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Does size matter? Tesla Model Y vs YL.
A six-seat Tesla Model YL turned up at the Worldwide Light Show meet — parked right next to our red Y, captain's chairs and all. Tesla had loaned it to Garry from TOCA (Tesla Owners Club of Australia), Victoria for a few days to bring along to events like this one, so we got to climb all over it before the show started! Likes: - The captain's chair armrests in the second row — cleaner than the bench in our Y. - The sub-trunk lid that magnetically clings to the back of the seat when you flip it up. Lovely bit of engineering. - V2L! We would love to have vehicle to load on our EV, like most models now have. If only we could cook food on our induction cooktop, while camping, from the massive battery in the car. The Tesla Model Y L and new Model Y Performance both have V2L. Unsure: - Six seats vs our five. The third row is tight — elevated floor, very little leg room. I had to stick a leg out into the aisle just to half-fit. Climbing in and out takes some practice. - The captain's-chair…
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First Tesla service call: a new wheel
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…
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Bonang Road brought back my motorcycle days
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!
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Misty drive from Tubbut to Orbost
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.
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Creekside car camping in the Snowy Mountains
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…
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The best rest stop in the middle of nowhere
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.
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A creekside lunch in Delegate
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.
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Across the high plains of the Snowy Mountains
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.
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No petrol in Dalgety, but plenty of power points
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.
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Breakfast routine, Tesla-style
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.
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Photo op in Bredbo, campsite hunt in Cooma
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…
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Dinner by the Snowy River
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.
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Setting up the Teraglide bed in the Model Y
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…
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Just me, the Tesla, and brown snakes
Just me, the Tesla, and some brown snakes, along Lake George, near Canberra, on the way to The Snowy Mountains.
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A quick stop at Erina Fair
A quick shop at Erina Fair, on the NSW Central Coast, before heading south to The Snowy Mountains, where I will car camp tonight.
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Oli burger and FSD on the Hume Highway
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.
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Savic test rides through the Dandenongs
While driving in our town of Emerald to get some Emerald Thai for dinner, I did a double take when I saw a Savic Motorcycles sign, randomly on the footpath. It turns out that they were running test rides today “winding through the beautiful Dandenong Ranges”. What a great idea! Test drives at dealerships and even EV shows tend to be within urban sprawls, which doesn’t offer much of a driving or riding experience. We’ve seen Savic at a few EV shows, including the recent Everything Electric in Melbourne (pictured). I wish I had known it was on, and that we weren’t recovering from a cold right now. Hopefully next time. Savic is an Australian company building electric motorcycles.
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Final day at Everything Electric Melbourne
Starting and ending with Jack Scarlett. Test drives, a panel talk about road tripping, EV conversions, and a flux capacitor, some of the highlights.
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Snapshots from Everything Electric Melbourne
Some random shots from Everything Electric Melbourne today. After a few years in Sydney, this is their first showing in Melbourne. It’s noticeably smaller, but understandable for the first appearance. Interesting panel talks. Informative staff at product booths. Huge variety of test drives available, including self driving Tesla cars. A few food truck offerings. They need more undercover seating (from sun or rain). We recommend the falafel wraps.
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Silo art on the Mallee Highway home
August 10-11: We initially stumbled upon some silo art, then looked for more, on our way home from South Australia, starting along the Mallee Highway. Amazing.
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Last overnight stop, in Sea Lake
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.
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Bakery breakfast, and a coal-fed NRMA charger, in Wycheproof
Breakfast and coffee stop at this enticing bakery in Wycheproof. Nice place. The NRMA charger up the road conveys “welcome”. The banners on the fence next to it imply “as long as your electricity comes from coal or gas”, perhaps. Let’s Google it: https://www.google.com/search?q=wind+turbines+generate+intense+electromagnetic+radiation+true+or+false
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The world's smallest mountain?
I think I saw a sign on the way in: “The world’s smallest mountain”. It’s 42m above the surrounding terrain, and only 147m above see level. But, it still gives a good view of the surrounding countryside.
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The last Anzac slice, near Bendigo
Our last piece of Anzac slice lasted until the last day of our road trip. Range anxiety – averted. Just passed Bendigo, this view over the “valley of a thousand hills” seemed appropriate.
