We tried out the Chargefox charger in the main street of Daylesford.

Very popular, with several EVs charging while we were there, including a white Tesla Model 3 (performance model) with a “NO TANK” license plate. Positives: Prominent and easy to find. It’s a DC charger (although it’s slow, it’s still twice the speed of the fastest AC charge we can get). Close to all the shops and cafes. The usual positives: No fumes. A fraction of the cost of petrol per km. Park and fill up while you go to a shop or cafe. Negatives: Only 22kW (typically 50+kW for a DC charger). Only one CCS2 charging cable (the other one is Chademo, which is less commonly used). The cables fall onto the street, so get run over. The best parking for a Tesla to charge is in the front spot, which blocks the rear Chademo charger for anyone else.

Feeling a bit fancy at The Conservatory Cafe at Wyreena, with finger sandwiches and my…

…introduction to a blue heaven milkshake (it seems to be a Victorian thing). It would be a great place to have an EV destination charger, but none there currently.

Tomorrow, we're heading north from Melbourne, through Victoria, taking about a week to…

…get to the NSW Central Coast. We're planning on spending the first few nights in the Trentham and Daylesford area, then maybe staying west of the Hume as we meander north to NSW. Any suggested sites to visit or places to stay along the way?

Today is our last day in Melbourne's eastern suburbs.

We mostly charged from rooftop solar and off peak night rates from the standard power point from our hosts. Super easy. But I also checked out the interesting landscape of public chargers here. PlugShare shows many fast chargers (50kW+) as "coming soon", mainly by JOLT. I found one fast charger by Evie Networks conveniently located at Stud Park Shopping Centre. There are a few type 2 AC chargers (7 - 11kW for our Tesla) by Chargefox, but they were all in use when we checked. We haven't been able to try our new type 2 cable, yet.

Night out in Melbourne to see Sarah Millican on stage.

Hilarious, heartwarming, ridiculously gynaecological. Delicious Italian dinner at Marios, as the trams dinged by. Parked at Wilson Parking Eureka Tower, since they had EV destination chargers. But, there were only two chargers in a car park with hundreds of spots. Already occupied when we got there. I had trouble figuring out whether to park between the black lines or white lines, much to the amusement of other drivers 🙄. We grabbed a quick photo on the way out. They need a lot more chargers.

Our first service call for the Tesla.

We have traveled over 17,700km in the 5.5 months we’ve had the car, most of that during our east coast road tripping since December 1. We are supposed to schedule a tyre rotation at about 10,000km, but we have been travelling too much to be in one place long enough to book it. Since we’re in east Melbourne for a couple of weeks, we booked a mobile service through the Tesla app. It’s so easy and impressive. No form to fill out with identity and payment, since they already have those details. I just chose my preferred day/time and location (since we’re staying with friends and currently have no home). Luke arrived in his Tesla Model S, with the back seat converted to a mobile service vehicle with drawers, tools etc. He jacked up our car, popped the wheel covers, swapped the front and rear wheels, put it all back together with torque wrench etc. Rotating (swapping) the tyres evens up the wear, since rear wheels suffer more from hard acceleration. He also inspected each tyre for any…

We’ve been staying a few days with our dear friends, Krissy, Tim and Pikelette. G

lorious food, east charging (courtesy of an extension cord) and cuteness overload. We subjected them, and our friends Ron and Sue, to a couple of hours of road tripping slide show, but we only got half way through the trip.

Melbourne: Food, family, coffee, parks and random weather.

We went from 35°C in Queensland to 13° in Melbourne suburbs. It’s supposed to hit 30° next week! All the seasons at once! Fortunately there’s a cute dog to warm my bare feet. Cooler weather does make it easier to do a bit of gardening. The sun is still shining enough on the solar panels to charge our car and the battery for the lawn mower. It’s so much nicer to mow without the fumes and extra noise. And no running to the servo to get more fuel. Review of the charging facilities: Top notch. Simple power point in the garage. We used the car’s mobile charger to plug in over night, or when the solar was shining. So, the cost was about $9 or free to charge enough for 430km. Thank you, Helen ♥️ The gardening may have wiped us out, but that was fixed by coffee and a wander in the park, past some ducks.

