"The hardest part was trying to sleep while all the scrapers were going past on the road," he said, adding "sleep" was a generous term.
"I got about an hour from 1am to 2am and then maybe another hour or so ... [day cabs] aren't the most comfortable place to sleep in."
A "complete whiteout" greeted Mr Walker in the morning.
He caught a ride back to Hawke's Bay with Higgins contractors staff, who checked on him through the night.
Yesterday afternoon Mr Walker retrieved the truck, which had about a metre of snow piled against the driver's side.
Although Mr Walker had been with Emmerson for five years, he said he had never had an experience like it.
"I thought it was fantastic, you don't need to join the police to get better work stories ... go drive a truck."
