By the time Tony co-founded Lonely Planet Publications in 1973, he already had the travel bug. And ever since, travel and discovery have been at the heart of his life and career.
Melbourne has a new subway line – the Metro Tunnel – running through five new stations and currently having a soft opening, before the schedule launches full tilt on 1 February 2026. The new Parkville Station will probably be the most useful new station, since it’s at the University of Melbourne which badly needed a handy Metro station.
▲ The Town Hall Station
The two new central city stations might look slightly redundant since the Town Hall Station is only a couple of hundred metres from Flinders St Station and the State Library Station is right beside the Melbourne Central Station. In fact you might find it easier to enter the State Library Station from Melbourne Central rather than from its own entrance. The Metro Tunnel line, however, runs in a different direction than the other lines through Flinders St and Melbourne Central.
Unfortunately to use the new line you still need the horrible old Myki Card. Transport Victoria have announced that they are introducing ‘tap and go’ technology to Melbourne. Tomorrow? No, they are testing it in 2026 and at some point in the future you’ll actually be able to use it. But didn’t they start testing it in 2023 at some stations? Well yes they did, but clearly three years of testing wasn’t enough, there’s more testing to be rolled out in 2026
◄ My hated Myki Card
Hasn’t anybody asked them about this before? Well yes, for one person I asked Transport Victoria why we couldn’t use contactless cards in Melbourne when London introduced the technology in 2014. So that’s 10 years ago.
And I did get an answer, ‘we’re working on it and hope to introduce it soon.’ Which in Melbourne seems to be in 10 years time. So for over 10 years I’ve been able to use my Australian ANZ credit card to pay for public transport in London, England. But not in Melbourne, Australia. Absurd isn’t it?
Once upon a time Melbourne was a regular ‘most liveable city in the world’ title holder. How could you be a ‘most liveable city’ and at the same time operate the world’s most-visitor-unfriendly-travel-card? I suggested that in 2013 and 13 years later my opinion hasn’t changed. Never mind, the new Metro Tunnel Line reportedly took lots of lessons from London’s very popular Elizabeth Line. In London I often use the Elizabeth Line even if it means travelling a bit further because it’s so fast and convenient. Perhaps Melbourne can also learn from London how to get rid of the Myki Card.
▲ The Elizabeth Line at Bond St.in London
Since it opened in 2022 the Elizabeth Line quickly became the busiest railway line in the UK although technically it’s not part of the London Underground network. It runs out to Heathrow Airport – but so does the Piccadilly Line – and even further to Reading. It’s popular and has won architectural awards as well as being so busy. Check my August 2024 posting about riding the London Tube.
We’re flying back to Australia with a small group of fellow travellers in a small plane, a Beechcraft 1900D for you plane spotters. The trip will take nearly four weeks and stop at 22 places along the way, some of them for just a brief look around or a refuelling stop...
Last year I stopped at the lonely site on the west coast of Ireland where the first trans-Atlantic flight concluded in 1919. The aircraft was an ungainly Vickers Vimy, a canvas, wood and wire World War I biplane. Later I went to look at that very aircraft in London’s ...
▲ Gauguins in Moscow's Pushkin Museum My lengthy stay in London concluded with a visit to the Gauguin exhibition at the Tate Modern. I’ve made lots of visits to French Polynesia, including working on a couple of editions of our Tahiti & French Polynesia guid...
It was our final continental excursion during a long visit to London, a trip to Rome where Maureen and I were speaking at the Festival della letteratura di Viaggio (Travel Literature Festival). The festival took place at the Palazzetto Mattei at the Villa Celimontana,...
I’ve not yet visited Congo, but it’s certainly on my list. Meanwhile I seem to keep reading books on that troubled country. The latest is Bryan Mealer’s All Things Must Fight to Live which was recommended to me at a Human Rights Watch briefing on Congo I went to a cou...
The statistics show that Spain has one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe. Wander the streets of Madrid in the evening and it would seem impossible. Catering to all those people in all those cafes, bars, clubs and restaurants should guarantee full employment,...
I returned to Corsica for my first visit since I went there in 1998 to work on the very first edition of Corsica, we’re now up to Corsica Edition 5. One thing certainly hasn’t changed in 12 years, this is still an incredibly beautiful and varied island Our first ...
▲ Crossing Chelsea Bridge just after midnight I’ve been doing a lot of cycling in and out of London. I reported on my Boris Biking experiences, the new London bicycle share scheme. Correctly it’s the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme and I’ve racked up about 10 hours of...
If you’re in Italy in June through August there’s no better place to be than Verona for the annual opera festival. The operas take place in the ancient Roman amphitheatre, the Arena di Verona. It’s a magical place, the performances kick off at 9 pm and often continu...
Markt – The Market Square – in the centre of medieval Bruges. . London’s a great city, but there are lots of other great cities it’s easy to get to from London. Last week I hopped on my bicycle and spent three days riding to Paris. And Maureen and I have als...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013