Now in Melbourne suburbs for the essentials: hair makeover at A'blaze Hair Artistry…

…coffee from Choco Bean Cafe, fine food and home charging courtesy of Fran’s sister, Helen. Our previous charging stop was 15 minutes at Moe Tesla superchargers. Just enough time for the toilet and to buy snacks (Twisties and a peach), from the adjacent Coles supermarket.

Arrived at Marlo Hotel, along the south edge of Victoria.

Excellent food, staff and locals. Beautiful spot. Charging story: Today’s drive from Sussex Inlet (6.5+ hours) was one of the longer single day trips we’ve done. There were no fast chargers (50kW+) between Bega and Sale (400km+), so we booked in at the Marlo Hotel, since we knew it has a couple of Tesla destination chargers (11kW). Fully charged in four hours, while we slept, for free. Nice. The day after we passed through, I think, Tesla switched on the newly built superchargers at Cann River, which nicely bridges the gap between Bega and Sale. We may have been the last ones to do the trip the hard way.

We stopped at a service station in Eden, so we could fully prep the car for the rest of…

…today's road trip to Marlo. Tyre pressure? Check (on screen: all good) Washer fluid? Tesla screen warned us that it needs filling. Done. Engine oil? N/A Oil filter? N/A Fan belt? N/A Radiator fluid? N/A 2000 other moving parts and fluids? N/A Easy ☺️

Warning: This is just a boring charging story, for those who are interested.

We stopped in Bega to charge, since it was the last fast charger (50kW DC, free from The NRMA) before the 400km stretch to the next one in Sale. We needed to fill up to get through Gippsland. When we arrived, a blue MG was already charging and another Tesla was parking in the next spot. I checked into PlugShare as "Waiting". But the MG had not checked in, and the owner was nowhere to be seen. So, I didn't know how long they would be or how to contact them. The other Tesla driver, Sue, kindly offered to forgo her spot, since she could charge when home in Tathra. She told a story of previously waiting elsewhere for EVs to move, long after being charged and said "no one wants to be that guy". After a while, when the MG was at 94%, the owner showed up. He said he doesn’t use PlugShare because "I don’t want people knowing where I am". He said he plans to charge to near 100%, even though he knows it's very slow after 95%. It did point out that his old(?) MG only gets about 200km of highway…

Carters Beach and Mill Bay Boardwalk, just north of Narooma.

Stopped at Bodalla for a lunch of veggie pasties.

Realised as we left that there is a destination charger on site that we could have used. But it’s only 4kW (typically 7 or 11kW), so probably not worth bothering for a short stop.

We arrived in Batemans Bay with 5% remaining charge, which was exactly what the Tesla’s…

…navigation had predicted. Because The NRMA chargers there are not known to the Tesla’s navigation, the car started to warn us on the way that there were no chargers nearby. But, we knew from the PlugShare app that there were two separate fast charger sites (2 x 75kW and 1 x 50kW) in Batemans Bay, so we just laughed at the warnings. It would be great if the Tesla navigation knew about other chargers. We plugged in, visited the toilets and had a short wander along the waterfront, before heading off again. The local shopping centre is also getting a bank of Tesla chargers soon. Road tripping is getting easier all the time.

Coffee and muffins from Blackbird Thirroul, at Sandon Point Beach.

We drove through the Royal National Park, south of Sydney, to Bald Hill in Stanwell Park.

No hang gliders today, but there was the usual great view of the coast, Sea Cliff Bridge, and Grand Pacific Drive. Flying High cafe and Bald Hill and The Ice Cream Van serve all the coffee and snacks you could want. The bins clearly explain what goes where. Nice job, Woolongong council. Francis went to the toilet. A few minutes later I heard her laughing. Curious, I tried the adjacent toilet. You press a button to get in, another to close the door. The toilet cubicle then talks to you, warning that you have ten minutes until the doors will open! It plays lift music while you do your business. You press a button to get two sheets of toilet paper at a time. It flushes the toilet when you wash your hands. Quite an experience!

Driving over the Audley Weir in Sydney’s Royal National Park and the Sea Cliff Bridge.

