Goodbye gas! I finally organised disconnecting the ducted gas heating at our home.

If only we could see the burnt gas pouring into the air, all the time, and not just when the condensation highlights it (as in the photos). Pumping carcinogens and greenhouse gases into the air that we breathe. It’s nuts. It was costing us up to $528 per month to run the heating in winter. Our replacement air conditioning will be closer to free, thanks to our solar and battery. We recently also replaced our gas hot water with a heat pump. See my post about that, here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17xtnGjv2E/ Our one remaining gas appliance is our stove top. Once that’s gone, we will save $35 per month just for the connection fee. And no more gas! We’re replacing the gas heating with some split air conditioners. Read about our replacement system here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18cxsd3qG7/ Follow Tesla Tripping to stay tuned. For those who might say “what about in a blackout”? Note the power point connection on the old gas heating. Our old gas hot water heat pump had one too.…

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 front of the waiting lounge, next to a sign that probably shouldn’t be there. One of the…

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! Charging: I'm planning to stop for a break and grab lunch in Orbost. I'll charge at the fast charger while the car is parked anyway.

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. Charging: I charged earlier this morning in Tubbut, while having breakfast and a shower. Great facilities for such a remote location. It’s only a slow charger, which topped me up 40% battery. I generally only charge while parked anyway, rather than waiting around. The navigation says I’ll get to Orbost with 11% charge, which is fine. There’s a fast charger there for me to use while I have lunch. Disappointingly, the Tesla’s Trip Planner doesn’t recognise the Chargefox charger in Orbost as a charging destination, so doesn’t realise that will give me enough to get home. It tried to reroute me the long way around, south east through Cann River, where there is a Tesla Supercharger. I have played this game before, so I just turned off “Trip Planner” to force it to take me directly through Orbost.

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 dark” photos. Hopefully it helps give a real world idea of the space inside. Sleeping…

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. Charging: The EV charger here is just AC single phase, 7kW. That’s much skewer thana fast charger, but enough to give me 14kWh (about 23%) in the two hours I was parked…

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. Charging: No EV chargers around here. But plenty of power points, if I was desperate and staying a few hours. No petrol nearby either, according to the sign (pictured). Links:

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.

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. Snuuzu mattress: https://www.snuuzu.com/?bg_ref=4fKkJb495B&country=AU Discount code: TRIPPING

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. Links: Snuuzu: https://www.snuuzu.com/?bg_ref=4fKkJb495B&country=AU Discount code: TRIPPING

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 Superchargers, but fewer and a bit slower. It does have Coles and more amenities, so I…

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. Charging: I charged up the car battery earlier today, while parked in Cooma. The hosts here at Snowy River Holiday Park confirmed that in a powered site, I could have plugged in the EV to charge. I instead elected an unpowered site, since it was a nicer spot, closer to the river.

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 anything weighing down on top of the platform, the drawer started to tip over,…

Just me, the Tesla, and some brown snakes, along Lake George, near Canberra, on the way…

…to The Snowy Mountains.

A quick shop at Erina Fair, on the NSW Central Coast, before heading south to The Snowy…

…Mountains, where I will car camp tonight. Charging: Since I’m parking for a few minutes anyway, I connected to one of the newish Evie DC chargers in the Erina Fair carpark. Previously, the only public charging option around here was the Tesla destination chargers in the next car park. Those are free, slower (11kW) than fast chargers, in an awkward parking spot, most often busy, sometimes ICEd. Using the Evie chargers is a breeze – just park and plug in. Since I’ve already setup “AutoCharge”, the system recognises my car without needing to use an app or credit card. The max charge rate seems to be 75kW if I’m the only one at the “bowser”, but reduces to 50kW if another is also in use. Perhaps as low as 25kW if all four are in use? Even when mine was nearly finished and only drawing 6kW, the next charger was limited to 50kW until I stopped.

Time for a break and a cup of tea.

