Adding a second battery — Tesla finally makes it possible

When Lightning Energy installed our Powerwall 2 back in December 2023 https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Anc2vKKqZ/ it was great. Paired with our 13 kW Enphase/Jinko solar system and 10 kW inverter, it's been handling our fully electrified home in Emerald pretty well — five reverse-cycle ACs, heat pump hot water, EV charging, and grid outages lasting up to nine days. But as we've added more loads, I've been thinking about expanding battery storage. There was a problem, though. The Powerwall 2 is no longer CEC-approved for new installations in Australia. Tesla stopped taking orders for it in late 2024/early 2025, and as of January 2026 it's no longer on the Clean Energy Council approved list. So you can't add a second one. And until very recently, the Powerwall 3 — Tesla's current model — was completely incompatible with the Powerwall 2. They couldn't talk to each other. That meant anyone with a Powerwall 2 who wanted more storage faced a painful choice: rip out the existing battery and…

Incoming software update. Grok AI 🤖

Woke up to a minor but very helpful change in the Tesla app.

The house screen now includes the percentage charge of the car (shown in the screenshot at 84%). Very handy to see it all in one place, without switching to the car view.

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…

Surprise picnic. Making use of all the hidey-holes in the Tesla.

Let’s pull over here next to the Yarra River. Would you like a cold drink? I just happen have a powered fridge in the sub trunk of the car. We can sit on the camp chairs from the frunk (front trunk, since there’s no engine). How about a cheese platter and some cherries to go with it? Ok “platter” is a bit of an overstatement, but work with me here. The car also has kitchen utensils and a dining table. We might as well just stay here for lunch now. Charging: All charged up for free from solar at home. There are also destination chargers down the road at the caravan park. Links:

Why does it seem to be utes that are predominantly aggressive on the road?

A few unnecessary and dangerous overtakes on my way home through Gippsland. Towards oncoming cars, or a kangaroo. Wildlife and police also out. A bit busy on the roads today. Glad to see that the latest software update on the Tesla now shows speed and details now on playback of videos.

Fast charging at the Bairnsdale superchargers.

It's conveniently located close to shops, near the centre of town, but it's right next to the entry of a very busy car park. There are only three charging spots. I watched another Tesla try a few times to reverse into a charger from a park opposite. Fortunately, other waiting drivers kept their holiday cheer. I tapped on the window and asked if they'd like me to park the car for them. She explained that it was her husband's car, who had apparently gone to the shops. She seemed very relieved to hand over control to someone familiar with the car. I parked it and plugged it in. After that and a cuppa, the car was charged up enough to take me all the way home. I had to do a slight three point turn to exit the car park when I was done. Did I mentioned it's a slightly awkward spot?

Brief stop in Orbost to make a Vegemite sandwich, a cup of tea and to use the amenities.

Pop the tailgate, pull out the dining table, open the fridge. Easy. Charging: Fast-ish Chargefox charger here, maxes out at 50kW. But the Vegemite sandwich stop gave me more than enough to get to a properly fast charger in Bairnsdale. The cable seems to be in the wrong side, but thankfully it’s long enough to stretch across. Links:

Breakfast, from the kitchen drawer and fridge in my Tesla.

I drove a few kilometers from my overnight riverside camping spot, back to the community hall in Tubbut. A free shower in the provided facilities was a welcome way to wake up. The rain eased shortly after I arrived. I boiled water using my induction stove, for a hot thermos of tea. Beautiful, relaxed start to the day. Charging: Thanks, again, to Gippsland Climate Change Network and Chargefox for the destination charger in Tubbut. Since I’m parked for breakfast anyway, I might as well use it. I have more than enough range to get to Orbost, where I’ll fill up using a fast charger, while I have lunch. Links:

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…

I wish my Tesla Model Y had a power point, where I could plug in my induction stove to…

