Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
They claim to have done more for WA tourism than any other agency combined, and based on Steve Grahame, Yogi and Sludge’s international appeal, they might be onto something.
The trio are stars of Outback Truckers, a documentary series that follows everyday truckies as they deliver freight across the country, but it’s their endearing, rough-around-the-edges charm that has global audiences in a chokehold.
While filmed in Australia, the program is a massive hit in the UK, and across Germany and Poland.
The frenzy was confirmed for Mr Grahame when, on a visit to Vienna, his accountant turned on his hotel TV and saw a familiar face.
“He said, “I couldn’t believe it, Steve, there was your dreadful Australian nasal twang coming out of the TV in an upmarket hotel in Vienna,” Mr Grahame told The West.
“I reckon we do more to attract tourists to this bloody country than what ‘put another shrimp on the barbie’ does, or that TV ad, ‘where the bloody hell are you’,” he added.
The three truckers are based south of Perth and they have each been travelling the country for decades, but admit the last thing they expected to become were icons in a wildly popular series that is now its 13th season of filming.
They put the longevity of their appeal down to the two things they do best: trucking and being unapologetically themselves.
“We’ve had really good people from the start that said, ‘if you act like a tool, you’ll be a tool on TV’. We were taught to just be yourself,” Yogi said.
Sludge has been trucking for about 50 years and wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I like being out in the out in the bush where, at night there’s no lights. It’s just the freedom out there, is what I love about it, and the freedom of the road,” he said.
The trio will, for the first time ever, bring their show to the stage next year at the world premiere of Outback Truckers Live on April 3 at the Perth Convention Centre and April 4 at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre.
Tickets are available here.
