Long Service Leave

If you were to think quickly about long service leave, you might imagine a couple of retirees pottering around the garden, tending to the rose beds or even buying a brand new Hyundai Getz, a new cardigan and visiting the Hunter Valley wineries. It’s not often you associate long service leave with a single bloke, two hunting dogs and well equipped 79 Series, but we bet you can imagine which one you’d prefer to be.

Craig Harms, the workshop manager of Beaurepairs Kununurra, is just that bloke. After doing his time in the tyre shop in WA’s largest town north of Broome and being only a short drive from the amazing Kimberly region he decided to cash in on his hard work and head off bush for a little while.

When we ran into him, he had just being enjoying the festivities of the Birdsville Races. With his amazing ’Cruiser fully loaded with Quad bike, tinny and off-road caravan there is not much of Australia he hasn’t yet seen. We actually asked him where his travels had taken him.

Instead of saying where he had been, he let us know he hasn’t visited the Barossa Valley yet and is not really that keen on it anyway. Fair enough too; who really cares about wineries when you could be barra fishing up north or plugging your quad through Tasmanian mud?

A lot of work has gone into this truck and Craig wanted us to give a quick mention to Kirby from Opposite Lock in Toowoomba for his help with the truck.

OUTSIDE

It is from the outside that this rig is the most impressive, especially against the red sand of the Simpson Desert. All of the bar work and tray are standard Toyota options, although where needed they have been modified slightly.

Mounted to the front bar is a 12,000lb Ironman electric winch with remote control. Craig mainly uses it to haul his tinny up on the roof. He has had a couple of rollers bolted to the bar and ARB roof rack so the cable doesn’t can be run over the top of the ’Cruiser.

The standard tray has had quite a bit of aluminium barwork added to it to hold his boat and create a little more useable space. The front section is just the right size for his old 700cc Polaris quad (he recently bought a new 850cc fuel injected one), while the back section has room for his dogs and other gear.

One of his favourite additions is the Slip’n’easy outboard motor mount. This locks the motor to the tray while in transit, but slides out and drops the 15hp Mercury down when he needs to get it out.

He also has a toolbox full of recovery gear and other assorted storage options scattered around the tray. Two spare tyres are mounted to the back of the tray.