Driving a coach up and down the bends of Macquarie Pass may seem to many a tough task, but for Shaun Dunbar it's the best part of the trip.
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Mr Dunbar has been driving the Wollongong-Canberra round trip for Murrays Coaches for 12 and a half years.
On Monday he clocks up his 2000th journey and estimates he's travelled more than a million kilometres in that time.
He had been keeping a running tally of his trips "from day one" because he knew he would be doing this run each week.
The trip between Wollongong and Canberra passes through Macquarie Pass, with its twists, turns and hairpin bends that require three-point turns to get the coach around them - and Mr Dunbar sees that section as a test of his skills.
"To me that makes the journey, that brings out the driver, the professionalism in the driver to do Macquarie Pass," Mr Dunbar says.
"Every time I use Macquarie Pass I say to myself 'respect the mountain'. You can't go too fast on it and you've got be aware all the time.
"You've got to slow down for the corners and you have to be aware of all the other traffic using it as well."
The long and winding road also serves as a measure of how comfortable Mr Dunbar's passengers are with his driving.
"As a professional driver my biggest compliment is if anyone is sleeping when we come down Macquarie Pass, he says.
"That means I'm doing a great job. If they can sleep coming down Macquarie Pass that's satisfaction for me that I've driven nice and safely."
Mr Dunbar - who followed in his coach-driver father's footsteps - drives on a seven-day fortnight - three days one week and four the next.
On an average day he'll leave Wollongong station at 10.20am and arrive in Canberra at 1.40pm.
After cleaning up the coach and taking a mandatory break, he'll be back behind the wheel at 6pm for the return journey, arriving at Wollongong at 9.20pm.
Despite driving the same routine 2000 times over 12 and a bit years, Mr Dunbar said it never got boring.
"Every day is a different day, whether it's weather-wise or different passengers, and it's good to get out of the city and drive the highway," he says.
"A classic example was September 17 last month. There was snow everywhere and I'd never seen that before on my run.
"For about 60 kilometres there was snow across the paddocks and everywhere you could see when we had that cold front come in.
"I do like the colder weather. Back in my prior coach driving days I'd done a fair bit of snow work."
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