We drove through the evening from Murray’s Beach to Hurstville, to at least make it south…

…of Sydney CBD before the next morning peak traffic. We checked Booking.com for accommodation in the area with an EV charger, and checked in to Travel Lodge in Hurstville. When we arrived, we couldn’t figure out where to park. Not clearly marked for Travel Lodge. With pillows tucked under arms, bags in each hand, we emerged through the lifts at… the club up the road, much to the amusement of the club staff. We then walked down the road to Travel Lodge, checked in, and moved the car. I grabbed some pizza for dinner, down the road, but spent ten minutes trying to find my way out of Westfield. Charging: Their EV charging setup is pretty good. You check in using the Exploren app, but these chargers don’t actually charge you any money, unless you stay 30 minutes after you’ve finished charging. ie “idle fees”. And this doesn’t seem to apply after hours, if the charging finishes when you’re asleep. Great system! But, just in case, and because I didn’t read the fine print, I parked next to…

We were planning on heading south this morning, from the NSW Central Coast.

But last night we found Murrays Beach, on-line, as a possible place to buy a home. So, we spent most of the day there, exploring the area, looking through some houses, sampling the food and coffee at “Murray’s” cafe. The owner very kindly let us in, past the “closed” sign. We loved the fact that the estate has been built while retaining a lot of the original trees. I am not a fan of new estates that wipe out all the nature, build houses, then plant saplings that take decades to provide shade. This is a beautiful town. Trees everywhere. It’s right on Lake Macquarie, just across the peninsula from Caves Beach and up the highway from Swansea,. But, in the end, we decided no. The trees and see-through fences make it feel open, but it’s still a bit squished. The streets are pretty narrow for the growing population. We were passed by a ute and 4WD hurtling along, just before a couple of young kids appeared on bikes. That’s probably solvable by some speed bumps. Car space is better catered…

After eight weeks on the road, through Queensland and NSW, it's time to clean the dust…

…and bugs off the Tesla. We had to first empty the car into our hotel room, via many trips in the lift and curious looks from the Ibis staff.

We stopped by our old (eight weeks ago) home of The Central Coast.

Central Coast. We swapped a few things between the Tesla boot and our Storage King shed. In Saratoga, Tom squeezed in a haircut at Zalanis Hair and a massage from Emma Gilbert Massage Therapy. Francis grabbed a coffee from Shelly's Cafe while visiting The Beauty Spot at Saratoga. And the Tesla also got a full clean and polish from Snap Car Wash at Erina Fair. They did a great job removing 10,000 km of bugs and dirt (from all of us). We had dinner with some of our (adult) kids, lunch with Tom’s sister, Mel, checked out some local real estate, and did a few walks around Long Jetty, and Shelley Beach,. Beautiful place. We stayed at ibis Styles The Entrance. It has a Tesla destination charger in the covered parking, which gave us free “fuel” for three days. Great amenity for accommodation to include (and attract EV owners like us). One other Tesla kept parking there long after they were charged. It needs a sign to tell EV owners to move on after charging, or check in on PlugShare so…

In the usually quiet Hunter Valley, we were woken this morning by the sounds of hot air…

…balloons landing nearby. The sound is from the giant flame thrower in the middle of the wicker basket of people. It also caught the attention of the local kangaroos.

Stopped into the Hunter Valley to visit Mum, and do our laundry.

do our laundry. Free charging thanks to The NRMA at Hunter Valley Gardens Shopping Village, so we used the money we saved on petrol to buy breakfast at Oscars,!

We diverted through Gloucester, NSW on our way from Port Macquarie to The Hunter Valley.

Charged up at the Tesla super chargers at Cassegrain Wines near Port Macquarie, New South…

…Wales. Plenty of chargers, all working as usual, no waiting to start. We had light lunch in the cool of the car, used the toilets, ordered a coffee. We fully charged before all that was done, so we had to move the car from the chargers to not get “idle fees”. It’s a great system to keep people moving and chargers available.

Standing on the levy bank of the Macleay River that we’ve seen many times from the…

…elevated highway (in the left distance of the photo).

Croquets for lunch today at The Clog Barn in Coffs Harbour.

Many weeks ago, we ordered some camping lights from KILOS GEAR.

The delivery was delayed until after we were due to vacate our home in Saratoga. So, we redirected it to Auspost in Coffs Harbour, through which we were due to pass on our northward journey a couple of weeks later. But it didn't get there in time either. So, we asked Auspost to keep it for an extra month while we trekked through far North Queensland. Today, on our southward journey, we were finally able to collect the package.

