A 663-tonne superload has been turning heads and boosting local business ever since it left the Port of Geelong on Monday.
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The vehicle, which is 115 metres, 5.12 wide and 5.5 high, is transporting a 305-tonne Toshiba auto transformer, made in China, to a wind farm at Haunted Gully in Lismore.
And it drew a steady stream of onlookers while parked in a truck stop on Thursday, despite the fact Vic Roads did not advertise its position this morning.
But Get Smart’s Pilot Service owner and director Sylvia Smart, who was working in tandem with transport service Lampson, said that was nothing compared to the crowd she saw in Beeac and Waurn Ponds earlier this week.
“If I had a dollar for every person who turned up at Waurn Ponds, I could have retired a little earlier,” she said.
“And in Beeac the bloke running the milk bar said it was really quiet last week, but that he made up for that week in one day. He loved it, and so did the pub - it took an hour to get a meal.
“It always generates a lot of interest.”
She said the biggest challenge is checking each of the superload’s 272 tyres every shift.
Naroghid’s Marg Taylor said she heard about the superload through The Standard and took the “once in a lifetime” chance to get up close and personal with it.
“It was just fantastic to see them get such big equipment off to little old Lismore,” she said.
“I've got two friends staying for a couple days ...so I suggested we all go for drive and see if we can find it. And I've never seen anything like it.”
Pomborneit’s Heidi Van Es said she was excited to bring her eight-year-old son, Marc, to catch a glimpse of the superload.
"It's a pretty exciting thing to have in our local region, because not a lot happens in Pomborneit,” she said.
Lampson heavy transport driver Roger Williams, from Marmong Point, NSW, said he has enjoyed the experience.
“It's an eye-catching operation and there's a lot involved,” he said. “I'm glad to a part of it.”
A VicRoads spokesperson said the superload has been on an “epic” journey.
“Thank you to the thousands of people who have followed the superload – it has been great visiting towns and to see your photos and videos,” they said.
The spokesperson said the superload will leave Swan Marsh at 10pm Thursday night and make a 78-kilometre journey to Haunted Gully.
They said those hoping to get one last look at the superload should check its progress on the VicTraffic app or the VicTraffic Twitter feed.
It is expected the superload will take about four hours to travel along Cobden-Stonyford Road, before turning right into Camperdown-Cobden Road and reaching Camperdown between 4-6am.