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ICE vehicles also benefit from charging points
I’ve come across a few ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles that could benefit from charging points. Bear with me here. This ambulance, parked outside a nursing home, was running the engine, with no-one in it, I presume to keep the air con running, on what was a pretty hot day. Perhaps they were keeping the vehicle cool for a patient they were collecting. Fair enough. But, of course this leaks fumes (and noise) into the car park and reception, which isn’t great for health. I noticed that it has a power socket at the rear of the vehicle. I’m wondering if they could plug that into an electrical supply, if there was one at the parking spot (but wasn’t one handy here). This rental van I’m guessing has refrigeration, parked outside a butchers in Emerald. They made use of the external power socket, creatively plugging in from the shop. No noise or fumes. I wonder if it would be handy to have more accessible power points for these ICE vehicles? Or better yet, have electric vans that can…
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First Tesla service call: a new wheel
First service call for our Tesla Model Y. Replacing our loaner wheel with a new wheel. As you can see in our posts from a few weeks ago, we hit a pothole, damaging our left rear wheel. At the time, we only knew that we had a slow leak. We logged the problem in the Tesla app. They arranged for roadside assistance to come to us, in about an hour, to install a loaner wheel, and take ours away to diagnose. Today, Tesla replaced the loan wheel with a new wheel, costing a whopping $1319. I asked them to clean the damaged wheel and put it in the back of the car. In the photos, you can see the buckle and crack. I am wondering if it is fixable. When I booked this service in the app, I also asked them to fix the water in the light bar, and some issues with the steering wheel buttons. They replaced both. I’ll discuss the steering wheel buttons in a separate post. All covered under warranty. I had a bit of trouble figuring out where to leave the car. Several after me also mistakenly parked in…
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Bonang Road brought back my motorcycle days
Harkening back to my motorcycle days, enjoying the endless curves along the Bonang Road from Tubbut to Orbost, Victoria, leaving the Snowy Mountains. The Tesla handled the drive beautifully. FSD off, for some driving fun. I had to watch out for quite a few sharp dips, barely marked with crayon width paint on the road. This road has stopping spaces specifically for motorcycles (pictured). Yesterday, I grabbed some groceries in Bombala and noticed the "Welcomes Motorcyclists" sign. Before we bought our first EV in 2022, we did a lot of motorcycle road trips. As you can see from the photos from a decade ago, we haven't aged at all! 😉. I'd love to see some "Welcomes EVs" signs in regional places. My stay last night in Tubbut was thanks, in part, to the simple EV changer provided by Gippsland Climate Change Network. They are on to something!
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Misty drive from Tubbut to Orbost
Heading south, out of the Snowy Mountains, from my overnight camp near Tubbut, towards Orbost. Beautiful mist topped mountains, after last night’s rain. After about 20km of dirt road, I spotted tar, and another sign warning that there’s no petrol around here.
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Creekside car camping in the Snowy Mountains
Car camping in my Tesla, beside a creek, off the beaten track in the Snowy Mountains. It took me a while to find the site. Earlier, in my search, I pulled off onto two tracks that ended up in someone’s property. At least it gave some local kids an excuse to run outside to see what the UFO sound was I did a three point just outside their gate. I waved and grinned. A cup of tea and a snack from my Teraglide drawer, sitting in my camp chair, watching the bush life. Until the bush life started eating me (just a few bugs), signaling time for bed. I again wished I had remembered to pack a collapsible stool, to help climb into the back of the car. Followed by the commando crawl to get on top of the Snuuzu mattress and Teraglide platform. This is the highest sleeping option, which gives lots of storage space and a very comfortable bed. The only down side is requiring more effort getting in and out. Once I’m in, it’s great with plenty of room to move. Please forgive the “Tesla Tripping – after…
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The best rest stop in the middle of nowhere
Wow, possibly the best amenities for a road trip, at this spot in the middle of nowhere (in the Snowy Mountains). Seats and tables, beautiful location, playground, water, toilets, WiFi. Even has a shower and laundry tubs. Oh, and a pizza oven. Hard to beat! Gotta love the various signs on the amenities (see photos). Thanks to Gippsland Climate Change Network and Chargefox for the destination EV charger here. It’s probably the only public fuel source (of and kind) for over 100km. There are no shops or food outlets here. Fortunately, I grabbed some supplies when passing through Bombala and Cooma, over the past few days. Instant kitchen: pop the Tesla tailgate, pull out the Teraglide drawer and table, flip up the lid to reveal the fridge in the sub trunk. After a couple of hours to eat and chill, off to find a campsite for the night, nearby along the river. I’ll come back in the morning to use the shower.
