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.
The Melbourne Solar System has extended by a few light years to Proxima Centauri. ◄ The new model of Proxima Centauri, our nearest star. Joggers pass the Sun in St Kilda. ▼ Helping to put together the Melb...
Back in 1991 Maureen and I, with our daughter Tashi (10 years old at the time) and our son Kieran (aged 8), set out to drive from Melbourne to Cooper Creek near the town of Innamincka in South Australia. We were following the track of the Burke & Wills e...
Tim Flannery’s book The Explorers (Text Publishing) is a wonderful collection of short excerpts from more than 50 predominantly early explorers. All the big names are here, William Dampier, James Cook, Joseph Banks, Matthew Flinders, Ludwig Leichardt, William Wills (R...
Last year I visited the Kimberley Coastal camp and blogged about the amazing Aboriginal art around the camp. Last week Maureen and I were back there again. And once again I was simply blown away by the variety and quantity of Aboriginal art in the area. Like this hand...
Feeding wildlife is widely regarded as ‘not advisable,’ despite which plenty of it gets fed in Australia’s Northern Territory. Aquascene is one of Darwin’s big attractions, particularly for children. Every day at high tide the local fish have learnt to swim in to Doct...
In November last year, driving up the coast from Galway in Ireland, I came to the lonely stretch of Irish bog where Alcock and Brown touched down on 15 June 1919 after making the first flight across the Atlantic. Later I went to the Science Museum in London to look at...
Last September Maureen and I went out the Kimberley Coastal Camp on Port Warrender in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. We flew out there in a single-engined Cessna 210, a couple of hours flight from the town of Broome with a non-stop gallery of amazing views...
Bicycle sharing schemes are all the go – I’ve posted blogs about my experiences with them in Melbourne (where the Melbourne Bike Share scheme launched just a few weeks ago) and in Paris (I was in Paris in 2007, not long after the Vélib’ scheme launched). Car sharin...
I stayed in the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel (to give its full name) in Macau last week. Just imagine Las Vegas (where there’s also a Venetian Hotel) and then think bigger. Much bigger. It’s one of the biggest buildings in the world, enough floor space to park 90 747s ...
Over the years I’ve taken plenty of photographs in subway systems around the world. Here’s the state-of-the-art Hong Kong MTR system just last week. Here’s an example of the artwork at the aviation-focussed Metro Mayakovskaya station in Moscow. Click here for m...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013