Weekend away in an EV: Charging up to the Bunya Mountains

With an urge to escape Brisbane, and with a leave pass from our grandchildren, we decided to head for the Bunya Mountains for a well-earned rest and to celebrate our 26^th wedding anniversary. We had booked a few nights at Rice’s log cabins and planned to visit my sister in law in Toowoomba on our way through.

When we enquired about charging our Tesla at the cabins, Greg the owner said there were no high-speed chargers. He was trying to work out what to do as he had had a few enquiries from EV owners and they usually did not go through with the visit. We had a long phone conversation and decided to have an afternoon drink on our arrival so we could discuss options.

I have had a long-running and sometimes irritating joke with my brother in law about having to carry a long extension cord around with the Tesla. So, for fun, I packed one and set out to charge at his house from a powerpoint in the garage.

For some reason it did not work, so we tried his power cord. Still did not work. No problems, after an ample lunch we proceeded to the Tesla superchargers at City Golf Club and fully charged for our trip up into the mountains. Going uphill certainly chews the juice!

Greg arrived after work, shortly after we did. His wife and neighbours joined us and made it a bit of a party. We had a great time discussing charging options and showing them the car.

After answering all the usual questions and finishing a couple of bottles of red wine we presented the light show. Then Tess was tucked into bed with her charging cord running off a powerpoint near the door of the cabin.

On the way home, we decided to do the round trip through Blackbutt and into Brisbane from the North. The Plugshare APP told us there was a destination charger in a shed behind the post office and so we thought we would explore the option (despite the fact that we could easily get home with our fully charged battery). Just as well as the charger was only set to do a trickle charge.

Still, it was pleasant stop in a lovely town. One of the friendly locals told me there was a faster charger up the road at a local garage, and so there was! For $5 per hour I could charge my Tesla! This one wasn’t on Plugshare.

We didn’t access it and arrived home refreshed with 80km of range left in the battery. All in all, we paid $17 in Toowoomba at the Tesla superchargers. The charge at the cabins was free. Not bad for a 450km round trip.

Even in these early days, there are plenty of charging options – you just have to ask around sometimes. No need for stress or range anxiety.