FH16 750 IN NEW ZEALAND
Truck & Driver Summer 2019^65
what we can see ahead. But
behind the next corner the road
suddenly gets steeper... a lot
steeper. It has caught us out, and
we rapidly drop down another
three gears. We sit in sixth for a
few minutes, allowing the truck to
build up its revs, and then change
up to seventh for the rest of the
climb. Damien tells us that the
Pass gets particularly challenging
in the snow but, all credit to him,
he hasn’t got stuck yet.Selfish cyclists
A surprising number of cyclists
have made it up here and, just
like at home, a small minority of
them have absolutely zero
consideration for fellow road
users and travel three abreast.
We sit behind one group for five
minutes, unable to find a safe
place to pass. Eventually we give
up and, when we see a decent-
sized layby, pull over to allow the
traffic behind us to pass.
While we’re here, Damien tells
us a bit more about himself. He’s
actually an Australian and, like
so many Aussies, is extremely
well travelled. In addition to
exploring the Middle East, he’s
also done Alaska’s Dalton
Highway up to Prudhoe Bay.
He started truck driving 14
years ago when he moved to
New Zealand and really enjoys
his profession. He does about
100,000km annually and is home
most nights. But all that changes
in the grape harvest season, when
he’s extremely busy and may be
away for a month at a time.
While most of his driving
takes place on the South Island,
occasionally he boards the ferry
to the North Island. Although only
four hours away, the crossing can
get extremely rough, and Damien
says that on occasions he’s had
to put the mattress on the floor
from fear of falling out of the bunk.Big FH fan
Damien is a huge fan of the
FH16, both of its performance
and cab comfort, and reckons it
attracts a fair bit of attention at
truckstops. He says he’d far
sooner be driving any European-
style cab-over truck than an
American conventional.
“They have a superior ride
quality too,” he tells us. “You glide
over the bumps rather than
bouncing about and hitting your
head on the roof.”
When we ask him
how bad truck crime is in
New Zealand, he looks atIn the Lindis Pass: scenery is amazing but, at the wheel
and in manual mode, Will is too busy on the hills to enjoy it