Day 1 – Finally after a few years of planning we pulled out of our driveway and started our adventure. A few early morning last minute jobs to attend to and handing over the keys to our house sitters who had just arrived back from an overseas holiday in Britain and Europe.
Pic 1 - The Casey and Bradby Rigs
Bradby and Casey Rigs
Our plan was to meet our travelling companions (the Casey’s) in Dalby and head for an overnight camp at
Neil Turner Weir just to the west of Mitchell but then Murphy stepped in and put paid to those plans. Just before Wallumbilla (50km east of Roma) smoke started pouring out from the Casey’s front driver’s side wheel. A quick diagnosis narrowed the problem down to a stuffed wheel bearing. We drove ahead into Wallumbilla and rang Roma RACQ who dispatched a pantek to tow the broken 80 series Landcruiser and camper trailer into Roma.
Pic 2 – Mark and Michael road side checking out the damage
Casey Breakdown
We booked a couple of sites in the Villa Caravan Park – a great spot and the owner’s hospitality was second to none. Mark stripped as much down as he could discovering the stub axle was also stuffed. So a
beer or 2 later the plan for the next day was to strip down the rest of the hub assembly, figure out what parts were required and obtain the parts.
Day 2 - Luck was on our side, the RACQ fella put Mark onto a very obliging mechanic who secured a few parts needed and put a few other bits back together while we finished pulling the rest of the assembly down and getting hub and wheel bearing kits and a break rotor (yes it was badly scored) from Repco. To cut a long and dirty story short all was fixed by 2 00 pm and off we went again reaching a free camp and the Morven
Pic 3 – fixing Casey Car at Roma Caravan Park
Repairing wheel humb and CV on Casey car
Recreation Ground just before dark, a quick set up – the adults initiated a race to see which family could set up first and be sitting down with a drink in hand. It was a tie.
We cooked up one of our 3 premade dinners – a very nice stew washed down with a couple more drinks and coffee and chocolate. Our plan was to get an early start to try and make up a bit of time, the breakdown had put us the best part of a day behind – no big deal more frustrating than anything. So everyone was tucked into bed by 8 30 pm – another
cold night although it is warm inside the camper trailer.
