Trucks, rocks and diggers with Kaitlyn

Truckers, rocks and diggers!

Our friend Kaitlyn got to spend the day out and about with Christchurch-based Road Metals, a company that works with gravel, sand and other products for lots of roading and construction projects.

My name is Kaitlyn Stewart and I am 10 years old. I got the opportunity to go out to Road Metals in Rolleston to see what goes on out there.

We were met by Aaron McGrath, who told us how Road Metals work with aggregates and are involved in the production of sand as well.

He showed us around the museum of the firm. He has been working for the company for one year.

I got to sit in the trucks and diggers in the museum.

We really enjoyed the museum and learning facts about the company.

Aaron offered to take us out on one of the trucks to see what they do. We went with Marty Grainger, who has worked for the company for 10 years. We got to pick up 14 tonnes of aggregate and go for a drive out by McCleans Island to the branch there.

It was such a nice day and Marty told us all about the buttons and what they did. I got to push the engine button that helped slow the brakes down. They have a system where they are tracked with their speed. They can’t go over 90kph or a red truck comes up on the screen.

I saw how they dumped the aggregate and we picked up a fresh load. Marty told us it costs about $600 a day to fill the truck. We couldn’t get out of the truck due to health and safety.

When we were coming back we got stuck in sheep traffic. I had so much fun learning about trucks.

Thank you Road Metals for the experience and merchandise!

The largest heavy trucks are the Australian road trains, which may have up to four semi-trailers coupled to a tractor in a train-like fashion and may carry up to 200 tonnes of cargo.

Kaitlyn spent the day with Road Metals in Christchurch

Truckers, rocks and diggers!

Road Metals in action

Kaitlyn got up close and personal with some cool machines

Traffic jam!

I just finished my first day of excavation training. So far I'm really diggin' it.

Kaitlyn loved learning about trucks Our mate, Marty

It costs about $600 a day to fill the truck with material

Road Metals are one of the premier producers of aggregate in New Zealand. They have produced sand and aggregate for all five of the major hydropower schemes in the South Island. In 1998, Road Metals expanded into Ready Mix concrete under the Kiwi Concrete brand.