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We started our return trip north from Emerald Victoria to Cessnock NSW, staying tonight…
…in Yackandandah at the Views Motel. Dinner at the Star Hotel Yackandandah. We’ve had a great few days showing Mum around our home in Emerald, riding on Puffing Billy Railway, spotting plants and wildlife in our yard and the local area. First stop earlier today was at Lake Nillacoothie, near Bonnie Doon. Quiet spot with a row of bright red autumn trees. Toilets were surprisingly okay, except not great disabled access. Charging: We left home with 100% battery, topped up by our solar roof. While we ate dinner at the hotel, we charged at the on site “Yack” fast charger. It’s not as fast as a Tesla Supercharger, but that’s probably good, since it synced perfectly with the time it took us to eat dinner.
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The biggest kid on the Puffing Billy Railway may have been my Mum.
And it was our first chance to have a ride since we moved into Emerald five months ago. What a beautiful trip through the fern trees and tall trees, along winding paths and over bridges, from Belgrave back through the town of Emerald to Lakeside Station, just a stone’s throw from our house. Great day.
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We stopped in at The Coffee Pedaler - Gundagai for morning coffee.
While she waited, Fran made a new four legged friend “Mitsy” who had traveled from Western Australia. Last night we shared a delicious Moroccan veggie bowl at Oliver's Real Food Gundagai. On the way in, Fran formed a conga line with Mum and her walker. When we returned to the car, I had a chat with Mark who was charging his BYD electric van. It was a grey import. Only a 45kWh battery but great for running around town. He was on his way to Canberra (from Adelaide?) with motorbike in the back of the van. We stayed overnight at the “Gundagai Tourist Suites” – motel style units away from the main road. As Mum walked slowly back to the car in the morning, I couldn’t help but show off our remote control car by “Summoning” it through the iPhone to reverse all the way to pick us up. Breakfast was toast and spreads in our room. Just so you (and Mum) know it’s not all cafes 😉. Charging: There are several Tesla Superchargers at the back of Oliver’s. But we used The NRMA / Chargefox chargers out…
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Stopped for lunch in Glenrowan and said hello to Ned Kelly.
Great town for a visit on the way through. Followed by a brief stop in Yea before arriving home in Emerald. Charging: Unfortunately no fast chargers in Glenrowan township. There are some back up the road a bit at the service center along the highway. But we prefer to stop in actual towns rather than petrol service centres. An EV charger would be a great addition here. We stopped to charged for four minutes in Yea, just for enough to get home. The navigation warned us of “reduced” capacity at Yea. When we arrived, a couple of Tesla technicians were working on the chargers. They said that remote diagnostics had alerted them to a drop of a few percent in output, so they were just being proactive to tune them up. Excellent! They kept two chargers available so travellers like us could still charge.
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It’s amazing to see the little kid emerge from my elderly mother when we stopped at the…
…HMAS Ottway Holbrook Submarine. A bit of a wander and refresh for a few minutes on our way from Cessnock NSW to Emerald Victoria. Charging: While parked, we plugged into The NRMA charger next to the toilets and submarine. Might as well grab some electrons while we’re parked. There’s a new Tesla Supercharger bank around here somewhere, which is much faster, but we still haven’t used it yet.
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May 1 - 5: On the NSW Central Coast, catching up with family.
We filled the frunk with drinks and ice for our first grand child’s first birthday party. Snap CarWash in Erina Fair did another great job cleaning our car, inside and out. At first they couldn’t match our booking, until I realised we had changed to Victorian license plates since our previous visit. Charging: We topped up from 50 to 100% at the Tesla destination chargers in Erina Fair. 11kW and free. They are nearly always busy. Parking there is a bit of a challenge. Several yellow pieces of metal seem intent on scraping the car. There still seems to be not many charging options on the Central Coast. On the last night, before we left on May 6, we charged up 50% to 100% at our accommodation (thank you Margaret) during off peak midnight to 4am, using the 7kW 32A home charger. Super easy.
