We changed jobs & never looked back!

These three Aussie women switched careers - and their lives

From behind a desk....to behind the wheel!

Dust flying behind the tyres of her 92-tonne V8 semi-trailer, Lyndal Denny has never been happier, but she didn’t always long for a life on the road.

The 63-year-old’s first job was selling TV advertising in her home town of Tamworth. In the ’90s, she ran a country pub with her then-husband.

“I’d led a fairly sheltered life so that job opened my eyes, and it was hard work and long hours. A lot of marriages in the industry fall by the wayside because of the lifestyle and unfortunately, mine was one of them,” says Lyndal, from Adelaide.

Lyndal returned to country NSW and spent 10 years working with Wesley Mission, eventually as a regional manager. As part of her job, she often travelled along the busy Pacific Highway. “Every time I ventured on my pearl earrings’ the highway there was an incident with an aggressive truck driver. I remember one truck was so close to my car I could see grasshoppers on its grille,” she says.

Keen to understand why some drivers behaved as they did and ready for a challenge, Lyndal got a truck licence, semi-trailer licence and road train licence. In 2013, she headed to the Pilbara to start a career behind the wheel.

“My first job was hauling massive pieces of mining infrastructure to remote sites. It was hot and dusty, and I had to swap stilettos for steelcapped boots,” she chuckles.

“But I’ve never been afraid, and it was an adventure before I sit in a rocking chair with a rug on my knees.”