EV Road trip: Byron to Great Ocean Road

This was our second road trip in a Tesla – and also our first camping trip in years.
TL;DR – it was surprisingly smooth. No hassles, no queues at superchargers, even during the school holidays. The combination of superchargers, destination chargers and caravan parks was empowering. As was the little electric fridge/freezer that charged continuously inside the Tesla. Combined with our camp stove and coffee maker, this was a great trip.

Planning

There was a spreadsheet of course – a Google sheet, as it’s easiest for sharing and syncing across devices. It was very basic – primarily to list the dates, accommodation options and tourist destinations for each key location.

Only one date was actually fixed. We booked an airbnb in Apollo Bay for the first Tuesday as we were worried about school holidays. All other accommodation was either impulse (a random motor inn as we drove into town) or a campground/caravan park identified the day before via the WikiCamp phone app (thanks Linda for suggesting this). Or a motel with a destination charger identified via the Tesla map search. We alternated between tent sites and motor inns completely based on the weather forecast. When we set up a tent, we would stay for 2 days.

For tourist attractions along the Great Ocean Road were guided by this article – https://www.greatoceanroadaustralia.org/great-ocean-road-itinerary-2-days/. Before this trip I had no idea about the Great Ocean Road apart from the Twelve Apostles, so this article was our key travel guide.

For gear, I had a lot of fun researching lightweight, compact camp equipment that didn’t involve fossil fuels and would be easy for a couple of rusty campers aged 58-60 to use. So that ruled out any gas canisters, bulky tents with lots of poles and heavy eskies. Online shopping delivered some cool stuff including solar lights, an inflatable tent, the perfect portable camp fridge/freezer, an espresso coffee pump and collapsible bucket.

Charging an electric Car

We planned to avoid the school holidays, but didn’t realise NSW and Vic holidays were different this year. So we ended up leaving Byron on Good Friday, driving through the Easter traffic, and staying in Vic during school holidays. With no problems charging at all.

Byron to Sydney had the usual stops:

• Coffs Harbour supercharger – breakfast – no queue, lots available
• Port Macquarie supercharger – morning tea – no queue, but we got the last one.
• Tuggerah supercharger – lunch. We usually go to Heatherbrae, but as we approached Heatherbrae, the Telsa trip guide showed a queue, so we diverted to a very empty Tuggerah Homeco location.

We stayed with family in Berowra on Friday night, without charging. We then took a slow route south, so that we didn’t arrive in Apollo Bay too early:

• Campbelltown supercharger – lunch – no queue
• Yass supercharger – and camping in Yass showground for 2 days. Day trip to Burrinjuck dam.
• Gundagai supercharger – coffee – no queue
• Holbrook supercharger – lunch – no queue, but we got the last one
• Euroa supercharger – staying over night in a motel for very very heavy rain – no queue
• Geelong supercharger – lunch – no queue
• Apollo Bay Evie Charger – overnight airbnb – 1 charger near the Brewhouse. A 15min wait, with a drink….
• Port Campbell Caravan Park – charge while we sleep in the tent
• Warrnambool Deep Blue Hotel destination charger – charge while we sleep (rainy night)
• Daylesford Caravan Park – charge while we sleep in the tent. 1 rainy day, 1 dry day.
• Euroa supercharger – snack, no queue
• Wine Village destination charger at Rutherglen – charge while we sleep

Then finally heading back home:

• Gundagai supercharger – no queue
• Goulburn supercharger – no queue
• Kirribilli overnight – destination charger
• Heatherbrae supercharger – surprisingly no queue at 10:30 on the 1st day of NSW school holidays
• Port Macquarie supercharger – no queue, but we got the last one
• Maclean supercharger – almost a queue, but they left as we pulled in.