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We drove from Erina to Cessnock NSW to pick up Mum, to take her back to our home in…
…Emerald Victoria for a few days. First stop at Campbelltown Catholic Club for lunch. We’re not Catholics, but our Tesla spent time at the Tesla confessional booth while we ate lunch. Easy to park out the front of the club for Mum to get in the front door with her walker. She marvelled at the robotic assistants that take the dirty dishes back to the kitchen. Onwards south, past the wind turbines in Breadalbane, to Yass. Stopped for a few minutes for a toilet break and stretch in Yass in Banjo Patterson Park. The autumn leaves are still stunning. Mum plugged in the car to charge and swiped on The NRMA app to start it charging. There’s also a faster multi bay Tesla Supercharger site up the road in Yass, but it’s not near amenities like this park. Onwards south to stay tonight in Gundagai. Charging: We topped up (48%) the Tesla last night at our accommodation in Erina, while we slept. We topped up (85%) in Campbelltown while we had lunch. And again (29%) for a few minutes while in Yass…
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Tom chauffeured Francis and our friend Nicole from Erina and Umina Beach to The Theatre…
…Royal in Sydney, to watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show on stage. There doesn’t seem to be any drop off zone at the theatre, so we ended up in the Wilsons Parking underneath for drop off and pick up. Hoping we don’t get charged two lots of parking when we never actually parked there. While they watched the show, I (Tom) drove off to find a place for lunch and to catch up on some work. I ended up in the Sydney suburb of Zetland at the P'Nut Asian Kitchen, eating satay veg and rice. The underground parking is extensive and has a pervasive smell of car fumes. Even with the aid of roof mounted fan cylinders, the fumes aren’t healthy. We need more EVs. Then the drive back to the Central Coast, starting with viewing the Sydney Harbour Bridge through our Tesla’s glass roof. Nicole asked all about the Autopilot as we drove along, and gradually came to accept that the two blue lines on the screen meant that the car was driving and I was just holding the steering for appearances. She now wants…
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Last night we checked into Park Ridge Retreat in Gerringong, NSW.
Nice staff and place with a balcony view over the front garden. Bonus destination chargers on site. The fridge had a freezer for our ice packs! But, like many places, the fridge is encased in a cabinet with no ventilation. So, it gets very hot and makes the fridge work extra hard. Charging: The hotel’s destination chargers seem set up well. There’s a flat $25 usage fee. Since we had more than half a tank, it wasn’t quite worth us using it. If I’d planned ahead, I probably would have not charged at the previous stop and instead filled up here. Too many charging options is a nice problem to have.
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We took another scenic detour, this time along the coast from Thirroul, stopping for a…
…cuppa, crossing the Sea Cliff Bridge, up to Stanwell Top, and out through the Royal National Park, emerging at Kirrawee for lunch. Charging: In Thirroul, we tried the first pole mounted charger we’ve seen. This one by EVX. It was a bit of a faf really. Apart from requiring our own cable, we also had to set up another app to pay for it. It has the typical destination charger speed of 11kW, which you’d normally get for free at a shopping center or similar. It was worth the experiment, but I won’t bother again. We only plugged in while we had a driving break (the usual toilet, coffee, cake, and a stretch). The place we stopped for lunch, in Kirrawee, conveniently had a bank of Tesla Superchargers. Ten seconds to plug in and walk away. The car was fully charged before we returned. We didn’t need either of these chargers to get to our destination of Erina. But, we prefer to plug in whenever we’re parked.
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We again avoided the Hume Highway, from Mansfield through Barwite and Bobinawarrah…
…including a few more unmarked dirt roads, towards Ovens. We planned on stopping for lunch in Ovens at the Happy Valley Hotel. We’ve passed it a few times before on the way to Bright, and have noticed the Tesla Superchargers beside the hotel. We arrived, plugged in, but soon realised that the hotel wasn’t open on a Monday. There were no toilets open either. Faced with bladder range anxiety, we hopped in the car and drove back up the road to Myrtleford. Lunch at the Tu Vietnamese Street Food restaurant was yum. Charging: We aim to only charge when parked, rather than waiting around, so we left the Ovens Supercharger after only five minutes. The Tesla Superchargers are super easy. We just plug in and walk away – no need to use an app or tap a card. Total human time required: about ten seconds. We’ll just charge up when we next park somewhere along our trip, probably Corryong. Unfortunately Myrtleford doesn’t have an EV charger, so we missed the opportunity to charge while parked there…
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After crossing Kosciusko National Park, we checked into The Jindy Inn last night.
