When Go West invited drivers from its sister company Swan Transit to experience shutdown life in the resources sector, Deb Cinquina jumped at the chance to travel to Newman for a two week swing.

For Deb working up north has been a real adventure with lots of new experiences and learnings and she was keen to share her top tips for shutdown life:

• If you get the opportunity to experience this, take it, as it has been amazing!
• Bring a sense of humour with you and be prepared to make your fun.
• Make sure you’re 2-5kg lighter before you arrive because the food is great otherwise you will end up in the campsite gym.
• Drive as far to the left as possible so you’re not wiped out by a wide load – wide load up here does mean “wide load”.
• It does take a while to adjust to the left hand mirror – it’s concave so things look a bit warped.
• I have learned a lot about site driving from seasoned drivers like my mentor Glen, Alfie and John Hindrick.
• When you’re in the outback use Telstra, or you will run around camp holding your phone up trying to find where 4G went!

“The people drawn to this type of work are unique and a little on the crazy side,” Deb said. “I have made wonderful friendships and have laughed a lot. What do the Kiwis, Aussies and the South Africans have in common? They drive buses of course!

“The Go West Shutdown management team, Andrew Horan and Mel Macnish are very professional which means the operation runs smoothly and safely. Thanks for taking a newbie like me onboard and showing me a very different world up here.”

Photo: Shutdown coordinator Mel Macnish, Deb Cinquina and Shutdown Mobilisation Manager Andrew Horan.