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Tesla to Uluru: an 8000 km recap
July 23 - August 11: We drove to the centre of Australia in an EV. Using the shortest range EV that Tesla currently builds. If you like a long drive, the scenery is spectacular and sprawling. Wandering the sand dunes and spiniphex plains is very peaceful. Sunsets and Uluru are otherworldly. The charging infrastructure in Australia is getting better, but the drive up the Stuart Highway isn’t quite there yet. Thanks to RAA / Chargefox and The NRMA for your work so far on chargers along the Stuart Highway. We need improved reliability. We luckily dodged a few outages. Pimba lost power for a couple of days that made the EV charger unusable, but it fortunately worked during our time there. Glendambo (between Pimba and Coober Pedy) has only a 7kW charger that runs off the town’s diesel generator, and would not initially start, both times we passed through. The NRMA charger at Eldunda Roadhouse, in Ghan, died a couple of days after we visited. But, there’s almost always a plan B for an EV.…
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From the Barossa to a Singapore chat in Tailem Bend
We plotted a rough course from the Barossa Valley towards home. First stop at Palmer Lookout, then Tailem Bend, home of a raceway and drag strip, I believe, for “the best coffee in Tailem Bend” from Revival Cafe. At the Tesla super chargers, a couple from Singapore chatted to us about travelling. They hired their Tesla Model Y in Melbourne, drove through South Australia, and are next headed to Sydney in NSW. They have previously hired an EV from Perth and driven down to around Esperance. I told them I’d post their photo to encourage Australians to road trip in EVs in their own country.
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Lunch at Demi's Kitchen in Pinnaroo
We took the Mallee Highway to exit South Australia, stopping in Pinnaroo for lunch. Country town, after 2pm, on a Sunday, not much was open. Typing “lunch” into the iPhone’s Maps app, and filtering for “Open Now”, showed Demi’s Kitchen, a few blocks from the center of town. Time for a wander, through the town green. Cute food truck style caravan in her front garden. We took our “super veggie fried rice” and “curry vegetable dumplings” down the road to the Pinnaroo Wetlands park, around the corner from the tractor dealership. All in all, a pretty nice town. Glad we had the chance to explore.
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A sixties throwback at the Lyndoch Motel
Our home for a couple of nights at The Lyndoch Motel, in the Barossa Valley. Super cute sixties retro theme. The plumbing might need an update, however. We hear the neighbour’s drain through our own. White sneakers from the frunk still have a shade of red earth from the outback.
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Lunch at Maggie Beer's Farm Shop
Lunch and a stroll at Maggie Beer’s Farm shop in The Barossa Valley.
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Numb Skulls at the Barossa Sculpture Park
We were exploring the Barossa Sculpture Park, when randomly the Variety Bash cars turned up, including the “Numb Skulls” with the skulls on the boot, whom we met a week ago in Glendambo, on our way to Uluru. Big country, small world.
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Topped up in Glendambo — return trip
Having topped up in Glendambo (see our previous post), we finally made it to Pimba. “Let’s check out Woomera first” – so we turned left and kept driving. The “Pimba” showcase sign featured a train crossing. Living up to the promise, we were immediately stopped at the rail crossing by a long freight train headed south along the Ghan line. At about this point we thought we maybe should have charged up before going exploring, but 10% seemed fine. We followed the GT to overtake the road train, and then turned off into Woomera. We did a lap of the town, with a stop by the rockets and relics of years gone by. This used to be an active RAAF base, with a mixed history of rocket testing and sadly affected lives from radiation exposure. We only saw about three people in the town. We headed back to Spud's Roadhouse in Pimba, plugged into the RAA/Chargefox fast charger, used the facilities, bought a chocolate bar, drank some tea, then decided to keep driving, to stay in Port Augusta tonight.
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Green lawns and EV chargers at Port Augusta
Leaving the outback behind, we stayed last night at the Standpipe Golf Motor Inn, in Port Augusta. This is the first green lawn we’ve seen in many days. Part of the reason we picked this place is because their online profile says it has EV chargers on site. In our booking comment, we mentioned that we’d want to use the EV charging, since that often helps a host allocate a nearby room. Shortly after, they rang us to say that the chargers were out of action. According to PlugShare, they’ve been offline for a long time. Please get them fixed or remove the listing from your booking profile. In the morning, we crossed the river to the esplanade to grab some breakfast supplies. While parked, we plugged into the RAA/Chargefox EV charger. Very convenient, next to the shops and foreshore, Moreso than the Tesla chargers up the road, which we used last time. We also gave a brief interview to Nick from Yahoo News Australia, about our recent EV charging experience in the outback. I hope the…
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Hatch-breakfast on the way to the Barossa
Port Augusta to Barossa Valley, stopping for a late breakfast from the hatch of the car. The fridge is conveniently located with butter for our croissants and milk for our cereal. The mountains to the west looked interesting, so we diverted off the main road through endless green fields. Such a contrast to the endless red earth from a few days ago.
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A late lunch at Monkey Nut Cafe
Late lunch at the Monkey Nut Cafe (Kies Winery) in the Barossa Valley. Kitchen had closed so we had to make do 😉 with a grazing board, coffee and scones, all to share. Very friendly staff. Beautiful place. The age old battle of cream first vs jam first, continues.