The navigation says that the next EV charger is at Coolac, just north of Gundagai, so we stopped there. Wow. It’s a pretty bad. The chargers are great, simple and fast. But the site is woeful. The hotel is closed or being renovated. The toilets are port-a-loos, but are disgusting . I don’t know how much of that is due to infrequent maintenance versus just being the busiest time of year. There is a service station nearby with some food and hopefully better toilets, but it’s a ten minute walk away in the heat, and not an option for Mum’s walker. Some people were sheltering from the sun under the three tall trees begging the toilets. Not a great spot. Tesla/government really needs to ensure better location for EV chargers. We enjoyed a cup of tea from our thermoses, and some Christmas snacks (thank you Krissy). Some way further up the highway, we pulled over into Bookham, for a conveniently located toilet and a bit of a stretch in some broken shade. In the few minutes we were there, two…

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. Charging: Tesla Superchargers conveniently located in the car park behind Oliver’s. It’s the first EV charging station I recall noticing, many years ago, long before we went electric. We just park, plug in, walk away. Charging finished just as we finished lunch. Perfect. Takes less than ten seconds of our time. Most Tesla chargers these days are compatible with all EVs. But these at Oliver’s are Tesla only. The general EV chargers have moved next door, to The Dog on the Tuckerbox. It’s now just one unit, with two cables. A few kilometres up the road, in…

Heat pump installation

We finally got around to installing a hot water heat pump, to replace our gas hot water system. We were paying about $40 per month for our instant gas hot water (plus $40 connection fee). Now we’re paying nothing, because the heat pump is just using our excess solar power. Without solar, I estimate it would be costing us $8 per month to power it from the electricity grid. There are a few incentive schemes around to replace gas (or other old inefficient systems) with a heat pump. An installer will factor these into their quote. The subsidies can be significant. In our case, the total price was $4480, but it was reduced to $1650 for us to pay, after subsidies were subtracted. A hot water heat pump uses the same principle as an air conditioner (which is also a heat pump). It “pumps” heat from one side to the other. In this case, it pumps heat from the outside air into the tank of water. The basic physics is that when you compress air in a confined space, it gets hot, and when you expand…

On our way to Coober Pedy, the plan was to stop here at the Glendambo Roadhouse for lunch…

…and top up “fuel” for the car. Glendambo seems to consist of three main buildings: on the left, an old run down, decommissioned service station. In the middle, a roadhouse/pub, with access to motel rooms and camp ground behind. On the right, a newer service station with simple hot food options. I heard the service station staff saying that they had run out of diesel fuel, awaiting a delivery in an hour or two. A truckie reported to say he had thousands of litres parked outside, but he couldn’t give it up, since it was bound for Coober Pedy. If there’s no fuel, there’s no plan B. You just have to wait and hope. We chatted to one of the guys towing the rally car with skulls, appropriately named “Numb Skulls”. They’re headed from home in Katherine, NT south for the Variety Bash near Adelaide, then back home. That’s a lot of towing. See our stop here a week later, on our return trip: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/178rweHEce/ Charging: The Chargefox app and PlugShare app showed a 20 or…

Although it’s in the middle of nowhere, Spud's Roadhouse is a great place to stop on the…

…way to Uluru. For one, it has a few EV charging options. Now, charging should be simple, like it was for the two EVs that were here when I arrived. They each plugged into one of the two DC charging cables, walked over to get some food at the roadhouse while their cars charged. Then off they went – one towards Adelaide and the other to Roxbury. But life isn’t always so simple. I plugged into the remaining charger, which is a slower AC station. It’s only 7kW, compared to the faster DC adjacent chargers at 80-150kW. But, that’s fine – I’m staying here overnight, so I have the time, or I could have just used a fast charger when one of the other drivers disconnected. This AC charger requires your own “Type 2” (technically “Mennekes”) cable, which we have, so I plugged it into the car and EV charger. To my surprise, it immediately started charging, without using an app or tap card. I left it connected and it was at 93% after we finished dinner. I went to unplug it, which should be easy,…

Out for a walk along the levee bank along the Murrumbidgee River in Wagga Wagga.

Beautiful day, warmer now with the sunshine. Lots of people camping by the river, I presume as their homes. Must be so cold at night. Charging: The simplest and fastest place to charge in Wagga is at the Tesla Superchargers, which is open to all EVs. But, we aim to charge wherever we happen to be. And here, The NRMA has a fast charger, so we chose to use that. A few minor problems with it, though: 1. It has two CCS2 cables, which is great. But only one parking spot is marked for EV parking. When we arrived, we were the second car after the BYD Dolphin that was already plugged in. We initially parked on the other side of the charger, but soon realised that we were jutting further out into the car park, because the charging station takes a quarter of that parking spot. I think the shorter spot is meant for motorbikes, which explains the extra painted line, but there’s no sign. So, we moved to the spot next to the first car, which is not marked for EVs, but fortunately was empty, and…

Quick stop for a fluid change (hot chocolate in, wee out) at Oliver's Real Food Gundagai.

