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00:00This time on Outback Truckers.
00:03Now, we've got to get down this mountain.
00:06Oh, God, look at the clouds coming in over there.
00:09That is rain coming.
00:12It's raining. I've got to get out of here, eh?
00:15And it is just sliding.
00:17The truck starts off where you're gone, eh?
00:20Shit.
00:23It's bloody steep.
00:24I can see why they say if you fall off here, you die.
00:29Shit.
00:30You can't pass me here.
00:35We're up against the wall.
00:36I need that container so I can completely load
00:39and get out of this bloody place.
00:42The creeks are flooded.
00:43There's no bridges.
00:44Getting one dolly across saves a lot of time.
00:47I've got to really pay attention here
01:01because if one wheel drops off here, it's goodbye.
01:07In the treacherous mountainous highlands of south-east Queensland,
01:15Mel Michelson is on her way
01:17to pick up a freshly cut payload of logs.
01:19I've got an urgent order just came in with a brewery down in New South Wales.
01:24They need some boards pretty urgent.
01:27I can't get a B-double up here so I have to do two trips.
01:32This is my truck.
01:33This is a 2008 Kenworth SAR, 408.
01:38That's an auto.
01:41I've got 600 horsepower.
01:42This is my baby.
01:43I love this truck.
01:44This is my baby.
01:45I love this truck.
01:46Yaza.
01:47Morning Gary.
01:48How you going, Mally?
01:49Good.
01:50How are you?
01:51The long ones will be on first.
01:52Yep.
01:53I'm going to follow up with three shorts on the front.
02:08I cut them all down.
02:10I followed my father.
02:13Yeah.
02:14He taught me the trade.
02:15Not that there's much trade to it.
02:16It's just hard work.
02:20I'm only selectively harvesting.
02:21You take one and leave probably 10 or 20.
02:24That's the way you've got a little grass that will come through that way.
02:28Righto.
02:29So now I'm going to load this truck.
02:35As he brings the logs over, I walk over and get the number off the side.
02:40And then I get my little book here and find out what cubic metre it is.
02:45Log by log and I add it up as I go.
02:48The 22 cube will be the maximum weight that we can put on today.
02:53From Gary's logging site at Knapp Creek, Mel needs to crawl back down the Queensland Highlands to a mill 323 kilometres away in Kogan, where the logs will be cut into floorboards for a brewery.
03:08But to complete the 60 tonne order, she'll need to do the trip twice, clocking up over 1,000 kilometres.
03:23That one was just over a tonne, just that log there, quite south.
03:28Gary's really good.
03:29Like, I've been coming here for probably over two years now.
03:32And not once have I ever had to tell him to fix a log or do something.
03:37Like, I know the logs will travel well and they won't move.
03:42This one here, it's an old caterpillar, 950.
03:46I just use it for loading the logs with, yeah.
03:48It does the job for me for years and years and years, yeah.
03:51It's a bit rusted, but mechanical, she goes all right.
03:55Honey, hell.
03:57He's got a bit of smoke coming out the back.
04:00There's smoke.
04:13Oh, she's hot.
04:19Hasn't done that before.
04:22Don't know how we're going to get these things down for one go.
04:29I've just had a phone call from the bloke up here.
04:33The bloke's refused to pump eight tonnes of bloody built materials out of a container.
04:39So I've raced down and see what I can do with a forklift.
04:43I need that container so I can completely load and get out of this bloody place.
04:48Just nine days before Christmas, Foodie is hustling to get his truck loaded
04:53and make it out of Australia's far north before a cyclone hits within 24 hours.
05:00We're up against the wall.
05:01We've got no options left.
05:02We have to get out.
05:04By three o'clock tomorrow, it's going to be absolutely pelt and rain here everywhere
05:08and the roads are going to turn to shit.
05:10The creeks are flooded.
05:11There's no bridges.
05:12It's absolutely closed.
05:14From his base in Bamaga, Foodie needs to take on the rough dirt road
05:19that leads down Cape York to reach his second home in Cairns,
05:23almost 1,000 kilometres away, and keep his business alive.
05:29I can't have my trucks left up here.
05:32I've got no way to earn a living because I face bankruptcy.
05:35I was going to just pack my trailers up and make a run for it,
05:38but hey, guess what?
