Deals on Wheels #464
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Paul Watts loads up a<br />
relatively small load <strong>on</strong>to<br />
the Tuff Trailers’ quad axle<br />
The big 60-inch bunk<br />
allows for a fair bit of room<br />
for the driver to unwind<br />
new W900 ‘Big B<strong>on</strong>net’ Kenworths getting<br />
ordered.<br />
For a couple of years Dennis and his<br />
mates all worked their Kenworths pretty<br />
hard. They were heavily involved in the<br />
clearing and recovery work that went<br />
<strong>on</strong> down in South Australia after the Ash<br />
Wednesday fires.<br />
“Apparently Dad and Sharpie got kicked<br />
out of South Australia for working too hard,”<br />
Jarrod jokingly relates the yarn.<br />
This brings us back to where we were<br />
before, with Dennis and Shirley registering<br />
their new logging business and getting<br />
allocated the name Burgundy Heights Pty<br />
Ltd. The company was originally doing a<br />
lot of pine forestry work before moving into<br />
the plantati<strong>on</strong> hardwood arena. It was very<br />
popular around the area and it saw Burgundy<br />
Heights expand quickly to keep up with the<br />
workload.<br />
“We took <strong>on</strong> carting for other crews as well,”<br />
Jarrod tells me, clearly recalling that it was<br />
around '90s when Jarrod’s Kenworth love<br />
affair really kicked up a gear as well.<br />
“We bought a sec<strong>on</strong>d had T900 at Ritchie<br />
Brothers; it was our first T900.” By the end of<br />
that year though the family had ordered five<br />
brand new T900s. At this stage Jarrod was<br />
still at school, but a fleet of six cool Kenworths<br />
in your back yard would be enough to fuel<br />
any young man’s trucking passi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
The next couple of years saw the company<br />
kept busy and as Jarrod finished school he<br />
ended up working with the logging crew<br />
full-time himself. There were changes in the<br />
way c<strong>on</strong>tracts were awarded and work was<br />
given that saw Burgundy Heights scale back<br />
<strong>on</strong> their workload. The focus shifted from<br />
plantati<strong>on</strong> hardwood to more clearing and<br />
cleaning of areas. Trucks were sold off, trailers<br />
as well and new gear was purchased to help<br />
the company in its next venture.<br />
I did menti<strong>on</strong> Jarrod loved the T900s<br />
though, didn’t I? Well, the last of those five new<br />
<strong>on</strong>es were kept; and it’s still in service. It’s the<br />
boss’s work vehicle now.<br />
Did I also menti<strong>on</strong> the Smiths aren’t just<br />
hard workers, they are a family of pretty<br />
smart cookies as well? While their business<br />
acumen had them adapting with the times,<br />
their creativity and experience had them<br />
designing and building their own equipment.<br />
All in the aim of making their own work more<br />
cost efficient.<br />
I’m not the world’s best engineer, in fact<br />
it’s fair to say I wouldn’t even crack the<br />
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