Charge Around The Globe

Things started out well in Cape Town with Lexie stopping at Muizenberg Beach where she met Apish and Loveday from Waves For Change. She was able to take part in a surfing lesson to understand how they’re using surfing to provide child-friendly mental health services for under-resourced communities, and meet some of those benefitting from the inspirational scheme. She followed that by experiencing some quintessential South African braai – food cooked over an open grill – in Masiphumelele.

Heading north-east from Cape Town towards Kroonstad long tailbacks from roadworks kept progress slow. A charging station was also caught in an electricity blackout while the Explorer was plugged in. Fortunately, a wallbox at Lexie’s accommodation for the night managed to keep things topped up.

The journey from Hoedspruit in South Africa to the Beitbridge border crossing saw overcast and rainy conditions but the Explorer coped perfectly, covering the 437 kilometres distance with just one precautionary top-up charge. The following day Lexie crossed the Limpopo River from Beitbridge, on the South African side, to a town of the same name on the Zimbabwe side, before heading on to Masvingo via a mix of motorway and gravel roads.

Near Masvingo is Great Zimbabwe, an ancient city built in the 9^th century and thought to have once been the capital of a great kingdom. The ruins are now a national monument, and modern Zimbabwe’s namesake, so it was the perfect place to stop for Lexie to appreciate some of the region’s deep history.

The African leg of Lexie’s attempt to circumnavigate the globe in an electric vehicle finished 327 kilometres north in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. Here Lexie had the chance to meet the inspirational Venensia Mukarati who, together with her daughter Tino operates 160 Hydro Farm,. Hydroponics allows crops to grow without soil, uses up to 90 per cent less water and doesn’t suffer from weeds, pests or disease, plus plants grow more quickly than in soil; all important elements in a country that has been hit by drought before.

Venensia’s company now grows its own produce to supply the local area, and also encourages others to get into hydroponics with special kits for home. Lexie was put to work in one of the greenhouses to see how it worked, and naturally couldn’t leave before tasting some of the produce for herself.

The journey started in Adelaide, Australia, with the vast size of the country making itself apparent from the off as she faced a six-and-a-half-hour drive to Warrnambool, the overnight coastal stopover on her way to Melbourne.

The following day allowed for the scenic Great Ocean Road to be experienced before arriving in Victoria’s capital, where the Explorer pulled up outside the Big Esso all-day bar and kitchen.

The restaurant is run by chef Nornie Bero and puts indigenous Australian food and native ingredients to the forefront of the menu. Lexie used her adventurous nature to do a bit more exploring, this time of the different flavours on offer, as she and Nornie shared a meal and Lexie heard more about the ethos behind the tastes.

After Melbourne the Explorer was pointed northeast towards Sydney with another stopover in the city of Albury. Around one hour outside of Sydney, the stunning Sea Cliff Bridge was crossed – a 450 metres long bridge, named by an 11-year old primary school student, that opened in 2005 and has become something of a tourist attraction – with panoramic views of the waters Lexie would soon be on.

As October is a time of year when humpback and southern right whales migrate along this coast back towards the Southern Ocean from the Pacific, Lexie called in on Sydney-based marine biologist Dr Vanessa Pirotta. Dr V (as she likes to be called) invited Lexie out to see her innovative way of collecting whale ‘snot’ using drones that hover above the water as the whales come up for air. As the whales blow out the snot these drones use flip-lid petri dishes to capture it, which can then be analysed to check the whale health and contribute to helping their conservation. And the whales don’t even know it’s happened.

On her last morning in Sydney, Lexie headed to the famous Bondi Beach to find out from beachgoers their favourite things about Australia, their favourite foods and even some local slang terms. No shrimps were put onto barbies. Then it was back in the Ford Explorer to make her way towards Byron Bay, with very little drama aside from a flat tyre on the way to the overnight stop at Port Macquarie.

At Byron Bay, Paul, one of the Yellow Jackets from RecordSetter met Lexie at the Cape Byron Lighthouse, which sits on the most eastern point of the Australian mainland. After checking the car and verifying mileage it was time to add more kilometres to the journey in her bid to be the first person to circumnavigate the globe in an electric vehicle.

And Australia certainly added those. With the next few days driving to Noosa Heads, then Gladstone, Mackay, Airlie Beach, Townsville and finally Cairns, Lexie had travelled well over 4,000 kilometres through the country by the time she was watching the sun set on her Australian adventure.

“One morning when we arrived at a charging station we noticed that the mobile phone network was completely disrupted, which put us at a loss. The charging process is started via a mobile phone app which meant we were unable to charge the Explorer. We drove through the town hoping to find some phone reception but with no joy.

We ended up driving back to the charging station and heading into a small neighbouring café where we told the owner about our problem. Without hesitation she offered us her WiFi network to set up a personal hotspot and even gave us her mobile phone to start the charging process at the station. We were amazed at such helpfulness and friendliness, but that would prove to be just one of the many nice encounters and conversations we had with the Australian people. They were all very open-minded and helpful, plus they all seemed very fond of our Explorer.”