There is a very good reason I live in Queensland. 
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Thereās a very good reason I donāt 
(I canāt be dealing with heat and humidity any more. When I was younger - decades younger - I got casual work as an oik on concreting jobs. In Port Douglas. In November. Ick.)
Abrupt change of subject: I know youāre a Western Star man, certainly over KW or Freightiner, but have you done stints in European prime movers? If so, what did you reckon to them?
Weāve all that to come thanks for reminding us. Hosepipe ban here and water bills gone through the roof ffs. You couldnāt make it up
Just between us, mate, I used to aspire to Volvo ownership. Early in my transition from body trucks, I was temporarily moved from āstoresā to ātransportā. My employer had hired an extra prime mover from Budget. Being on the bottom of the new pecking order, I got the rental. The rest of the transport fleet was one truck, one driver. My hire steed was an almost brand new Volvo F12F, 385 horsepower when 400 was considered OTT. I thought I and that truck were the dogās danglies.
Along came a Mercedes 1418, I hated that bucket of bolts with a passion. Various other well past their prime, Volvos, Scanias and Mercedes that were enthusiastically mastered, if not loved. Itās impossible to love any Mercedes. They all seem to offer half the horsepower advertised on the badge.
Then came a long period as an owner driver and I was a Cummins/RoadRanger/ Rockwell convert. After that āhad a lot of fun, but never made much moneyā I took a long term job in a 6900 Star. With half an acre of bonnet in front and another half acre of living space behind.
Skip over the fuel hauling years of mostly Stars, Kenworths and a solitary Superliner, I find myself working in a mixed fleet of Scania, MAN and Western Star. Although these trucks were allocated and refered to as xyzās truck they were often double shifted. Everyone else looked down their noses at the Stars, they were the oldest in the fleet and manual, suited me. I was allocated the pick of them and rarely had to share it.
I did however get to drive the entire fleet. MAN, ho, hum, I didnāt like the way it was reluctant to go into neutral when coming to a stop. Very uninspiring. We had two of these, they seemed to go out in sympathy with each other. If one had an issue, within a week the other followed suit. Despite allegedly having 20% more torque and power than the old Star, seat of the pants dyno told a different story.
V8 Scanias with various settings up to 580 hp, were a pain in the proverbial. All were automatic, some with, some sans clutch pedal. The big horsepower was sadly let down by the default economy mode.
Iām sure both the MANs and Scanias would be better tools, individually, in the hands of familiar drivers, but it seems to me the more decisions that are removed from the driversā control, the more inefficient the truck becomes.
Of late Iāve been driving an automatic, 500hp, Volvo. I have to say, Volvo have nailed this self chaning gear lark. I can get the truck to use more fuel and make more noise, but I cannot beat the computer for gear selection.
In my opinion, Volvo is the pick of the European makes.
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I couldnāt agree more with you SDU on your opinion of Mercs terrible things.I was never keen on the older stuff i had a 1729 which i went to Germany in and should have left it there i also had a 1733 which wasnāt too bad but the newer they got the worse they got.Itās a German thing because the MANs we had eere bad too. I had a 2011 440 6x4 unit with the ZF 16 speed with the comfort switch .That switch was a pain in the ass.The 6x4 DAF i had that was a year older without the comfort switch was head and shoulders above the MAN version. Endless problems with the linkage the gear chamge was abysmal like my spelling. I have a Scania now box standard with a 12 speed auto box To be fair its ok , itās only got two modes economy and standard but others in our fleet have the hill climbing mode which some drives leave on all the time.I dont know if they charge extra for this but i wouldnāt.All it does is changes down very early and up very late whereas the economy does the opposite to the point on hills i have to take charge.It was at 800 rpm the other day i thought the box was going to blow.That cant be good. I just change down or up at sensible revs.
