Jason Lyon, known to most in the industry as Bert, was off to deliver a load of sawlogs to a local mill when Craig McCauley intercepted him in Harewood.

He pilots a 685hp Mack Super-Liner for the famed Steve Murphy Ltd fleet, carting logs from various Canterbury forests to local mills or the Lyttelton port.

Bert is a second-generation trucker and originates from Marlborough, where his career began at 15 in an Isuzu ELF for Gill Construction. After gaining his HT licence at 18 – and in a neat quirk of fate – he took the wheel of Gill’s then-No.44, a GM-powered Leyland Super Buffalo that his father, Mike, drove brand-new in the 1970s.

What is his favourite truck? He pauses before saying “either the T404ST or the T908” he drove at Murphy’s.

Bert says the best part about truck driving is the independence it allows, and the biggest negative is the amount of compliance surrounding the industry.

An apt vexing question for an early-spring day is: Washing the house or mowing the lawn? Bert thinks the bristles on the wash brush are better suited for use on the Super-Liner, and he would prefer a stroll behind the good Masport.