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.
For years I’ve been meaning to visit Hampi, the extensive city of temple ruins in the state of Karnataka. It’s an overnight train trip from the southern metropolis of Bangalore or a slightly shorter trip from Goa on the coast, the difficulties of getting there perhaps...
My recent visit to Ratnagiri, following the sad story of King Thibaw’s long spell in exile, concluded with the last day of Ganesh Chaturthi, the 10-day birthday party for the elephant-headed Hindu God of Wisdom. ▲ As a finale images of the God are carried down to t...
Aung San Suu Kyi wasn’t the first Burmese leader to spend a long time under house arrest. The 100th anniversary of the death of King Thibaw, the last ruler of the Kingdom of Burma, arrives on 19 December 2016. King Thibaw endured 30 years of exile in Ratnagiri after h...
Last week I discovered the best HK$50 (A$8, US$6.50, £5, €6) buy in Hong Kong. The cursing grannies. They hang out under the Canal Rd Underpass in Wan Chai: For your HK$50 they will curse and hit any villain you care to suggest. Your horrible boss, your cheating...
Brutalism in Britain is often seen as post-World War II architecture at its worst. A period of heavy, foreboding, grey, often sinister looking buildings, a style at its peak in the ‘60s. No British buildings better symbolize the Brutalist movement than the Barbican Es...
◄ Cortina – one of those very swish-looking Italian alpine towns, a place that simply looks expensive! It was the last stop on my recent France and Italy circuit. Way back in 1971 on the first Europe trip Maureen and I ever made we camped just north of Cortina in D...
My recent France and Italy drive continued from Grosseto to Venice. Of course Venice was as beautiful as ever … ▲ Whether you were looking across the lagoon to the Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore on the island of San Maggiore at sunset ▲ Or, a little later, direc...
After our visit to Aix-en-Provence in France my little European foray continued to flashy Portofino and on down to Grosseto, in the southern corner of Tuscany, heading towards Rome. The city has a fine cathedral, remnants of the city walls and an interesting museum. ...
Marianne Ihlen – the Marianne to whom Leonard Cohen said ‘So Long’ to all those years ago – died on 29 July. I’ve just read today’s story in The Guardian on a final letter Cohen wrote to her, knowing she would soon be gone. It was Marianne who inspired ‘Hey, That's No...
From our Little French Trip we continued on into Italy for a short stop at Portofino, just south of Genoa. This is the Italian Riviera at its most luxurious, way back in 2001 I spent a couple of days on this coast walking the Cinque Terre coastal track. It was wonderf...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013