Scooter Excursion

[laura_seabrook]

I took my scooter out for an excursion yesterday, via the route shown below:

I wanted to do three things on the trip:

1. explore the range of the bike;
2. scout out Teralba as a potential terminus for trips to Sydney and into Town; and
3. have some fun!

Theoretically the scooter has a range of 80km, but there are lots of variables in play, including exhausted batteries, the weight carried and the terrain travelled. I have two batteries on it, and used the first up until returning via Teralba, and then swapped over. According to Google Maps the route from Barnsley to Warner's Bay is about 13.7 km (I had to adjust this though, because the default would take you via private roads where giant coal trucks run). Adding an extra 2.5 km for the detour to the Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, that gives a round trip of about 30 km. Not bad for a test. I might be able to visit Jenny's and come back without recharging.

One of the things I was hoping was to use the scooter to get to a railway station in order to catch trains to Sydney, and to get home when I come back. The bus service here is such that on a weekend that last one out is at 4pm. That means that if I want to go to a club down in Sydney, I have to leave real early, and can't get back from the station coming home without waiting for a mid day bus. That's one big reason why I stopped going to clubs and other events in Sydney. The exceptions were when I was staying with friends, and travelled back the day after (or even the day after that). When I had the car, it wasn't an issue, but no car = great difficulty.

Can't say that I was impressed with the facilities at Teralba, but the do have a caravan park there - perhaps I could rent a spot for the night. I mentioned this idea to Kevin and he said I could probably even get power there, and recharge the bike while I was away! The other location is Cockle Creek Station, which has a platform you can walk on (rather than stairs to a central platform - makes a difference lugging a 70 kg bike) on either side, so I could take my bike with me. That has issues too, but it's a possibility. I can just see myself riding around Sydney on my yellow scooter.

And did I have fun? Yes. Had a waffle at Warner's Bay, did some shopping at the Coles there, and got home safely.

 

Comments

[zelieq.livejournal.com]

i suppose the big questions are as follows:

what sort of speeds does it get up to?
does it feel safe on the road?
how much does it cost to register such a device?

Answers

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

30 kph
as safe as a regular bike, but more visible
$0 - it's classed as a bicycle because it's only 200KW

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

It's good you had fun and a bit of an idea about how far your bike can take you without a recharge :-)

she-who-was curlygrrrl

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

Yes, I enjoyed the trip. :-)

I see you've dropped a login that was attracting too much of the wrong attention - good idea!

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

:-)

In the end it is best.

I had wanted to do it earlier, but kept hoping people would see my trip posts and not listen to the Wretches.

Too baaad!