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Dinner at The Lord Lyndoch, in The Barossa Valley
Dinner at The Lord Lyndoch, in The Barossa Valley. Charging: Oh, look, they have EV chargers in the car park. Let’s plug in while we’re having dinner. What a great idea. Thank you RAA/Chargefox.
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Vineyards from the Monkey Nut Cafe
At Monkey Nut Cafe, in the Barossa Valley, with endless vineyards in the background.
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A wary dusk drive into Port Augusta
In today’s drive, from Coober Pedy, this was the final leg from Spud's Roadhouse, Pimba, south to Port Augusta. We normally avoid driving at dusk, due to animal activity on the roads. We spotted many sheep along the road from unfenced properties, and a couple of cows. Just as we were leaving Pimba, a kangaroo jumped out on the other side and stared at us. It was the only alive kangaroo we’ve seen out here this trip, probably because we don’t usually drive in the twilight hours. The sunset put on its usual glorious display, tempting me to stop to take photos, but we drove on. A police car pulled over a speeder heading north. Might have saved their life, or at least a wrecked car. We drove on slowly, far behind a road train. I wasn’t game to overtake into possible oncoming wildlife. We had the Tesla on Autopilot, so it drove while we watched for movement on the sides. The maximum follow distance setting is 7 (as in the photo), but that’s too close at speed, or behind a truck that can…
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Stuck in Glendambo with the local hero (Chris)
As you can probably tell by the first photo of the local hero (Chris) resetting the EV charger, we stayed a lot longer in Glendambo than we had planned. Similar problem, now on our way south from Coober Pedy, as we had a week ago during our trip north.
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Breakfast under Kata Tjuṯa
Kata Tjuṯa is even more huge than Uluṟu. You can tell from the relative size of each in the distance from each other. But, of course, Uluṟu is one whole rock. We set up breakfast out of our camp fridge and bags, at Kata Tjuṯa. We didn’t see any of the dingos, warned by the signs. Then a few short walks. One of the other visitors had just driven from WA, and asked where the next petrol station was. I laughed and told him that of all the people he could have asked, I was probably the least suitable, driving an electric car. But I happened to know that there is one back at Yulara, about 40km away. He seemed relieved that was less than the fuel range he had remaining. We discussed the high cost of fuel out here, at around $3 per litre. He asked about our electric car. I mentioned that I’d noticed that the toilet block in the car park had a power point, next to the hand dryer. In an emergency, I could probably use that, powered by the solar on the roof and I think backup diesel generator.…
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Walking the shaded trails of Uluṟu
August 2,3: Even though it’s fairly cool now, in winter, the sun can still pack a punch. This waterhole is understandably sacred to the traditional owners, being a water oasis in the desert. The walking trails are closed if the temperature hits 36°C. Most walking trails seem to have heat warnings, shaded seats and water supply near the entrances. While we were out walking, I set the Tesla to enable cabin overheat protection, and lowered the threshold to 30°, because I had some perishables in the car.
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Sounds of Silence: dinner under Uluru's stars
Last night – magical sunset over Uluru and distant Kata Tjuṯa, while enjoying canapés, buffet dinner, drinks in the middle of the outback. To top off our Sounds of Silence experience, a star talk – a mix of astronomy and traditional interpretation. Fascinating and informative. Loved the sky pointer.
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Driving around, and around, Uluru
August 2-3: It’s enormous. Photos don’t really capture the size. Amazing experience. The colours, the scope, the remoteness, the contrasts, the culture.
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Arriving early at Ayers Rock Campground
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.…
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Charging at the centre of the centre of Australia
Charging our EV in "the centre of the centre of Australia". After driving 1500km north along the Stuart Highway, we reached “the centre of the centre of Australia”., with a turn left/west towards Yulara and Uluru. First we stopped at the intersection’s Erldunda Roadhouse, in the town of Ghan (well, that’s all there is in Ghan). We grabbed some lunch, laughed at the banners for sale, and visited the emus. No cell reception for our Belong phone SIMs (which it seems doesn’t quite give us the whole Telstra network), so we made use of the free wifi. Petrol here is about a dollar per litre more expensive (about 50%) 😮. The fast charger is also about 50% more expensive than typical. At the EV charging station, we chatted to Jigar. He bought his EV in Darwin, then later started working at Uluru and I think Alice Springs. This charger is perfectly positioned for EVs passing through.
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Almost there… to Uluru
Almost… there… to Uluru.
