Truckies’ epic drive to deliver food
Floods have forced a re-route of Kimberley supplies through two States and the Northern Territory in a return journey covering the same distance as New York to Shanghai.
Supply trucks must travel twice the usual distance to deliver food and mining supplies from Perth to Kununurra after major flood damage along the usual roads via Broome.
The new 12,000km return trip is similar to the distance between America’s east coast and east Asia, and is nearly five times the distance of a flight from London to Moscow.
The new route starts from Perth, before hitting Coolgardie in the Eastern Goldfields, Port Augusta in South Australia and then on to Alice Springs in the red centre.
From there the trucks travel to Katherine in the NT, before turning towards WA and heading to Kununurra for deliveries of Coles supermarket supplies.
Some trucks go further to drop off mining equipment at the nearby Argyle diamond mine.
Centurion Trucks drivers Jamie Kent and Peter Harris said the enormous distance highlighted the incredible size of the country, and the logistical efforts to keep it running in extreme weather conditions.
While most truckies covering the return trip will travel 12,000km, Mr Kent and Mr Harris said they had added an extra 5500km to the week’s journey after agreeing to backtrack to Eucla to change their truck.
Speaking near Kununurra last week, the pair said they had been travelling for eight days, and expected they had a few days left before reaching home.
The distance, including the diversion, was similar to the distance covered by a flight from Perth to New York.
Mr Kent, from Ellenbrook, said the long and gruelling journey had been made worse by the poor condition of flood-damaged outback roads.
The wet season, which delivered record rain in the Kimberley, had at least ensured some stunning scenery.
“It’s so green up north that it’s hard to believe it’s desert country,” Mr Harris, of Mandurah, said.
Kununurra local Cathie Herring said supplies of fresh fruit and vegetables were desperately needed, after weeks of relying on frozen food.
Coles spokesman Jim Cooper said Darwin stores had initially been stripped of supplies to send to Kununurra when floods prevented trucks from entering the region.
But the Kununurra supermarket had eventually been forced to turn to Perth distribution centres for stock and re-route the trip.
Mr Cooper said the retailer would not raise prices to cover its extra transport costs.