05:39Now we've got freight to go back down as well.
05:45Unfortunately, one container of a very good customer,
05:48they're hand unloading about 12 tonnes.
05:52The crew couldn't get it all out, couldn't work with it,
05:54so we've come back because unless we could help them unload it,
05:58we'd go and get this container back, and we've said we'd take it.
06:01We'd like to keep our word.
06:03It's got to go on the truck tonight.
06:05It'd give us any hope of getting out tomorrow.
06:09Happy camper.
06:16Each one of these packs weighs 870 kilos.
06:20I'm just going to very carefully just try to take the weight
06:23and see what happens.
06:26I'm going to try.
06:27I'm going to try.
06:28I'm going to try.
06:29I'm going down, but I've got to get everything down.
06:33These things are just too heavy and too awkward to deal with,
06:34and I sort of felt they were going to be in trouble.
06:36I'm going down, but I've got to get everything down.
06:40These things are just too heavy and too awkward to deal with,
06:43and I sort of felt they were going to be in stride.
06:47We've got to try and do it again.
06:49Well, at least it's going up without me going up.
06:50But...
06:51I'm going to try.
06:52I'm going to try.
06:53I'm going to try.
06:54I'm going to try.
06:55I'm going to try.
06:56I'm going to try.
06:57All right.
06:58All right.
06:59All right.
07:00I'm going to try.
07:01I'm going to try.
07:02I'm going to try.
07:03I'm going to try.
07:04I'm going to try and do it again.
07:07Well, at least it's going up without me going up.
07:17All right.
07:33Incidentally, all I'm going to do is put it out there
07:41and then I want to drop it.
07:45I don't know what that.
07:47Just going to have to get one at a time.
07:51What do you reckon about this other shit in here, mate?
07:54You've got to remember,
07:55this forklift is not going to pull nothing back out of there for you
07:58in this sandy ground.
08:00Not a hope in hell.
08:01You've got a four-wheel drive, eh?
08:03What are you driving?
08:05Well, you get your four-wheel drive, hook around it,
08:07put it in low gear and see if you can pull the ****.
08:10Well, up in this, you've got to be...
08:12You've got to improvise.
08:14Improvisation, mate.
08:15You're never going to have all the right tools to do all the right jobs.
08:18So we're going to hook onto this fella's duty.
08:20He's going to get in there, put it in four-wheel drive, low range,
08:23and just see if he can pull some of that pallets out of him.
08:33Well, that worked.
08:50Please don't do this at home.
08:51Well, people, we're trained idiots.
08:59Righto, done Dale.
09:02Just helped him unload that container.
09:03We're now going back to the yard.
09:05We've got to load trailers.
09:07I've still got freight.
09:08This is our backyard, and it's a bit of a free-for-all out here.
09:13It's a long day of loading,
09:15and it's going to be a long night of repairing
09:17because we've still got some tyres to change,
09:19trailers to grease.
09:21We're going to be sitting here working all night.
09:30We woke up this morning to some pretty serious rain coming through.
09:34Yesterday was the day to go, I think.
09:37We've left it one day late.
09:39So I'm going to make a run for the truck here at the moment,
09:43start it up.
09:45We want to be down at the ferry at about 8 o'clock,
09:47no later than 9 anyway.
09:50My business just depends on it.
09:51I can't be stuck in here and still survive,
09:55so I've got to go.
09:56Hell or high water, flood, you name it,
09:59we've got to get out.
10:04Oh, here we go.
10:07Big one-lane bridge up here.
10:08They're not like home.
10:10When they're a bit wider, these are quite narrow bridges.
10:13And you can't see who's coming the other way either.
10:15It's just...yep, see?
10:17Oh, nitty.
10:22There's a little good bit of New Zealand boating down here.
10:25I should be in a jet boat, not in a truck.
10:27Trading the red dirt of the outback
10:30for the New Zealand mountain rangers of his birthplace,
10:34Sludge is closing in on finishing a delivery
10:36of pine posts and farm equipment,
10:39just one of several trucking jobs he's taking on
10:42while in the country.
10:44I flew in last week, been here a week,
10:46been right through to Auckland, did a load up there,
10:49and now we're back in the South Island
10:50and heading over the West Coast.
