Truckspotting page takes off

FROM photographing famous musicians, photographer Darryl Edwards has now switched his focus to trucks, and he’s quickly gaining a loyal following.

If you’re travelling through Ararat in Victoria, you may well see Edwards and his eagle eye by the roadside.

Up until Covid hit, he was a live music photographer, snapping the likes of James Reyne and Rose Tattoo among others.

out the street one day and took one photo of a truck and caught the bug,” he explained.

That was just four weeks ago. From that he created a Facebook group, Truckspotting Ararat, which has already gained over 700 followers.

Edwards has also had numerous truckies get in touch to let him know when they’ll be passing through.

way at Lakelands Downs.

It was about 7pm at Kalpower Crossing and Symes was about 1m from the water and about to grab the rope to haul in a pot.

“I saw the crocodile which had been stalking me and if I had of grabbed the rope it would have got me and it would have been all over,” he said.

So Symes beat a hasty retreat.

But he did have his phone in his hands and managed to snap a pic of the giant reptile.

Kalpowar Crossing’s dayuse area is in the central part of Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL), on the southern Cape York Peninsula. It lies on the western bank of the Normanby River.

Symes has been a snake handler and registered breeder for 42 years and has been in Cooktown for the past 22.

“When I first came here I used to catch and relocate about seven snakes a week on average and now it would be about two dozen a year. I don’t charge a cent to remove them from people’s houses or property and sometimes I have to do a round trip of 70km to relocate them in the bush. Some of them are venomous Taipans, brown snakes and big Mulgas,” he said.

Symes added that he had only been bitten once by a snake in his long career. “It was a red belly snake here at Cooktown and I ended up in hospital.”

As for his pest control business, the Mitsubishi takes Symes to many isolated communities.

“I mostly treat for termites and cockroaches and everybody sees me arrive in my truck and they call me snake man,” he said.

The Mitsubishi has clocked up more than 300,000km and is still going strong.

Symes said there had been many male and female legends who travelled the highways and byways of the far north.

We spoke about female truckie Toots Holzeimer who died at Weipa in 1992, aged 58. There is a monument in her honour near the Archer River Roadhouse.

Toots was one of Australia’s best known truckies and her Blue Man prime mover has pride of place in the National Transport Hall of Fame at Alice Springs.

Toots and her truck were the lifeline for the communities the length of Cape York, wet or dry, until she was killed in a loading accident on the wharf at Weipa.

Another legend was Laurie “The Birdman” Friswell who was a hawker who drove weekly on the 900km run from Townsville to Mount Isa.

Friswell, who sold just about everything legal, was also known as the Condom Man because he serviced such vending machines.

A former quality cricketer,

Symes played for Townsville Club Wanderers for many years before moving to Cooktown.

With him that day at the Goldfield Ashes was former champion cricketing allrounder Ray Tolley. “It is good to catch up with Jim and Wanderers have been coming to this carnival for 51 years,” Tolley said.

Some of the former champion players who lined up with Wanderers were Aussie Test stars Mitchell Johnson, the late Andrew Symonds, and Joe Scuderi who played Sheffield Shield for South Australia.

“I never played with Johnson or Symonds but did score 11 centuries for Wanderers in reserve grade and third grade,” he said.

As testimony of how well known Symes is, I was sitting on my front veranda when a neighbour Anthony Stout walked by.

Stout is a Townsville police officer and I told him of meeting up with Symes.

“I know him well and we both played for wanderers. He once removed a snake from a clubhouse,” Stout said.

For the record, Wanderers finished third in their category at the Goldfield Ashes, which is Australia’s biggest cricket carnival and this year had more than 220 teams.

Edwards moved to Ararat in February 2021 and more recently he discovered a passion for truck photography.

“I was looking for subject matter and a truck came through. I literally walked

“The reaction and feedback I’m getting from the drivers is making it all worthwhile. Thumbs ups, waves, headlight flashes and the odd honk always makes my day,” he said.

“I’m having a lot of fun and the truckies are enjoying seeing their trucks, which they take great pride in.”