…make breakfast 😞. What I need is “V2L”, which stands for “vehicle to load”. Unfortunately, my Tesla Model Y RWD does not have it. This omission almost made us switch to BYD, Kia, Xpeng or one of the many other EV car brands that provide V2L. Tesla’s CyberTruck, new Model YL, and Model Y Performance all reportedly now provide V2L. The Cybertruck has built in power points. The other two require an adapter plugged into the charge port. I can only hope that in the near future Tesla offers some retrofit option for my car. In the mean time, I just have to find a power point, in order to cook. If I had booked a powered site at this location, that would work fine. This morning, I just used the camp kitchen. My car’s massive (by camping standards) 60kWh battery provided air conditioning all night, and has run my camp fridge non stop, via the 16V outlet. It powers other mod cons, such as the lights, wireless phone charging pads, powered tailgate. For more details on this car camping trip, see…

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

Along the Great North Road to Wollombi, driving Mum home to Cessnock.

Stopping for a cup of tea and a snack. Instant kitchen and dining, using the Teraglide.

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…

Merry Christmas 🤶🎅.

Tesla’s Christmas software update arrived just in time. It seems that those of us with HW4 had to wait longer? Glad to finally have the speed recorded on dashcam footage. I was hoping it would also apply to previously saved footage, but no.

Flat tyre – part 2.

We arrived home yesterday with a slow leak in a tyre. I opened the Tesla app, tapped on Roadside -> Flat Tyre, selected which wheel, and added a note about the slow leak. I received a response with a couple of minutes. About an hour later, Alan arrived to replace the wheel. Tesla subcontracts the roadside assistance to other companies, like this one. They have a bunch of Tesla wheels ready to go. Neither of us could find the source of the slow leak, but that’s not his job. He just tagged the wheel and sends it to Tesla for inspection and repair. Pretty seamless operation. We have a replacement wheel fitted, in less time, including the call out, than it would have taken me to do it myself with a spare. And they take care of sending the original to Tesla. We have a “space saver” spare wheel. If we had taken that with us on the trip, it would have majorly impacted our storage space. But worse: we would have had to then pack the full sized original wheel into our boot for the return trip.

There are two ways to tell a story

1. Embellished: The mayor of Eurobodalla Council came out to welcome us as we rolled into Narooma. 2. Reality: We pulled into the Tesla superchargers in Narooma, to grab a brief charge, and so I could finish my half of the lamington with a cup of tea. Another Tesla Model Y Juniper pulled up next to us. The driver jumped out, said he recognised our profile as “Tesla Tripping”. He introduced himself as “Matt, the Mayor”. Mathew Hatcher - Mayor Eurobodalla Shire We had a good chat about how the council has been introducing EVs into their fleet. They’re trying to figure out if the previous ICE metrics such as 100,000km before replacement, are still relevant with EVs that are lasting much longer. Nice guy. Great welcome to the area.

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…

What to ask for, in a battery installation?

I suggest getting your installer to agree in writing that your battery installation will include: 1. Remote control via an app and/or website to monitor your battery and house power. 2. During a grid outage, the battery should provide backup for everything you need. 3. During a grid outage, solar continues to provide power. 4. The ability to curtail export of power to the grid when pricing is negative. 5. Compatibility with Amber Electric, if you might want to use them as your energy retailer. Let’s look at each in detail: 1. Using an app or website, you can: 1. Monitor power in and out of your battery, house and grid connection, instantaneous, daily and historical. 2. At any time, set your battery to a minimum charge percentage. 2. In the event of a grid outage: 1. The battery will switch over automatically. The installer should test it and show you. 2. The battery will power all of your home, up to the battery’s maximum power (which should be at least 5kW). 3. If you have three…

Our car now drives itself!

