Being a diesel mechanic certainly comes in handy for north Queensland truckie Phil Ellevsen who drives a Western Star 4900 for Velocity Haulage based at the Bohle.
When I spotted Ellevsen at a roadhouse parking area, he was laying on his back under the Western Star doing some repairs.
“There is an air leak which I had to fix up,” said.
Multi-skilled 53-year-old Ellevsen was hauling general freight and stock food from Brisbane to Julia Creek along the Flinders Highway.
A truckie for much of his working life, Ellevsen had a delivery to pick up for the Bowen Prawn Farm south of Townsville.
Ellevsen said he had received two Covid-19 vaccine jabs but doesn’t get over the borders from Queensland much these days.
His main angst about rest areas in the region surprisingly is not that there is a shortage.
“It is that the ones we do have are usually packed with parked caravans,” he said with a genuine frustration.
His preferred roadhouses are the Puma Morven and the Dalby Caltex.
The first truck Ellevsen drove was a G86 Volvo and his worst road is between Birdsville and Quilpie.
Football fan Ellevsen barracks for the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL and hopes they improve on their 15th place in season 2021.