Last year on our trip through western Queensland we ended up stranded in outback Bedourie for a week due to alternator failure.
About 25km from town (after a long run over corrugated dirt roads) we heard a clunk and the alternator light came on briefly and the fan belt was squealing. Pulling up and looking under the bonnet nothing seemed amiss, but with the friends travelling behind us we went up and down the road looking for what had come loose. In the end we found it under the bonnet – it was the clutched pulley from the alternator.
Then it was a slow run into Bedourie to hopefully get it repaired. The noise from the fan belt gradually subsided – which I now realise was the self tensioning of the serpentine belt, but it also wore off the ridges on the belt.
In town we discovered the roadhouse only repaired tyres, but they sent us around to the Council works depot where there was a full mechanical workshop. The head mechanic had a look and informed us that we needed to get a new alternator, and that he would arrange to have it fitted when it came.
Then it was onto the internet (which because I didn’t have phone reception meant sitting outside the Visitor Information centre and using their free wifi, and then multiple phone calls on the public phone (free) to my mechanic at home and to a parts supplier (there were several possible alternators & I had to determine which one was needed). I also had to organise a courier because the parts supplier in Brisbane wouldn’t organise the delivery.
There was a plane from Brisbane to Mt Isa every second day (& reverse on the other days) that stopped off at Bedourie so I thought I organised with the courier for the alternator to be sent via the plane and paid a high price for that service. But the courier decided to take my money and send it via road – Brisbane to Townsville, the to Mt Isa and finally down to Bedourie, a 7 day journey.
When it finally came, and was delivered to the Council Depot, I was informed by the lady at the council that if you are ever in a remote town and need something delivered – speak first to the council people for advice on the most efficient way to organise that delivery. As promised, the head mechanic organised a council contractor to come and fit the alternator for me and they didn’t charge for the work.
While we were waiting we thoroughly enjoyed our unintended stay in Bedourie, with a nice council run caravan park right next to a public pool with a spa fed from the artesian bore and the pool itself at a natural 30 degrees.