Often, picking an alternative route leads to interesting places off the beaten track.

But sometimes, it just leads to kilometres of the same old thing, with no interesting stops along the way, like this detour through Myrtle Creek. It did result, however, in a hilarious rant from Francis about the state of the drop toilet at this rest stop near “Kentucky”. Something about how the mosquitoes and march flies fight for the best position to attack your butt.

We popped in to The Farm near Byron Bay to use one of the two DC chargers there.

I think they are still free from The NRMA. Both chargers were already taken by Teslas. Neither one had checked in on PlugShare, so we didn’t know they were taken or how long they would be. In fact, the previous check in on PlugShare was by someone complaining that both chargers were occupied, with no check in. I chatted with Jack, who had hired the orange wrapped Tesla Model 3 to visit his parents in Byron. He’s been thinking about buying an EV, so hired this one to try it out. He had no idea about PlugShare or that you should vacate when the charging slows (after about 95%) if others are waiting. Perhaps those hiring out EVs should provide some simple introductory info. None of this really affected us, since we just moved to the Tesla superchargers down the road at The Macadamia Castle in Knockrow, where we also had a yummo lunch.

Our last night in Queensland, at Burleigh Heads Beach, watching the Gold Coast as the sun…

…sets and the lights come on.

Why are electric motorcycles still so expensive?

What can be done to improve the prices? I continue the chat with Tobin from Australian Electric Motor Co. We discuss Energica, Zero Motorcycles, Verge Motorcycles (the hubless ones) and Sondors. Shout out to David Pocock. We need more action Chris Bowen MP. Australian Electric Motor Co also exhibited at #FullyChargedLIVE in Sydney in March 2023, organised by Fully Charged Show.

Zero Motorcycles range. "cheaper, lighter, a bit more manoeuvrable", "very easy to ride…

…and a lot of fun". This is part 3 in our series of videos, discussing electric motorcycles with Tobin at Australian Electric Motor Co. Coming next: discussing pricing, importing, scooters and finally some test rides. Australian Electric Motor Co also exhibited at #FullyChargedLIVE in Sydney in March 2023, organised by Fully Charged Show.

Energica – "The most advanced electric motorcycles available", "0 to 100km/h in 2.6s"…

…"very premium bikes, but ... there's nothing really that comes close". This is part 2 in the series of videos, discussing electric motorcycles with Tobin from Australian Electric Motor Co. Coming shortly, videos discussing the cheaper Zero Motorcycles range, "why are electric motorcycles so expensive?", AC vs DC charging, and some test rides. Australian Electric Motor Co also exhibited at #FullyChargedLIVE in Sydney in March 2023, organised by Fully Charged Show.

This is just a short introductory video, for a longer chat with Tobin, CEO of Australian…

…Electric Motor Co, about the range of Energica and Zero electric motorcycles they import, distribute and sell. Why they do it, what they sell, and where they distribute them. More videos to follow with details on specific models and answering questions like "why are they so expensive?" Australian Electric Motor Co also exhibited at #FullyChargedLIVE in Sydney in March 2023, organised by Fully Charged Show.

I visited Australian Electric Motor Co to test ride some Energica and Zero electric motor…

…bikes and have a long chat with Tobin (the CEO) about the tech and the challenges of bringing them into Australia. Prices are still high on these models, but the specs are getting better all the time. These bikes fly – Some go 0 to 100 km/h in under 3 seconds, with good range and charging speed. No need for ignition, revs, clutch, gears, petrol, heat, fumes, noise or vibration. Sitting at the traffic lights next to an ICE motorbike, I was acutely aware of the whole process that they need to take off (revs, clutch, change gears, switch feet etc). But I just turned the throttle and zoomed away. It's a great ride. Videos of the chat/interview and bike details to follow soon.

Look at this amazing artwork by the Caricature Queen.

We are blown away by the detail and the number of references to our trip. Zoom in to see the details.

We charged up at Miami Aquatic Centre.