Great place with a balcony overlooking Lake Jindabyne. The room’s fridge had no freezer which meant we couldn’t refreeze our cold packs for our cooler bag. We didn’t bring the giant Kings Fridge on this trip. No microwave oven in the room, so we drove down the road to The Brumby Bar & Bistro to share a Brumby Burger (presumably not made from brumbies). Delicious! The inn included continental breakfast in the dining room. After slightly burning my finger on the reluctant conveyor belt toaster, I enjoyed autumn colour themed fruit salad and Greek yogurt on my cereal. After checkout, we grabbed a coffee from ESS BOARDSTORES, where they were happy to use our lactose free milk, from our cooler bag, since they didn’t stock that option. The cold temperature lowered the tyre pressures, as you can see on the Tesla’s screen. But they soon warmed up as we hit the road. Next, on to Cooma and then Gerringong. Charging: No power points in the car park at the inn, unfortunately. When we drove up the…
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Francis explored Birdsnest while Tom explored the back streets of Cooma, including Nanny…
…Goat Hill Lookout. Lunch at The Lott Cafe, then onwards towards Gerringong. Charging: We fully charged last night in Jindabyne while stopped for dinner. No need to charge today, although we could have used the Tesla Superchargers in the center of Cooma.
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Brief stop for toilet and a thermos cup of tea at Googong Dam, in the ACT, just outside…
…of Canberra. Nice quiet spot for a stretch. Lots of new housing up the road, sadly with dark roofs and few trees. Charging: We charged last night in Jindabyne. We’re aiming for Gerringong or Thirroul today. We’re disabled “Trip Planner” to stop the Tesla routing us through the Superchargers in Queanbeyan. So, it now shows arrival in Thirroul at -2%. We’ll charge wherever we park next, along the way.
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Francis is modeling the latest in fast chargers from Evie.
This ensemble comes with 75kW and sleek lines to suit any occasion. This used to only exist in exclusive fashion houses, but is now popping up everywhere across Australia. After crossing back into NSW, we stopped in Bungendore, for a chemist and coffee. Glad we had the chance for a brief wander through the town – it’s got quite a lot to offer. Charging: The PlugShare app showed a new fast charger behind the Ampol petrol station. It was installed in just the past two weeks by Evie Networks, after two years of planning. When we pulled up, the manager, Josh, came by to watch us plug in, since he hadn’t yet seen how it works. Nice guy. When we returned to the car, it was already charged to 99%. We unplugged and drove off. Total time we spent at the charger: 30 seconds, excluding our chat with Josh.
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Last night, we stayed in Mansfield, Victoria.
The Mansfield Motel is conveniently a short walk to everything. Friendly reception. Our only complaint was that the hot water pressure was woeful. Oh, and the power points next to the bed touch the floor (why do electricians do that?), so you can’t plug in a power pack for laptop, phone etc. But that’s just being picky 😉. Like most of the areas we’ve been through this week, Mansfield is decorated by beautiful autumn trees, in shades of green, yellow, orange and red. The main street is split, with a park in the middle and a roundabout adorned with flowers. For dinner, we grabbed Indian takeaway from Curry Garden. For breakfast, we had toast and spreads. I mention this so you know that most of our road trip meals aren’t from fancy cafes 😉. After we checked out this morning, we grabbed a coffee at The Mansfield Coffee Merchant, 100m away. We drove off towards Kosciusko National Park, crossing the border into NSW, aiming to get to Jindabyne tonight. Charging: We asked about charging at…
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Down to the core of our mission 😉: to see if my thermos lid is still on the garden stake…
…where I accidentally left it half a year ago, in the middle of Kosciusko National Park. We left our lunch stop in Myrtleford and drove through to Corryong, on the western side of the Great Dividing Range. One last stop there for a quick toilet break and a stretch before takling the mountains. Oh, and a symbolic thermos lid of tea (in our second thermos). It would be dark soon, so we needed to get to Tom Groggin while there was still a glimmer of daylight by which we could search for the missing thermos lid. As you might have guessed and as probability and time would dictate, the first thermos lid was nowhere to be found. We took a photo of the replacement on the stake as a reenactment. It’s now time to move on. We continued east, past Thredbo and Mount Kosciusko, towards Jindabyne where we would stay the night. The mountains are beautiful. No snow on this trek through. Dusk brought out the wildlife along the way. Several brumbies, deer and kangaroos had a quizzical look at our car…
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Leaving Alexandra, I noticed “Fawcett Lookout” nearby on the Tesla’s navigation. So, o
ff we went down a side road. The tar soon gave way to gravel. The Google maps driven Tesla navigation gives no indication of road surfaces, disappointingly. The “lookout” turned out to just be the intersection of the gravel road with some farm’s driveway. But it did give us a great view over both valleys. We pressed on, towards Mansfield. The Old Fawcett Road led into Coles Road, and the conditions deteriorated in places. I was acutely aware of the low clearance of our car, and we bottomed out just a couple of times. The pile of gravel in the middle of the road provided the main challenge. But there were also a few sections that started to have an off road rocky feel. Beautiful scenery made it all worth while. The bemused returned waves from a couple of passing ute drivers also gave me a smile. We should probably get a slightly higher clearance car, for roads like this. Maybe a Tesla Model Y.