The realisation that we could just find a caravan park and charge while we slept was fantastic. We paid for a powered site, and checked that it was ok. This means we could effectively travel most of Australia, just going from caravan park to caravan park. Even if the Tesla map doesn’t show a destination charger (or the Plugshare map doesn’t show an Evie/Chargefox fast? charger), a caravan park overnight is a great solution. Both times we had 12amp input and charged to 100%.

Charging at Tesla superchargers is easiest. When you enter your destination (eg Byron to Sydney) on the screen, the screen advises the supercharger locations and number of stalls available. It tells you how long you need to charge to continue the next leg (usually 15-25 minutes). It preconditions the battery on approach for faster charging. Most of the time we barely get our coffee before the app says the car is ready, sending a message to my phone and watch. Most Tesla supercharger locations have 6 or more stalls.

By comparison an Evie charger can take around an hour to charge. And there’s typically only 1 compatible charger, which means you get queues. If you were relying on public Evie/Chargefox chargers, you’d have a much poorer experience on a road trip.

The Great Ocean Road

Torquay

The guide said to stop here for coffee, so we did. https://www.bomboras.com.au/ was a lucky choice, and had the best eggs benedict and coffee I’ve had in many years. A beautiful, relaxing interior and bar – if you lived nearby, this is where you’d want to hang out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The website shows a beach bar as well – but it was raining so hard we didn’t go for a walk or get any good photos.

Bell’s Beach

I really really really really wanted to visit Bell’s. The Bell’s Beach Pro was on. And the final scene of Point Break with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze is set here, with the 50 year swell. It was raining heavily, just like the movie. But it was not to be. The rain had made a car park unavailable and traffic cops were out directing everyone away. We could technically have parked 2km away and walked, but after being stuck in traffic for 20 mins the rain and dodgy knees were against us.

The best view we got was a look back at Bells Beach from one of the headlands further on:

Split Point Lighthouse

The Split Point Lighthouse gives the first hints of the views along Great Ocean Road.

There’s a separate Tea House nearby and you can pay for a tour and climb the lighthouse. We didn’t – and are glad we waited for the Cape Otway Lightstation further down the coast. It was a nice little walk to the lookout and nice views and gentle introduction to the coast.

Erskine Falls

We skipped Lorne and drove inland to see some Otway waterfalls.

This meant we passed through the official start of the Great Ocean Road, and then into the Otways.
It’s beautiful forest, and stunningly different to the Byron Bay hinterland rainforest where we live. Byron has so many camphor laurels that the smell is completely different – it’s definitely wetter and smells like a rainforest. But the camphor laurel smell often overpowers the other trees.

The Otways seems to have many more gum trees, and a heady smell of eucalypt. I’m definitely going to plant a few more gum trees when we get home – especially as we’ve just had the bush regen guys remove some dead camphors and cleared out more tobacco plants and other weeds.

There were several clumps of tourists who pulled off the side of the road to photograph koalas in the trees. And this explains the numerous signs reminding drivers to drive on the left…

Kennett River Koala Walk

This is a laid-back walk alongside a river in a small town called Kennett River.

There’s a cafe – the Koala Cove Cafe – if you’re thirsty. There is parking next to the cafe, but the official parking area is slightly to the right at the start of the walk.

It’s completely free – no official tours – so just go for a stroll. There are excellent signposts about the various birds and animals you can see if you’re lucky. The walk goes for around 1.2km and back again, although most people seemed to only go about 300m.

There are so many eucalypts you’d swear there had to be koalas. They’re also very good at hiding, so we didn’t see any. That’s ok – there were heaps in the trees on the way in and out of Erskine Falls, and it was a lovely walk.

Apollo Bay

We chose Apollo Bay as an accommodation base because it was central, theoretically had a couple of EV chargers, and had a reputation for good food and eating – the famous scallop pie at https://www.apollobaybakery.com.au/ and craft beer at https://www.greatoceanroadbrewhouse.com.au/, amongst other offerings. They were both in my spreadsheet of things to do :)

Sadly the chargers at the Brewhouse weren’t working, so we had to use the Evie charger down the road. There was one charger, with one each of CCS and CHAdeMO. And it was in use. So we absolutely had to have a drink at the Brewhouse while we waited to plug in. It’s nice that the Evie app shows availability – so we sipped away, checking the app occasionally, and then nicked out to move the car when we could see that it was free. Luckily nobody else had popped in.

