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.
Never heard of Yichang? Nor had I until I got here. Well it has a population of 4 million and it’s the jumping off point for the Three Gorges Dam, which we visited today. It’s another Chinese city with energy, buzz, life and clearly a lot of disposable income. The fla...
Day 24 of the 102 day drive from Bangkok to London along the Silk Road by MGB and Day 7 into China brings us to Chongqing. Population 7 million and one of China’s go go cities. ▲ It’s evident in the architecture, like the Qianximen Bridge across the Jialing River, ...
I’m driving an old MGB to London, following the Silk Road on a trip that will take us through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey, and assorted countries in Europe. ▲ Here’s our route on the door of my car...
▲ It’s been 25 years since my first visit to Angkor Wat and things have certainly changed. For one thing you didn’t pay US$62 for a three day pass to visit the Angkor ruins back in 1992. ◄ On that occasion there were probably more straggling Pathet Lao troublemaker...
I’m back in Vientiane in Laos for the first time since 1974, when I was here working on the very first edition of Southeast Asia on a Shoestring. I’m sure it’s nothing like it was when I came through in 1974, I seem to remember at the time we were all trying to drink ...
◄ A short visit to Bangkok, prior to setting off on a longer trip, and I made return trips to some familiar sites. Like Wat Po with its gigantic reclining Buddha figure, all the way from the top of its head to to the tips of its toes. ▲ Stupa figures in the Royal P...
On my way to Cambodia and beyond on what will become a rather long trip, we stopped at the Khao Yai National Park, 170km north-west of Bangkok in Thailand. The park has a wide variety of vegetation types in part because it sprawls over a range of altitudes. ▲ Durin...
Lots of places in the world electrical wiring can be a confusing chaos, a mad cobweb of wires going in every direction at once. ◄ In Thailand this week I saw lots of wiring which was certainly chaotic, but in a kind of chaotically organized fashion. There was far t...
I’m in Bangkok, Thailand and about to set off on a three month trip, I’ll be putting up more on that in a couple of week’s time. Meanwhile some Thailand observations starting with the ‘Dangerous Market”. Maeklong is on the coast in Ratchaburi, just south-west of centr...
Prisoners of Geography is subtitled ‘Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics’ although Tim Marshall's book is in fact rather more than maps and geography and there are rather more than 10 maps. Never mind it’s a handy summary of the si...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013