The phone call came three weeks ago with a surprising offer.

"Come out in the truck and experience life on the road for a few days."

I first met truck driver Heather 'Jonesy' Jones a few years ago when I was a producer on ABC's Back Roads program.

Since then she's joked about getting me out in the truck. Now the offer was there.

So I thought, "Why not, what could possibly go wrong?"

6:00am Karratha: On the road

Map Some of our stops on the 40-hour journey from Karratha to Kununurra

It's before dawn and three long road trains are humming in the transport yard.

For the next 40 hours I'll sit alongside Jonesy in her truck travelling the 1,800 kilometres from Karratha to Kununurra near the Northern Territory border.

Jonesy will have about 4,000 kilometres after that as she heads to Brisbane for a major truck show.

Before long we leave in convoy. Following behind Jonesy's pink Mack truck is a Volvo FH16 prime mover headed for a service in Port Hedland and a Western Star triple stretching 53.5 metres on its way to collect rubbish from the mines.

The cabin is surprisingly large with sheepskin-covered seats. A container to hold pens sits to the right of the steering wheel then there's the wide window with an ever changing view.

Behind the seats it is surprisingly large with a bed, television and refrigerator.

Curtains can slide the entire way around to shut out the outside world and give privacy when parked. It's set up well.

All is calm, but for a beeping noise in the cabin.

9:30am Port Hedland: A six-hour delay

Australia's network of highways runs for thousands of kilometres through the Pilbara and Kimberley regions of Western Australia. The conditions of the road surface varies greatly. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

The beeping noise is being investigated at a truck centre in Port Hedland. It takes six hours.

There's simply nothing to do but wait.

Peter Harris, an owner operator and trucking veteran of 40 years, freely proffers advice for this novice truckie at a coffee shop in a nearby shopping centre.

"Eat well, stay hydrated and make sure you get your sleep," he says, adding that he drinks 4 litres of water a day.

They're long days, he chips in while sizing me up. Sixteen hour days.

But he wouldn't do anything else.

"Every day is different and the screen that I'm looking through is better than any computer screen you have got in your office.

"The scenery is different, every day is different its the best job in the world."

It's not perfect though.

'Granny season'

"Your biggest challenge is the grey nomads," Mr Harris says.

"Some of them are good, some of them are way too helpful to the detriment of everyone involved in the situation."

He tells me about a near miss near Newman in the Pilbara when a caravaner stopped in the middle of the road to let him turn into a T-junction.

Little did he know there was a triple-tanker road train bearing down behind him.

"Unbeknown to them right behind them was three empty fuel barrels.

"[The driver] heard on the two-way the discussion, realised they weren't going to move, hopped on the brakes, went down the spoon drain.

"I grabbed reverse and reversed away from the T to give everyone some room.

"The nomads disappeared in a large cloud of dust. All they had to do was obey the road rules, take the right turn.

"To the grey nomads: stay on the road, hold your speed. We know what we are doing."

1:00pm Port Hedland: $1,500 for fuel and a 'bag of bones'

The road train is a thirsty machine. It costs more than $1000 every time the tanks need to be refilled. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

"Just a slight six-hour delay," Jonesy says, starting the engine.

The beeping noise has stopped. It was a sensitive ABS sensor which was reading a fault which wasn't there.

We don't get far before we have to stop again. For fuel.

Most regional drivers complain about fuel prices but imagine paying around $3,000 every time you fill up.

Jonesy's 685 horsepower Mack holds 2,000 litres of fuel.

"I didn't fuel right up because I couldn't get to my left hand fuel tank. I got three-quarters of a tank, so yeah we'll get up to Broome."

When we finally hit the highway there's only a handful of cars, caravans and the occasional big rig.

More common though is the road kill. Carcases litter the highway.

"If there is a dead kangaroo or bird or cattle or something, you don't want to run over it because the bones can actually puncture your tyres, so we call it bag of bones," Jonesy says.

Up high, it's remarkable how clearly you can see people passing in cars in the opposite direction.

Jonesy waves to each one. But it's not always returned.

"You've got to bring back the wave, it's disappeared over the last couple of years.

"The truckie wave, two fingers, g'day."

3:10pm Pardoo: Surprisingly green

The view from the truck is constantly changing. Sun reflects off the Pilbara's De Grey River in the late afternoon. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

It's remarkably green. We pass spinifex dotted with large termite mounds. It's quite pleasant watching the world go by.