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From Perth, on petrol and electrons
They had driven all the way from Perth. Two blokes in a BMW i3 on Western Australian plates, pulled in beside us at the fast charger in Coober Pedy. Apple Maps reckons the quickest run from Perth is 28 hours of driving, and that is 28 hours of actual steering, before you add sleeping, eating, fuel or charging. Theirs is the plug-in hybrid version, so it fills up two ways: from electricity, and from petrol. A plug-in hybrid gets marketed as the best of both worlds, and it sounds logical enough. Two ways to fill up, so you are never caught out. On a trip like this one it works out differently, because you do not get to pick. You end up filling from both, most of the time. Half of both worlds might be closer. You get well under half the electric range of a fully electric car, and a nine litre tank where a petrol car carries fifty or sixty. So on a long run you take whatever is in front of you, whenever it is in front of you. They told me they would often stop for petrol, and then stop…
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Destination charger in Coober Pedy
For our second night in Coober Pedy we swapped the campsite for a motel room at the same resort. Fran was unwell, and reception kindly changed the booking over for us without any fuss. The room looked out over the diggings to an old windmill standing in the red earth, which is about as Coober Pedy a view as you could ask for. We had a slow start the next morning and a sleep in, our first of the trip. The rooms sit at the other end of the grounds from the powered sites, behind a row of palms. The roof above them is packed end to end with solar panels, and on the wall below are two Tesla destination chargers, each with its own sign. I wondered whether we would use them. Then I looked up the price and did the arithmetic, and on the way out of town we drove down to the fast charger instead, which is its own short story. A shame, really, because a sleep in is exactly when a car should be charging, and that roof would have been making the electricity to do it.
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Sharing the Stuart Highway with a solar-powered prototype
So, there we were, cruising along the Stuart Highway, in outback Australia, feeling like pioneers in our electric vehicle. Then we came across true pioneers, driving a solar powered prototype car. They were practicing for the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge, which runs from Darwin to Adelaide. They told us that they are only allowed to practice in South Australia, and not in the Northern Territory, so they had to travel south this far for a few weeks, then go all the way back to the start of the race. We ran into a few teams, including support vehicles with a StarLink dish on the roof, along the way, from various countries and universities. It seems that they test during the day, then typically set up camp overnight just off the highway. Big commitment to spend a few weeks in the Australian outback. Thank you for your research and development that filters through to a more sustainable future for transport.
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An hour underground at Tom's Opal Mine
We took a tour of Tom's Opal Mine, on the Stuart Highway just out of town. Tom's mine was not mine. It is a genuine opal mine, worked through the eighties and nineties and now kept open for tours. Our guide was a real character, telling us a great deal about the mine and nearly as much about himself. We had hard hats; he had bare feet. As a fellow barefooter I was impressed, and a little alarmed on his behalf, in a working mine. He handed us each a black light, which is what miners use to pick opal out of the rock, and walked us through how a hole like this gets dug. Underground it was cool and still, which is the whole reason Coober Pedy lives below the surface. The digging is done by a blower, also called a sucker: really a truck parked on the surface with a wide pipe running down the shaft, working like an enormous vacuum cleaner. It draws the broken rock up the pipe and drops it into a hopper on the back. We watched the underground end of it pulling rock up the tube. Every mullock…
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Even the churches are underground
Coober Pedy deals with the heat by going underground, and once you notice it you cannot stop noticing it. Houses, shops, and the churches. The Serbian Orthodox church is cut straight into the rock. The ceiling is a row of carved scallops left by the machine that dug it, there is a stained glass window high on the end wall, and icons the size of doors stand against walls that are still visibly a mine face. Underground the temperature barely moves, so it was cool and still whatever the day was doing outside. The Catacomb Church up the road is plainer: a lectern carved from a tree trunk and an altar built on an old mine bucket. Then St Peter and St Paul, the Catholic one. Inside, rows of chairs face an altar set into the rock, with statues in carved niches on either side. Three churches in one small town, and every one of them dug rather than built.
Formerly: Tesla Tripping
Come along on our EV road trips around Australia and Europe, and follow as we progressively electrify our home in Emerald, Victoria.
Join us on the road. We set off in late 2022 and drove eastern Australia in our Tesla Model 3 — Sydney, Dubbo, Armidale, Brisbane, Cape Tribulation, then down through Queensland and back. We've since upgraded to a Model Y.
We've kept exploring — Uluru, the Snowy Mountains and Gippsland, and a longer run through Europe in 2024. There's plenty more on the map, so come along for the next leg.
At home in Emerald, in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges, we're progressively electrifying everything: rooftop solar, a home battery, a hot water heat pump, air conditioned heating and cooling, and EV charging straight from the sun. We're going fully electric, off the gas.
Got questions, or insights of your own? We'd love to hear them — please drop a comment on any post.