Published on Wednesday, 13 May 2026 at 12:54:08 PM
Another early morning start saw me arriving at the depot at 6:30am to meet with the Parks and Gardens (P&G) team for an overview of the day ahead. After running through the day’s jobs, the team completed safety checks and prestart preparations before heading out.
The first order of business was street cleaning, as is generally the case for the P&G crew on a Friday morning. As some people may be aware, we have a new road sweeper which has been getting put to good use over the past few months, and I couldn’t wait to try it out for myself.
We undertook the prestart checks on the sweeper and then mobilised this with other equipment such as blowers and rakes to Fenton Place. Work began there before transitioning over to the CRC car park, followed by more clean-up work around the old tractor shed and gazebo area.
This was when I finally got the chance to jump on the road sweeper myself. After being shown the basics, I was off and away. The ease with which it turns is impressive, and the effectiveness of the machine is brilliant. It saves staff a huge amount of time and helps keep our streets and car parks cleaner on a more consistent basis, freeing up time to focus on other important P&G tasks.
We then moved over to the hotel car park before heading back to the depot to empty the debris collected and give the sweeper a thorough clean in the washdown bay. Safe to say my clean hi-vis jumper didn’t stay clean for long!
After a very quick smoko break, it was time to head out for some mowing. We loaded up the ride-on mower along with a whipper snipper and made our way to the Sports Pavilion. Now, I’ve ridden ride-on mowers before, but they’ve always had a steering wheel. The Shire’s ride-ons are zero-turn mowers controlled with lap bars, which definitely took a bit of getting used to. Thankfully, there wasn’t much of an audience while I figured it out.
At this stage the team split up, with two members watering median strip plants and removing debris, one mowing the football and hockey ovals, another on the whipper snipper, and myself on the ride-on mower. After a good hour or so, the lawns on each side of the Pavilion were complete and yes, if the mow lines are a little wonky, that would be my handiwork.
Throughout the morning, the team talked me through the huge range of work they undertake year-round, including slashing, mowing, spraying, watering, weeding, planting and much more.
It’s impressive how much such a small team achieves to keep the Shire looking as green, tidy and welcoming as it does. Their hard work and dedication certainly does not go unnoticed by the Shire, residents and tourists alike.
At this point it was lunch time, and back to reality for me as the CEO role had a few things to tend to in the afternoon. A big thank you to the P&G team for having me along for the morning, and keep up the great work!
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