Wagga Wagga 2025
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Our first time charging at the rooftop in Wangaratta.
We stopped here to grab some shopping. Up a few ramps, the T signs pointed the way. The signs to find the chargers were good, but the signs to exit the roof by foot were hard to find. We walked towards the lone Tardis looking box, which turned out to be a lift. Other signs said that it’s all paid parking now. So, we paid 60c through the Easypark app, for 30 minutes. It seemed odd for a short stop at a shopping centre. Charging: Both the EasyPark app and Tesla app offered to show “Live Activity” widgets on my iPhone, which made it easy to check on progress. We were only stopping long enough for the toilet and shops. We returned to the car, which had charged to 96%. We unplugged and drove off. Easy.
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We had an “ICE” car this morning. Wel
l, our EV was covered with ice. Cold morning near Wagga Wagga. We warmed up for dinner and breakfast at the on-site Rivergum Restaurant. We warmed up the car using the Tesla app. That melted the ice, and left it nice and toasty when we hopped in. And no fumes filling the motel.
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Out for a walk along the levee bank along the Murrumbidgee River in Wagga Wagga.
Beautiful day, warmer now with the sunshine. Lots of people camping by the river, I presume as their homes. Must be so cold at night. Charging: The simplest and fastest place to charge in Wagga is at the Tesla Superchargers, which is open to all EVs. But, we aim to charge wherever we happen to be. And here, The NRMA has a fast charger, so we chose to use that. A few minor problems with it, though: 1. It has two CCS2 cables, which is great. But only one parking spot is marked for EV parking. When we arrived, we were the second car after the BYD Dolphin that was already plugged in. We initially parked on the other side of the charger, but soon realised that we were jutting further out into the car park, because the charging station takes a quarter of that parking spot. I think the shorter spot is meant for motorbikes, which explains the extra painted line, but there’s no sign. So, we moved to the spot next to the first car, which is not marked for EVs, but fortunately was empty, and…
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2:20pm can be too late to find lunch in a regional town.
A salad and cheese sandwich from Mawsons Bakery Cafe was a delicious and guilt free option. We ate by the river, down the road at the Euroa Rotary Park, serenaded by the magpies. Charging: We plugged into the Tesla Superchargers right next to the park. Plug in, walk away. Nothing else to do. So easy. All ready to go after our quick lunch stop.
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Late lunch and lazy afternoon at Lake Albert, in Wagga Wagga.
I’m starting to make use of the new front bumper camera to judge the distance to the gutter. Very handy. We clipped the portable tray onto the steering wheel for a lunch table, then as a laptop desk. We would have sat outside, but it was a bit cold. After a short stroll by the lake, we watched an episode of The Gold on Stan. on the Tesla’s screen, while watching the sunset through the windscreen and glass roof. And later, a very appropriate “road trip” themed game of Strands on the The New York Times games app. Charging: We charged earlier while parked near the levee bank, for a walk. But this car park also has a destination charger that we could have used.
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On our way home from Wagga Wagga: coffee stop in Holbrook.
When we were leaving the motel, the car’s auto gear selector put the car in reverse. I opted to not plough through our hotel room, by selecting drive, forward. But, most of the time, it gets it right. Beautiful drive through rural NSW. Looking quite green at the moment. A slight pause for livestock clearing grass from the road edges. Back at the car with the coffee, we discovered, after nearly three years with a Tesla, that the car image on the screen updates to show the window positions. We sat there like a couple of nerds paying “window goes up, window goes down”. Charging: We didn’t need to stop here to charge. We still had over 50%. But we aim to charge whenever we’re stopped anyway. Super easy. Plug in, walk away. No app or credit card needed.
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We took a slight detour off the Hume Highway at Glenrowan, to stop next to the huge solar…
…farm at Winton. We have previously passed huge open cut coal mines, such as the one at Yallourn. Here are the differences we noticed: 1. The solar farm isn’t a big hole. It’s just a bunch of of posts that can be removed. 2. There’s no particles filling the air, causing respiratory issues. 3. At the coal mine, dozens of huge sprinklers kept pouring litres of water onto the coal face to suppress the dust. 4. There is no ongoing large machinery here, required to dig coal, and haul it. 5. Nothing gets burnt here. There’s no ongoing pollution or greenhouse effect. 6. The solar panels can work in harmony with agriculture. If you look closely at my photos, you can see sheep grazing in the grass around the panels. The panels provide shade that enhances vegetation growth. We didn’t see any sheep on the coal mine, or any living thing, actually 😞. Of course, there is an environmental impact of the solar farm. It took energy to produce the panels, deliver them, and so on. If we had original bush…