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Mick Barber is one of those characters who epitomises the spirit of the Aussie truckie; easy going and quick to crack a joke.

When Paul O‘Callaghan pointed out that his truck, a 2008 Kenworth T908, was lacking a windscreen stone guard, he responded with a quick “that‘s because I can‘t see over the bloody things! It‘s the first thing I take off every truck I drive”.

At 52 years of age, Mick has been driving road trains for more than 30 years now. He‘s tried his hand at different work, but the lure of cattle carting keeps calling him back. “You just can‘t beat the freedom of this job,” he adds.

A native of Queensland, he has been based out of the Noonamah, Northern Territory depot of Road Trains of Australia for the past three years. When Paul caught up with Mick at the depot, he was about to face his triple cattle truck towards Cloncurry, Queensland, to load 190 head of cattle destined for Darwin, a distance of 1700 km with only one turn to make at the famous Threeways Roadhouse.

Judging by his shorts, the answer to the question AFL or NRL was pretty obvious. “Rugby league mate, AFL is a sissies‘ game,” he adds with his trademark cheeky grin.