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. Charging: The car's navigation suggested charging in Wangaratta, but we ignored that and just charged where we stopped for a break. Since we were stopping anyway at Holbrook and Yea, we parked the car at the Superchargers in each town, so the “tank” could fill up while our bellies did. So easy.

We stayed last night at Springs Resort, in Mittagong – a good value motel. T

he RSL next door has a fast charger but doesn’t serve breakfast after 9am, but we typically barely get out the door before 10am 😴. So, we drove into town for some brekky. Stopped in Yass at Kaffeine 2582 for a light lunch and a driving break. We arrived in Wagga Wagga a little too early to meet up with family for the night, so we used the extra time to top up the car. Charging: We didn’t bother using the fast charger next to our accommodation in Mittagong, since we already had over 85% charge. The supercharger in Yass was all we needed, while we had lunch. Super easy.

We spotted a few utes and trucks at the Everything Electric Show (Fully Charged Show), in…

…Sydney. Some conversions, some plug in hybrid (PHEV), and one large battery swap unit for a semi, in just 3 minutes. We sat in the huge frunk of the F150 Lightning, made possible because no engine is needed. Some electric utes have been popular for mining operations, so as not to poison the air in the shafts, and to avoid the need to truck in fuel to remote sites. On the way out, we spotted a BYD Shark (PHEV) parked at a fast charger on the street. Frustratingly, they hadn’t plugged in. There were a couple of parking cops who were hopefully about to post an infringement notice. Chargers are for charging, not just parking 🤦‍♂️.

Checking out electric vans at Everything Electric (from Fully Charged Show), in Sydney.

At The Everything Electric Show in Sydney (by the Fully Charged Show), checking out the…

…Tesla Cybertruck. Impressive, but ridiculously big, like most oversized utes.

The Everything Electric Show (Fully Charged Show) wrapped up in Sydney for another year…

…but will be back, for the first time, in Melbourne in November. In the car park, we walked past four guys standing around the open bonnet of a V8 ute, saying “we should have gone electric”. Very fitting end. Amber showed off her Tesla Tripping tote bag, as we said goodbye. 3000km done and 1000km to go. Car fully packed again, with the addition of four old computers we had left behind when we moved from the Central Coast, two years ago. One of the sharp iMacs showed its abandonment issues by cutting my bare foot. Next stop, for dinner, in Campbelltown. We shared a roast and dessert. Then on to Mittagong for tonight’s accommodation, booked at the last minute, as usual. Charging: Fully charged at the Superchargers in Campbelltown while we ate dinner. Well, by the time our order came, so I had to move the car. We didn't need to charge yet, but it's quick and easy to top up whenever we are parked anyway.

A few of the electric converted vehicles at The Everything Electric (Fully Charged Show)…

…in Sydney.

Just a few of the electric motorbikes at The Everything Electric Show (Fully Charged…

…Show) in Sydney. Including locally built Savic Motorcycles.

Portable power. A few V2L (vehicle to load) examples at The Everything Electric Show…

…(Fully Charged Show). Including an EV DJ, coffee machine, large TV, and power tools. Most EVs now include V2L, so you can plug just about any household appliance into your car, and power it without running an engine, so no heat, exhaust and noise. Tesla, however, does not currently offer this feature, except on the Cybertruck. Very disappointing.

Great to see some innovative new EV designs at Everything Electric (Fully Charged Show)…

…in Sydney. This Deepal E07 has a hatch that’s kind of like a small ute tray. Full cabin plus a tray/boot. Opens electronically. You can even extend the tray length by folding down the rear seats (unlike the Cybertruck). Australian pricing and release expected at the next exhibition, I think in April.

Checking out the new 2025 Tesla Model Y “Juniper”. Eas

ier for passengers to get in and out, compared to our lower Model 3. Love the ventilated seats. So much room in this thing, more than any other competitor vehicle, it seems. And the most efficient. I’ve added photos of Phil lying down in the back of another Tesla Model Y (not Juniper), on a Tesla mattress, to show how much space there is with the seats down Still no vehicle to load (V2L) or Apple Car Play, like most competitors have. At Everything Electric (Fully Charged Show), in Sydney.