It’s a lovely pub – lots of tables, good drinks and good food. I don’t have photos of those.

Given that we had a table next to the footpath, we hung our heads out over the street for photographs and became the most southernmost drinkers at the southernmost pub on the Australian mainland continent. Those photos not fit to publish.

My one regret on the Apollo Bay day is not seeing the redwoods of Beech Forest – https://visitotways.com/otways-adventures/redwoods-in-beech-forest-victoria/. We couldn’t fit our bikes (or kayaks) on this trip, and the https://www.railtrails.org.au/trails/old-beechy-rail-trail/ looks fantastic. Next time…

Cape Otway Lightstation

This is a must-see. The Cape Otway Lighthouse is the oldest surviving lighthouse on mainland Australia and considered the most significant (according to their website at https://www.lightstation.com/).

Normally $20 entry, this was discounted to $10 due to a recent earthquake which prevented the climbing of the tower. But it’s absolutely worth it.

We learnt so much. This area is known as the Shipwreck Coast – there are numerous stories of shipwrecks, the survivors, and the deaths.

The area was involved in WWII – there were mines laid by Germans that destroyed ships in Wilson’s Promontory and Cape Otway. There was even a Japanese submarine in Bass Strait that launched a plane that flew over Melbourne, using the Cape Otway lighthouse as a beacon. There is still a bunker on site.

The Telegraph Station has fascinating history of the initial submarine cable between Tasmania and the mainland, via King Island.

Definitely visit the cafe for their famous scones and a great coffee.

Gibson Steps

The Gibson Steps are the first stop in the Port Campbell National Park – and the easiest way to walk to the Twelve Apostles if your knees are up to it. The 86 sandstone steps were carved by Henry Gibson, an early settler. This is where you start getting crowded car parks..

The Twelve Apostles

These are the most famous sights of the Great Ocean Road, and the reason most people visit. The car park (on the other side of the road) did get crowded, although still less than expected considering it was the school holidays. And there are constant helicopter flights – not for rescue, but for tourism. Maybe one day they’ll be electric…

The walkway is quite large, and there were ample opportunities for selfies and landscape shots. The cliffs and waves are mesmerising. Just do it.

Loch Ard Gorge

This was the site of the most famous shipwreck on the Shipwreck Coast – 52 out of 54 perished in 1878.
A young deckhand and female passenger were the only survivors.
Theoretically the morals of the time meant that he should marry her, after seeing her underwear and spending the night together on the beach before being rescued. (They didn’t.)

This was stunning – don’t miss it. The power of the waves on the cliffs makes it easy to understand why this is called the Shipwreck Coast – and why there are no longer Twelve Apostles.

Port Campbell

Port Campbell was a pleasure for multiple reasons.

We visited the lovely Irena – twice – who I’ve worked with for many years, and has a charming holiday house called the Old Port Campbell Schoolhouse at https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/9286190.

We camped next door in the Port Campbell Recreation Reserve so we could easily stumble home. This was where we learnt about charging from powered camp sites. There were very few people in the campsite, which was surprising in school holidays. There was a picnic table on our site, and easy access to water. The showers were hot, there was a good camp kitchen and laundry. We should have put out the wildlife camera to learn what was scurrying outside our tent that night. It didn’t rain – so we camped an extra night.

The town itself is beautiful. There’s an awesome safe beach. Cliffside walks. The Sow & Piglets brewery. The Barrels whiskey bar.