Charging: Three of the six Tesla Supercharger stalls were occupied when we arrived. They were parked in alternate slots, which maximises the power to each car, since each adjacent pair of chargers share power. We had to park next to someone, which lowered their charge rate. A few minutes later, they disconnected and left, which increased our charge rate from 65kW to 130kW.

Stop for a late lunch, in Yass, at Kaffeine 2582.

We picked this place, because it’s opposite the Tesla Superchargers. I wonder if the cafe realises how many EV drivers now eat at their cafe 🤔. Charging: This is the first time we’ve charged the new car to 100% (or 99 ish). It estimated the range at 418km, which is the same as our previous Model 3 had, after 91,000km. The Model Y gets a bit less range due to extra weight and size. Charging was quick and seamless, except that the release button on the changing cable wouldn’t work, so we reported the issue via the Tesla app. We disconnected using the Tesla app too. Powered by the iconic Cullerin Range Wind Farm, just down the highway (pictured).

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. Charging: This is the first public charging for our new car. The Tesla navigation planned to route us through the Superchargers in Wangaratta, but we charged here because we were stopping anyway, for coffee. We aim to charge opportunistically – meaning: charge while we’re stopped anyway to do something else. In hindsight, we probably should have pressed on to Wangaratta for coffee and a charge. This BP charger cost 75c per kWh, which is probably the most expensive we have paid. The Tesla Superchargers, which are faster and…

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…

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.

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.

Full circle through Europe, after nearly 8000km, back to Amsterdam.

We checked in at the Clayton Hotel. Parking across the canal at QPark – not cheap in the city, for a few days. Tight fit. Several EV charging points. The nearby Albert Heijn store stocked Australian Lindermans wine. Charging: No need to charge. We’ll return the car in a few days. UFODRIVE only requires 20% charge when returning the EV. Much better than the typical rental petrol car full tank requirement.

We drove from France, through Belgium, back to Amsterdam.

First stop, in Lesquin France, at a McDonalds for lunch. This was our first and only fast food chain stop while in Europe. We were curious to see if it was much different to home. The French fries on the menu are, of course, just called “fries” (or “frites”, in French). They also offer plant based chicken nuggets. Charging: We parked next door to McDonald’s, at the Tesla Supercharger, which filled us up from 7% arrival, while we had lunch. We tried a Shell charger at a highway service station, while we were stopped for a few minutes toilet break. Another toilet break at a KFC offered us a few minutes to top up at the Tesla Supercharger there. Charging is what the car does while you’re doing something else.

We arrived last night in this delightful B&B, in the small French town of Flavy-Le-Martel.

Our host shared breakfast time with us, telling us the history. She bought the derelict house, which had been abandoned for thirty years. She moved from Paris, and spent a decade rebuilding it, with help from contractors, but mostly herself, with instructions from YouTube videos. Very impressive. We loved being back on rural roads.

Goodbye Paris. A quick wave as we passed the Arc de Triomphe and the Moulin Rouge.

Northward to Sant-Quentin, France, for a traditional… Indian dinner. Charging: We lazily just let the Tesla guide us to a supercharger along the way. For the first time in our two years of driving a Tesla, there was actually a queue. Fascinated by the novelty, we hung around, wondering how it’s sorted. A line of cars had formed at one end, so we drove around to join. We waited over 20 minutes. Not a novelty anymore. But I can say I’ve done it now. It turned out to be some end of holiday high demand rush. If we had it again, I would have picked a less busy charger along the route

Lunch at la Petit Palais (the Little Palace).

Much more inviting, friendly and accessible than most palatial attractions.

We strolled around Paris, checking out some more of the architecture.

Quite a few different types of electric vehicles in Paris, including cars, buses, vans…

…, buses, vans, boats, motorcycles, e-bikes, even unicycles! The inner region of the city now requires vehicles to register and display an emissions sticker. The less polluting the vehicle, the cheaper the permit. The result: noticeably improved air quality, with obvious benefits to health. There are also many electric charging options. The future is looking good.

How many photos can we take of the Eiffel Tower?

Eiffel Tower? We tried our best, over a couple of days, while we stayed a few blocks away, in Paris.

We used the last of our Luxury Escapes credit to book a couple of nights at this hotel in…

…Paris, a few blocks walk from the Eiffel Tower and the river. Parking on site, but it was a tight fit. The toilets were in the basement, with an impressive arched roof of stones. Many enticing patisseries nearby, even just outside our window. First task was to buy some croissants to have in our room. Then a walk to the Eiffel Tower, and some dinner out, in Paris. As you do 😉.

