Benz World Blog » Truck

Leyland Truck

Jason Benz — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 06:01:06 +0000

This is a bodger legend and an inspiration. There was no information board but given the location in the centre of the Australian outpost of Marree this looks like the remains of the Leyland truck from the 1954 film/documentary “The Back of Beyond”.

Marree is a frontier town and the last petrol stop before embarking on the Birdsville, Oonadatta or Strzelecki Track. From here dirt roads stretch out hundreds of miles into South Australia’s remote corners. The place has a Mad Max feel. Beefed up 4WD’s adorned with equipment and stacked high with water and petrol cans prepare to take on the expanse. From here I went North until the road ended at the foot of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.

When I first visited Australia in my gap year over 20 years ago a fellow traveller told me this quote by Samuel Johnson “The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are” So it is with Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre. Internet articles predicting the rains earlier this year in Queensland and The Northern Territory would cause a once in a lifetime event were greatly exaggerated. I suspect they were written by someone with an interest in the tourism industry. It is true that the rivers here are untamed but industry and agriculture still take bore water from the Great Artesian Basin. This reduces the chance of the lake ever filling again like it did in 1974. It is a sobering thought that since it last filled the global human population has doubled and the wildlife population has halved. Another part of travel these days seems to be seeing things before they are gone forever.

From here I will go west across the Nullarbor Plain to revisit the location of my best selling photo in Kalgoorlie.

Bomb Squad

Jason Benz — Sun, 06 Mar 2016 09:20:20 +0000

This monster truck, called Bomb Squad, was offering rides this weekend at the Southport Broadwater Parklands, Queensland, Australia. Due to recent rain it did not take long for it to tear up the grass. Although the council restricted the hours on both days, organizers did well to keeep everyone informed via the facebook event.

Little Topar

Jason Benz — Sat, 01 Mar 2014 10:34:36 +0000

These trucks were parked at the Little Topar Roadhouse which we stayed at on our way into and out of Broken Hill in New South Wales. We were told you could “get a good feed there” and the bacon, eggs and sausage breakfast did not disappoint.

We are currently staying at the Warrumbungle National Park. The rain seems to have been following us for the last two days. This has made all the Australians we have met very happy, however we had hoped to visit an observatory where you can attach your DSLR body to their telescope and get pictures of colourful gas clouds and nebula. If our flight to the UK were not leaving in a week we would probably wait for better weather. As it is we have arranged a visit to a mine on Tuesday before a final dash to Sydney.

Journey Begins

Jason Benz — Sun, 05 May 2013 23:26:52 +0000

We hit the road today. We have a few stops in the UK before we fly to Australia on Thursday. We should be landing in Sydney on Friday evening. After arriving I will be able to post some new shots but for now I will use these road trains I shot last year as we crossed the Nullabor in Western Australia.

To develop this image the blue and green were desaturated in Camera RAW leaving a red spot colour.

Barbaras Festival

Jason Benz — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 04:58:10 +0000

This is the St. Barbara’s Festival in Kalgoorlie in the Goldfields of Western Australia. This is what miners call the Baby Truck. I think it safely qualifies as Mechanography.

Top Stock

Jason Benz — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 08:51:34 +0000

This is a shot of the Super Pit in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. I remember the viewing area over the pit had one of the highest concentration of flies we experienced anywhere in Australia. This image has just become my all time best selling stock image at Shutterstock. It has only been online for 10 months but it has sold more then the old number one which has been online for 6 years.

Old number one

The Superpit image is available for high resolution download here.

The Firework is available for high resolution download here.

Baby Truck

Jason Benz — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:42:18 +0000

This is what miners in Kalgoorlie call the baby truck. This one took a break from its 24/7 duty in the super pit to take part in the annual parade. The only reason its big brother did not make an appearance this year was it could not fit under the new power lines across the main street. There are 40 trucks like this each carrying 220 tonnes of rock with an average of 2g of gold per tonne. The drivers of these truck can earn £1000/day and they are always looking new drivers. The 500 meter deep Super pit at the edge of town has only recently restarted digging since the rise in the gold price has made it economically viable again. We spent an enjoyable 4 days in Kalgoorlie. We met some prospectors and have seen more nuggets of gold than you could imagine. We are now deep in the gold fields at a place called Niagara Dam. We had a close encounter with two Brumbies today and Karen also saw her first willy-willy this afternoon which she described as a perfect mini tornado about 6 foot tall and very loud. Tomorrow we head for Leonora.