eTripping.au

Day trip to Torquay and Queenscliff

HQ
HQ HQ
HQ HQ
Show 21 more photos Show 27 more photos Hide additional photos
HQ HQ HQ HQ
HQ HQ HQ HQ
HQ HQ HQ HQ
HQ HQ HQ HQ
HQ HQ HQ HQ
HQ HQ HQ
HQ HQ

We left our home in Emerald, crossing the mist-ical Puffing Billy Railway for a two hour drive to an appointment in Torquay.

What to do after a long drive with a few hours to kill? Let’s take a drive, along the coast, from Torquay to Queenscliff, stopping at a few lookouts along the way. Oh, and a few stops for lunch (The Salty Dog Cafe Torquay), coffee, coffee and dinner (Pholklore).

Self driving

Most of the drive on FSD 14. It handles roundabouts, curves, highways, suburban streets really well. When it misreads or misses a speed sign, there’s no longer any way to adjust the speed manually, so I have to intervene and take over. I hope Tesla fixes this shortcoming.

On the way home, it also took an incorrect exit, so we had to do a loop to get back over the Westgate bridge. Ten minutes later it tried to exit into the city, but I intervened. We had words 🤬.

Charging

As has become the norm lately, last night I asked the Amber app to give the car 100% charge by 9 am, which it gets from the cheapest available power. I guess it’s like the old days of trying to find the cheapest petrol station, except we don’t have to drive around, and we’re paying about a tenth of what we used to, per km.

While stopping in Queenscliff for coffee, we plugged into the [Evie](https://www.facebook.com/113401750378394) charger. And all we did was plug in – no need for an app or card tap or paying at the servo counter – their Auto Charge recognises the car and bills our account. It’s a DC fast charger, but only 50kW, so the bottom end of “fast”. We only stayed 15 minutes to drink some coffee – enough of a top up to get home.

Related Posts

Share via

7 comments

  1. Evert Numan via Facebook ↗
    Torquay in a torquey Model Y (red, cuz fasta) - fun times. Loving that salmon dish eh.
    1

    Reply Report

    1. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
      Evert Numan Ha! I see what you did there.
      1

      Reply Report

  2. Paula Fernandes via Facebook ↗
    Lovely! I was in Ocean Grove and was able to charge by at home and our stay (not because we needed to but just because we could) with no extra charge. :)
    We are with Ovo energy. May I please ask why you use the Amber app and not the Tesla app to schedule daily charging times? Or do you? Sorry, I am confused.
    1

    Reply Report

    1. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
      Paula Fernandes Hi 👋. I have started using the Amber app to charge the car, because it lets me say I want the car charged to 100% by 9am, using the cheapest mix of solar and (if necessary) grid power. Amber passes on the wholesale electricity price to customers, which varies every half hour, so it’s not just a simple scheduling job.

      Reply Report

      1. Paula Fernandes via Facebook ↗
        Hi TT, I really appreciate you clarifying it!
        Keep enjoying your wonderful adventures and smiling together!
        1

        Reply Report

  3. David Hirst via Facebook ↗
    Good trip! You came within half a km of our beach house, just up from Fisho’s Beach where you had the Salty Dog meal. Curiously Torquay, population about 16,000, has an abundance of DC chargers, the first being the RACV Resort Chargefox chargers, followed by an Evie charger at the main shops, then more recently about half a dozen dc chargers on the surf coast hwy near the KFC. In contrast our inner north home in Melbourne is a desert for fast chargers (with the city of Darebin having about 160,000 people, with many not having off street parking and not able to charge at home).
    That Salty Dog meal looks scrumptious. 🍔
    1

    Reply Report

    1. Tesla Tripping eTripping.au
      David Hirst Hey David 👋. Nice place to have a beach house!

      Yeah, we used the RACV resort chargers a couple of years ago when we drove The Great Ocean Road.

      Yes, we need more of street charging solutions. Hopefully coming.

      The Salty Dog Cafe was a great find. Food and location great. Parking took a bit to figure out.
      1

      Reply Report

Leave a comment