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A creekside lunch in Delegate
Creekside stop in Delegate. Pop the tailgate, pull out the kitchen drawer and dining table, grab some sustenance from the fridge. Chilling in the shade, on my collapsible camp chair. Nice. Right next to a camp site, complete with amenities. I need to find a campsite for tonight, but I’ll go further south west.
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Across the high plains of the Snowy Mountains
Heading further across the high plains in the Snowy Mountains. Not a lot of trees around, but a few wind turbines and windmills, not bothering the livestock or mobs of kangaroos.
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No petrol in Dalgety, but plenty of power points
No petrol, no worries. The small town of Dalgety has no working petrol station. The last working bowser I passed yesterday was about 50km away in Cooma, along with the nearest fast EV charger. But Dalgety does have hundreds of power points, including the powered camp sites at Snowy River Holiday Park. I could have used any one of them to fill up my car. It’s a beautiful spot. I car camped there last night. This morning, I pushed the Teraglide kitchen drawer back in, pressed the Deflate button on my Snuuzu mattress, flipped back the top (pictured), and moved the drivers seat back into my preferred position by hitting the Restore button in the Tesla. Super quick transformation, ready to drive on to the next camp site today.
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I wish my Model Y had V2L
I wish my Tesla Model Y had a power point, where I could plug in my induction stove to make breakfast 😞. What I need is “V2L”, which stands for “vehicle to load”. Unfortunately, my Tesla Model Y RWD does not have it. This omission almost made us switch to BYD, Kia, Xpeng or one of the many other EV car brands that provide V2L. Tesla’s CyberTruck, new Model YL, and Model Y Performance all reportedly now provide V2L. The Cybertruck has built in power points. The other two require an adapter plugged into the charge port. I can only hope that in the near future Tesla offers some retrofit option for my car. In the mean time, I just have to find a power point, in order to cook. If I had booked a powered site at this location, that would work fine. This morning, I just used the camp kitchen. My car’s massive (by camping standards) 60kWh battery provided air conditioning all night, and has run my camp fridge non stop, via the 16V outlet. It powers other mod cons, such as the lights, wireless…
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Breakfast routine, Tesla-style
Good morning! Time for breakfast, after a great night’s sleep in the Tesla. “Siri, open Tesla boot”. The tailgate opens to reveal a beautiful day, beyond my bare feet. Breakfast mode: 1. Pull out the Teraglide drawer and table. 2. Flip open the Teraglide rear lid. It’s assisted by gas struts, so it’s easy to lift and stays up, even with bedding on top of it. 3. Open the fridge in the subtrunk to get brekky supplies. This morning, that’s eggs, butter and milk. 4. Use the kitchen drawer bits to crack and whisk the eggs, add milk, soak some bread, ready to make French toast. 5. Stroll over to the camp kitchen. Fry the toast and boil some water for my thermos. Return to the Tesla. Enjoy my French toast, with a cuppa tea, overlooking the Snowy River. Nice.
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Photo op in Bredbo, campsite hunt in Cooma
Photo op in Bredbo, before stopping in Cooma to figure out where to camp tonight. On the way, I used the Tesla’s navigation to search for “campground” and similar. One option was The NRMA park in Jindabyne. I tapped the phone icon, to make a call. Handy to do it all from the car’s controls. Unfortunately, all their powered and unpowered sites were booked for tonight. This looked like a job for WikiCamps. Since Tesla doesn’t support Apple CarPlay, I needed to pull over to use my phone. Whenever parking, I aim to charge, so I don’t lose any time. So, I pulled into the new-ish Tesla Superchargers in Cooma. This is the second site in Cooma, with more chargers and faster speed. But the only service nearby seemed to be KFC (again 🤔). No matter, I just wanted time to access my phone. Snowy River Holiday Park looks great. I rang them, gave them my ETA, entered it into the navigation, added Cooma Coles as the first destination, so I could grab some supplies. Cooma Coles also has Tesla…
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Sleeping in the Tesla — does it fit?