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We’ve had a pretty slow start today so far on our road trip north. I
t took less than an hour to pack the car – we’re pretty experienced at that now. But it took another two hours to tidy our house, then another hour to drop off the cat. Then a “drop in for a quick coffee” turned into staying for lunch, at the best barista and chef in town – our friends Kristy and Tim. By the time we actually started on our road trip, the afternoon had also started. First stop for a toilet, stretch, and some carrot cake, in Alexandra, Victoria. Fortunately, a couple of cafes were still open at 2:30pm on a Sunday. Friendly staff and a good vibe at Grant St Grocer and Cafe. Charging: As is typical, when we park the car, we like to just plug in while we’re there. We used the Tesla car navigation to take us to the fast charger in Alexandra and plugged in, just as a BYD Atto 3 left. I figured this would be a good chance to try our Evie Networks card for the first time. So easy! Plug in the car, then tap the card and walk away. No app required. The car charged at just under…
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We’re off on another road trip this morning. H
eading north ish towards the NSW Central Coast to visit family. Car prep: Five minutes to top up windscreen washer fluid. Nothing else to do. No radiator to top up. No oil to top up or change. No need to visit to a petrol station to fill up the tank. First stop to drop off our cat Archie at Catshack. They are so good to him there. We hope to divert near Tom Groggin Campground in Kosciusko National Park to check whether my thermos lid is still there, which I left on a pole a year ago. Pretty unlikely. But mainly taking that route because the Hume Highway is a bit boring. Charging: All charged up from our home charger, solar powered from our roof.
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You know it’s a lazy day when your planned Saturday brunch turns out to be lunch by the…
…time you get there. Delicious food and welcoming staff at Tatiana’s cafe in Monbulk. A short trip down the road to walk along Sassafras Creek – what a picturesque find! An easy flat windy walk which ended up at Lyrebird Falls reception centre. Charging: By the time we returned home, the solar panels had just finished topping up our house battery. We plugged the car in and let it automatically take the remaining solar power of the day. It’s a cloudy day, but the solar still managed to supply more than enough for our EV, cooking, heating, appliances, with some leftover to export to the grid.
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Afternoon visit to Tesselaar KaBloom in Silvan, Victoria.
Rows and rows of flower blooms, a tractor train ride, lunch trucks, Dutch poffertjes, some zombie looking sun flowers. A few people dressed as magical characters, including fairies and Shrek. The food trucks were electric, so were quiet and had no fumes ☺️. The tractor train kept us in the diesel afterglow, but was fun. Charging: Solar powered from our panels at home ☀️.
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A brief trip up the road in Emerald yesterday to The Lost Woods Market.
What a great find, right on our doorstep. A long line of markets stalls, art, craft, food, knickknacks, performers, between the tall trees and right next to the Puffing Billy Railway.
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On the way, yesterday, from Yackandandah to our home in Emerald, we stopped for a break…
…in Yarck. We have passed the Dindi Cafe many times before. Now we could finally check it out. We had read reviews that said it had strong smells from the products, but our sensitive noses found the smells of lemon myrtle, eucalyptus quite pleasant. We bought a couple of products and shared a toasted panini for a late lunch. They just offer ready made food from the display cabinet. Charging: The main reason we had noticed this place was due to the EV charger sign. We prefer to charge whenever we’re parked anyway. We didn’t need to charge to get home, but decided to try it out. My first disappointment was that it requires our own type 2 cable. We have one, but using a connected cable is much easier. We pressed on, in the name of research. It requires the Chargefox app. The app tells you that it’s no cost, even though the sign doesn’t. I plugged in, hit `Start` in the app, and it started charging our EV, as you’d expect. It seems to be broken. It maxed out at 5kW, rather than the…
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We took a stab at the on screen map by tapping “Flat Rock”. It
took us out the back of Beechworth, past the correctional center, along a dirt road. The path to the rock was not flat, so we groaned in the photo. The moss on the rock was like carpet for bare feet.