The Xpeng G6 is a strong competition against the Tesla Model Y.

We viewed both at The Everything Electric Show (Fully Charged Show) in Sydney. A few weeks earlier, we took a G6 for a test drive at the XPENG Port Melbourne showroom (also pictured). The Xpeng G6 and Tesla Model Y both have great tech, great efficiency, ventilated and heated front seats. The G6 doesn’t have frunk storage, has small subtrunk storage, smaller boot, no glovebox, but has a bit more rear passenger room and probably more comfy seats. It has Apple Maps and Vehicle to Load (V2L). It is $10k cheaper, but requires paid regular servicing and and has longer warranty. It includes auto lane change (extra purchase on the Tesla). The Tesla has faster acceleration, sportier handling, one pedal driving comes to a full stop without the brake, and has more fast charging options. It has a screen for rear passengers and powered rear seat folding. It has much more storage overall, including huge sub trunk, boot and frunk. It has a better sound system, even though it has slightly less…

Great memories, spending some time with family on the NSW Central Coast.

Tomorrow: Off to Everything Electric (by Fully Charged Show), in Sydney.

A couple of visits to Erina Fair, while we’ve been staying nearby, this week.

Pineapple fried rice at Thai Thyme. Teriyaki pizza at GPK. Tomorrow we’re off to the Fully Charged Everything Electric Show in Sydney. Charging: Erina Fair has had a couple of Tesla destination chargers for years. And for years they have been the only public chargers around, so are almost always busy. We did get lucky on Monday night, when we first arrived, to top up to full. It’s still relatively difficult to park there, but the car park entrance, around several obstacles. Plugshare shows since fast chargers “coming soon” nearby, but they have been months in progress. Twelve new Tesla Superchargers have sprung up in West Gosford, which is great.

I tried a different EV today, on my way from The NSW Central Coast to Sydney.

It powers while in motion, directly from overhead wires, is semi autonomous, has vehicle to load on every seat, designated quiet spaces, tray table, and giant windows. Not bad! Even the anti EV haters seem to accept this one 😉. After my commute for work, we met up with our dear friends, Hugh and Margaret, for dinner at The Elenora Hotel, followed by choc mousse, fruit and coffee back at the villa. Lots of stories to share about EV road trips in Europe, New Zealand, Western Australia and Far North Queensland. Charging: Apart from the main charging of our car at Erina Fair, we also grabbed some top up charge at the villa, manually tweaking the Tesla to consume just the excess solar produced by the SolarEdge system.

We managed to catch up with a kindred spirit, Ric Richardson, for breakfast in Byron Bay…

…at the Marvell Street Cafe. We’ve worked on a few projects together, over the years, building apps to demonstrate various patents. Emails, chat messages and video chats are great ways to communicate data and specs. But there are some people where you just cherish the chance to meet face to face. As usual, we have all of our gear, including food, packed in the car. We left the car with aircon running, on low fan. We set the Tesla to "Camp Mode" so that it would keep power on for the camp fridge we have in the back seat. But, it seems we can't keep Camp Mode and Sentry Mode active at the same time 😞. Charging: Byron Bay seems pretty progressive. There are electric bikes (and non electric) everywhere. But there only seems to be one fast EV charger in town, at the library, and it was off line this morning when we tried to connect. We only had 12% charge, so I wanted to top up before we left town. Fortunately, according PlugShare, there are one or two more banks of fast chargers “coming…

We stayed last night at Byron Springs Guest House.

Private room and shower, shared pool, lounge room and kitchen. Beautiful setting, in a suburban street. Charging: No practical power points in the parking area, so we didn’t bother to try (asking first, of course). We were down to 13% battery last night, so we’ll just find something while we’re parked for breakfast.

