Truck driver Janitta Kippen, 29, delivers produce around North Queensland in her job for Geoff Richards Transport.
She drives a Kenworth T909 powered by a 600hp motor and with an 18-speed road ranger gearbox.
I spoke with her after she walked into the eatery of a Townsville Roadhouse.
“I get around the north to Cairns, Mareeba and Mackay from Townsville and love the job,” she said.
“There is a lot of bananas, tomatoes and avocados moving now.”
Asked about what led her into trucking, Janitta said, “I started because my dad Andy had a quarry company in Mackay. I got my licence when I was 19.”
Janitta rates many parts of the Bruce Highway as bad which is a common opinion of many drivers.
“The Townsville to Rockhampton section is not good and also around Gin Gin,” she said.
As for rest areas, Janitta said more are needed especially with lots of parking spaces for trucks.
“We always see vans parked at them,” she said.
Before this job, Janitta was employed by Exodas for four years, driving a Kenworth K200 from a base at Yatala in southern Queensland.
As for roadhouses, Janitta said she liked the BP Cluden and also the Bluewater Springs along the Gregory Development Road.
“I take a lot of my own frozen meals with me on trips. My favourite food is silverside,” she said.
I snapped her pic in the roadhouse truck room as she checked out the latest edition of Big Rigs.
Soon after she walked over to her truck and drove off.
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