A lazy day after two days of tackling traffic to and from Versailles.

We drove through some of the poorer high density suburbs around us, stopping in a park with a random ruin. Filled with families playing bocci, other ball games, and just enjoying life. Lunch options were difficult to find. We discovered that it was “All Saints Day”, with many businesses closed. We ate at a pub, still Halloween themed, including dismembered body parts. We opted for vegetarian 😉. Tomorrow we’re heading to Paris.

Back to the Palace of Versailles.

We got to go inside this time, having finally snapped up tickets. Interior decorating overload. Amazing, ostentatious, a bit crowded. The stairs have a well worn groove from so many visitors. The traffic home seemed busier than yesterday. A long slow drive to get back. We later discovered that tomorrow is a public holiday “All Saints Day”. So, we were driving out of Paris suburbs in peak hour, just before a long weekend. We stopped by Best Wok again for dinner, and snapped a photo with the robot waiter. Charging: Tesla Superchargers next to Best Wok. The car was charged before we finished our first course of dinner. We could have also charged at or accommodation. So many options.

Our Versailles string of mishaps continued.

First the good news. We finally got out of Versailles and the busy night time suburbs of Paris, heading south east towards our accommodation. Overdue for some dinner, and the EV needing a charge, we looked on the Tesla’s navigation for a stop along the way for both. We picked one of several options along the way, a bank of “V4” Tesla superchargers. We parked, plugged in, and walked next door to “Best Wok” – an all you can eat buffet restaurant. Once we started talking, the designated English speaking staff member came over to help us. The staff were all lovely. Even the robot that collected the dirty plates and delivered drinks, had a smile. Marvin better lift his game 😉. So many food options. We were overjoyed to have fresh veggies. We plated a pile of ingredients, handed them to the wok cook, and watched him fry it up. Fun and delicious. We didn’t have escargot or frogs legs, but this was such a joyful meal to have in France. Returning to our car, all the other EVs had left. We soon…

Our second run in with police in Europe. This time in France.

After exploring the gardens around the Palace of Versailles, in the evening we drove through the southern suburbs of Paris towards the accommodation we had booked earlier that day. The navigation said to take an exit in 300m, but there were two close together, and I mistakenly took the one, which took us back in the wrong direction, through a low clearance long tunnel with a €12 fee., adding another hour to our trip. This was not going well. We exited the tunnel, back in the suburbs, driving through Versailles. Slow traffic, single lane in each direction. We could hear a siren somewhere getting closer. Suddenly, there was a police car on the wrong side of the road heading straight for our rental Tesla. In addition to flashers and sirens, they started flashing high beams. We stopped, checked rear vision cameras and mirror, and slowly reversed to the side. Bang! We hit something. We felt and heard it. “Shit shit shit” I said as I immediately thought of the €2000 excess that would soon…

We arrived at at the Palace of Versailles, passed the golden gates and the armed guards…

…only to discover that tickets to the actual palace were completely sold out for today. So, we spent the afternoon wandering the magnificent gardens (which also required tickets). But first, lunch at one of the restaurants, which turned out to be big plate (and bill), small meal. Fancy and delicious, though. We bought tickets to the palace for tomorrow, which means another trip back here from our accommodation on the other side of Paris. Charging: We looked for a nearby EV charger, which would have also given us free parking, but they were taken. So, we paid about $30 for parking near the front gate. We’ll charge on the way to our accommodation, while having dinner.

Having finished the laundry and exhausted our hour of parking, we shuffled our now clean…

…clothes into the frunk, drove to the other end of town, plugged into a destination charger, and proceeded to fold our clothes and pack them into our suitcases. Life in Europe is so glamorous! Next to the charger is possibly Cluny’s main attraction: The Cluny Abbey. We felt obliged to visit it. Charging: Later that evening, I popped out for a walk from our accommodation to collect the car, which was fully charged for our trip towards Paris tomorrow.

Inching closer to Paris, we stopped overnight at a B&B in Saint-Clement.

Breakfast was a hamper delivery in the morning. Dinner was a regretted kebab from across the road. On the way to Saint Clement, we stopped at a patisserie for lunch, followed by Halloween themed cake. Charging: There was a destination charger over the road I didn’t think to use it until the next morning while we had breakfast. It was a bit of a drama to get it working, as you can tell from the screenshots.