A couple of nights in the Hunter Valley, NSW, to catch up with my Mum and sister.

and sister. We stayed at Beltana Villas. Beautiful setting, spacious villas with a balcony, pool and spa. The visiting kangaroo family topped it off. We experienced one of the worst smells, and it wasn’t an animal. A human had apparently previously put milk in the water intake of the coffee pod machine. No trace in the water container, but the first pod we tried gave a smell that made us gag, as it blasted something more than water through it. Our hosts kindly replaced it. Brunch at Ronnies in the Hunter Valley Gardens Shopping Village. Dinner up the road at Harrigan's. Coffee from Cafe Enzo. We managed to fit Mum’s walker (and Mum) in the car, without removing our camp fridge and luggage. We might need more car or less relatives. The least we could do for another serving of boiled eggs. Thanks Mum ☺️. Charging: No EV chargers at our accommodation. Hunter Valley Gardens has a couple of fast EV chargers from The NRMA, which worked fine, although the app isn’t the best. All charged up…

The “Best Scones” sign on the highway lured us in again, south of Port Macquarie in North…

…Moorland. We had the cafe courtyard to ourselves, apart from the staff and chickens. Charging: No EV chargers at the cafe. We had a toilet stop a couple of hours later in Raymond Terrance, and used the Tesla Superchargers there while parked, powered by a large array of solar panels shading the car park. A great alternative to Heatherbrae.

Arriving at a cafe before 2:30 makes all the difference.

On the way north, last week, we stopped here at about 3pm and all the lunch places were shut. On our way south now, The Hill Cafe is a great option for stopping to charge the belly and charge the car. There’s a big sign on the way into the shopping center in Thrumster (near Port Macquarie) that says something like “Shop, Eat, and Recharge”. No petrol station on this side of town. It’s a snippet of the future. Charging: We arrived with 12% charge, as predicted by the navigation. The Tesla Superchargers in the car park charged our car up to 97% ish while we had lunch. No need to wait for 100%, since the last bit can take ages. We just left as soon as we were ready. The car park also has a couple of The NRMA EV chargers.

Last night we stopped at Emerald Beach Pizza & Pasta.

We have been dreaming about their mac and cheese, for the past year, but we couldn’t stop on our way north last week. We mentioned how far we’d traveled for this culinary delight, but the staff just looked at us as if we were crazy (which is possible). We brought it back to our accommodation near Coffs Harbour, unwrapped it from the foil container, only to discover that it wasn’t really full. Sometimes it’s best not to meet your heros. Prior to that, we had a short walk on Emerald Beach. A couple of years ago, we were planning on moving somewhere near here, but we ended up in Emerald Victoria instead. Both Emeralds are green and filled with kangaroos. We opted for the one with lower humidity. Our accommodation was an Airbnb apartment at Pacific Bay Resort. Well appointed by the owner. Beautiful setting. We enjoyed cooling off in the pool. This morning, we stopped at The Clog Barn, on our way out of Coffs Harbour. I’m not sure how much of your shopping list, Helen, will make it all the…

Arrived in Byron Bay, in time for some Mexican fajitas at Miss Margarita, and a stroll…

…along the waterfront. This morning we were in Wellington Point, catching up with our old friends (Tom’s youth group leaders from decades ago, when we were youth), Ross and Sharon. Lunch with them at the local Redlands Sporting Club, and a peak at possibly their new housing block. Charging: The club didn’t have any EV charging points, which is a lost opportunity. In Byron Bay we were surprised to find only one fast charger in town, run by Chargefox and I’m guessing the local council. It was occupied for ages, we think because their session must have died midway. The next day we found it had been turned off. We’re down to 12% charge for the night, but we’ll be fine.

Time for a stretch. We followed the Tesla navigation to the Superchargers at the Harwood…

…Hotel, on the Clarence River. Love the sign. The bridge construction looks like a modern day pyramid. Very impressive. Charging: Boringly easy. Park. Plug in. Walk away. Use the amenities. Come back. Unplug. Drive off.

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. Charging: We charged up a couple of days ago at Tesla Superchargers while we had dinner. Today, since we stopped along the highway anyway, we plugged into one of the bp pulse fast chargers. After the faf I had the other day with one, I’ve learnt to get the session and payment started in the app first, then plug in. It worked first time. But I wish it was as easy as it is at Tesla and Evie…

We arrived at our accommodation, booked on-line an hour before.