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Like a kid in a candy store at The Beechworth Sweet Co.
But we showed restraint… until we went next door to the Beechworth Bakery. We took a couple of vege rolls and a cuppa down to Newton Falls, which are pretty spectacular for something right in the middle of town.
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We figured out that the one advantage of having an ICE car is having access to a window…
…washing squeegee at the service station, a feature that is not provided at EV chargers. Problem solved: We bought a $10 squeegee at Mitre 10, and keep it in the car boot. We set off this morning with a clean windscreen and a full “tank”. Charging: We plugged in yesterday afternoon at the motel, scheduled to not charge in peak dinner time. This morning we left with 98% battery charge in our @TeslaAUNZ Model 3, more than enough to get home without charging along the way.
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We stopped by “The Big Shovel” as we left the Off-Grid Living Festival in Chiltern. Fra
ncis tried to make a friend out of a skittish young bull. We finished up back in Yack, this time at the ”Bottom Pub”, complete with appropriate (or inappropriate) photo.
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Some of the slides from our presentation on EV road tripping at the Off-Grid Living…
…Festival, in the Border Regional Electrification Events electrification tent.
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Great vibe at the Off-Grid Living Festival.
Street musician and entertainers, cuddly animals, amazing artwork, lots of delicious food options. No disposable plates! Impressive.
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Eye opening talk today at the Border Regional Electrification Events electrification…
…tent, about converting existing cars to EVs. New life for classic cars. Improves torque, reliability and longevity. No fumes or noise. Love it.
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The Yackandandah Motor Inn has got it sorted!
It has a power point outside the room, next to the parking spot, specifically for EVs and e-bikes. Brilliant! Before you point out that the sign says to “park front in“, we checked that with management. As we’ve seen in other motels, that’s to reduce the fumes and noise of ICE vehicles filling the rooms, which of course is not a concern for EVs. Even the bedside charging is set up properly, with USB-C, USB-A and a power point high enough for a laptop plug pack. Dinner is a very short walk away at the Star Hotel Yackandandah. We had mushroom fettuccine and eggplant parmigiana. Charging: The standard 10A power point is the slowest option, but super convenient (and low cost) for charging overnight. There is a fast charger nearby, in Yack, but charging while parked anyway is the way to go.
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On our way out from the Off-Grid Living Festival, we checked out some of the displays in…
…the Border Regional Electrification Events area. We had a chat with Paul about the Husqvana robot mower that was quietly cutting a patch of lawn next to us. All Seasons Garden Solutions: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091464130556 We chatted with Matt from Clenergy about a possible portable battery for camping, which can charge from the Tesla car’s 12V supply and from portable solar panels, to then use it for high power cooking such as induction stove tops. It pains me that this is needed because our Tesla doesn’t have vehicle to load (V2L) which could power the stove directly. Other EVs have this feature.
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Many electric vehicles at the Off-Grid Living Festival this weekend, in the Border…
…Regional Electrification Events area. New cars from Tesla, MG, Hyundai and others. Test drives on site. We spotted a few converted cars including a VW Beatle and a Mini. A Zero motorcycle. Dozens of electric mowers from small to huge. The place of huge!
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We arrived at Off-Grid Living Festival at about 2:30, to catch a few of the talks in the…
…Border Regional Electrification Events electrification tent. We caught the tail end of a panel discussion of EV owners answering some audience questions, then Michael from the Electric Vehicle Council covering a range of issues. And finally an eye opening discussion on recycling measures in place for lithium batteries in Australia. The tent was appropriately powered by V2L (vehicle to load) from the MG EV parked next to it. We found our names in the presenters list for tomorrow! See you at noon.
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Battery powered coffee at the Off-Grid Living Festival.
No diesel generator noise or fumes. How’s the serenity!
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First stop, in Yea, on our way to the Off-Grid Living Festival.
We stopped for lunch at Marmalades – delicious fritters and a cheese waffle dish, which was new for us. Charging: We plugged in at the Tesla Supercharger behind the shops. Very convenient location. By the time we ordered, the car was already charged enough to continue our trip. But we filled our stomachs and allowed the car to fill its battery.
