Wire rope barriers have a lot to answer for – just ask every motorist forced to make a 30-minute detour via Shannon because the Manawatu bridge south of Foxton was closed once again for repairs to the safety barriers.

Mike Beaumont was grabbing his lunch in Shannon when Faye Lougher caught up with him. He’d travelled from Bulls that morning and was heading to the Port of Wellington with a load of logs.

Driving a 2022 Kenworth K200 with a Cummins 620 and 18-speed Roadranger for Foxpine, Mike says he has been driving trucks for 20-odd years.

“I’ve always loved trucks and driving them just goes hand-in-hand,” he says.

Mike enjoys his job and the fact he gets to see something different every day.

“It’s all about seeing the country and you get to meet some pretty all right people.”

The main issue he sees is that not enough people are coming into the industry and there isn’t the same camaraderie as there used to be.

Mike obviously hadn’t seen the documentary about a woman whose husband sabotaged her parachute in an attempt to kill her, because when faced with parachuting or scuba diving, he chose the former.

“I’ve always wanted to go parachuting,” he says.