By “arrived” I mean we followed the car’s navigation to… a locked fence. Apple Maps also suggested we break through. But we decided it was better to drive around the (very large) block to the main entrance. The Tesla navigation showed two destination chargers on site – win! But we soon discovered they were out of action – lose. PlugShare shows them as having been off-line for a long time, which is disappointing. The large mob of wallabies more than made up for the arrival hiccups. The whole site, at Sirromet Winery, Mount Cotton, is beautiful. We stayed next to a lake in one of the glamping tents, with all the mod cons, including modern shower room, toilet and small kitchen. We helped ourselves to the minibar provided red wine, and our last pack of cheese and crackers. Dinner at the on site restaurant was a great chance to relax, enjoy the view and more wallabies. Tiramisu was shared, as a balance of indulgence and responsibility 😉. Breakfast was included, at the on site cafe opposite…

We spent a couple of hours exploring the Wappa Falls and Wappa Dam.

We left the literally death defying leaps to the younger ones. Dinner at Grill'd Maroochydore, Sunshine Plaza. Charging: We haven’t charged for a few days. No power point in the parking spot at our accommodation. Down to 24% at dinner time, we plugged into the Tesla Superchargers, conveniently located in the carpark near our dinner. Finished charging before our dinner order arrived, so I had to move the car one space forward.

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. Charging: We fully charged last night at the Waterview Motel in Maclean. We stopped briefly at a BP service center along the highway. We noticed a BP fast (ish) charger, and figured we might as well plug in while parked anyway. But it was a bit of a faf to get it working, and then it decided to disconnect itself.

Concluding the third leg of our trip from Emerald Victoria to Coolum Beach in Queensland…

…we stayed the night in Maclean. Good value little motel. Takeaway dinner from up the road at the Peking Chinese Restaurant. Along the pretty walk on the levee bank, I noticed that the road and river seem to be at about the same height. Jeremy has run the Waterview Motel for the past two years. He installed a bank of EV destination chargers, 22kW of solar panels and 60kWh of battery storage. The solar charges up the battery and any cars during the day. At night, the battery powers the site and any cars still plugged in. Jeremy has his own BYD Atto 3 EV, which he drives locally and to Brisbane. Like many motels, this one has a sign to ask drivers not to back into the parking in front of the rooms, since it fills them with carcinogenic fumes. EVs are of course exempt. I watched the driver of one large 4WD take several attempts to back in, idling in between, which made the porch air unbreathable. I pointed out the sign, then they moved on. Charging: We plugged in while the sun was still…

We stopped for lunch at the Thrumster shopping center.

Unfortunately, the few food outlets all seemed to have closed the kitchen for the afternoon. So, we grabbed some supplies at the IGA and had some healthy snacks in the car. The Tesla watches me watching the road. I had only brief glances away at the map, while on Autopilot, but the car was unforgiving, warned me a few times, then suspended autopilot privileges. I had to pull over and park briefly to reset it 😤. I do think it’s too sensitive now. Charging: Tesla Superchargers are right here in the car park. Super quick and convenient. Plug in and walk away – it’s all automatic. We might have instead stopped up the road at the chargers at the Cassegrain Winery, but I think they have closed the restaurant there.

We pulled into Cessnock late yesterday afternoon, and stayed last night at the Potters…

…Hunter Valley Hotel. Great salad bowl dinner options. This morning we popped in on Mum for breakfast. She made us boiled eggs, which we loved. Charging: Ideally we would have charged overnight at our accommodation, but there wasn’t a suitable power outlet to do so. So, we stopped with 6% remaining, on our way north at the Tesla Superchargers in Heatherbrae. We knew to grab a coffee before arriving here. Not a bad location, but it’s a kilometre away from the more interesting stop on the other side of the road, with more facilities. The PlugShare app shows more Tesla Superchargers as ”coming soon” there, but it’s been that way for a long time.

Lunch at CAFE 5911 Goulburn, after a stretch through the park.