In some respects truck drivers have all the time in the world to think, but are also time poor.

Jonesy will take the occasional call on her bluetooth.

She tells me she's without internet 70 per cent of the time. Most of her stops are spent dealing with emails.

"People don't realise you can't reply to emails when you are driving.

"They'll send you one and then ring you an hour later when you haven't replied."

Suddenly a 1970s-style building appears. It has dark red brick and cream flat roof. It blends in with the red dust.

Truck stops like Pardoo Roadhouse are few and far between, and provide a vital spot for truck drivers to take a break, stretch the legs and refresh. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

Inside I meet German backpacker Ramona Muszynski from Selm near Dusseldorf in Germany.

She's 24 and has been travelling around Australia for eight months.

It's her first roadhouse and she's excited to be here.

Outback roadhouses like Pardoo Roadhouse survive by employing workers from around the world. Ramona Muszynski, 24, is a backpacker from Selm in Germany who is making her way around Australia. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

"I think it's a good thing to do for the experience because normally in Germany I'm doing just normal office stuff and working for the government and that's the opposite of everything, you can't compare it," she says.

"It's so cool. So I normally clean the toilets and everything, and when I'm in Germany I would never do that. I would never have that experience.

"I'm pretty excited about that. I'm here since one week so everything is pretty new so ask me again in two months and I will say something else," she laughs.

6:10pm: Cattle and smoke fill the night

As the sun goes down, the remote outback highways present different challenges - namely stray animals like cattle. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

Jonesy would prefer to be driving in daylight hours but the delay has set us back.

Cattle wander close to the edge of the highway. You can't see their brown bodies until they are right in front of you.

Occasionally they'll trot off the highway as we approach.

"When the sun goes down it's good to be off the road but sometimes the job that you've got you can't do that, you've got to keep going," she says.

"Anything that moves, or anything that reflects other than the posts on the side of the road, I'll drop the truck off cruise control and just be ready to jump on the brakes or slow right down."

We drop our speed by 10 kilometres to around 80kph just in case.

"There's cattle, kangaroos, camels. I've seen brumbies up here as well. So there's a big smorgasbord of big animals here."

There's also smoke from a small fire that's smouldering about 300 metres off the highway from a prescribed burn.

"The warning said there's smoke but there's a lot more than smoke, there's fire out to the east of us," Jonesy says.

"I think if the wind changes it will be across the road."

9:04pm Roebuck: No toothbrush, towel and kitchen's closed

There's so many variables while out on the road that truckies have to be prepared and not rely on the luxury of buying food. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

We arrive at the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse, a beacon in the desert, just after 9:00pm.

"The kitchen's closed," the staff say. "It closed at 9:00pm."

Jonesy takes it in her stride.

She buys a key for $10 to use the shower and toilet facilities especially set aside for truck drivers.

They are clean but as a novice I've forgotten to bring a towel. And my toothbrush.

The small space in the back of the truck still provided for a decent night's sleep. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

My bed for the night is a swag in a one-metre space nestled under a boat propeller in the back of the truck's second trailer.

A cattle truck is parked to the left of us and a four-trailer road train is the right. The generator hums all night.

I'm out like a light.

5:15am Roebuck: 'Regulation is going to bury us'

Behind the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse in the Kimberley Region of WA, trucks line up for the night before an early start. Roadhouses provide an important place for truck drivers to sleep, shower and refuel during their life on the road. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

Last night is a blur and at 5:15am it's time to get moving.

Birdsong echo in the cool morning air. The roadhouse kitchen is now open and a hot breakfast awaits. A cup of tea is revitalising.

I'm feeling dirty, tired and like I should have come better prepared.

Nearby is truck driver Alastair Miers who is preparing to drive to Perth.

Alastair Miers says being prepared is vital when you're out on the open road. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

He says the good facilities at Roebuck aren't replicated everywhere.

"There's not much in the way of amenities for us truckies out here. It's basically what you've got in the truck or you go hungry or unwashed. You've got to be prepared in the outback."

He says the bureaucratic requirements of the industry can also be an issue.

"Regulation is always going to bury us," he says.

"You are dealing with government bureaucracy that doesn't really understand the transport industry and they never will.

"They keep telling us all these things about fatigue management but everyone is different about how long you can drive.

"At the end of the day when your body is going to wake up regardless, no matter how many hours you should be asleep for or not, there's no point lying there because a piece of paper says you can't go anywhere."