Sleeping in the Tesla, on a Snuuzu mattress, on a Teraglide platform. The obvious question: can I fit? Short answer: plenty of room to sleep, rollover, look at the sky, out the window, or my phone. I never banged into the glass or support arch. But, getting in is a bit tight. I had to shuffle through, like a recruit in a commando course. I also forgot to pack a collapsible stool, to step onto, high enough at the back to crawl in. The Snuuzu mattress is super comfortable. It has a few layers of foam, supported by an inflatable layer. With the back seats down, the Tesla floor slopes down towards the back, with a kink where the seats hinge. This makes sleeping uncomfortable, and slides the occupants slowly down to the boot. One way to rectify this is to add a slightly elevated floor, that is truly horizontal. That’s where the Teraglide platform comes in. Teraglide also has a basic model, without the drawer, that isn’t as high as ours. And there are car mattresses that aren’t as thick as…
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Dinner by the Snowy River
Dinner next to the Snowy River. I grabbed soup and butter from the fridge in the sub trunk. Heated the soup and toasted bread at the camp kitchen. Enjoyed the simple meal as the sun set, listening to the river. Happy place. My 35L Kings fridge is in the sub trunk. It’s powered by the car’s 16V supply, with an outlet available in the boot and driver’s console. The 16V in turn is powered by the car’s massive 60kWh battery. No need to run an engine, with noise and fumes, to keep it going.
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Setting up the Teraglide bed in the Model Y
Setting up the Teraglide platform and Snuuzu mattress in the Tesla Model Y. Steps: 1. Folded back seats down, using the buttons in the Tesla. 2. Slid the interleaved top of the Teraglide platform onto the folded down rear seats. 3. Moved the front seats forward. 4. Unfolded the top hinged bit of the Teraglide. 5. Clipped on the side supports of the Terglide, near the doors. 6. Placed the Snuuzu mattress bag on the Teraglide platform. 7. Unzipped the bag, unrolled the Snuuzu mattress. Unclipped the mattress and opened it up flat. 8. Pressed the `Inflate` button on the mattress. Waited a minute for it to finish, then turned it off. 9. Added bed linen, blanket and pillow. Gotchas: 1. Teraglide (the business) had warned me, after seeing earlier photos of my installation a few months ago, that I had neglected to strap down the front of the Teraglide. With this in mind, I brought along the supplied straps, but I hadn’t yet installed them. When I fully extended the kitchen drawer without…
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Just me, the Tesla, and brown snakes
Just me, the Tesla, and some brown snakes, along Lake George, near Canberra, on the way to The Snowy Mountains.
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A quick stop at Erina Fair
A quick shop at Erina Fair, on the NSW Central Coast, before heading south to The Snowy Mountains, where I will car camp tonight.
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Oli burger and FSD on the Hume Highway
Lunch stop at Oliver's, just outside Gundagai. I recommend the Oli burger 🍔. Tesla Model 3 with stripes parked near us. FSD along most of the Hume Highway. It does a great job, and avoids human fatigue. A few complaints, though, including it repeatedly thinking that the speed limit is 100, even when it’s actually 110 (pictured). Occasionally it dropped to 80 or 40, presumably after seeing some random sign off the highway. Pretty good driving efficiency with FSD, too, about 14kWh per 100km. See screenshots.
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Arriving early at Ayers Rock Campground
We arrived a day ahead of schedule at Ayers Rock Campground. We had booked a powered site, starting from tomorrow, but none were available tonight. The staff offered us the unpowered overflow campground area. Our original plan was to charge the car at our powered site, while also running the air conditioning and accessories. Without a powered site tonight, we had to charge up the car a bit first, so we could just run it off the giant battery. We used the auto inflate button on our Snuuzu mattress, added pillows and doona. We moved the baggage to the front seats, so the bed wasn’t obstructed. While car camping in Coober Pedy a few days ago, we discovered that even with our portable wheel ramps the car’s bed floor still leans backwards too much. So, we backed the car up a small hill as well. We used our fold up spade to fill in a couple of holes from previous campers. We set the Tesla to “camp mode”, so we could sleep in the back of the car at 20°, while it was 3° outside, overnight.…
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A solar-powered coffee stop at Glenrowan BP
Coffee stop, just north of Glenrowan, at the BP service centre. The Tesla/Google navigation only knew the south bound service center here, so the directions tried to send us over the highway 🤪. Thanks to the nearby solar farm that provides the power to the grid that found its way to our car. We overheard someone paying $1100 for fuel, presumably a semi trailer. Wow. 😮 Home baked Anzac slice (thank you Krissy) was the perfect accompaniment for the coffee and thermos of tea. The small birds begged us for crumbs. On towards Wagga.