Charging: Our car was fully charged at the nearby Tesla superchargers, all done by the time we finished lunch.

Morning refuel: coffee and electrons.

On our way today from Gobbagombalin (a suburb of Wagga Wagga), to the Hunter Valley. From our grandson to our Mum. Charging: I still can’t see the destination chargers at The Coffee Pedaler, which I think they were planning. They might be out the back? So, we popped up the road to drink our coffee while parked at the Tesla Superchargers at Oliver’s. Years ago, these were the first EV chargers were had seen, which started us thinking about buying an EV. Once we had finished coffee, toilet and posting on socials, we unplugged and headed off. No need to wait until full. Charging is something we try to only do while parked anyway.

First meal stop, in Euroa.

A couple of bakery goodies, thus begins our newest bakery tour of the east coast of Australia. Nice to chill in the park, with the ducks and magpies. Earlier, after driving along the “Black Spur” (pictured), we briefly stopped in Yarck, for a cup of thermos tea and delicious choc coated Anzac slice – thank you Krissy 😋. We tried out the neck rest, for the first time, which we bought two years ago, but couldn’t get it quite right. Charging: Our EV charged up at the Tesla Superchargers right next to the park, while we had a quick lunch and toilet break. Total time for us to interact with the charger: less than 20 seconds. There was a destination charger in Yarck, but it wasn’t worth the bother for 10 min at 7kW. The PlugShare and Chargefox apps indicated that it needs some maintenance.

Starting off on another road trip today, up the east coast of Australia, to the Sunshine…

…Coast. Meeting with family along the way, and a work meeting in Byron Bay. Camp fridge packed, laundry bag, cables and shoes in the frunk. First stop tonight in Wagga. In case you’re wondering, the piece of furniture in the boot in for delivery to our family in there. Marvin the Mower and Vera the Vacuum tidied up the place before we left. We grabbed an egg muffin and coffee from Over the Road Cafe, in Emerald, on our way out of town Charging: Fully charged from home solar panels, house battery and a little bit from the grid, all ready to go this morning.

A very interesting way to learn the history of a place: by joining the guided tour…

…theatre show. “What was that?” by Essence Theatre Productions. We were greeted by the staff from a century ago, with a blend of Downton Abbey, comedy and ghost tour. We assumed the role of “friends of the family”, visiting a couple of months after the owners (the Chirnsides) had died. A few jump scares, moving furniture, audience roastings. Quite the variety. Thank you Helen for the off beat Christmas gift 🎁. We had hours to kill beforehand, which we passed at the Werribee Open Range Zoo next door, The Views - Function, Bar & Grill for dinner, and a game of Wordle on the Tesla screen. A pretty walk in front of the mansion included views across the river to the open plains zoo. Imagine having giraffes and rhinos for neighbours. We spotted an semi-electric (plug in hybrid) BYD “Shark” ute in the carpark. Charging: We left home with about 80% charge, all from solar power. More than enough for the long day trip.

Movember: How did Marvin the Mower go, maintaining our lawn while we were away in Europe…

…for two months? I’d like to say that he effortlessly mowed our 1500m2 lawn. But the reality wasn’t quite perfect. On the plus side: from the other side of the world, I could use the Mammotion app to mow any zones of our lawn. I could have scheduled it, but didn’t. I occasionally watched from my iPhone, through the mower’s camera, to check the grass length and also general security. It did a great job of the areas that it mowed. On the negatives: Marvin got stuck many times on the half buried round log next to the charging station. Wheels would go either side of the log, leaving Marvin floundering like a turtle, unable to touch the ground with the wheels. After returning, we “fixed” the problem by using an upturned table, and later just a block of wood. Similarly, he got stuck a few times on a raised edge (pictured). There seems to be some recent software glitch, where the mower leaves an occasional strip of unmowed grass, one mower width from the zone edge. This became very…

November 10-11. After surviving the long flight back from Europe two days ago, I hopped…