10:53Sludge has just hauled his load over 1,000 kilometres
10:57from the North Island
10:58to reach his drop-off near Greymouth,
11:01desperate to stay on schedule
11:03and start his next job on time.
11:06It's been a, you know, a long road,
11:08a lot longer road than I thought it was going to be.
11:10And this was probably something
11:12that was very, very easy for me before my accident.
11:14Two years ago, I was going down
11:18to get a pizza on my motorbike
11:20and woke up three weeks later in Royal Perth.
11:24Couldn't walk, couldn't talk.
11:26It's taken pretty much 18 months to drive again.
11:32It's certainly made me really turn my ways
11:35because I'm lucky enough I'm still here.
11:42Ah, here it is.
11:44I reckon it's the wrong f***ing gate.
11:53So the GPS took me in the back gate,
11:55but the back gate was shut.
11:57We're at a dead-end road, nowhere to f***ing go.
12:00Jesus Christ, I've got to back all the way out.
12:14We've just, uh, unchined it,
12:31move it onto that tractor,
12:32and they can pull it off.
12:33Yep.
12:34Sludger's next challenge is a job that takes him from Ruatapu,
12:52straight across the notorious winding mountain roads
12:55of Arthur's Pass to Christchurch, loaded with heavy stone.
13:00It's a real flash shift.
13:01They put it around chimneys.
13:02People put it on the outside of their houses.
13:06It's a feature stone.
13:08I'd agree.
13:13Snuggish.
13:14Snuggish leather drive, buddy.
13:16This is a quarry.
13:17It's all schist rock from up in the glaciers,
13:21and it's sort of quite, it's really special to hear.
13:23Probably got about 15, 18 tonne to put on.
13:26It's a funny sort of a load,
13:28because it's all just lumps of bloody rock.
13:32So these bags don't, yes.
13:34Ah, nah.
13:35If you're out the gate, we'll be right.
13:37Yeah, f***ing gate, gate warranty?
13:39Yeah.
13:41He said if they rip open, it's not his warranty.
13:43That means they fall off than me, not him.
13:49Once I get out the gate,
13:50there's no warranty on this load for how it was loaded.
13:58I think we're one day too late.
14:01Overnight, things are really going to hell.
14:04We're looking at a continuous rain now.
14:07We might have to be starting to abandon trailers
14:09and all sorts of things getting out this time.
14:12There's more weather on the way.
14:13That's just the start of it.
14:15We've got a bit of a window here now
14:17to get out,
14:19and we're going to go for our f***ing lives out of here.
14:22In a desperate race against an oncoming cyclone,
14:26Foodie has just hours to get his triple road train
14:29across the Jardine River
14:30and through the treacherous dirt roads beyond,
14:34before the monsoonal weather degrades them
14:36into impassable mud bogs.
14:39It's not all that fast in the jar, dude, now.
14:42It's just down the end of this straight and around.
14:45I can feel the truck just right moving,
14:47just moving around on it, you know.
14:49We're not even in the bad shit yet.
14:52And what do we meet?
14:53Another truck.
14:53F***ing way.
15:04Oh, now we're in the f***ing rough as well.
15:08Still got our trailers all heading in the same direction.
15:13Mate, you know you're alive when you're doing this.
15:14All right, though, we're going to start busting up a road train.
15:23Where you going, Patch?
15:25My stepson, Patino,
15:27he's giving me a bit of a hand today.
15:29I just need a bit of a helping hand to get back on track here.
15:33Hey!
15:34Get the car, get back this way.
15:37Now, Patch,
15:38I'm going to get you to bring some of these across,
15:40these dollies.
15:41Foodie's 53-and-a-half-metre road train
15:45is joined together with dollies,
15:47a hitch with its own wheels.
15:50To save Foodie crucial time,
15:52Pacino, nicknamed Patch,
15:54will use the four-wheel drive
15:56to tow a dolly across the river
15:58on the ferry.
16:00I'll pull forward again and drop that middle trailer
16:03and so on and so on.
16:07If you guess where the rivers go up and shoot,
16:10and we can't get across,
16:13it's all about time and money.
16:20Yeah, Gulf Civil, mate.
16:22I'm crossing the ferry.