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Driving an ICE car again, after years of EVs
Imagine driving an ICE (internal combustion engine) car for the first time, coming from EVs. April 5: We drove in a couple of ICE cars around town (Airlie Beach and Cannonvale) for a few days. It reminded me of a couple of years ago, hopping back in our Mazda CX-5, after owning an EV. Here are my observations: 1. You can’t charge it up while parked at home, or at a shopping center. You have to go to a special “fuel station” to recharge the car. You can’t just leave the car to recharge – you have to stay with it, holding the recharge nozzle. 2. It smells. And the fumes are carcinogenic. The fumes come from the nozzle, but also out of the back of the car while driving. 3. When the car has enough charge (fuel), you put the nozzle back in the pump. But then you have to walk into the service station to pay at the counter. It’s not automatic at the pump, or it’s too complicated for most people to bother that way. 4. There’s a possibility of fire. The fuel is highly flammable. And the car…
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The final stretch of a 4000 km road trip
The final stretch of this 4000km road trip, to get home. We stayed last night in Gobbagombalin (near Wagga Wagga) with our grandson (oh, and his parents 😉). Just a couple of bakery stops, in Holbrook and Yea. The first cafe in Holbrook was closed, so we looked through the window like lost puppies. While parked, we kept the car in Camp Mode, with the air con on, to keep our camp fridge going and our food cool. No exhaust or additional heat.
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Tetris-ing four people, a fridge and luggage into a Model 3
We know our Tesla Model 3 can fit a 50L camp fridge. And we know it will take a large travel suitcase, or four people and some luggage. But we didn’t know if it would take all that at the same time. It took a fair bit of Tetris-ing, and the boot strained at the seams, but we managed to get everything in. I think we might need a bigger car. First stop at Eumundi Markets. We parked in the shade and later opened the boot so the fridge had some outlet for the hot air. Second stop along the highway at Burpengary for some fast food lunch. Then we delivered Erin and Isaiah to their accommodation in Brisbane before their flight back to Airlie Beach tomorrow.
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Crepes for breakfast at Botero Cafe, Maclean
Crepes filled with chocolate mousse, banana and cherry sauce is a perfectly legitimate breakfast, according to Botero Cafe, in Maclean. Onward north towards Coollum Beach in Queensland.
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A quick stretch in Rotterdam
Second stop on our trip south, at Rotterdam. Just long enough to stretch our legs with a short walk around town, and grab a coffee.
