THE WALLABY TRACK WITH LIONEL MUSSELL
MURPHY
STRIKES AGAIN
LIONEL’S MOTORHOME
ENDS UP ON THE BACK
OF A TILT TRUCK. AGAIN.
THANKS A LOT, MURPHY.
Having had two months resting at
Walkamin, Qld, Murphy must have been
planning how to best upset me when I set
out for Alice Springs.
Having motored through the twisty, hilly
stretch to Ravenshoe for what I believed was
the last time this year, I settled down for the
long stretch ahead.
The sun was shining brightly in a cloudless
sky as I took the right fork towards Mt
Surprise but, suddenly, on came two warning
lights and the engine temperature gauge went
off the top! I'd broken the fan belt!
Fortunately I had mobile phone connection so
I was able to ring for help. The nearest long tilt
truck was in Atherton but the RACQ truck was
away at Townsville for the day. Eventually,
they found a truck from a towing firm and
told me it was coming, although it was nearly
200km away.
After a long, hot wait on the side of the road,
Yemmy was eventually on the truck and we
headed back the way I'd come.
It was cold and dark when we reached the
Atherton Big 4 caravan park and the office
was closed when I'd tried to ring. Yemmy was
unloaded onto a grassed area outside the
park and I settled in for the night.
With no power steering it was a bit hard
getting on to a site in the morning but it was a
lovely park and the RACV paid for me to stay
there until I could get the fan belt fixed. I had
to wait until the Monday when the mechanics
returned to work to find out the RACQ
couldn't/wouldn't come out to the park to fix it.
They did suggest using a mobile mechanic so
I asked the park manager if he knew anyone
who could come out. He rang a local repair
shop just up the road and Jason arrived
quickly with a fan belt.
There are two sizes for Yemmy and, of course,
the one Jason brought was the smaller one and
it needed the larger one. He jumped in his truck
and soon returned with the right one that he
quickly fitted. The bill was just $150 including
the belt and the service was fantastic!
See you down the track.
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