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We crammed our final furniture purchases into the Tesla.
They arrived at Early Settler Furniture in Chirnside, about three months after we ordered them. We didn’t want to fork out for another delivery fee (we’ve paid for two already on this one order), so we decided to just pick them up. Two bedside tables and two tall coffee tables, plus the boxes and packaging. Two fit in the back seat and two almost fit in the boot. So, we left the boot slightly open. Driving off, the Tesla displayed a warning on screen and played a continuous three beep sound. We couldn’t tap anywhere to stop it, but after a minute or so, it just went quiet. We stopped for lunch at Milk & Wine Co in Heathmont. Delicious coffee and eggs. But, I digress. While we were seated for lunch, the Tesla sent my phone a notification to warn that the boot was open. That was okay. But, I also couldn’t lock the car. It seems that the open boot prevents the car locking the doors too. I’ll need to check into this. It seems wrong to me, but it’s something that Tesla could fix via an…
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A culinary step back to Fran’s roots at A touch of Dutch. W
e left with some Dutch chocolate for Easter, apple cake, crochets and a bunch of sweets (for gifting, honestly!).
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A road trip into Melbourne city for a fancy high tea at Oxi Tea Room.
We managed to find a free parking spot in the same laneway. The choice of over thirty teas was laid out in a matrix of flavours. The high tea theme changes every season. For autumn, it is a space adventure. The artwork, ornaments and spectacular food matched the story unfolding on our phones, guiding us through eating each sculpture. We couldn’t tell which was savoury or sweet until we tasted them. It pushed comfort zones a little, but it was amazing. The staff were lovely. Thanks to Helen for this “out there” Christmas gift ☺️👽🧑🚀. Charging: As usual, the car drove on sunshine, powered by our home solar panels.
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Aussie traditional trip to Bunnings, complete with sausage sangas.
We did wonder about the meat source, after reading the sign 😉. Rather than hover around the carpark, while eating, we hopped in the Tesla. For a laugh, we turned on the cozy fireplace, which also blows warm air from the “fire”. I tapped the screen once and, to my surprise, it started playing Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” 🎶 😮🤭😂.
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A local trip to Cockatoo, Victoria, for Eggs Florentine at Brunch on McBride.
We had to laugh at the inappropriately truncated The Black Cockatoo Pizza Cafe across the road. We wandered a bit down the road through the local community garden, and harvested a strawberry. A familiar toot toot sound turned out to be Puffing Billy Railway with a Thomas The Tank Engine face. We think it runs from Emerald to Cockatoo only once a day. Charging: Same old boring story. We leave home with the car fully charged for free from the solar panels on our roof.
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A quick trip this morning out to Blue Scooter, in Warburton, to look for some drawer…
…knobs. But, it’s all about the journey. We stopped on the way there to grab a coffee in Wesburn at The Flying Apron Patisserie. After Blue Scooter we walked the long way back to the car, through Warburton around the Yarra River, sharing a burger for lunch at Three Sugars Cafe Warburton. Stunningly beautiful day. Charging: We actually stopped at a petrol station! … to wash the windscreen 😉. We were done and gone before the guy in front of us finished filling up his ute with petrol. We don’t need to fill up because our car gets fully charged at home for free from the solar panels on our roof.
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After having driven past it many times, we finally got to visit Yarra Valley Chocolaterie…
…today. It’s huge! So many sweet treats. We had a sensible meal in the restaurant before buying just a couple of chocolate bags… and some ice creams. Charging: There’s a fast public charger in nearby Yarra Glen. But we used less than 10% battery on our trip from home, fully charged from solar panels on our house roof.
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Day trip with friends in their BYD Atto 3 out to Emu Plains Market, followed by a late…
…lunch at Somers General Store. Francis and Ron were on brand with our Tesla Tripping caricatured tote bags 😉. We like a lot about the Atto 3, including the ride height, vehicle to load and retractable sun roof. The CD looking air vents and other decor feel a bit weird. If you like a more traditional car, with more buttons, then this might be a better option for you than a Tesla. Petrol prices are spiking again. We noticed the $2.30 per litre signs at petrol stations as we drove along. The petrol bowsers out the front of Somers General Store are now just an ornamental relic of the past. Charging: We charged both cars for free, from solar on our home’s roof. It is just so easy. $0 per km.
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Double the EVs and double the ice creams.