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Borrowing Nico's Jaguar i-Pace
On our way from Krommenie to Maastricht. We picked up Nico’s Jaguar i-Pace. Very swish. 0 to 100km/h in about 3.5s. Luxury interior trim. Neat console. It has fast DC charging but only does 3.6kW AC charging (compared to our Tesla’s 11kW). It’s about twice the cost of our base Tesla Model 3 at home. Jaguar had it for a few days to replace the battery. This is the first real example I’ve seen of someone actually needing to replace their EV battery, despite all the hype about it from naysayers. Fortunately, it was all covered under warranty. Our first stop was in Breukelen at a service center. Well, we actually stopped at two of these, because of mixed up convoy instructions. Next to the Shell petrol station here is a FastNed charging bay, with solar panels on the roof. Most service centres seem to have these, which is terrific. It kills me to stop for fuel like this. Stopping specifically for fuel (charging) is something I try to avoid. I prefer to just charge when I’m parked for some…
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We bought a Mammotion robot mower
We bought a new EV! It’s all wheel drive, includes full self driving, with proximity sensors and just a front facing stereo camera. But it takes about four hours to fully charge and the acceleration is pretty slow 😉. It’s a Mammotion Tech Luba 2 robot lawn mower. We could have bought it online direct from Mammotion, but opted to buy it through a local service centre, Robotech Australia, just in case we need support or maintenance. Our lawn is about 1500 square metres. We bought the Luba 2 AWD 3000 model, which is rated to mow 3000 square meters, allows up to ten mowing areas, and handles extra step inclines. The base model does 1000 square metres, and allows less separate mowing areas. There are also 5000 and 10000 models. I followed the fairly simple hardware instructions to screw in the camera (which looks like Wall-E), screw the charging station into the ground, and assemble the transmitter (RTK) onto a pole. We have named the robot “Marvin” (the mower). To misquote Hitchhiker’s…
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Dog Mode, for Clare the visitor
Dog Mode engaged. We’re minding our sister Helen’s dog, Clare, for a few days. Our cat, Archie initially hissed a few times at the interloper, but seems to have now accepted (or at least tolerated) her. We took this fine old doggie out for a drive to Loch. We limited the G forces of acceleration and cornering so as not to plaster her on the back seat. We had a delicious lunch with friends at the Loch & Key cafe, while Clare slept in the car, in air conditioned Dog Mode comfort. We checked on her a few times using the in-cabin Sentry Mode camera. Then out for a long walk around the town of Loch.
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A hello to Ned Kelly in Glenrowan
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.
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Lake views at The Jindy Inn
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.
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Birdsnest, Nanny Goat Hill and The Lott Cafe
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.
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A quiet stretch at Googong Dam
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.
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An okay night at Mansfield Motel
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…
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On a mission to find a left thermos lid
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…
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Ice-cream mode, in 36 °C heat
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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Final leg: Holbrook to Melbourne
The final leg of our return trip from Airlie Beach in Queensland, to the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. We left our accommodation at The Jolly Swagman Motor Inn Holbrook, then a brief stop at Chiltern Rest Stop. At lunch time we grabbed a couple of salad sandwiches from Mawsons Bakery Cafe, in Euroa, and ate them in Seven Creeks Park while the car charged and kept Archie in “cat mode” (shh, don’t tell him the proper name for it) air conditioned comfort. Then on to Croydon Vet Clinic and Lou Lou's Cattery and Small Animal Boarding Pty Ltd, and finally our last temporary accommodation at our generous sister Helen’s house in Knoxfield. In the pantry, we found our last bag of Brookfarm Granohlaah for breakfast the next morning!
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Picking up Archie from Cat Utopia
November 19 - 20: Today we finally picked up our cat, Archie, from Cat Utopia Resort & Spa in Doyalson. He’s been there all the time that we’ve been road tripping and searching for a new home. He was very chilled in the Tesla, snoozing for most of the trip. When we stopped for a brief lunch at Campbelltown Catholic Club and dinner at Oliver's Real Food Gundagai, Archie stayed in the car set to “dog mode”, which keeps him in air conditioned comfort. When we arrived at Jolly Swagman Motor Inn Holbrook, Archie checked the perimeter a few times in our room, peering out the window. Tomorrow, we complete our migration to Melbourne, taking Archie to Croydon Vet Clinic, and a brief stay at Lou Lou's Cattery in Bayswater North, while we get our house ready in Emerald Victoria.
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Mackay to Rockhampton, the long quiet stretch
We’re driving from Mackay to Rockhampton today. It’s one of the longest stretches of “not much here”, with signs along the Bruce Highway like “Still a long way to go, kids” and trivia questions/answers. We stopped for lunch at one of the few options along the way: Flaggy Rock Cafe. It’s a great little place with good food. The cars jostle to find parking in the shade. We moved the car out to the RV section to park under a tree, and kept the air con running to keep our food cool. A bit further down the road, we stopped briefly for the toilet at the Marlborough Service Station, with a reminder that we’re not paying $2/L for petrol 😮.
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A scorching day at Eumundi markets
What shall we do on this stinking hot day? I know, let’s walk around in the sun, buy hot food and drink hot coffee! Well, we did! Highly recommend Eumundi markets. We visited on a Wednesday and it was absolutely packed, visitors hoping for a bargain, a “completely organic” ointment that cures all or some gadget they didn’t know they needed in their life. Delicious arancini balls and the obligatory Dutch poffitjes (kind of mini pancakes) were devoured, Fran bought us two candle holders made from Australian banksia seed pods. Many visitors meant many cars. We parked in the $9 grass car park right next door, with everyone else, in the baking 36° heat. We had perishable food in the car, so we put up the windscreen shade and turned on the air con for a few hours while we wandered the markets and had morning tea. No hot engine or fumes. The best part was pre-cooling the Tesla and revelling in it at the end of our wanderings.