And it’s a great base for visiting the Otway Harvest Trail – https://www.otwayharvesttrail.org.au/ and the key sights of the Great Ocean Road. On the Harvest Trail we squeezed in some strawberry picking, and cheese tasting at Apostle Whey Cheese. For $1.

London Bridge

London Bridge has in fact, fallen down. Or at least part of it.

Until 1990, it actually was a bridge, connecting the arch to the mainland until it collapsed, leaving two tourists stranded. They survived – just needed rescuing via helicopter. We finally lucked into sunny weather, and this was beautiful.

The Grotto

This was a surprise. As you can’t see a view from the top we didn’t know what to expect. A few oldies even tried to persuade us not to walk down the winding staircase. They definitely missed out. It’s stunning – particularly on a sunny day. Go down the steps.

Bay of Martyrs

We watched a couple go surfing here. The guy was persistent, heading out with his surfboard through the waves. The girl did not – which is fair enough, without a wetsuit in April.

Bay of Islands

There are some lovely little walks here – this was just a quick stop on our trip to the next town.

Warrnambool

Warrnambool – affectionately known as the “bool” – was apparently voted the most liveable city in Australia. And they’re proud of it. There are t-shirts. The bool hotel. And it is pretty cool.

There are great beaches. Great accommodation. Not much traffic. Great parks and cool family attractions.

The main drawcard was the Deep Blue Hot Springs. They were awesome. These are geothermal mineral springs presented as open air rock pools, caves and waterfalls. There are different pools in different temperatures between 36 and 40 degrees. And a cold plunge pool for quick refreshment. You can book a 2hr session online.

I didn’t bring my camera inside, so here’s a photo from their site at https://thedeepblue.com.au/hot-springs-sanctuary/. Absolutely worthwhile – your skin will feel rich and smooth for days.

Side Trips

Tae Rak Aquaculture Centre (Budj Bim)

The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape is World Heritage Listed site located within Gunditjmara Country, about an hour from Warrnambool. It includes the Tae Rak Aquaculture Centre, a new facility showcasing the traditional aquaculture techniques of the Gunditjmara.

There’s a walkway to Tae Rak (Lake Condah) showing how the lake was traditionally managed to trap and contain kooyang (eels) in holding ponds to increase food availability. There’s a large kooyang display tank with live kooyang and information display. You can book a tour.

There is also a Bush Tucker Cafe with a tasting plate focused on. kooyang – for me, this was the main drawcard. At home my main focus is growing traditional bush foods, including lemon myrtles, quandongs, lemon aspen, native currants, finger limes. Tae Rak was mainly providing the eel and importing the other ingredients. It was actually very tasty. I ate most of the eel before taking the photo sadly.

Burrinjuck Dam

This was at the start of our trip when we were camping at Yass. It was just under an hour from Yass, so you’d think it would be an easy drive. Yeah, nah. The last 6km is one of the most windy, narrow, scary roads with I’ve seen – and makes Goonengerry rd look like a breeze. There’s a very steep drop on the side of the road. Luckily we only passed one car in the opposite direction, and it was a tiny one. But there’s a caravan park at the other end and it’s a 4WD fishing destination, so things could have been worse.

The actual dam wall was closed, so we backtracked to the caravan park in the National Park.

This would have been a great place to stay – the lake was beautiful, great amenities. There were a number of noisy motor boats and party groups, but if we’d brought our kayaks this would have been close to heaven.

Tuki Trout Fishing

When we were planning our trip, this sounded perfect. It was going to be open all school holidays, and for $42 you could catch your own trout and have it cooked at your table.

We had planned a visit on a Tuesday so that we could start heading back home on the Wednesday. But then discovered that it was no longer open on Tuesdays. So we had a small window on Wed morning/lunch to squeeze this in.

It was a stunning location, and the result of much love and care from the owners over the last 39 years. However they had just decided to change from the usual fish/cook package to a popup restaurant from a highly skilled chef. This resulted in a change from $42 to $75 (with extra for bread and potatoes), and as they hadn’t got around to updating the website yet, we were a captive audience.

