Anxious wait for house relocation specialists

BY ALF WILSON

AS rain had hammered parts of Queensland in the days before the big move, Brett Nixon and Dean Anderson faced a nervous wait as they prepared to relocate a house from Townsville to Forrest Beach, some 130 kilometres away.

The move was slated to take place on Wednesday, January 18.

Nixon runs ProJax, which was tasked with the relocation and owner-operator Anderson, 60, who runs DRA Transport, was using his flashy yellow Kenworth to do the job.

Pro-Jax House Raising and Lifting has been operat- ing in the North Queensland region for over 40 years.

In 1974, Don Nixon pioneered a new way of raising a house during a period when house raising and restumping was largely sought after due to record floods. His technique and the equipment he designed are now used widely across North Queensland.

Brett is Don’s son and is today continuing his father’s legacy.

The house involved in the move was a family home built around 1975, located in sleepy Caroline Street in the Townsville suburb of Aitkenvale. My investigations revealed the land where the house was sitting will soon have a retirement village built on top of it.

I first stopped by to speak with the duo at around 11am that morning. “We are just waiting to see how wet it is so we can move the house and if it is okay we plan to start at 10pm tonight,” Anderson said.

At that point, the rain had slowed to a drizzle. While a 120km stretch of the Bruce Highway between Townsville and Ingham was still open, down south around Proserpine and Mackay, the road had been cut due to floods.

Thankfully the weather held up and the move was able to get on its way by around 9pm.

It took over six hours for two Kenworth trucks to

THE LEAD UP TO THE TRIP INVOLVED OVER A MONTH OF PREPARATION, WHICH INCLUDED CUTTING THE HOUSE IN TWO, LOADING IT ONTO THE TRAILERS AND GAINING THE NECESSARY WIDE LOAD PERMITS.” transport the house, alongside three police cars and three pilot drivers.

The lead up to the trip involved over a month of preparation, which included cutting the house in two, loading it onto the trailers and gaining the necessary wide load permits.

The house travelled behind Anderson’s 1984 and 1986 model Kenworths.

Anderson, a truck driving veteran who has been driving trucks since he was 19, drove the yellow Kenworth; with Danny Donovan behind the wheel of the older model.

Due to the recent heavy rain, the decision to undertake the journey that evening wasn’t made until late in the afternoon.

Even though the big showers had ceased, it was still drizzling when the convoy left.

Big Rigs snapped some pics as it headed up Alfred Street which is behind the giant Stockland Shopping Plaza and McDonalds Aitkenvale.

Lots of spectators had braved the light rain to wait and take some pics.

“It was slow going in the local streets where we could only poke along at less than 20km/h but once we got on the Bruce Highway that increased to around 60km/h,” explained Anderson.

He added that both sections of the house were 8.7m wide and it took a couple of hours to negotiate the Townsville streets.

“Ergon Energy workers had to get us under powerlines a few times and NBN also had to disconnect some lines whilst we passed. It was

Piloting into top ‘Gear’

WITH three decades of experience as a pilot driver, Angie Gear has helped move more than her fair share of oversize loads.

She was driving the lead pilot escort vehicle, ahead of the two Kenworths, during the house relocation.

I saw the convoy meandering along Alfred Street in Aitkenvale when they were held up at a roundabout to let traffic through.

As I walked near the convoy which had come to a stop, I recognised Gear as I had done a story on her back in 2006, in the now defunct magazine Truckin’ Life.

slow going in the city streets as there were a few skinny spots,” Anderson revealed.

He added that there wasn’t a lot of traffic on the 110km section of the Bruce Highway between Townsville and Ingham.

“There was a few narrow spots at level crossings which we had to negotiate with care. Any trucks we came across got off the highway as we passed,” he said.

The 20km section between Ingham and the great fishing venue of Forrest Beach went without any major problems and they arrived just before 4am.

“We had to leave the trailers there because of the wet ground,” Anderson said.

In that article were four other female pilots named Heather Godfrey, Lynette Nalder, Del Thom and Di Linridge.

It was at Townsville’s Reclaimed Land Area near the mouth of Ross River and the wharves. They were piloting ultra-wide mining equipment loads to Mount Isa, 900km away.

Gear, now aged 57, is one of the most respected and well known pilot drivers around North Queensland and beyond.

She possesses a bubbly personality and a wonderful and witty sense of humour. “Refer to me as a pilot and not an escort,” was one of the first things she said to me.

In the industry for 35 years, Gear runs A Gear Pilot Service. For many years she had manned the office of her family business A & A Gear Tilt Operators.

When her beloved husband Merv passed away in 2002 she became a full-time pilot driver.

I asked how many places around Australia she had visited so far.

“I have been to WA, the Northern Territory, parts of SA, all over the north and almost every state except Tasmania. Many people wait until they retire and get in a caravan and travel around Australia but being a pilot has enabled me to see places I would never have. I even got stuck once at Hall’s

Creek in WA and also got a ride in a Royal Flying Doctor plane after being injured. I live life to the fullest and enjoy it,” she said.

Angie said her latest trip to Forrest Beach was good. She arrived back at her Townsville home just after 5am but didn’t get any sleep because she had to catch a plane just hours later to see her youngest daughter in Sydney.

“I always get on well with the truck drivers and these days I generally do jobs which allow me to be home at night,” she said in conclusion.