16:23I've got about a couple of pieces to bring across.
16:28That river's come up a nice little bit.
16:3210.49, we're actually not doing any bad.
16:3511 o'clock, we'll be well less than two hours.
16:37Getting the one dolly across saves a lot of time.
16:43We need to have our dollies in the right place.
16:45Oh, she's hot.
17:08We need water.
17:11I've got some water,
17:12but I might tip a little bit in.
17:14Can't cook, huh?
17:15I've got some water, too.
17:19Five litres, but...
17:22Mel Michelson is facing the first
17:24of two treacherous mountain journeys
17:27hauling 20 tonnes of logs
17:29over 300 kilometres
17:30to a mill for cutting.
17:32Oh, it's hot and hot.
17:34It won't start.
17:36If Gazza can get his overheating loader operational.
17:43He's never, ever, ever done this.
17:45No.
17:46Don't know how we're going to get this thing down
17:48if it won't go.
17:50Let's see if it'll go.
17:53Let's see if it won't go.
18:23So I think I'll leave it at that.
18:25It's one log we'll put it over.
18:32Right-o.
18:33Let's hit the frob and toe.
18:35See ya.
18:37See ya.
18:40So the plan now is I've got to get this
18:42down the mountain,
18:44get this back to the mill
18:45so I can unload the fordark.
18:48It's one o'clock now
18:49and it's four hours back, so...
18:53See how we go.
18:59All these jobs that I'm doing,
19:01like, they're all going towards my dream,
19:04which is my farm.
19:06Mel recently bought a property
19:08where she wants to live when she retires.
19:11Now I've just got to pay for it.
19:13It's very important I get the logs in on time.
19:18This is my name and my job's on the line
19:20and, yeah, I need as much work as I can get
19:24to help pay for my dream.
19:27So we're just arriving at the mill
19:34right on five o'clock.
19:38There's a log for a winery or a brewery
19:40down in northern New South Wales, I believe.
19:43Mel's got to go back tomorrow, get the other load.
19:45But then we can start cutting them this week.
19:53Another day, another dollar.
19:55I've got a job I've got to do tomorrow,
19:57so I've got to get this done today
20:00with no drama.
20:02I'm about halfway up the mountains.
20:13These clouds are a bit low.
20:15If it rains while I'm here, it's very slippery.
20:18I don't even think I'll be able to get out.
20:22So we've got to go down the track now,
20:24which runs along the side of this hill here.
20:28I don't want to look there
20:30because I dropped one tyre down there
20:34and I'm gone.
20:35No return.
20:37This is the bit I really don't like.
20:42Loses traction and slides here.
20:49Hey.
20:55F***.
20:55Bloody hell.
21:01Wipers on is not a good, good sign.
21:06Gazza's not even here.
21:09Mm.
21:16He's probably gone up the house
21:17to ring me to tell me to not come.
21:20I betcha.
21:22I'm not joking.
21:23We could be camped here now.
21:32All right.
21:33Better get a rattle.
21:34Okay.
21:34All right, man.
21:35See you later.
21:36Radio.
21:38So there we go.
21:39We've loaded up with rock.
21:41We're into it.
21:4579km to Arthur's Pass.
21:46From there,
21:48it's over to Crosschurch,
21:49about 250km.
21:50After a life-changing accident,
21:53Sludge has returned to the country of his birth,
21:56New Zealand,
21:57working as a contract driver.
21:59As soon as I get in to Crosschurch,
22:02this truck's due to go out with another driver,
22:05Rocket.
22:06He's been on me already,
22:08about how long am I going to be
22:10because he wants to get going.
22:11So, yeah,
22:13Rocket will be chewing my arse
22:15when I get there.
22:18Woo-hoo!
22:19We're on the start of Arthur's Pass.
22:21Here we go.
22:24Ahead lies the steepest trucking challenge
22:27of his journey so far,
22:29the infamous Arthur's Pass.
22:31920 metres above sea level,
22:34the highest road across New Zealand's Southern Alps.
22:37There's a couple of switchbacks up here
22:39that I've got to be super careful with.
22:42Oh,
22:43got to get a gear.
22:46Oh, there we go.
22:47She's pulling now.
22:4916% grade.
22:52It's bloody steep.
