Local company picked up thier new Drake 5x8 Swingwide today.(pics stolen from Drake trailers fb page)

I like it.

Stone gaurd.

Hey Rob,

I noticed it has a different goose neck on it, i can see it still widens. It it a new design or just a different because that is what the owner asked for.
Also are you coming to the open day.

Wayne

Hey Rob,

I moved up to brisbane about a month and a half ago. I currently am working just around the corner so drive passed most days. LCR have a yard up the road from there as well. They have the AC500 in there at the moment looks like they are doing some training.

Will try to spot you if I can at the open day.

Wayne

Look what I saw this morning.

Briefly and off the top of my head Craig ....

We sell a great deal of our minerals to China, Craig, also to Japan and Asia(India gets a lot also) and also South America. Our Iron Ore goes mainly to China and India, our Coal goes there also, we have extremely high quality thermal coal which is also sold to Japan and China. My kids work for the mining industry and are six hours away by road and they are close in the scheme of things.....coal is mainly in the Eastern half of the country(the underground mine my son works in you travel 45 kilometres under ground to the end of the seam) and Iron Ore is in the Western half of the country.

Agriculture is one of our biggest export markets(lots of our beef...25,000 ton a month...don't quote me but it is close, goes to the USA, China takes most of the rest), our Rice goes to Japan and China and we sell huge quantities of wheat to Russia and Middle Eastern Countries, we have the best Banking system in the world(most of our Bankers end up running banks in the UK and your very fine country also), our shipping is not one of our strong points.

Technology wise we are up there with the best of them...at the moment we are building a National Broadcast Network to cover the entire country with very high speed internet access...currently I run at about anywhere between 35 to 80 meg per minute and this will be far higher when we get the new network...towers are being erected at the moment. Our IT graduates are in high demand world wide and a great many work in your own silicon valley.

Transport wise we build some of the best trailers in the world(Drake) as you can see(they are built for our conditions and specs) and we also have a very good transport network considering the size of our country(the roads are crap)....the closest town to me is half an hour away....so we are reasonably spread out.

Wanna talk animals. His is what some people come home to some times.

7ft olive Python. Dads come home to a 7ft Brown snake(highly venomous) trying to climb the front door.

The Drake "Swing-wide" (shown here) is a little different concept to a "Swing-wing" as it's a perimeter frame design which is the reason for the differant gooseneck, they both widen however the Swing-wide does not have a centre spine to carry the load as per the Swing-wing which allows the load to be futher forward and lower on the trailer (which in turn allows for longer loads) and also it can be optioned as an extendable version which the Swing-wing can not as it's a fixed length

The Swing-wide is a heavier trailer (than a Swing-wing) though which affects the amount of payload it can (legally) carry

Drake "Swing-wide"

Drake "Swing-wing"

Thank you very much Robert, rare SS and GC1!! That is a lot of valuable information! I just learned a lot about Australia! Everything will help build our knowlege of your great country and also help when properly setting up displays and dioramas! I love the HHH and HHA K200s! I wish so badly that we could have the K200 in the US! If I ever buy my own Cab Over it will have to be an older truck to restore.

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- Kyle