2. Roma Qld

 

Our caravan water pump had stopped operating and not being able to access our tank water was becoming a problem requiring attention. We departed Carnarvon at first light in the morning and made our way to Roma which was one of the larger regional towns within a few hundred kilometres for this area of Queensland. 

At Roma we managed to obtain an agricultural water pump that was suitable for our needs and Steve spent a few hours fitting the new water pump and adjusting the pipes to suit. 

We were all smiles when the tank water flowed into the sink complements of the new water pump. 

Once the water pump was fixed we seemed to relax and were then able to plan our next move without having our judgement clouded by water access problems. As Roma seemed to be able to provide for most of our needs we reassessed our desires and decided to stay on at Roma to attend to other not so urgent personal matters, thus clearing the deck to continue our travels without any what ifs. 

Whilst at Roma we attended the cattle sale yards where we watched the sale and movement of the stock. We also visited a beautiful 100 year old church viewing its architecture. We were camped at the local gun club and spent one afternoon watching a clay disc shooting practice season and had tea in the club rooms.

 

Roma cattle yard sales

Roma Gun Club - Clay target shooting

Leaving Roma we felt quite relaxed and travelled about 60 kilometres to the township of Yuleba where we set up in a free camping area at Judd’s Lagoon a few kilometres away from the highway which was a beautiful setting with once again plenty of happy travellers enjoying a chat. 

That evening the new pump malfunctioned and Steve ended up disassembling it to find it clogged with what looked like slivers of delaminated water hose. 

We were at a loss for the water issues as all seemed fine when we left Roma. It was decided to return to Roma for ease of access to items we may need to fix the water issue.

Due to the enormity of the task with different possibilities we began an elimination process by starting with the easiest processes first. This involved draining the water out of our tanks and refilling with new water. This process seemed to work with most of the debris disappearing. So we left everything as is and adopted a wait and see. 

Another camper volunteered his knowledge to assist with disassembling the old water pump and it revealed that the main bearing had seized. 

This was a good exercise for not only learning how the water pump operated but it provided more thoughts on the assessment of our water issues. The most likely scenario with the old water pump slowly loosing suction capabilities till it finally seized and the fitment of a new water pump with such good suction that it had sucked up debris that had been building up on the bottom of the water tank over a long period of time.



Interior of 100 year old church