22:53If you have a little oops
22:54and you miss a gear,
22:55it's not the sort of place
22:56you want to be trying to take off.
22:59We're coming through a tunnel here
23:01and then there's obviously a creek or something,
23:04so they've built a bridge out over the road
23:07with mountain water coming off it.
23:12We're pulling flat out at 23 kilometres an hour.
23:18That's as fast as she'll go.
23:22That has got to be
23:24800 metres from the bottom of there.
23:28I can see why they say
23:30if you fall off here, you die.
23:31All right.
23:40We've got to the top of the pass
23:42and, you know, we're only doing 20 kilometres an hour,
23:44so there's no point in holding everyone up.
23:46You've got to sort of
23:46be a little bit aware.
23:50Now we're on the downside of it.
23:53We're going back into the slow downhill stuff,
23:56so I don't want to cook the brakes
23:57and have a runaway freight train.
24:02Shit!
24:03We can't
24:04past me here!
24:13Getting the dolly across
24:15saves a lot of time.
24:18We need to have our dollies
24:19in the right place.
24:20Do you feel happy?
24:33Do you?
24:33Yeah...
24:41What?
24:42I have a bad 40-та
24:44Do you?
24:46No!
24:47I had gasp
24:47I didn't want that dolly, I wanted the other one.
24:58That's the wrong dolly. That's the lead dolly.
25:01So how are you going to get that out of there?
25:06Good. See if you can get it out of there.
25:09Foodie and his stepson Pacino are hustling to get three trailers
25:14and their dollies across the Jardine River.
25:17Assemble a triple road train and get rolling
25:20before a cyclone is predicted to hit in just five hours' time.
25:25I'd rather throw the dolly and then the doorbell snaps
25:28so the dolly's run down on me.
25:31I'm lucky enough to have the same right there
25:33to stop the fucking dolly from rolling.
25:36That's what, $20,000 or something?
25:42I don't know if I want to be truck driver after this shit.
25:46I couldn't help it, I just laughed me head off.
25:49The cider patch chasing the dolly down the hill into the bush.
25:52I've never seen him move so far.
25:56There's a bit of fun.
25:57I've only got to get one more piece of cross.
26:12Well, one went into the bush and now it's been recovered again.
26:16And, uh, it's good character building.
26:18You can get yourself in trouble, get yourself out of trouble.
26:21It might do us to get out of the plush.
26:28Let's go for it.
26:31I think we're half an hour too late to get here.
26:34Well, finally, we're on the way and so is the rain that's just arriving.
26:45They were building a new section of road here to make bitumen
26:48and, uh, it's just pretty much been destroyed here at the moment.
26:53Uh, look out.
26:56Oh, man, f*** me.
26:57Don't tell me.
27:11Don't f***ing tell me.
27:14I can see machinery up here.
27:16I hope they don't, they don't call me
27:19because I'm going to come at it fairly seriously.
27:22Ah, get me out of there, old girl.
27:35Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.
27:37Shit, shit, hang on.
27:46We're just sunk in.
27:48We're in the world by now.
27:52Shit.
27:56We can't f*** past me here.
28:01F***.
28:05Jesus Christ.
28:06The downhills, they can catch you out real quick
28:09and it has caught me just there.
28:10I had to pull up pretty quick.
28:12And, um, now we've got bloody traffic lights.
28:15I don't know what the hell it's all about.
28:17Working as a contract driver in New Zealand,
28:20sludge is under the pump.
28:22Jesus.
28:24He has less than two hours
28:26to get his weighty load of stone delivered
28:28and hand his truck over to the next driver.
28:31Now, they're obviously building a new bridge here at the moment
28:34and they had a bit of time on to this bloody run,
28:38which I don't need today.
28:42When these roads were all built,
28:44trucks were half the size of what they are now.
28:46So, they wonder why all the roads are buggered.
28:52Now, this is the bottom of the pass.
28:54I'm hoping that's the worst of it now.
28:56I'll just, um, check this and make sure that everything's tight
29:03because I don't want anything coming loose.
29:07That bag's starting to split open a little bit.
29:09I've still got 200k's to Christchurch
29:12because I don't want to be picking them up on the roadside.
29:20I'm trying not to bounce it
29:21and give it too rough a right.