…back on a plane, from Melbourne to Sydney. Crazy, right! At Sydney Airport, I rented a Tesla Model 3, similar to ours, for a couple of days. Pretty seamless process, except for the web page directions to find the pick up spot at the airport. I could add my own profile to the in car list of drivers, and manually adjust to my preferred settings (such as seat position). But they didn’t give me access to connect my iPhone’s Tesla app. I increasingly missed the app connect features such as automatic lock/unlock and remote climate control. I had to tap the Tesla card to get into the car each time, like a Neanderthal 😉. Out of all the portals through which I could rent it, it turned out to be cheapest to rent through the Uber app, which now also lists car rentals. Go figure. Charging: I plugged into a Tesla supercharger before returning it. Automatically billed to the rental company, who then added it to my invoice. Easy. And no need to return it with a 100% full tank, like with petrol cars.

Ioniq 5 test drive. Sporty handling and acceleration.

Nice interior. More physical buttons than Tesla (which may be good or bad). Felt smaller on the inside. At slightly higher cost than a Tesla Model Y, it seemed to be less value.

Continuing our look at EV options.

The Hyundai Kona. Good price. Small. But they somehow manage to fit it a spare wheel. We didn’t test drive it.

Cooling off at the beach under Seaford Pier.

Dinner: Chicken and mango salad, brought from home. Charging: Driving on sunshine, as usual. Apart from charging the car, our home solar system also stored the excess solar power in our home battery, which exported to the grid during peak demand, using the Amber Electric app automation. Nice!

Trying out the new ish Kia EV5.

Nice enough. Roomy. Boxy. Handles like a bouncy brick. Poor efficiency.

However you transport your tree and decorate it, merry Christmas to you all 🎄.

October 31 - November 2: After a series of Halloween misadventures, we finally made it to…

…our accommodation, south east of Paris. Beautiful buildings, set on a farm. Breakfast set by Jerome each morning. Charging: The site included a destination charger, but we didn’t end up using it, since we already charged up when stopping for dinner.

The long flight home from Amsterdam, via Singapore, back to Melbourne.

to Melbourne. First, a quick correction to Tom’s inside out t-shirt – it was a chaotic morning getting to the airport. The food and service on Singapore AIRLINES was great. The in flight wifi is good, but connecting to it is more complicated than it should be. We couldn’t sleep. Towards the end, we looked at each other in despair and lamented “the human body was not designed to endure this”. Final leg from Melbourne Airport to home in Emerald via Uber in a Tesla Model 3, just like ours. We were impressed how the driver managed to fit all our luggage in the boot. Just in time for a well earned sleep 😴. Next morning: removal of the Europe road trip beard.

Up early (ish) to drive the Tesla to the airport.

Luckily we allowed extra time, because a bus breakdown at the airport delayed us by an hour. And then trying to find where to return the rental car took us ages. UFODRIVE needs to improve the airport drop off instructions. But the rest of the return process worked pretty well. All from within the app, take some photos and finalise to lock the car.

Our final night in Amsterdam, and the Netherlands, and Europe, before our long flight…

…home tomorrow.

We can cross “electric hearse” off our list of electric vehicles to see 😮. Seems

to be a custom converted Tesla.

Our last meet up with cousin Nico, in Amsterdam, for lunch at the Noorderlicht Café.

Converted docklands with some interesting large artwork. We’ve spent two months in Europe. We hired a Tesla Model Y from UFODRIVE in the Netherlands, visited Germany for lunch, drove all over the Netherlands, then through Belgium, France and Switzerland, down to Italy, and back. We left Nico with a “gift bag” of all the road tripping gear (cooler bag, utensils etc) that wouldn’t fit in our plane baggage tomorrow. Sad to say goodbye, but lots of great memories.

A lazy wander around Amsterdam.

Really need to pay attention when crossing the road. Watch out for tiny cars, electric bikes, trams, line marking machines, horses, even stilts.

A day wandering around Amsterdam, starting at the Van Gogh Museum.

Lunch next to the canal. No fumes or noise from the many passing tour boats, because they are all electric. Blissful. Charging: Our car sat in the parking station, while we wandered. Many charging options around town, next to standard parking spots.