It's still early but Jonesy's already been hard at work retightening straps to the cargo safe. There's grease across her cheek.

While I chat with Alastair, Jonesy refuels the truck.

Heather 'Jonesy' Jones uses the log book to keep track of kilometres travelled and hours worked. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

She then fills out the log before we can hit the road. It's a legal requirement.

"Every morning, every night you fill it out to keep track of your kilometres and the hours you work," she says.

"Every time you have a break you fill in these lines here. How long you stop for, where you stopped, before you get going again."

Under Western Australian law, it's a requirement to have a 20 minute break every five hours but that changes across the border.

9:25am Willare: Smashing stereotypes

Tall and bulbous boab trees dot the landscape. The red dirt turns a grey colour. Even the anthills are changing their shape.

A brief stop at Willare attracts attention.

A 12-year-old girl hops into the big pink prime mover for a look, while her parents take photos.

"My uncle drives a Mack truck but he's in Port Hedland," the young girl says, at ease in the driver's seat.

For Jonesy, it's validation of her hard work. She routinely visits schools to show young girls that truck driving is an option.

Heather Jones is encouraging other women to take up truck driving as a career. Female drivers currently make up three per cent of the industry. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

"It's great, especially young girls, just giving them the thought that they can absolutely be a truck driver and they can drive these trucks when they get older."

"Australia has a shortage of truck drivers nationally, and in the past women haven't really had the opportunity to access the trucking industry because unless you have a father or uncle or somebody you know you actually can't get a leg into the industry.

"We've been very fortunate enough to have the support of Volvo Group Australia where they've provided a couple of prime movers for us specifically to help women and young men get into the industry, to give real life work experience in our company in Karratha so that after 160 hours or a month they are employable."

She's trained more than 60 women into the job in the past three years.

If there is still a macho culture, I haven't seen much evidence of it in my two days on the road.

"As you experienced at those last couple of truck stops that we stopped at, the awesome men want to come over and have a chat with us," Jonesy says.

"They don't treat us any differently to how they'd treat their mother or sister. They want to have a chat and see how you are going."

A 'shocking' ride, fatigue, reduced services

Long stretches of the outback highways are without services like phones and rubbish bins. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

We're still about 800 kilometres away from Kununurra.

From here on in the road becomes bumpier. And facilities more sparse. One sign warns there are no roadside rubbish bins for 180 kilometres.

"You've got to hang on now, this road's pretty shocking," Jonesy warns.

"There's big bumps and cut outs. The road surface is not smooth, so when you hit it with your prime mover and you are followed by trailers you get a really big bounce, so its not a very enjoyable ride on this road."

Sure it's a little uncomfortable to sit through but Jonesy explains that poor road conditions and a lack of facilities are a dangerous mix.

"There are a lot of factors that contribute to fatigue ... if we could have some funding spent on better roads and facilities, especially rest areas which is my thing I go on about all the time.

"With no facilities you have a truck driver that needs to sleep on the side of the road that is a metre-and-a-half away from the road, where vehicles are passing every couple of minutes, you can't have a good sleep.

"So when you wake up you are fatigued and you drive on roads that are quite difficult to negotiate and you eat in restaurants that have pies, pasties, sausage rolls and chips."

Jonesy says the "whole culture" needs an overhaul.

"This really is an awesome job and it's got so many fantastic attributes so we just need to fine-tune those things that we have all been, every single truck driver on the highway have been harping on about.

"We really do need the government to listen and make changes."

7:58pm Doon Doon: Nearly there

The stop at Doon Doon is toward the end of a 40-hour journey from Karratha. ( ABC Pilbara: Karen Michelmore )

It's not far now, just 100 kilometres or so to my final destination, Kununurra.

Jonesy will drive on a little further before she calls it a night.

We call into a service station. Jonesy wants a hot cup of tea. I remind her, perhaps unhelpfully, about just missing out on the kitchen last night and we agree to move as quickly as we can.

Inside the empty shop the attendant ironically tells us the kitchen is closed.

"You don't have a kettle do you?"

Jonesy settles on an iced coffee instead.

The attendant gives her a key for the shower and bathroom facilities. But, he adds, he has to turn off the outside lights.

Sitting in the darkness, my words slur from exhaustion.

I have a newfound respect for our trucking industry.

It's a tough slog but it is the small details that make a big difference.

A cup of tea. Clean showers. Roadside bins.