29:25I'm trying to be a bit careful with it.
29:28They go through car windows real quick.
29:30We're about bloody, uh, 20 minutes out of Christchurch.
29:43Touch wood.
29:44Haven't broken anything or bloody tipped anything off.
29:51How are you, mate?
29:52Good, dude.
29:53Tired.
29:54Fucking...
29:55I was a bit worried about this stuff,
29:58but it's all there and it's, um, all intact.
30:01No, you're strapped it on right there.
30:02Yeah.
30:03I'm looking forward to a break just to recuperate.
30:07I've been going for a week now
30:08and I think a week's, um, long enough.
30:13Next is have a sleep.
30:15And then my day off, um,
30:16shot in the arse by another mate, Paul.
30:18He found out I was here
30:20and he set me up for something else.
30:22So, there you go.
30:22Down the road and into it.
30:28Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, hang on.
30:42Oh, we're in a world of pain now.
30:49Yeah, no, it just sunk in.
30:51She's just gone down.
30:52Get on, keep it going.
30:53I'll go twice.
30:54We've just been asked by the grader
30:57to, uh, just wait for a minute.
31:00Eight days before Christmas,
31:02with a cyclone hot on his heels,
31:05Foodie is stuck fast near Roadworks
31:08in his 100-tonne triple road train
31:10at the top of Cape York.
31:13Uh, what's going to happen?
31:15We'll get the skull dragged through.
31:17Okay, well, I'm just going to probably...
31:20It won't be bald cock, I'll go second gear
31:22and that should be...
31:23Yeah, I'll start second for when you start moving.
31:25Yeah.
31:26You'll be right.
31:29Yeah, sneak away.
31:30I'm ready when you're ready.
31:41Might be going a little bit quick there, if you want.
31:43Just back up a bit
31:44and I'll just have to go up and pace for that problem.
31:46Yeah, he's all right.
31:51It might just go up a split gear.
31:59Stop blowing down, eh?
32:02Oh, mate, yeah, I'm just about pulling up.
32:08Oh, no.
32:09We're back on firm ground.
32:11All right, mate, will you have a good Christmas, eh?
32:17We'll see if we can stay on top of the roads, haven't we?
32:20See you on the return trip.
32:23Now we're on our own.
32:25We're no help coming anymore,
32:27so we are what we are.
32:30See, straight away here,
32:31we're back into a bit of mud and shit.
32:36Priority is to get the truck out.
32:37We just can't have it caught in there.
32:42The weather's coming in behind us.
32:44We've got to stay in front of it now.
32:47We're not out of the woods by a long shot.
32:51We've still got a lot of dirt road in front of us
32:53and a lot of shitty road.
32:58Where do you think you're going, mate?
33:00Get out of me way.
33:02I've got a car coming towards me here
33:04and I ain't going to bloody move.
33:05Maybe he can find his own way around me.
33:09If he thinks I'm getting over for him,
33:10he's sadly mistaken.
33:14Taking this bit of road, mate,
33:16it's the only bit I've got that's in good.
33:20Mate, seriously.
33:23It is.
33:25Not me to get over there.
33:26It's sort of getting out of it a little bit.
33:34It's improving.
33:37The weather gods have smiled upon us
33:39and decided to rain elsewhere for an hour or two.
33:43Not far from a safe haven down here.
33:46Once we get to Bramwell,
33:47we'll have a day or day.
33:49It's south there.
33:56That there is freedom.
33:58We are out.
33:59That bit of bitumen there signifies
34:01the rest of it.
34:03We've got no troubles all further south.
34:06We're home and dry.
34:09Well, we're not home, but we're dry.
34:11We're on bitumen.
34:12We've got dry road in front of us now.
34:14Thank you, thank you, thank you.
34:20I've had enough of the day.
34:22We can relax now.
34:26We'll rest up here for a little while.
34:30And we'll get down to Cairns
34:32and have Christmas somewhere, yeah.
34:35It's going to be a bit of a quiet Christmas for me.
34:37The kids are all overseas.
34:40I'm probably just going to sit back,
34:41have a few beers,
34:42and maybe I'll buy myself a pepper pie
34:47or something special.
34:48I'll have a special pie.
34:50That'll be me Christmas dinner.
