold Transport in South Westland.

A native of Pahiatua and generational truck driver himself, 38-year-old Greg says they moved around a bit in his younger years. “Dad [Dean] drove for Lime Haulage in Te Kuiti, McCarthy’s in Raetihi, and Gleeson’s in Pahiatua. He’s driven down here of recent and is currently at Keenan Forestry based out of Pahiatua. I didn’t want to go straight into the driving thing, hence the army, but when another tour looked on the horizon, I just didn’t have it in me any more, so resigned.

“I was only 24 at discharge, and tagged along with Regan Beale. He had about two or three trucks then and I learned and found my bearings in trucks again. I’d grown up around them and all that as a kid, but wanted to start fresh. He was really great – we’d go up into the backblocks and I’d drive out.”

Securing his class 4, Greg took on work driving a concrete mixer prior to gaining his class 5 and signing up for agency work.

“That was good, but I was chucked in the deep end a bit. I was doing work for AF Logistics on a new 40ft quad behind a Freightliner Argosy. I wasn’t overly experienced in all reality, but just took it easy and found my way. They actually offered me a full-time drive on an ex-Retko Scania but I took a fixed term position at Fonterra instead.”

Greg ended up staying on at Fonterra for six years, working out of Longburn and Pahiatua, moving on from there to Guy Knowles Transport.

“They were great to work for. There was a good crew of people there – Sam Seymour and Mark McDermott. You also learn a hell of a lot about loading freight and that’s stood me in good stead here at times when there’s been stuff to pick up and bring home.

“My late partner was Tommy’s niece and that’s how the move to here came about four years ago. It was bloody hard for the first two years. She was diagnosed with cancer not long after we arrived. The last couple of years have been a lot more settled, and I have a new partner, the kids, and the house at Hoki.

“Tommy and Ryan are great to work for. It’s a family business and has that feel – everyone pitches in and helps. The weather can be a bit challenging.

“It’s certainly a nice place to lead quite a peaceful life in a community where everyone looks out for each other. That’s about it, really.”