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Bezig met laden... The Best Australian Trucking Storiesdoor Jim Haynes
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The trucker's job so vital to our nation's everyday life makes for a diverse treasure trove of stories. This first-ever collection of stories about Aussie truckers captures the humour, tragedy and fascinating history of their world, proving once again that truth is often stranger, funnier and more inspiring than fiction. The unlikely yarns and tales, collected by Jim Haynes, quickly transport the reader into the intriguing but often hard and lonely world of the long-distance truck driver. There are stories of endurance while crossing the Nullarbor in the early 1950s, of rescuing mates stranded in the desert and dumping wheat in protest at Parliament House, of repossessing vehicles in suburban Adelaide, and of men imprisoned during the long political battle to make the roads of Australia free to carry freight. Steeped in larrikinism, these are salt-of-the-earth Aussie voices from the most genuine characters to ever spin a yarn. Whether you're interested in one of the most significant social revolutions to have shaped our nation, or in these never-say-die modern pioneers who astound with their resourcefulness, or whether you're just after a laugh and a bloody good story, this book is for you. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)388.3240994Social sciences Commerce, Communications, Transportation Transportation Vehicular transportation Local services with non-rail vehiclesLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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I particularly enjoyed Ray '[The Nullarbor Kid]' Gilleland's account of his earliest crossings of the fierce Nullarbor Plain in the 1950s. A vast treeless desert (hence the name!) that spans the gap between the rudimentary civilisations on the edges of Western and South Australia, the plain was no place to be if you weren't the self-reliant type:
...Things like scorpions and snakes worried me most. If a death adder bit you, you were a goner. You would be dead long before the next traveller who ventured over the east-west track found you.
Out of the truck I always wore Leathernecks. They were like sixteenth century pirate boots that came up to the knees and had a folded top. The Death Adder was well camouflaged and had a habit of lying still and striking directly at the ankles. I felt fairly safe in my boots but I constantly surveyed the ground around me when out of the truck, and I always carried an old 1911 model Colt .45 pistol. If you had come across me out there back then you would have seen a tall, slim young man, brown from the sun and wearing a battered old Stetson hat and a pair of swimming trunks, with a pistol hanging from his waist, walking around in pirate boots. It was quite a sight!
Liz Martin's chapter on the pioneering AEC Government Road-train (operating on little more than dirt tracks between Adelaide, across the dry interior via Alice Springs, to Darwin) was pretty staggering in terms of the hardships faced by the tough teams of drivers manning the usually three trailered vehicles.
The wet season would though play havoc with the waterways of the north. Tracks that had been blazed the year before were totally washed out and often the drivers and the offsiders would have to walk for kilometres up and down the creeks looking for a suitable place to cross, up to six times a day:
When there were four trailers the road often had to be repaired several times during the process as the weight of the trailers caused them to bog. Sometimes, massive tree trunks and other river debris had to be sawn up and moved out of the way of the path of the best crossing. Drivers always carried a supply of dynamite in case an obstacle had to be cleared or the road had to be blasted through. Some drivers said they felt like blowing up the truck instead of the obstacle.
This collection was pretty much what I expected and hoped it would be - fun, interesting and dusty! Thirsty reading! ( )