34:53Just this morning,
34:54I was packing my clothes bag.
34:57My little girls that are overseas
34:59left snuck a present in.
35:02Jesus, I'll tell you what.
35:04They've really wrapped it well.
35:08Anyway, here we go.
35:09Look at this here.
35:10Yeah, no, look,
35:12I'm always going crooked down there
35:13because I've never got razor blades.
35:15I'm always out of them.
35:17The kids know to not get me.
35:19It's no good getting me socks and underwear
35:20because I don't wear either.
35:25But they do like the clean shaven.
35:27They don't like Dad looking like a bloody old Darrow or something.
35:30So anyway, kids,
35:31I'll tell you what,
35:32I'm...
35:34Yeah.
35:35No, great kids.
35:36I love that.
35:37Happy Christmas.
35:46There he is.
35:47There are you, mate.
35:48You good?
35:49So what are we up to?
35:50Well, we've got a Wheels on One
35:51at Cushot coming up.
35:52Yeah.
35:53So I've got two machines here
35:54that we're going to take up
35:55that we've restored.
35:56One up today,
35:57and then we've got his big brother
35:58to go up tomorrow.
35:59Oh, righty-o.
36:00Righto, we're going to load.
36:02Working in New Zealand
36:03as a contract driver,
36:05after a life-threatening accident,
36:07Sludge has signed up for a job
36:09with his mate Paul,
36:10hauling a vintage bulldozer
36:12to the Wheels at Wanaka.
36:14Wheels at Wanaka is a big machinery show
36:16they have every two years.
36:18All these old machines
36:19from all around New Zealand
36:20come down to it,
36:21so it's going to be a big thing.
36:22These are two vintage Terrix bulldozers.
36:25First one we're taking today
36:26is about 42 tonnes.
36:28It's 1972.
36:29It's 3.8 metres wide.
36:31I don't think there's any others
36:32that are restored anywhere
36:33that I know of,
36:35probably this side of Australia,
36:36New Zealand,
36:36so, yeah,
36:37I can't wait to see what people think.
36:39It's not only the priceless
36:41vintage bulldozer
36:42that will keep Sludge on his toes.
36:45Paul's throwing in
36:46an unusual truck
36:47as part of the deal.
36:49This is her.
36:50She's a C500.
36:51Yeah.
36:51About 95, 96.
36:54This rare version
36:55of the Kenworth C500,
36:57one of only 16 made,
36:59was built in the USA
37:00with right-hand drive,
37:02originally intended
37:03to be used in Japan.
37:05I think there's about
37:06six or eight
37:07Camden to New Zealand.
37:08Oh, shit.
37:08Yeah, so it's short,
37:09but it's a high-rated,
37:11it's about 680 horse,
37:12so, yeah,
37:13it's a good old build.
37:14Ah.
37:14From Dunedin,
37:16Sludge will haul
37:17the heavy dozer
37:18through the South Island's
37:19country roads
37:20and narrow bridges
37:21300 kilometres
37:23to Wanaka.
37:24Paul's going to be a pilot
37:25at the front for me.
37:27It's something
37:28that's a bit different.
37:28I haven't done pilot work
37:30for a long time,
37:31so I'll have to,
37:31I'll have to have my wits
37:32with me on this.
37:34Right, let's do it, eh?
37:35Right, let's go.
37:37Deep breath.
37:42She's a little short thing,
37:43but she's grunty.
37:46I'll take the middle of this.
37:53Oh, there she's pulling there.
37:55You can feel the weight
37:56as we come round the corner there.
37:59Oh.
38:01She'll normally go down the hill
38:03maybe half a gear higher
38:04than what you went up it.
38:06Roger.
38:08It's pretty full-on here
38:10with all the traffic
38:11and everything.
38:12It's, um,
38:14just sort of getting going
38:16is going to be the thing.
38:25You've got to get it right
38:27because the bridges
38:27aren't very high.
38:28Well, that was 4.9,
38:30I don't know, I think.
38:31We were 4.6.
38:33So not a lot of room in there.
38:34She's a big hill coming up out of the needon here.
38:40She's pulling pretty.
38:42She's got her work cut out for her.