We choose the destination, and it drives all the way there, turning left, right, indicating, changing lanes, negotiating roundabouts. It’s amazing and boringly uneventful – a combination I heard called “bore-mazing”. Tesla released FSD Supervised in Australia a few weeks ago, for purchase ($10k). This week they also started offer it as a monthly subscription ($149 = $5 per day). We subscribed for one month to try it out. Yesterday I was picking up Amber from Melbourne airport, and decided to try FSD on the way. I paid the subscription through the Tesla app. It seemed to be instantly available, with no additional software download. I hopped in the car. It read my destination from my linked calendar. I pressed the FSD button. The car started reversing out of my driveway. At our street, it failed to figure out what to do, and started heading the wrong way down our no through road, over the grass. Francis was watching from the garage, keeling over with laughter. Not a good start to my…

Our home Powerwall battery is one of a million deployed so far.

The Tesla app celebrated by listing the stats of our install, and the fleet as a whole. Our battery has saved us (and our neighbours via extension cords) from 13 days of blackouts, without any noisy smelly generator, or trips to refill it with petrol. Our solar system has generated 16MWh of energy so far, used by our house appliances, home battery, our car and exports to the grid. At an average ball park price of say 15c per kWh, that’s $2400 worth of electricity, with no ongoing running cost.

For those who might have seen “Massive Tesla Recall”, headlines: No, our car window does…

…not cut off my arm 😉. The car has already updated to the latest software version, a few weeks ago, including the latest fix. I do find it annoying that it is referred to as a “recall”, since that implies that the car has to be returned for some physical fix. It is just a software update, which is handled automatically. Having the fault isn’t great, in any car. But having a car that can fix a fault while I sleep, is pretty impressive.

A few updates for our Tesla.

All free, and automatic, via the first software update our new car has received. The music rave cave, with synchronised album colour and beat of the ambient lights is pretty cool. But the other updates are probably more practical.

Part way through one of the Silo Art trails, yesterday, the sun was setting, so we booked…

…a room at the next town, at the Sea Lake Motel. This is our final overnight stop before driving the remaining 450km to home, today. Last night, almost everything in this small town was closed. The motel stocks refrigerated meals in a vending machine, for people like us stopping in at the last minute. Great idea. We chose a curry, microwaved it in our room, but then realised that the used by date on the two packets was months ago, even though the used by date on the outer packet was fine. We decided not to risk it, and happily made a picnic tea out of our car travel food. We informed the host, just so they knew. It’s the fault of the food company, not the host. Charging: I had planned to use the Evie Networks fast charger in town, in the morning, but another guest, also in a Tesla, pulled up behind us last night and said the Evie charger was faulty. A quick check in the Evie app confirmed this, and the PlugShare app comments showed it had been a problem for a while. As you can see,…

We arrived a day ahead of schedule at Ayers Rock Campground.

We had booked a powered site, starting from tomorrow, but none were available tonight. The staff offered us the unpowered overflow campground area. Our original plan was to charge the car at our powered site, while also running the air conditioning and accessories. Without a powered site tonight, we had to charge up the car a bit first, so we could just run it off the giant battery. We used the auto inflate button on our Snuuzu mattress, added pillows and doona. We moved the baggage to the front seats, so the bed wasn’t obstructed. While car camping in Coober Pedy a few days ago, we discovered that even with our portable wheel ramps the car’s bed floor still leans backwards too much. So, we backed the car up a small hill as well. We used our fold up spade to fill in a couple of holes from previous campers. We set the Tesla to “camp mode”, so we could sleep in the back of the car at 20°, while it was 3° outside, overnight. The trudging to the toilet in the middle of the night a couple…

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,…

Arrived in Port Pirie, on our way north to Uluru.

Most lunch outlets were closing, so we had a “picnic lunch” from our car fridge and food bag, by the waterfront. The giant silos backdropped the inlet with the wharf, bridge and black swans. The southern Flinders ranges in the distance might be the last mountains we see for a while. We stayed at the Comfort Inn. Basic continental breakfast included, at the on site Serenity Restaurant. Simple hot options also available. Charging: There’s a fast NRMA charger at the other end of town. But we opted for the RAA destination chargers that are next to our accommodation. 7kW fully charged us after a few hours overnight. Next time, we’ll ask for one of the rooms next to the chargers