On a completely different subject i thought i was being clever yesterday. I bought a quite tidy 2011 model V70 D3 5 pot.It was a non runner because the in tank fuel pump had gone. It came on a recovery motor i rolled it down the path and away i went with my Volvo vida diagnostics.I dont know why i bothered the pubs were open and it was 27 c. .Anyway i did know that to access the pump you remove the back seat and thereās an inspection hatch. Wrong they changed them in 2009 and you now have to remove the fuel tank ffs.Its a very expensive bit of garden furniture that will probably go on ebay with no reserve. I have learnt a lesson though donāt wake up on bank holiday monday half cut and buy a car you cant fix.
Thanks for the generous reply. As to
donāt worry, thereās no-one here.
If youāre an o/d you have to sort the sheep from the goats and I suppose reliability and parts availability count more than any badge (I know KW are the thing young blokes look up to but donāt let all that chrome fool you). Driving fleet wagons is another thing altogether and your account of various European marques chimes with what Iāve seen in this country: Scania V8s, MAN, Mercedes Actros and Volvo were (are) all around Sydney and up and down the Pacific and the Hume and Great Western.
Where I am now is a bit different: itās mining, forestry and ag. Yes, Scania V8s, a handful of MAN, many Actros (Finemores) and many FM/ FH Volvo on linehaul. Oversize loads are frequent here (mining equipment) and 90% of the prime movers are Oz-spec KW, but you get a few FH Volvos and the odd V8 Scania: the mining scene is big here. Beyond that, there are big radiata pine plantations around here and the only Euro marque Iāve seen doing that work (off-road loading included) reliably is Volvo.
You wouldnāt be the only saying so. One of our regular linehaul blokes drives an FM 540 and he can make it descend Vic Pass at 39km/h, or 38ā¦ Iām starting to sound like an advert for Volvo, but Iām not. It seems to me that Volvo here are willing to adapt, and thatās what gets you sales.
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Despite the hype, Iāve never seen one in the wild.
Youāve got some dodgy stuff over there SDU , we have adders but iāve never seen one over here.They arenāt quite as toxic as your death adders but do bite.I remember i think a pro Irish golfer in a competion over here was in the rough and he got bitten.It made the news. In his interview he said it bit his hand and it swelled up he then said he wished it had bitten his knob 
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Hissing Sid in my swimming pond is a Couleuvre and non, or very little. venomous, but he is wary of me though and swims back home when I seek to join him. 
Iāve seen a handful over the years (and I count myself lucky for seeing them): theyāre quite shy creatures and you have to be very very incautious (or stupid) to get bitten by one. Youāre much more likely to come across eastern browns which can get very snotty in breeding season (about now), Iād even steer clear of red-bellied blacks in spring because itās their patch too. Taipans (where you are) is a whole other thingā¦
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@parkroyal2100 yep, got a brown frequenting beneath the front steps.
Most of those who get bitten by a snake have been ummm.. dicking around with it. Iām sure you know the drill.
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WTF .How matter of fact is that SDU. A lunatic snake by your steps ā¦.. one false move and ā itās an afternoon with the undertakerā as the late great Fred Dibnah used to say
@ramone weāve got an agreement, if I donāt bother him, he wonāt bother me. The reality is that he wants to confront me less than I want to see him. He hears me coming long before I could eyeball him.
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I like to keep a distance from lethal snakes but over 200 miles doesnāt seem to be enough from their nest on Downing St
Thatās the truth of it: weāre too big and far too noisy for them. In all the years me (a Pom) and my ex (Welsh) were being botanists in all sorts of places most Australians wouldnāt have set foot in and that we were both trained as volunteer reptile rescuers, neither of us were ever bitten. Yes, there were occasions when we got up close with an elapid and it envonmated the bag we were presenting to it but thatās because it was cornered by us. Outdoors, in their patch of bushland, when left to their own devices, they just clear off.
[edit] The reason thereās a brown underneath SDUās front steps is (a) food (probably rodents) and (b) some shelter. It might be femaleā¦ /edit
Rodents, indeed. Itās still winter here and the 400 metres to the nearest structure is a roof too far for little meeces legs, so they try to bludge my shelter.
Define winter SDU. Under 28c?