Enthusiastic and happy to chat, always up to tackling a challenge, and individualistically old-school, 49-year-old Mark Dennis is the type of driver who fits an operation the style of Hanes like a glove.
Having grown up in Morrinsville, Mark’s parents bought a farm near Tauranga before he finished school, which he did at Tauranga Boys’. Like many, growing up on farms meant an interest in machinery that naturally morphed into a career driving.
“I’ve been driving since I was 18; this is all I’ve done,” he says. Mark’s first job was driving an eight-wheel Leader for Renco in Tauranga, and only a couple of years later, he graduated to long haul with Regal Haulage.
“I saw an ad for this company near Hamilton that went all over the country. So I shifted over and stayed with my sister in Hamilton. I was with Regals for five or six years, and came back later for a couple of years. I loved it there as a young fella.”
Mark started interisland work in 1996 on an old drop-side International T-Line with Regals, taking a load of NZ Woman’s Weekly magazines from Auckland to Christchurch. “None of those trucks had power; it was a slow trip!” he says.
The bulk of his driving work has been on curtainside flatdecks or transporters – he’s been driving for Hanes full-time for six years, on heavy haul, but has been associated with the company for about two decades.
“I worked for LCL (pre-Altranz) and Hanes had one transporter when Simon had his ERF; we were subcontracted to do all the extra work. I enjoy this. Sure, you get your moments when it gets stagnant and you do your smaller loads or have three weeks of runs into Auckland, but I’ve never liked doing the same old repetitive work. That’s why I’ve never been into general freight, I can’t be bothered with it.”
Brought up on Macks and Kenworths – “I’ve always been a Mack fan, but Kenworth are good gear” – Mark’s personal truck-owning history includes an Argosy and an MAN, a truck he rates highly.
“In 2015, I went to buy this Aussie-import Western Star at Penske in Auckland, but the truck was actually at another branch. The salesman suggested I take their MAN demonstrator for a drive, and I really liked it. It was something different, I’d never driven auto and never had all that tech. The newest truck I had was the Argosy from 2002.
“So he talked me into it and I bought a new tractor unit. I had it for four years and did about 400,000km, and out of all the trucks I’ve driven that was one of the better trucks I had. It held its own with only 540hp, and it was dangerously fast with its intarder … You’d go downhill at 50t and not touch the brakes once. It was a good truck; I really rated it. Never had an issue with it other than it chewed tyres.”
It was with this truck Mark taught the youngest of his two daughters (now 23 and 21) to drive off the wash bay at the age of 12, and passing on his knowledge to the younger generation is something he sees huge value in. “My girls didn’t follow me into the industry, but that’s okay. I try to coach the young fellas – that’s why we come in on Saturdays. It’s all about doing tyre pressures, fixing marker lights, all that,” he says.
Having enjoyed a life of driving, Mark’s kept a record of his travels in one of the coolest ways we’ve heard about. “I’m old school. I used to always buy the old AA maps at the service stations, and I’ve kept all of my old AA maps from around the country. I don’t go and buy them now obviously, but I’ve got a huge map on the wall at home, which I mark with a felt pen every time I drive a new road. That’s interesting! The whole map’s covered. It’s cool, too, because I get to mark the spots I want to holiday. I have a bad habit of not taking holidays. So when I do, it’s good to pick the cool spots!”
