Cards on the table here folks, I’m not a Mackay fan. It’s nothing personal about the heavy haulage carting capital of Queensland, but in order to get to Mackay you need to endure the iconic Bruce Highway, and the many kilometres from my house to Mackay can feel like the longest week of your life.
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There are unsubstantiated rumours that the architects of the Bruce Highway were also responsible for The Iron Maiden, The Pear of Anguish and the formation of The Spice Girls, (if you don’t know how painful those tools of torture are then drive the Bruce and you’ll get the gist).
Sadly, my reluctance to endure the frustration of endless grey nomads and countless Weetbix qualified drivers has kept me from getting up to Mackay and experiencing their biggest social trucking event of the year, the annual Mackay Konvoy 4 Kids, until now. And yes, it is spelt with a K.
Last year’s 2024 Mackay Konvoy for Kids was the biggest ever, cracking 200 trucks for the first time. The photos and stories that flowed online were enough to entice me to attend this year’s fantastic fundraising event.
It did help that I used the big tin taxi to get to Mackay, thus keeping my patience and frustration levels in check.
First thing I did upon arrival in Mackay was track down Johanna Wood, one of the coordinators of the Konvoy.
“This is our 16th year organising the Konvoy 4 Kids Mackay” she says. “There’s me, my mum and dad, Ashley and Madonna Stevens. Plus, we have a team of about ten that help with sponsorships, getting donations for sausage sizzles and more.”
“We have a great team on the day that help look after our markets by setting them up and keeping the wheels turning.
“We also raise money for Variety, the children’s charity. Some of our convoy crew go to their Variety Bash, but in order to do the Bash each year, you need to fundraise a certain amount of money, and this is our main event that we fundraise for.”
Variety supports children and their families who are facing challenges like sickness, disadvantages and disabilities. Their work enables kids to get out and about in their communities, assist with their mobility, and help kids and their families achieve independence and assistance.
This is all done with grants for services and equipment, as well as scholarships and specialised programs. While Variety has multiple fundraising ventures, their flagship event is the annual Variety Bash, and that’s where the Konvoy 4 Kids Mackay fits in.
The Variety Bash is an eight to 10 day road trip with entrants piloting very old, very well decorated bush bashers, and typically includes a mix of on-road and off-road adventures through some of Australia’s most iconic and remote areas.
The teams make stops at schools and communities along the way to deliver donations and touch base with a lot of the children that benefit from Variety’s many programs.
The current Konvoy 4 Kids Mackay team have been supporting Variety for the last 16 years and run two very colourful kid friendly creations in the Bash, a 1966 HR Holden Wagon, dubbed Princess Barbie and a Peter Pan themed Valient station wagon with a custom-built pirate ship attached.
Trying to find a segway for the motivation behind Johanna, Ashley and Madonna’s Variety fundraising ideals, to one of North Queensland’s largest trucking events is a little thin.
Truth is, Johanna grew up with her parents’ main vocation revolving around Cane Farming and the horse racing industry.
There was a lot of machinery sure, but trucking hasn’t been a mainstay of the family, until now.
“My dad drives trucks for a living now, and so does my uncle,” Johanna says.
“We got behind this cause because someone before us had done it. We noticed it was a hugely popular event, so when they stopped, we decided to take over.
“We know a lot of people in the truck industry, so we were sure we would find participants to help bring it back to life.”
That was 16 years ago, and the Konvoy 4 Kids Mackay team have done nothing but grow the popularity of the event every year.
As I mentioned, they cracked 200 last year and this year they set another all-time record, officially running 234 vehicles.
I reckon that’s about all the behind-the-scenes information I need to summarise, so let me put on my judgemental podcaster hat and get into an in-depth review since I broke my ‘Konvoy 4 Kids Mackay’ cherry.
When it comes to chasing the ‘as advertised’ response to an event, the Mackay Konvoy 4 Kids nails itself perfectly.
The whole event is about the kids. It begins out at the Sarina Showgrounds, about 35 kilometres from the Mackay Showgrounds, with trucks starting to roll in from around 7am.
With every truck came a family happy to finish off some final detailing. There is an unwritten rule that family events like this require an onsite sausage sizzle and judging by the scores of young ones I saw with tomato sauce extended smiles, they were doing a roaring trade.
What added to the enjoyment for the kids, and many of us adults as well was the variety of vehicles attending the event. Mackay is a hub of oversize vehicles, mining activities and plenty of creative crane setups, which were lined up to enjoy this year’s event.
Of course there was also a gathering of emergency service vehicles, with lights and sirens to amuse the kids as well.
By 9:30am over 200 vehicles were lined up ready for departure and on the stroke of 10am the gates were opened, and the main road became a rolling exhibition.
I did my best to keep jumping from spot to spot in order to capture a few different angles, although pulling up to park became difficult with the number of locals already camped out.
For the entire 35 kilometres there were kids of every age group, arms waving and pumping for a toot of the horn like their lives depended on it, and the truckies were happy to oblige.
The harmonious horns of 200 vehicles filled the North Queensland cane fields with vibrations that are still echoing as I write this.
The great thing about the Mackay Convoy route plan is that rather than send the miles long convoy up the main road of Mackay, they had the great idea to take a back street.
I’ll pretend I support this decision as it allowed more local enthusiasts to line the streets and wave the trucks in, truth is I support it because it meant after getting a heap of photos, I was able to jump the convoy and get into the Mackay Showgrounds in time to capture the majority of the big rigs rolling in.
Full credit once again to the Konvoy 4 Kids team and their parking plans. It’s never easy parking a massive amount of trucks, but throw in the entire JJ Richards rubbish truck fleet as well as a collection of cranes capable of lifting everything from a backpack to a building, and you need to be a Tetris Grand Master to succeed.
Once everyone was parked up, I took the time to wander around the grounds and really appreciate how much the day is made for kids. Petting Zoo, free rides, inflatables and machines. There was face painting, colouring corners, arts and crafts and enough sugar packed edibles that the inflatable animals weren’t the only things bouncing off the roof by the time they were trying to close the doors.
Unlike many of the shows we experience, prizes and awards are secondary at this event, with 12 winners to be crowned.
Instead of manufacturers, awards were presented based on the trucks age, as well as the likes of best Prime Mover, Best Rigid, Best Large and Small Fleet and then a Best Overall, which went to Bradley Wren from Wrens Heavy Haulage.
The winners all deserved their moment in the sun, however it seems the collective view is, ‘we are just here to help the kids’ and that undercurrent of emotion was evident throughout the day.
From kids getting to sit in the police car and turn on bone chilling sirens, to well worn drivers stepping aside and letting kids younger than there work overalls, climb up onto their massive cranes with grins bigger than the booms.
To conclude, it was a pretty good show if I’m honest. The quality was there and the effort to prepare the trucks was evident.
The variety of vehicles was also a big plus. Your usual Kenworth dominance for sure, but there was a mix of Macks, Western Stars, Mercedes, Volvos, UDs, and nearly every other imaginable breed turned up.
Having the huge, covered arena at the Mackay Showgrounds mitigated the sunburn I normally acquire when I get too ensconced in trucks to remember to slip slop and slap. And it’s worth noting the catering extended well past the sausage sizzles as well. The waffle joint and the Rib Crib, definite Michelin Star options.
By the time I boarded the plane on Sunday night I was full of photos, sun stroked out and extremely pleased I’d made the effort to experience my first ever Konvoy 4 Kids Mackay. I don’t have the fund-raising figures yet, but with the support this small-town show gets, I’m sure it will be impressive.
Bring on 2026, heck, I may even consider tolerating the Broken Bruce next year to get a truck up there as well.
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