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From Wellington Point to Mudjimba
October 23-25: At the top end of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. Lunch (veg nachos and corn fritters) at High Tide Bar Grill & Cafe. A walk on the beach, as we watched a few jumbos descending to Sunshine Coast Airport. We booked a room, last minute (as always), down the road at Ramada Marcoola Beach Resort. Nice place, with pool, bistro, bar, gym, beach. The staff are nice, but we did get a cold sales call asking if we are interested in time share. We took a swim (more of a float, really) in the pool. After the hot day, the pool was warmer than the air above, so we didn’t want to get out. Dinner at the bistro (veg curry and Thai salad). A morning walk up the road to get coffee from Cuba St. Coffee Roasters. They have two branded old cars. The rust has actually fallen in piles under the cars. Cool look, though. We briefly sat on the chair outside the cafe, until we realised that the BMW parked there was pumping fumes at us, in order to keep the air con going for the owner. How did we…
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Lunch at Pac Fair with Vincent and Rika
We popped into “Pac Fair”, as the locals call it, in the Gold Coast, Queensland. Huge place. Even had its own moat and bridge in the middle 😉. Vincent and Rika (a couple who have been following our Tesla travels) generously invited us to dinner at Hatsuhana Japanese Restaurant - SeaWorld Resort, and later to the local Tesla meetup, back at Pac Fair. The meet up consisted of several other Gold Coast Tesla lovers parking in the shopping centre carpark, like a bunch of newly licenced P platers, swapping Tesla knowledge and our experience on road trips. The most entertaining was Vincent who is a walking encyclopaedia of Tesla knowledge. Thank you to all who joined us. Fun time! Next morning, we checked out of our hotel, and drove north to Blue Bungalow, near Brisbane. Fran exchanged some clothes while Tom put the car in “husband mode” (which was just air con and YouTube 😉), to watch Chris Vanderstock explain the details of the Supreme Court decision throwing out the Victorian EV road tax.
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A burger and a boardwalk in Urunga
Time for a late lunch, in Urunga, just south of Coffs Harbour. We split a burger between us, just before the town shops finished closing. Then a beautiful walk along the 1km (each way) boardwalk. Hot in the sun today, and no shade for the car in the car park near the beach. I just used the Tesla app to turn on air con in the car, to keep our food fresh, and prepped for us to drive on. Tonight we’ll stay at a B&B in Emerald Beach.
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A few days back on the Central Coast, with family
October 8 - 13: We stayed a few days in our old home of the NSW Central Coast, and exited through the Hunter Valley. We grabbed some meals with all of our local family: We checked out Patonga Beach Hotel for the first time (surprisingly). We thought it very busy, for a Wednesday, but the waitress said it was “dead” compared to normal. Stunning place. It used to be a corner shop when I lived there as a kid. In Terrigal, we ate at 4 hands pizza. Another day, we grabbed some pasta from a cute little express Italian place “Il Toscano” and ate on Terrigal Beach as the sun went down and the local life savers practiced their wedgies while rowing. Erina Fair for the Snap Car Wash and lunch at Sage Cafe. We popped in to visit Fletcher, who is one of the biggest fans of our Tesla. In a few minutes he had used the console to change the colour of the car, the air con fans, and composed a funky beat. I got a chance to show him the newly added summon feature (he “drove“ the car using my iPhone app)…
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A bug-spotted windscreen, with no clean-up
Final leg to the NSW Central Coast today. First stop for bladders, so we pulled into the next service center along the Hume Highway. A fresh spotting of bugs adorned the windscreen. But there’s no cleaning facilities at the chargers 😞. We pulled into the adjacent service station. I opted for the least busy section, which was for trucks, planning to get out quickly. I grabbed the handle of the cleaner from the bucket, and wiped the windscreen a few times. When I went to dry the drips from my hands, I realised that the handle was covered in grease! And now also my right hand. It took some time and effort to get that off, so as not to wipe it on the white interior of our car.