38:44It's good to have Paul
38:49because I'm not super familiar with it,
38:52but he knows exactly what his truck will do,
38:54so it just helps a little bit.
38:58So we're off the motorway,
38:59onto the single lane stuff now,
39:01so here we go.
39:02We've got to settle in for a few hours.
39:04Around the corner,
39:09we've got the first bridge,
39:10sludge coming up,
39:11Tyree Bridge.
39:13It's just your own lane,
39:14or you can go across the centre if you want,
39:16and it's just 40 kilometres an hour.
39:18I'll go across,
39:19and I'll stop the traffic,
39:21and I'll let you know
39:21when it's all clear.
39:23Roger.
39:25So we've got our first bridge coming up.
39:29Paul's going to shut it
39:30for us to go across.
39:31All right, mate.
39:35Bridge is clear.
39:37I'm all right.
39:40Give it down to 40,
39:43and I'll let it across.
39:48Guys, we've got a 3.8 metre wide
39:50heavy transporter on the Tyree Bridge.
39:53Do you want to pull her up there, please?
39:55Stop!
40:02Stop!
40:03I want to go in the bridge!
40:11No, he's here.
40:14He's sitting in his machine.
40:20So Gary's straight into it.
40:22He knows I won't get out of here.
40:23Could be cammed here yet.
40:28Mel Michelson has just half a day left
40:32to transport 20 tonnes of logs
40:34300 kilometres to a lumber mill.
40:38But wet weather has rolled in
40:40and could turn the mountain track
40:42and only way out
40:43into impassable mud.
40:47That's an hour away, I reckon.
40:49An hour, about an hour.
40:50You should get out,
40:51well out of the dirt,
40:52back on the highway by then.
40:54Gary's my neighbour.
40:55We'd had small showers
40:56for the hour and a half.
40:58Five mil here can turn into slippery mud,
41:00so you've got to be very careful.
41:02It'd make it too slippery for you to get out.
41:082113.
41:09That's it.
41:10See you guys.
41:20Now, we've got to get down this mountain
41:22before we get hit again with this rain.
41:26Otherwise, I will not get out of here at all.
41:28Slow and steady.
41:36Just got me hand ready on the trailer brakes.
41:39Thing clean so I stop sliding.
41:47Oh God, look at the clouds coming in over there.
41:50That is rain coming over there
41:52to the left of us.
41:54Oh, shit.
41:55Oh my God.
42:05It's raining.
42:06I've got to get out of here, aye?
42:07I've got to go.
42:15I shouldn't have stopped.
42:16I just want to get out
42:22and I can't go quicker.
42:28Oh, jeez.
42:32It's just sliding, aye?
42:35You don't want to slide off the edge.
42:41We'll go off the edge.
42:46I'm not a critter,
42:47but I don't think I'm going to get anywhere.
42:52Just watch the front of the truck out.
42:53It's just sliding on me.
42:55Look.
42:58If the truck starts off,
42:59we're gone, aye?
43:00I can't stop it.
43:05this.
43:08No, I'm not going anywhere, aye?
43:10This is...
43:10this is...
43:10this is...
43:16Well, here we go,
43:18Brodie boy.
43:19Now, the truth will come out.
43:22You just get the sense, don't you,
43:23that this road
43:24just doesn't want to let us win.
43:30Oh!
43:31Oh!
43:32And now I'm just going up
43:34like Bob's uncle.
43:37It's pissing out frickin' oil.
43:41Because we're oversized,
43:42you've got to have two pilots.
43:44Paul, you're supposed to be
43:45right in front of me.
43:47Please don't talk on the CV to me
43:48like that.
43:49The rules are you're going to wait.
43:51Oh, Mr. Rulebook.
43:53Righto, Wallace.
43:54We'll be looking down.
43:55Bye-bye books and let's do that in front of us.
43:57Do you know that this Shahzad is going to be
43:58your mum's uncle?
43:59I'll be looking down.
44:00I couldn't do it anymore now,
44:01the Lيد guy is there.
44:02I thought before me,
44:03the way you guys are going to leave me
44:05can happen.
44:05What a struggles about me,
44:05the 것을 are going to make
44:06the comma.
44:07Come here.
44:08Have a look.
44:09And, don't,
44:10look,
44:10The last half,
44:12I always need you to think
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