In life you need goals. Today’s goal was to find a cafe we hadn’t yet tried 😉, in our…

…home of the Dandenong Ranges. Ripe Cafe in Sassafras was a great find. Guacamole (avo toast) topped with thin sliced potato crisps, and zucchini slice. Lots of cyclists out today, including this giant Saint Bernard. The local park has interesting seating, or perhaps a one turn swing set 😳. I checked in on our parked car from the Tesla app, after some dodgy parking in front of us. We love driving through the fern trees and tall timbers of the Dandenong Ranges. Beautiful all year ‘round. Charging: While we were away from home, the sun had fully charged our home battery. We returned, plugged in, and filled up the car with the remaining free energy of the day.

A couple of “space saver” spare wheel/tyre options at Melbourne International EV…

…AutoShow. Pricing ranging from $395 to about $900. We haven’t had a flat tyre during 100,000km of EV driving. If we do, we can contact Tesla via the Service option in the Tesla app. Or we can try out the pump and tyre goo we have in the car. But we’re planning to soon drive to Uluru, where a flat tyre could take quite a while for Tesla or The NRMA to sort out. So, we’re considering taking a spare.

We had an “ICE” car this morning. Wel

l, our EV was covered with ice. Cold morning near Wagga Wagga. We warmed up for dinner and breakfast at the on-site Rivergum Restaurant. We warmed up the car using the Tesla app. That melted the ice, and left it nice and toasty when we hopped in. And no fumes filling the motel.

Our first time charging at the rooftop in Wangaratta.

We stopped here to grab some shopping. Up a few ramps, the T signs pointed the way. The signs to find the chargers were good, but the signs to exit the roof by foot were hard to find. We walked towards the lone Tardis looking box, which turned out to be a lift. Other signs said that it’s all paid parking now. So, we paid 60c through the Easypark app, for 30 minutes. It seemed odd for a short stop at a shopping centre. Charging: Both the EasyPark app and Tesla app offered to show “Live Activity” widgets on my iPhone, which made it easy to check on progress. We were only stopping long enough for the toilet and shops. We returned to the car, which had charged to 96%. We unplugged and drove off. Easy.

On our way out of Bowral this morning, we grabbed a coffee at Coffee Guru Mittagong.

Conveniently located across the road from Evie fast chargers, so we could all be charged up for our long drive to Cessnock and Seal Rocks. Charging: The Tesla’s navigation has the option to route through third party EV chargers. But it misses out on showing a lot of them. To get this one to show, we had to type “Evie” into the navigation, then select it from the list. The navigation is smart enough to even precondition the battery for this destination, but not yet smart enough to include it in the list of chargers. Hopefully a software update will fix this. The Evie Networks chargers have a great “auto charge” feature, where we can just plug in our car and walk away, like we do with Tesla chargers. No tap card, app or faffing required. Since this was our first Evie charging of this new car, however, we needed to use the app, to set up the account details. This also prompted me to remove our old car from our Evie account, so we don’t end up paying for the new owner’s travels. This site…

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…

Farewell old friend. We traded in our “old” 2022 Tesla Model 3 today.

It was unexpectedly emotional to say goodbye. So many great road tripping memories. 2022 Tesla Model 3 RWD White paint + White seats + Enhanced Autopilot + Boom box and Pedestrian Warning System 91,000km We ended up just going with the Tesla trade in quote of $27k. We could possibly have got $35k if sold privately, but it would have taken time away from work. And since it’s a business purchase, trade-in was just simpler. Our car was in great condition. It runs as well as the day we bought it. It has a few stone chips, paint chips around a side mirror (from reversing against a leaning wire fence), and a bent front license plate. I used my high tech equipment to straighten the plate. But I left the rest for Tesla to spruce up, since they have all the expertise for that. They can also replace the air filter and the rear tyres, which are due for replacement. Trade-in was all managed through the Tesla app, including photos. Today they spent five minutes doing a final inspection, and gave…

