At the Bellingen fair

A little while back we were in Armidale showing off sparky and helping promote the “Electric Vehicles New England” (EVNE) branch of AEVA. We met to guys (martin and Tony) who were interested in electric transport and all things green. Turned out they were two of the chief organizers of the Bellingen renewable energy fair. They invited us to attend the fair which we accepted gratefully. Not only that they invited Christie and Ray from EVNE to attend as well.

Months later we were on our way with Sparky in tow. I love driving around the countryside. Linda and I can stop every now and then to check out the towns and interesting places you see along the way. For example, the stalls you find along the princess highway not only have really good fresh produce you can find other things like home made cookies and preserves that have no equal in the supermarket at a fair price.

We arrived at Bellingen on Friday night at around 7pm. The committee had arranged accommodation for us with two wonderful and generous people, Richard and Trish. We were given a really nice dinner and taken to a huge room with an onsweet. In the morning we were given breakfast and a thermos of coffee for the day.

We saw the fairground for the first time and were amazed to learn that it had been underwater a week before. It was still a little boggy in places but it sure held up to the 4000 or so that attended. 7am Saturday, the morning was a little chilly but the sun was out. We were there only a few minutes looking for our tent so we could set up when we were ushered over to the ABC radio tent for an interview I couldn’t believe it. We told them about sparky and our conversion business.

After the interview we found Christie and Ray at our tent and set up for they day. We proudly displayed the Australian electric vehicle association banner out in front and had a board selection of vehicles to show every one. Gary Neal had a display of bikes that he sells and builds and Kevin Hughes from Tevcco with his charade.

Like all shows we attend there were many interesting people we spoke to. I had a lengthy conversation with a physics teacher and was invited to show sparky at a school on the way back to Sydney. Linda spoke to many people and looking around the found the others to be surrounded and answering many interested parties as well.

Unbeknownst to us we were being watched, filmed and shortly we were interviewed by NBN news! They not only showed the electric vehicles they showed many other renewable and green technologies that the Bellingen fair hosts. Such as solar arrays capable of recharging an electric vehicle. Here’s the link!

So what next? There was an after party of course! We were invited to a really cool house designed and owned by the same architect. Music was herd, beverage was drunk and much pizza was consumed. We were truly honored, as it was mostly organizers and fair workforce that attended. We were happy to engage in the talks that followed that included plans for the next fair, which by my reckoning will be bigger and better than the last.

The next day we said our goodbyes and were off home. Linda and I would firstly like to thank Richard and Trish for having is stay with them during the fair. We would also like to thank Martin, Tony and the rest of the organizers for inviting us along and congratulations on a really great event!

The Bellingen renewable energy fair!

Convert UR Car has been invited to participate in this wonderful event. if you can make it please come along!