There are multiple ponds, stocked with very hungry trout. As we were pushed for time we chose the most highly stocked pond – and hooked some whoppers in the first two minutes. In hindsight we should have worked harder for our meal at the less-stocked pond, as fishing is something unusual for us. It was a stunning meal – the whole site is beautiful, with stone cottage accommodation. But the price was a dampener.

Daylesford

You know when you open a. glossy travel magazine and there’s a picture of a beautiful country scene with a lake, glorious house, and magical words like massage and hot mineral spa? That’s Lake Daylesford.

It lived up to its reputation. The foliage was stunning in Autumn – very European. Oak trees and maples mingled with Australian natives. We walked around the lake (and up to town to replace a sadly deflating air mattress). I splurged on a massage that was a combination of hot rocks, body massage and facial discovered yet another reason to love the small of eucalyptus oil and rainforest sounds. A long-held dream come true.

We camped for two days in the Daylesford Holiday Park, with the first day rainy, and the second just cold. A lovely feature of the caravan park was a cottage for communal hangouts – with rustic furniture and fireplaces, perfect for keeping warm on a cold April evening.

Hanging Rock

.Had to have a picnic at hanging rock. Especially when it was so close to Daylesford. There are a number of walks you can do – to the top, around the base, and a longer one that includes the creek.

Camping Gear

The Model 3 is not a large car. On this first camping trip we took a whole bunch of things we didn’t use at all – wine glasses, extra cups, extra storage containers, portable fire pit, flameless stove, minipresso, camp shower, large torch. We took too much bedding, and our camp chairs were too bulky.

We also had a Biolite Portable Power Station in case we were off grid more than a few days, but given the ease of caravan parks, we won’t bring this next time. We didn’t bring the solar panels, shower tent, camp toilet either, which saved space.

Next time we may fit the inflatable kayaks if we ditch the stuff we didn’t use.

Here were our favourite things:

Inflatable tent.

This was the Zempire Pronto 4 Air Tent.

It comes with a manual hand pump, but we used a rechargeable air pump from kmart, and finished with a few hand pumps. Not 30 seconds setup, but max 2 minutes. It was tall enough for us to stand up in. Good airflow, although this made it a little cool in Victoria. Nice and waterproof. Made by New Zealanders, so it stands up to wind and rain.

Portable camp fridge/freezer.

This was a Dometic CFX3.

You can use a 240V plug or connect via 12V to the car cigarette lighter. In Tessie this is between the two front seats. So we used the 12V connector permanently charging to the car. No noticeable drain on the car battery – maybe 2% overnight.

It was a game-changer. Milk, cheese, drinks, meat all kept perfectly cool. No need for ice bricks, we just opened the car door and grabbed what we needed. No lugging it in and out of the car.

Trangia camp stove

Why doesn’t everyone know about this? It’s the perfect invention from Sweden. It runs on methylated spirits (yay, no gas cannisters!). The structure protects it from wind, and the flame can only burn upwards, so it won’t burn the surface below. Fast, efficient, compact.

Powerbank

I have a lot of gadgets. I brought my watch, phone, laptop, solar lights, lantern, air pump. They all needed a USB or USB-C connection.

This is the Cygnett 30,000 mAh Power Bank, which I’ve had for a while. It charged everything. After about 2-3 days camping I would recharge it at the next motel.

Coffee

At home our morning ritual is a good latte. We use a stovetop espresso maker, and glass milk frother, heating it in a microwave.

We tried a minipresso, and it did make a nice crema, but it was too small and weak and we ended up buying a plunger We had an old stainless steel frother from home, which heated up nicely inside the a pot of water on the trangia. Perfect.

Overall this was a bloody good holiday. Good gear, mostly good weather, no mishaps – everything went surprisingly smooth. And they said electric cars would destroy the Aussie weekend – balderdash!