Most of the time with an EV, we just plug it in overnight at home to get a full "tank" of…

…battery charge ready to go in the morning. Any household powerpoint can charge the car at 10A (10 amps) (about 2.4kW). At a camp ground, you can usually get a 15A supply (about 3.6kW), which should have you charged and ready to go the next morning. This is a slightly technical video, of our first time trying to figure this out, for those interested.

For those who asked for it, here is our amateur fumbling setup of our MOGICS Carsule Tent.

The Mogics printed and video instructions suggest a different positioning for the tent when inserting the poles, but that didn't work for me when I tried. I definitely need to refine my technique. The Carsule tent is designed to be connected to a hatchback car, covering the hatch. But we set it up next to our Model 3 since the boot is too small to enter/exit (ie it's not a hatchback car) and we preferred it beside the car. We used a suction cup from Bunnings on the roof of the car, to which we tied one side of the tent, which worked well. We moved all of our gear from the Tesla into the tent, so we could set up the bed in the back of the car.

You really do get to feel like you’re on safari with the animals. Less fences, more space.

At Taronga Western Plains Zoo, swapping the Tesla for a somewhat slower electric vehicle…

…to drive around the zoo.

We left Mudgee with a mysterious extra passenger who wouldn’t fasten their seatbelt. T

he bags in the passenger seat seemed to trick the Tesla into thinking someone was sitting there. We tried tapping the alert in the Tesla screen to mute it, but that didn’t work. According to a Google search, that’s not supported in Australia 🤦. In the end, we just pulled over and plugged in that seatbelt. Problem solved.

Checking out the Gulgong Holtermann Museum, including huge detailed photos of Gulgong and…

…Hillend from around 1870. The negatives were enormous glass sheets. Very thankful for my iPhone camera right now. Thanks to Phil for showing us around.

Driving through Gulgong. It’s full of historic buildings, like stepping back 100 years. O

r like a movie set. Fortunately, for Francis, it does have modern coffee.

We did some last minute shopping at Big W, just before our road trip.

I was previously considering a water boiler (from Amazon) that would plug into the car's 12V supply, but would take 25 minutes to boil water for a cuppa or two. We ended up buying a couple of 470mL Thermoses. We can just fill them with ready made tea or coffee in the morning, and it stays hot into the night. Our Tesla car has a giant battery. It would be great to have V2L (vehicle to load) where we could plug in 240V appliances, such as a kettle or hot plate. In the mean time, a thermos at least gives me a hot cup of tea all day.

Back in Mudgee for lunch in the park. Beautiful place.

Ready for our trip to Dubbo and Dubbo Zoo tomorrow 🦁 🐘 🦒 Charging: We parked the car at the Tesla destination charger at the Mudgee Information Center, just to try it out. It’s relatively slow. At 11kW it would take 3 hours to give us half a tank. We didn’t take that long to have lunch, so we moved to the nearby NRMA charger, which at 45kW gives us half a tank in 30 minutes. The 150kW Tesla super charger in Dubbo would do the same in under 15 minutes, but we're aiming to try different options, learning as we go.

Toast and fruit. Simple breakfast and some washing before heading out to historic Gulgong…

…today.

Driving from Mudgee to Gulgong.

Settled in for a few days of rural bliss at Rosewood Cottage Mudgee.

We had dinner at Club Mudgee.

The locals were very friendly. We even saw Jesus and what I think were three wise men. A few work Christmas parties, I think. Charging: Free charging in Mudgee thanks to The NRMA. 45kW filled up our “tank”. Thanks to PlugShare for locating gems like this charger.

Eating in the car presents challenges.

I hate crumbs dropping everywhere, and plates are difficult without a table. Francis is especially challenged in this area, but I have a solution ready in the glove box.

On our way to Mudgee. Francis grabbed some coffee at the Vines Restaurant at Hollydene.

The staff were lovely. Beautiful spot. Charging: Even though the car didn’t really need a recharge, I plugged it in anyway at the on-site Tesla supercharger Jerry’s Plains. As Tesla Tom (not me) says on Ludicrous Feed, ”ABC - Always Be Charging”.

In Heatherbrae for a quick recharge for the car at the Tesla supercharger, and for us at…

…Heatherbrae's Pies. Time to head west. The last few days have caught up with us. Exhausted. So, Francis takes the first road trip nap, later described as very comfy.

Leisurely afternoon at Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary.

Looking at PlugShare for nearby chargers, we tried the free Tesla destination chargers…

…on-site at Soldiers Point Marina. We had to wait for ICE cars to vacate the spots (anyone can park there). One charger wasn’t working and one wasn’t full capacity, so it wasn’t really worth bothering. They need to fix that. While there, we had lunch at The Deck Cafe/Restaurant & Bar, which was delicious.

First stop Port Stephens, at The Oaks Pacific Blue Resort, courtesy of credits from our…

…last app contract for Luxury Escapes.

Thanks to the boys at Adrian’s All Inclusive Transport Pty Ltd for moving all our…

…remaining belongings into storage.

Car charged up one last time from the solar panels on the roof.

“🎼 We’re driving on sunshine.” I’m gunna miss those solar panels.

Last night on our bedroom floor.

We had already sold our bed frame by this stage. The less we have, the easier it is to fit what remains into storage.

We packed the essentials into our electric car (Tesla Model 3) and set out to explore the…

…east coast of Australia, out to Dubbo, up through Queensland to Cape Tribulation, down from Mackay to Bega and along the south Victorian coast, Great Ocean Road, The Grampians and much more. Last lunch before we go, courtesy of Shelly's Cafe. Somehow we managed to fit all of that (including 50L fridge, bed, chairs, tent, food, clothes, computers) into the smallest car that Tesla make.