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New tyres for our Tesla Model 3
Booking through the app was seamless, as always. I asked previously, via the app, if I could have a loan car while they serviced ours, but they were all allocated. When I arrived, however, I asked again, and said I’d sit in the waiting room until they found one. A few minutes later, a Model Y became available. This was the first time I was able to pair my phone with the loan car, which makes using it much easier. The process created a new profile, linked to my Tesla account, which later also appeared in our Tesla Model 3, so I will use that profile from now on, to share my preferred settings between cars. The air con in the Model 3 has a “recycle air” button. But the the Model Y also has the “biohazard defence” button. I think it helps when sitting behind diesel spewing utes taking off at the lights 😉. While waiting, I set up office in the Model Y in nearby Jells Park. The tyres cost $427 each (Michelin Pilot Sport 4). The car has driven nearly 39,000km. At my request, they fitted the…
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Tyre rotation — and a recommended replacement
Slightly overdue for another tyre rotation (16,700km since previous check, but due at 10,000km intervals). So, I booked one in via the Tesla app, which quoted $71.28. Mobile service came to me. Amar, the Tesla technician, was very friendly, efficient and helpful. All his tools were in the trunk and frunk of his Tesla Model S service vehicle. He showed me that the tyres had unevenly worn, so the inside tread (on the right in the photo) was below spec on all tyres, requiring the replacement. He said he could cancel today’s call-out (so, no cost to me) and book in a tyre replacement at the Tesla service centre (big cost). I asked him to make it so. Follow up: See the post about the subsequent actual tyre replacement at the service center, here:
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A visit to Snowy Hydro Discovery Centre
Monday morning: We visited the Snowy Hydro Discovery Centre. Very interesting wide screen video presentation, models, and other exhibits. Amazing how we can generate electricity from rainfall and melting snow.
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Hiring snow chains for the Alpine Way
Venturing from Corryong to Khancoban, we decided to keep going east, through the Snowy Mountains along the Alpine Way, past Thredbo to Jindabyne. The road has signs that require all two wheel drive cars to carry snow chains. So we hired some from Khancoban, which could be returned in Jindabyne (“one way hire”). In the end, we never actually had to fit them, since all the roads were cleared. We stopped a few times along the way, including a rest stop next to the origin of the Murray River (pictured). I left the cap/cup from my thermos on one of the garden border markers near the toilet block, so I wouldn’t drop it as we clambered down to the river. But I forgot about it as we walked back to the car and drove off 🤦♂️. If you happen to be driving past Mount Kosciusko, please keep an eye out for it 😉. We returned the snow chains on the other side of Mount Kosciusko at in Jindabyne. The service stations were packed with people queuing for petrol, I guess on the last day of the school…
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West or east? Planning the next road trip
Time for another road trip! Should we head west (towards Broken Hill or maybe Adelaide) or east (through Bright and maybe Jindabyne)? We need to end up on the NSW Central Coast by Tuesday 18th July. Leaving Melbourne this Friday morning (probably). We also need to find accommodation in the Central Coast for a week or two from July 18th. So, if you know anyone who needs house sitting or similar, please let us know ☺️
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Indiana Jones at the Lunar Drive-In
Date night at the Lunar Drive-In in Dandenong, Melbourne, to see the new Indiana Jones movie 🎥 . Great fun! Bit of a queue to get food (it comes in all the yellows: burger 🍔, chips 🍟, jam filled donuts etc), but well managed by the friendly door staff. Quite a chilly night 🥶. Most people in puffer jackets or thick pyjamas and dressing gowns. Several brought their furry friends 🐶, and were happy to have a pat. This is reportedly the largest outdoor cinema in Australia. Sadly, it is closing in a week from now due to high land taxes 😢. We typed the FM radio frequency into the Tesla screen and enjoyed the movie playing through a great sound system. I added another profile to the Tesla for “Drive-in cinema”, with the seats in the reclining position, climate set to “camp mode”, the air con at a comfortable 21°C. Very thankful to have an EV, so we can keep the air con on, without having to run an engine. Everyone else, in appropriately named ICE cars, had their puffer jackets and beanies on,…
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.