January 2022 – Travel Bug

Port Macquarie is a town in the mid-north coast of New South Wales. It is approximately 4 hours drive from Sydney.

It is a nice little coastal town. The very first time I went to Port Macquarie was back in 2014. It has all the characteristics of small town. Friendly people, relaxing atmosphere.

As Port Macquarie is located along the NSW East Coast, it has a number of beautiful beaches and vantage points, and if you are lucky, you might spot some whales during migrating season.

There is a Koala sanctuary & hospital that you might want to visit. It gives you some idea of great work that these people have done to help our Koala population after they get insured due to human activities (mostly hit by cars).

There is a nice little lighthouse (Tacking Point Lighthouse) as well. There is also another rainforest reserve, which has a nice boardwalk (Sea Acre Rainforest Centre).

Couple of years back, there was a Koala Sculpture Trail as well, where you get map, to travel around the area and discover some beautifully crafted Koala statues. It gave me the opportunity to travel to some smaller towns outside of Port Macquarie to find some of these sculptures.

For EV users, you’ll find a number of very conveniently located chargers along the way from Sydney.

Tuggerah – Central Coast Supercharger (Tesla – 120kW)
Wallsend – Wallsend Car Park (NRMA – 50kW)
Heatherbrae – Heatherbrae Supercharger (Tesla – 120kW)
Karuah – BP Karuah (Chargefox – 50-350kW)
Nabiac – Nabiac Park (NRMA – 50kW)
Glenthorne – Taree South Service Centre (Evie – 450kW)
Thrumster – Port Macquarie Service Centre (Chargefox – 50-350kW)
Thrumster – Sovereign Place (NRMA – 50kW)
Port Macquarie – Cassegrain Wines (Tesla – 120kW)

Locally, you can find some accommodations that offer destination chargers as well:

Ana Mandara Luxury Bed & Breakfast (14kW)
Aston Hills Motor Lodge (22kW)
Koala Tree Motel (22kW)
Northpoint Holiday Apartment (11kW)
The Observatory Port Macquarie (6kW)
Sails Port Macquarie (22kW)

Plenty of charging options, therefore, leave the range anxiety behind. Enjoy your trip when you come to Port Macquarie.

Some photos that I’ve taken while I was there:

Mudgee is a great little town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia.

It is approximately 3.5 hours drive from Sydney CBD. You can choose to drive through Great Western Highway (via Penrith) or via Bilpin. The driving experience is great either way. I prefer the Bilpin way as it brings me through the fruit farms, and many great small cafes a long the way as well, and it offers great view of Blue Mountain along the way. For the Great Western Highway path, you will drive through popular tourist attractions in Blue Mountain, which can be quite busy sometimes.

If you are driving an EV, you can make use of NRMA supercharger (50kW) in Lithgow (near Lithgow Workies Club) and plenty of nice cafes and restaurants within walking distance. On the way to Mudgee, I drop by for breakfast while leaving my car charging. On my way back, I stop in Lithgow for dinner. Very convenient. If you are on 70+% of your charge, you can actually drive straight from Sydney to Mudgee without any issues. However, I chose to charge as I usually like to stop more frequently to enjoy the local experience.

Along the way, there are various places that you can stop as well. One such place is Portland, which has a great Silo Art on display. You can also stop by at Pearsons Lookout for a pararomic view of Capertree Valley. You can also check out Lake Windamere and Windamere Dam.

Here is a google map trip planner that I’ve captured.

Once you’ve reached Mudgee, there are a number of things that you can do in Mudgee:

Wineries – Pieter van Gent (fee for tasting, not refunded even with purchase), Petersons, Robert Stein etc
Nature – Lawsons Park, Robertson Park
Food – Mudgee Honey Haven
Others – Clock Tower, Mudgee Museum, Mudgee Observatory

In Mudgee, we stayed at The Horatio few times. Great place. Nice people staffing the front desk as well. Unfortunately they do not have EV destination chargers (doesn’t seems like they planned to have it any time soon). However, there is an NRMA supercharger in the town centre along Perry St (Club Mudgee Carpark), but can be quite busy from time to time. If you are looking for accommodations with destination charger, check out PlugShare, they have some options listed.

Ingenia Mudgee Valley Caravan Park
Winning Post Motor Inn

Other charges in town can be found at:

Mudgee Tourist Information Center
Mudgee Showground
Blue Wren Wines
Petersons Wines
The Zin House

Some photos that I’ve captured on this trip.