Since we could not travel to Europe this winter, we decided to drive Route 1 round Australia from Perth, and packed our S100D for a leisurely 8 week trip with a maximum of about 500kms per day (so minimal day charging), and lots of eco-resorts.
Initially we were only given 48 hours to transit 1800kms through NT (possible with 20 hours driving and 20 hours AC charging), but then all States opened their borders.
Except WA tightened theirs – cancelling our G2G passes to return to WA at Eucla when Covid erupted in VIC. We filed new itineraries keeping north of the Murray at Mildura, then one avoiding NSW also by returning through Alice Springs, but they have advised that they consider all leisure travel out of the state to be “non-essential”. So we can leave WA, but not return for the moment.
This has not stopped our fun driving slowly up to the Kimberley. Very slowly for the 525kms from Coral Bay to Karratha, since the 3phase socket at our lunch stop at Nanutarra was not working. We did a quick calculation and it was about the same overall time to take lunch with us and drive 20kph slower, as charging for an hour and driving 20kph faster. So we switched off the aircon, enjoyed the scenery, and arrived at the Tesla destination charger in Karratha with 8kms in the tank.
In fact it has been Tesla destination chargers most of the way at Geraldton, Carnarvon, Karratha, Eco Beach resort south of Broome, Cable Beach Club Broome, since there are no DC chargers north of Jurien Bay. The RAC resorts at Monkey Mia, Ningaloo and Exmouth only have 3phase sockets.
However the Kooljaman resort, Cape Leveque at the northwest tip of the Dampier peninsula, only has 10 or 15amp sockets, which is perfectly fine since it is only 420kms round trip from Broome, albeit mostly on unsealed roads and tracks, restricted to 4WD only. We had to explain to everyone who had hired 4WDs in Broome for the trip that we had AWD and could raise our suspension as necessary. The Tesla barely missed its step even in the soft pindan sand, where others were engaging diff-lock, although our power consumption increased to over 300whs/km on occasions.
We are now departing for Kununurra and the border with NT, with overnights on 3phase (or Tesla HPWCs if they have arrived in time) at Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek.
Then a side trip to the Berkeley River lodge (by air unfortunately) whilst we decide whether to cross the border or not.
Initially we were only given 48 hours to transit 1800kms through NT (possible with 20 hours driving and 20 hours AC charging), but then all States opened their borders.
Except WA tightened theirs – cancelling our G2G passes to return to WA at Eucla when Covid erupted in VIC. We filed new itineraries keeping north of the Murray at Mildura, then one avoiding NSW also by returning through Alice Springs, but they have advised that they consider all leisure travel out of the state to be “non-essential”. So we can leave WA, but not return for the moment.
This has not stopped our fun driving slowly up to the Kimberley. Very slowly for the 525kms from Coral Bay to Karratha, since the 3phase socket at our lunch stop at Nanutarra was not working. We did a quick calculation and it was about the same overall time to take lunch with us and drive 20kph slower, as charging for an hour and driving 20kph faster. So we switched off the aircon, enjoyed the scenery, and arrived at the Tesla destination charger in Karratha with 8kms in the tank.
In fact it has been Tesla destination chargers most of the way at Geraldton, Carnarvon, Karratha, Eco Beach resort south of Broome, Cable Beach Club Broome, since there are no DC chargers north of Jurien Bay. The RAC resorts at Monkey Mia, Ningaloo and Exmouth only have 3phase sockets.
However the Kooljaman resort, Cape Leveque at the northwest tip of the Dampier peninsula, only has 10 or 15amp sockets, which is perfectly fine since it is only 420kms round trip from Broome, albeit mostly on unsealed roads and tracks, restricted to 4WD only. We had to explain to everyone who had hired 4WDs in Broome for the trip that we had AWD and could raise our suspension as necessary. The Tesla barely missed its step even in the soft pindan sand, where others were engaging diff-lock, although our power consumption increased to over 300whs/km on occasions.
We are now departing for Kununurra and the border with NT, with overnights on 3phase (or Tesla HPWCs if they have arrived in time) at Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek.
Then a side trip to the Berkeley River lodge (by air unfortunately) whilst we decide whether to cross the border or not.