The charger is between the parking spots, in a layout I haven’t seen before. I guess it’s more flexible to plug into front or rear car chargers without turning the car around. The display seemed to indicate 75kW, but I only got 37kW out of it, even though I was the only one connected. I checked in on PlugShare, so I could be alerted if anyone was waiting, while I charged up to 100%. If anyone else was waiting, I would disconnect after 95%, when the charge rate slows. However, there was a guy waiting in an MG. He hadn’t checked in using PlugShare and the Chargefox app doesn’t facilitate waiting, so I didn’t know he was waiting. I happened to look sideways at one point to see him parked in the other EV bay, which he’s not supposed to do, since it blocks others who might want to use the Chademo connector. But if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have noticed. He is an Uber driver and this was his second time charging that day. He said he is waiting on a wall charger or cable for home, since MG is…

Popped in to Picnic Real Food Bar a couple of times while in Mount Tamborine, Queensland…

…Australia. Francis described the coffee as “The best I’ve ever had”. High praise from someone who has sampled all up and down the east coast of Australia.

Lunch at St Bernard’s Hotel. B

eautiful view and gardens and audacious birds that will take your food. Charging: We found an 11kW destination charger just outside. Had to create another account, for the Exploren app and payment system. It requires you to top up a credit, rather than pay as you go, which is a pain. But very thankful for the chargers.

We stayed the past couple of days at Songbirds Rainforest Retreat in Mount Tamborine…

…Queensland, Australia. Beautiful cabin in the rainforest. Close to everything. And alpacas! We asked about charging. They said that there’s nothing set up at the cabins, but they kindly offered to let us charge where they plug in their electric buggies. I did find a power point under the corner of the cabin. But we didn’t bother with either, in the end. It would be so easy and helpful for places like this to just connect up a power point outside each cabin, or in the car spot.

Tomorrow we’re planning on driving from Mount Tamborine to Australian Electric Motor Co…

…in Burleigh Heads, to look at some electric motorcycles. Until a few weeks ago, I had technically only ever owned a motorcycle. The Tesla is the first car I’ve owned (Fran has owned previous cars). I sold off my last ICE motorcycle just before our road trip. I’m interested to see how an electric motor bike feels on the road.

Yes, it’s all glam on our Tesla road tripping. W

e used our included late checkout to… do our laundry. Two of the three washing machines in the guest’s laundry were out of order, so we had to wait for the previous person to finish with the only working washing machine. It’s like faulty EV chargers all over again! 😉 A few items can’t go in the dryer, and there’s no clothes line, so we did some MacGyvering with the weird hotel coat hangers and the curtain rails.

Evening dinner at one of the many Mexican restaurants, after watching “A Man Called Otto”…

…😢 at the cinema (only $9.80 per ticket here!). A short morning walk exploring a little bit more of the parklands. We stumbled across some cabinet containing old “World Expo 88” promotional material. I recall being here for that, on a road trip, on my 250cc motorbike.

Tomorrow we're driving from Brisbane to Mount Tamborine, to stay there for a couple of…

…nights. Any suggestions as to: 1. Which route from Brisbane to Mount Tamborine 2. Anything to see on the way? 3. What to see in the next couple of days while there? After that we'll probably head to Burleigh Heads, then south through Kings Cliff, towards Coffs Harbour.

Enjoyed a great walk and e-scoot through Brisbane’s Southbank Parklands.

We used more of my Luxury Escapes credits to check in to Rydges South Bank Brisbane.

Unfortunately, it didn’t include parking, so we had to cough up for valet parking. I put the Tesla in “valet mode” and gave them my Tesla key card. Charging: A few minutes later, the Tesla sent my iPhone a notification to say that it’s charging! I checked the video feed, and sure enough, they had plugged it into one of the Tesla 11kW destination chargers that they have in the car park. Bonus! I figured later that the cost of the valet parking is about what I would have paid to fill an ICE car with petrol ☺️.

We crossed the daunting looking Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges, across to the east of Brisbane.

We caught up with my youth group leaders from decades ago. I know, we’re all still so youthful, right! 😉. We compared road trip stories and toured their fancy caravan. Thank you Ross and Sharon for giving us a bed and EV charge for the night and being our guides to the local area. Charging: We just plugged it EV into a power point in the garage. Boringly easy.

We explored bit more of the Sunshine Coast, including Kings Beach, Caloundra, Currumundi…

…Lake, Maroochydore, with tapas for lunch at The Boat Shed - Cotton Tree, next to this amazing twisted tree.