04/06/2026
Old interview from 2018 - Mick is 76 now and hasn’t skipped a beat. Still operating year round has clocked up well over 80,000 hours in the seat. ⚙️🚜
“Mick Berger was around 12 years old when he first started working his father’s D2 bulldozer.
It’s nothing for Mahurangi West earthmoving contractor, Mick Berger, 68, to work seven days a week in summer, starting at 5am and finishing around 9.30-10pm. He has been driving bulldozers since he was a kid and doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon. Asked what he would do if he did retire, his answer was simple: “Polish my bulldozers.”
“My machines are running well, my health’s good, and the phone keeps ringing, so why would I retire to die on the couch?” he says. “As long as the bread’s fresh and the beer’s cold, I’m happy.”
Mick estimates he’s conservatively done at least 67,000 hours since he first jumped on a machine full-time to work for his dad Rupert in Ahuroa. He has always worked as a one-man-band, although his three daughters – Sophie, Tessa and Charlotte – have at times been called upon to drive the dozers, loaders and compactors. With no sons to take over the business, his cherished Caterpillar machines – a D2, D4D and D6C – will eventually go to a museum in Cambridge.
“If you’re in good health, then why stop doing what you love? Work gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning. I pack a lunch, do the job and come home feeling like I’ve achieved something. I take a lot of pride in my work so it gives me a great deal of satisfaction.”
