Southpac Legends

Neil Wood (and his wife Joanne) are the founders of Pokeno-based bulk cartage and earthworks business N&J Wood Ltd. It’s a family run operation that, at its core, hauls feed and aggregate the length and breadth of New Zealand. 

However, not only does this hard-working entrepreneur run an incredibly sharp looking fleet of trucks, but he has also influenced the next generation with his daughter instigating the highly popular Bombay Truck Show. Neil’s latest retirement project involves hundreds of acres of farmland that will house thousands of native trees - and for those reasons he’s this month’s Southpac Legend.

According to Neil, for a lot of people, tru... ... 

Known to most as ‘Scotty’, Andrew Haberfield has not only been putting some of the finest gear in the hands of operators in his area for the past two decades, but he’s also driven and repaired them too. And that (plus many other reasons) is why he’s this month’s Southpac Legend. 

Although obviously very well known around the trucking-industry traps nowadays for his extensive knowledge and hands-on experience, if it wasn’t for Scotty’s parents sticking to their guns, his life could have taken a whole different direction. 

“The deal was, I wanted to drive trucks, but my parents said no way, they wanted me to get a trade behind me,” Scotty recalls. “An... ... 

To many, this month’s Southpac Legend needs little by way of introduction.

With his `Farmer K’ nickname, ‘been there-done that’ breadth of experience and 50 years behind the wheel, this incredibly hard-working trucker retains an unquenchable enthusiasm for the industry. Yes, Peter Richmond is very special indeed.

Peter’s ‘Farmer K’ nickname was given to him by another industry legend, Cliff `Snowman’ Guy. 

“It comes from my days at Total Transport. I used to wear a towelling cap and drove a Kenworth. Snowman said I looked like a farmer, so started calling me `Farmer K’,” says Peter. 

This moniker has even more relevance when you discover... ... 

Peter Elphick, long-time Logging Production manager with Patchell Industries, and until recently a shareholder in the Rotorua trailer maker, is heading into what promises to be a busy retirement.

But though he’s looking forward to the projects he has planned, Peter admits he will also miss the day-to-day contact with people in the transport industry – many of whom have become firm friends.

This month’s Southpac Legend is richly deserving of the Legend title, Peter’s ‘can-do’ attitude helping guide many a challenging project through to a successful conclusion.

Welding and general fabrication have been the constant themes in Peter’s career, yet he says that wasn’t th... ... 

Te Awamutu based operator Barry Stamp has been in the transport industry for around half a century. Over the time he has successfully been at the helm of a business that introduced scores of drivers (including his son Mitch) into the industry, and that’s why he’s a Southpac legend. 

“I don’t really know what got me into it” was how Barry opened up our conversation, “I started driving trucks for something to do and have been doing it ever since.” Barry laughs.

Of course these are tongue in cheek statements but Barry Stamp has evidently come a long way from his first job, which was working on sheep stations in Gisborne.  

Stamp says, “I quickly realized that ... ...