Today we picked up our shiny new Tesla Model Y “Juniper” from Tesla Mulgrave. Mos

t of the process was done through the Tesla app over the past week, so the actual pickup was super sleek. We traded in our 2022 Tesla Model 3 RWD, also streamlined through the app. After we arrived, the staff just spent five minutes checking the condition of the car. No issues found. Thanks to Nathan for leading us to our new car, and sharing our excitement, since he has also ordered one. He left us to inspect the car and said to just turn on the hazard lights if we had any concerns or questions. We spent 15 minutes looking over the car and taking photos. Then we just drove out of the building, to take it home. We have new custom plates “TRIPNG”, but we didn’t get to VicRoads in time to allocate them today. So, we just used a lump of Blutac to stick one on for the photo today. In Victoria, we only pay once for custom plates, not every year. The Tesla app automatically removed our “old” car and added the new one. My driver preferences automatically appeared in the new car. Very…

Back in January, we took the plunge and ordered a new Tesla Model Y “Juniper” launch…

…edition. “Ultra Red”, white interior, 20” wheels (which was the only option for the launch edition). We chose the same battery and drive as our Model 3: RWD (rear wheel drive), LFP battery (no nickel or cobalt), 0 to 100km/h in 5.9s. The main reason for the upgrade is for the greater ease of getting in and out of the car, which has been increasingly painful on Fran’s arthritic hips. As those of you who follow our Tesla Tripping blog will know, we have looked at and test driven quite a lot of other options. The best contender was the XPeng G6. In the end we stuck with the Tesla Model Y because of the huge storage space, driving performance and the tech. The Tesla app has guided us through the whole process up to now, with registration, trade-in, insurance. Today is delivery day. The final `Start` button is still disabled in the app. I’m guessing it will enable at exactly 3pm, when we’re at Tesla Mulgrave. We are trading in our Tesla Model 3, after driving 91,000 km in 2.7 years (plus…

We took another test drive of an XPENG G6, this time from a new dealership in Berwick…

…Victoria, which is closer to us. Nice interior, comfy seats, great tech. The handling wasn’t bad on some windy roads, but not as sporty as the Tesla Model Y. Disappointing storage. The auto driving hesitated quite a bit around bends. The lack of full stop on one pedal driving is annoying, but they will reportedly solve that in a few weeks via an OTA (over the air) software update. The G6 includes auto parking and lane change, which costs extra in a Tesla. It has vehicle to load, but it requires some adapter plug into the external charge port, which wasn’t available. We had a chance to play with Apple CarPlay, which is great to have. But the XPeng doesn't seem to support pinch and zoom in Apple Maps, which makes it very limited. Acceleration was terrible (doesn’t move for a second), until I turned in “launch mode”. I couldn’t figure out how to enable launch mode and regenerative braking (x-pedal) at the same time, which was annoying. Later that day, we happened to watch a YouTube…

Off to The Macedon Ranges today, for a Mystery Adventures Picnic.

It’s basically a foodie treasure hunt. Great Christmas gift, thank you Helen 😋. First stop at 3 Little Pigs Gisborne cafe, for coffee. Then, on through Watt's Fresh Woodend, Kyneton to Malmsbury, stopping along the way for a food platter, chocolates, bits, drinks and bread. Picnic at Malmsbury Botanic Gardens, with a walk to the Malmsbury Railway Viaduct. Charging: Charged up at home yesterday using solar, even though it was a fairly overcast day. 100% charged battery was enough for the trip there and back, plus Sentry Mode and keeping the air con running while parked at each stop along the way (to keep food and cabin cool). Returned home with 8%, ready to charge up again. Easy.

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.

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.

First stop (on the return northbound trip) in France.

Time for a break and afternoon tea, so we just looked in our general direction on the navigation map for something random worth the stop. Waterfall and cafe – perfect! This cafe’s decorations showed that Halloween is surprisingly big in random places across Europe. Crepes with sugar frosting. Mum: I think your crepes are better 😋. We spotted another EV parked there too – a Porsche Taycan, which costs about three to four times our Tesla. Charging: No EV charger here. We charged earlier while stopping for a cuppa, just before we crossed the border from Italy.

