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.
▲ Singapore by night – liveable, brightly lit, expensive Singapore topped a cost of living survey just released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). It’s the most expensive city in the world, pushed up to that pinnacle by factors like extraordinarily expensive...
I’ve posted my thoughts on ‘how many countries there are’ on a number of occasions. A year ago I reported on two friends, both down to their last eight countries – at the time. Me? I’m a non-starter, by my count I’ve only been to 155 countries and that’s by my definit...
Just got an email from Fitbit to say I’d walked 1000km. I’ve had a Fitbit Flex on my wrist most of the time since 23 October last year, so it’s taken me 128 days to walk that distance. An average of 7.81 km a day. ◄ my wrist, my Fitbit Flex A Fitbit Flex is an a...
Over the last 12 months I’ve flown with 18 different airlines on 9 different aircraft types. They included Boeing 737s, 747s, 767s and 777s, but I’ve still not flown on a 787. Some highlights and lowlights: ▲ The Most Heavily Loaded Flight – The last flight of ...
The Melbourne Ring Cycle has to be my cultural highlight of 2013, after all Maureen played a big part in getting it to the start line. But the Papermoon Puppet Theatre was a small delight. We caught a performance of these unusual puppets – and their unusual puppeteeri...
Every 26 January – Australia Day – I go somewhere in the state of Victoria as part of the Australia Day Ambassador Programme. This year it was Seymour, a country town about 100km (60miles) north of Melbourne. ▲ Seymour’s got lots Goulburn Valley countryside aro...
The National Library of Australia’s Mapping Our World exhibit in Canberra is a big hit and runs until 10 March. I spoke about my own mapping interest at the library in late November and admitted that despite my long involvement in map I’m not a collector and certainly...
Last month, January 2014, I was in Tonga and on Foa Island in the Ha’apai Group just before Cyclone Ian hit it with Category 5 violence causing huge damage. The Ha’apai Group featured in Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2014 as one of the Top 10 Regions of the world. ...
In Iceland small world photographer Sigurgeir Sigurjónsson sets out to capture the drama of his small island home. Indeed most of the views are of dramatic landscapes: waterfalls, geysers, ice, snow, lava, storm-swept beaches, rocky pinnacles and almost all under blac...
I rode the Blues Train. It’s a nice combination of train spotting and blues music which operates on summer Friday or Saturday nights along the Bellarine Peninsula outside Melbourne from Queenscliff to Drysdale (all of 16km) and back. Not quite as far as my trip on the...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013