Surprise ! Surprise ! That trip cost me 1 AU$ in fuel as well …. now how is that possible when we have loads of FUD scare out there saying long distance travel in an EV is not possible !

Post lunch on Christmas Day my friend and I decided to keep driving north of Sydney listening to the discography of our favourite music producer. Earlier that week I had downloaded the entire discography on my phone. So with entertainment sorted out we hit the road with about 75% charge on my 75D Model X with a real world range of 320km per 100% charge. Now if we plan the trip even at the spinal level there in no need to be worried. Range Anxiety. What’s that ?

We started from Casula, near Sydney, NSW at around 2 pm but decided to take a coffee break at Atura Hotels in Blacktown. It’s a nice resort with a destination charger. The reason we wanted to stop was coz we were both stuffed with Christmas Lunch and need some caffeine in our system ! ( a tired / sleepy driver is an unsafe driver even with Autopilot – it’s not autonomous driving yet mates. So hands on the wheel !!! ) Check out my seperate autopilot video here : Autopilot in Australia ( AinA )

Atura Hotels

Atura Hotels 🏨 click here for more details.

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The resort is gorgeous and would be great for a weekend getaway! The rate of charge was not too great but if you are gonna stay here, which is what the resort wants, then you don’t have to worry too much.

Heatherbrae Supercharger

The next stop was Heatherbrae Superchargers.

As seen in the above video one has to turn into the Moto Farm Motel entrance it’s off the main road and drive around to the back of the motel 🏨 to access the Superchargers.

As we rocked in on Christmas Day there was no service in the restaurant. We only needed about 30 min of charge before we headed out to Port Macquarie. Not much happening in Heatherbrae, but with Model 3 coming along this place should see a steady stream of patrons and that can only be a win !

We didn’t plan to drive to Port Macquarie but the company was great, music was amazing and it as Christmas Day! We we not hungry. And most importantly we are NOT ADDING ANYTHING TO THE POLLUTION FROM OUR TAIL PIPE ( psst. EVs have no tail pipe folks. Stop looking for one )…. So what the heck we thought and just kept driving onwards towards Port Macquarie.

Port Macquarie Supercharger

If you follow me on YouTube you probably have seen the Berry Superchargers video which is located in a lovely winery in the town of Berry, about 140 kms south of Sydney.

This set of Superchargers here in Port Macquarie is also situated in a lovely winery called Cassegrain.

More info here : Cassegrain

It is a beautiful spot as well but Berry takes the cake !

Check out the Berry Superchargers video here : Berry Superchargers – in possibly the best location in NSW

PS : Sails Port Macquarie by Rydges have a destination charger for patrons

More info here : Sails

I didn’t think that in this day and age anyone needed help with this. It is quite straight forward and all modern day cars have wiper fluid reservoir which are easily accessible. Sorry if this was too basic for most of you. 😑😐

Universal symbol to identify the reservoir.

Believe it or not this is a question a few people have asked me. That got me thinking 🤔 Maybe it DID warrant a video but definitely not a YouTube video. So this video finds itself here. If someone need it please feel free to share.

The software update of software update … this game was announced in the E3 conference just under 2 weeks. And we thought that we will lag behind our US cousins but no here were are. And I must say this is Extraordinary Amounts of Fun ( EAF )

Yes folks u read it right the trip from Wollongong to Canberra and back cost me all of $1.00

I did this trip in October of 2018. I started my trip from Wollongong with a full charge on my Tesla Model X 75D which gave me about 320 kms of real world range.

Wollongong, NSW to Canberra, ACT is about 245kms so I didn’t actually need to charge one way. Even the onboard map only recommends a 10 min charge at the Goulbourn. But as the Canberra Supercharger was commissioned at that time I did choose to “top up”

If you plan ahead, range anxiety becomes range confidence. I get asked this question a lot. How long will it take to Fully Charge the car. I explain that most times we are just topping up the car. And necessity to charge from zero is small. The number of times when I charge from a single digit charge percentage is quite minuscule. But if you need to know a 5% to 90% charge with my three phase destination charger at home take about 3 hours. As you see from the video below the DC Superchargers are able to put in a lot of bang a lot faster !

Goulburn Supercharger: in a delightful part of town.

Twinsies!!!

This was my first ever Supercharging experience. I was grandfathered into Free Unlimited Supercharger credits. So this was Free !

The Superchargers are adjacent the Goulburn Visitor Information Centre. It’s a tidy little place featuring local arts crafts wine and cheese. But to me the stand out feature has to be the toilets !!!

Graffiti galore ! The walls are signed by artist who play at the annual Australian Blues Music Festival. Note to self: need to come and watch that some day.

Obviously the main event when we reached Canberra were the Orchids !!!

Floriade Australia

Floriade is a diverse, ever expanding program of music, cultural celebrations, food and wine, horticultural workshops, market traders, artistic displays, entertainment and recreational activities. With over one million blooms on display Floriade is the perfect place to experience the beauty of spring.

Floriade Australia

to visit the website ‘Click here‘;

While we were mesmerised by the Orchid in Floriade we still craved for a more personal experience with the orchids. A friend suggested a private orchid garden which allowed viewing for a small fee. And tell u that was absolutely worth it.

See for yourselves !

Tulip Top Gardens

Tulip Top Gardens click here for more details

Now if you have made it to the end then you are probably wondering where did that AU$ 1.00 go !?!?🤔🤔🤔

Well AGL ( my energy provider ) has an EV plan when in I pay 1$ per day for “all u can eat” unlimited charge. And as SuperMan was grandfathered into Unlimited Supercharger. So there u have it.

This is a step by step to get Autopilot working on your Tesla Model X or Model S. This is by far the sexiest feature on our cars. Takes care of the heavy lifting and makes any and all drives a breeze.

https://youtu.be/WX0PAoemYlI

This has to be one of the coolest routes in Australia 🇦🇺. The route winds through the rainforest and hills. Now and again when in rain we are treated to spectacular fog cover over the canopy.

The route through all of the greenery as seen on the map screen grab is an absolute delight.

 

How to send location from your iPhone / iPad Maps to the cars. Are you a two Tesla house hold. This one is definitely for you.

https://youtu.be/v–7CrkUhWU