This time I took a large container to Bam Bam Italian to buy four double scoop ice creams for us and our guests. The car kept the temperature at a chilly 15°C while Kyla accepted the challenge to scoop two spheres into each cone. Tomorrow, we’re off to Emu Plains Markets. Charging: Our guests arrived in their BYD Atto 3 just in time to get the few scraps of solar power from our wall charger. Then we paused the charging until after the peak demand period, resuming after 10pm, mostly from our Tesla Powerwall battery.
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The challenge: In the middle of the hottest three day stretch in Victoria in decades…
…bring home double ice cream cones without them melting all over the car. Solution: Set the Tesla to “ice cream mode”. Well, it’s really just the “keep” setting in the air conditioner. It keeps the car cool, without running an engine, while I exited to buy ice cream cones at Bam Bam Italian. Mission successful! 🍦😋
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We found a couple of creative ways to find relief from the 36°C heat today
1. Road trip to Warburton to wade in the cleanish start of the Yarra River. 2. Drive 1.2km above sea level near Mount Donna Buang, where the temperature dropped to 24°C. The river in Warburton was popular today. Many people set up with floating tubes, shade tents, picnics. We grabbed lunch nearby at BT Dubs Cafe. It’s hard to find a good view from the road around Mount Donna Buang. The best spot was this launch pad, presumably for hang-gliders, down a long narrow gravel road that leads to Healesville. No place to park and barely enough room for another car to pass. Luckily we only passed two other cars along that entire road. Beautiful drive. No worries about our engine overheating because, well, the EV doesn’t have an engine 😉. When we arrived back home, the bonnet feels no hotter than the ambient temperature. Charging: We have the standard (lowest) range Tesla Model 3. We can drive about 420km on a full battery. We don’t even really think about charging. We left home in Emerald with…
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Well, it’s official. Our Tesla is now registered in Victoria, and so are we.
We had booked appointments (at a cost of 3 x $40) with VicRoads a couple of weeks ago, to change over from NSW to Victoria. When we were nearly due to leave home, we realised that we had not completed some of the paperwork, which would have taken another 15 minutes. So, we postponed, which cost an additional 3 x $20. Today, we arrived on time, collected our appointment tickets from the reception desk and waited. We watched as other people were called up, in no numerical order, and realised there was no predictable system as to who was next. About 30/40 minutes later we were called up. In retrospect, we should have just come along to our original appointment and filled out the additional form while we waited. Anyway, the staff were lovely and the place is modern. The single shared toilet had a queue, which probably indicates a planning oversight. We watched a couple of different youngsters called up for their driving test results. One pass. One fail. We felt for the poor guy. We…
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I tried out another “EV”, kind of – an Electric Vegetation cutter 😉. Okay, th
at’s a bit of a stretch. It’s an electric hedge trimmer. Emerald has so much vegetation, and our place is no exception. Hundreds of meters of hedges. The RYOBI electric hedge cutter is fairly quiet, instantly turns on and off, and is fueled for free by the sun via our roof solar panels. While cutting, it did occur to me that using a petrol powered hedge trimmer would be a much less pleasant experience. Much louder, with fumes in my face, heat and higher fire risk. I’d be dependant on an external fuel supplier to truck in petrol from hundreds of kilometers away, and I’d have to drive to a petrol station to get it. When the battery goes flat on this electric model, I just plug it in and walk away to do something else. It will take an hour or more to recharge, but I don’t have to do anything. Plugging in the battery takes a few seconds. If I really wanted to keep going immediately, I could swap with another charged battery, but I like the forced break 😉. I am aware that lithium ion…
Formerly: Tesla Tripping
Come along on our EV road trips around Australia and Europe, and follow as we progressively electrify our home in Emerald, Victoria.
Join us on the road. We set off in late 2022 and drove eastern Australia in our Tesla Model 3 — Sydney, Dubbo, Armidale, Brisbane, Cape Tribulation, then down through Queensland and back. We've since upgraded to a Model Y.
We've kept exploring — Uluru, the Snowy Mountains and Gippsland, and a longer run through Europe in 2024. There's plenty more on the map, so come along for the next leg.
At home in Emerald, in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges, we're progressively electrifying everything: rooftop solar, a home battery, a hot water heat pump, air conditioned heating and cooling, and EV charging straight from the sun. We're going fully electric, off the gas.
Got questions, or insights of your own? We'd love to hear them — please drop a comment on any post.