2021 SI Road Trip Day 1
We started on Alva Street in Dunedin where we were shown a passive co-housing build by Dunedin designers, Architype. They host six EV chargers on site for residents. Tim Ross explained the concept.
From there, we headed to Balclutha for morning tea and to allow Elizabeth to charge her LEAF before turning off the main road and into the Catlins. Nugget Point Lighthouse was the first destination and we all enjoyed a thrilling 15 minute stroll to the lighthouse - amazing views! Looking up the top of a nearby cliff we could see that the Lighthouse Keeper would have had even better views from their house!
Next on the itinerary was a group photo at the new 25kw ChargeNET charger at Owaka and a meeting with a couple of Dunedin owners who had also come out to Owaka to celebrate the new charger in town! Akira and his crew had not noticed my deliberate mistake in the itinerary and had progressed on further to the Purakanui Falls, so they missed the photo opportunities at Owaka as when they returned, we were just leaving to meet them.
It was a relaxing walk into the Purakanui Falls and a delightful display.
Curio Bay was at high tide, but there were still opportunities to see the petrified trees at the high tide mark, while watching our backs for the oncoming waves. Akira managed to add all the extra power he needed for his earlier detour at the Curio Bay charger.
Slope Points End was the next stroll and we successfully dodged most of the animal products as we carefully hopped across the farm paddock (public access is usual here) and down the the ACTUAL southern-most tip of the South Island.
Elizabeth was the first to use the 25kW charger at Fortrose filling up her LEAF before the rest of us even got near. I managed to plug my X100D into it next, just as David pulled in, followed closely by Brett. As it happened we all had plenty of juice to get to Invercargill, so David didn't REALLY need to strangle me - the photograph below was staged.
Was quite an exhausting first day, so we are all relaxing in our various accommodations. Brett managed to find a single-phase, 6A charger at his motel, so he volunteered to drive a few of us into town for some Indian tucker and plug his car in at the 50kW charger to get prepped for tomorrow. Once back, we met Alan and Cam who had driven all the way down from Christchurch today ("I'm taking this LEAF all the way to Invercargill") and they're joining us for the beginning of Day 2 at Bluff.