Leaving Italy. So many toll booths, with different systems.

Some give you a ticket to insert at the other end, then pay. Some require payment up front with a tap on. Some don’t do tap on, so you have to use a physical card. Different booths for different payments. We reversed out of a few. Not a fan. After that, we turned on “Avoid Toll Roads” in the navigation. The most expensive toll of the whole trip was leaving Italy through a long tunnel to France. This toll booth was actually staffed. When he said “€55”, I asked “Is that just for this road?” Yes it was. The cafe had very little. We settled for a croissant and cuppa. We passed on the pokies. French/Italian alps along the way. Beautiful scenery. Charging: We plugged into the Tesla Superchargers just before the border crossing tunnel, while grabbing a cuppa. A couple of trucks had almost ICEd our access, but we managed to do some reverse precision driving around them.

We headed north from Lucca, stopping on the coast at the little town of Lerici, for a…

…cuppa and a stretch. The toilet at the cafe was just a seat over a hole in the floor, so we looked elsewhere. The public toilet required coins, but after coins failed, a local told just that you can just open the door. BYO toilet paper. Charging: Much easier to find a charger than a toilet. We stopped along the highway near Ronco Scrivia and grabbed some lunch while the car connected to fast charging.

One night stay, by the river, in a suburb of Verona.

Our host, Ariana, helped us reset our booking, since we’d somehow picked the wrong date in Booking.com. We squeezed into possibly the smallest lift we’ve ever seen. Fortunately, we had grabbed only our next day’s clothes from our large suitcases, in the back of the Tesla. Breakfast included, which was delightful, along with interaction with friendly staff and a three generation Italian family of guests. On our drive here from Lake Como, we stopped at a shopping center along the highway. It’s amazingly just like the ones at home in Australia, except, of course, everything is in Italian. The Tesla Autopilot driver monitoring is over cautious. Even with my hands on the wheel and eyes ahead, it often complains that I’m not paying attention, until I wiggle the steering. On this trip, it counted three strikes and disabled Autopilot until I parked 🖕. Charging: The shopping center has Tesla Superchargers. We arrived with about 8% and just plugged in while we had lunch. Normally, my Tesla app…

We checked in last night to our accommodation.

It is just stunning here. Our balcony and the breakfast dining room both overlook the lake and towering mountains. You don’t fully appreciate the scale of them until you notice how small the cars are on the other side. Our hosts, Richard and his wife, have been lovely. When we realised that, like their own currency, Switzerland has its own power point socket, different to the rest of Europe, Richard loaned us an adapter. So, now we can plug the iPhone Lightning cable into the USB-C into the power brick, into the Australian socket, into the Europe adapter, into the Swiss adapter, into the wall 🤪. Our UFODRIVE Tesla car rental doesn’t give us access to the Tesla app, which we’re really missing. We had a drama this morning when Tom left the car to go back to our room, leaving Francis in the car. A few minutes later, the Tesla’s car alarm went off, half deafening Francis with the noise from the horn and some loud heavy metal music playing through the speakers. The neighbours now know…

A brief journey through the north east of France.

We stayed last night in Hotel Marso, in Amnéville. We paid to have brekky buffet there, but it was disappointing. We made some cuppas from our thermos at the Tesla before leaving. Along the way, for lunch we popped into the small French town of Lure. The cappuccino came with cream, which turned out to be “heaven” (quoting Francis). The staff’s English was only slightly better than my French (which is about six words). So, we relied on Google Translate to pick from the menu. But even then, when I thought I was ordering the five veg pizza, I ended up with something with meat. Still delicious. Lovely staff. Charging: While having breakfast, we plugged the car into the fast charger across the road. The timing was perfect. Both of us ready to go at the same time. The town of Lure has a destination charger up the road from where we had lunch, but it was too far to bother with. We’ll just charge when the next opportunity arises, in Switzerland.