Rachel Ripohau and her new truck Dark Angel.

Driven by passion for trucks

As a child Rachel Ripohau loved to accompany her father, a truck driver, on rides around the country. Rachel (Ngāti Kahungunu) says that her passion for trucks and heavy machinery stems from these childhood days. Some years went by before Rachel decided to follow her greatest interest. “I had been doing many different jobs and chased a lot of things but I always wanted to drive,” says the 39-year old mum-of-two.

Rachel enrolled in a NZ Certificate in Commercial Road Transport from which she graduated in March last year. While the programme is fees-free now, it wasn’t free back then but Rachel received the Māori and Pasifika Trades Training Scholarship which paid for the course.

Only a few days after passing her last exam she started her first job at Mark Pittar Transport. Mark, who employs twelve drivers, has been in the industry for over 30 years and knows the industry inside out. Rachel is the second EIT graduate that he has taken on.

“The EIT programme is brilliant,” says Mark. “We simply don’t have enough truck drivers in the country. There is so much work out there, and the drivers also take home a reasonable pay packet.”