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.
Two stories in the British newspapers today caught my attention. Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic leap from space and the death of King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia. ◄ In 1999 I was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with photographer Richard I’Anson working on our coffee tabl...
Having chaired the panel of judges for this year’s Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award – Wild Coast the well-deserved winner – I thought I should read the last couple of winners. The Dead Yard, Ian Thomson’s book about Jamaica, picked up the award two years ago. I...
Khunjerab Pass to Kashgar I’ve recently travelled up the Karakoram Highway through northern Pakistan to Kashgar in western China. Part 1 went from Islamabad to Gilgit. In Part 2 I continued through the Hunza Valley and up to the Khunjerab Pass, the 4724 metre high di...
You can always discover another way things can go wrong with the logistics of flying. We’re in Kashgar in the far west of China and checking in to fly Kashgar-Urumqi (everything to the far western side of China goes through Urumqi) and on to Guangzhou. From there we’l...
Gilgit to the Khunjerab Pass Maureen and I have been travelling up the Karakoram Highway (KKH) from Islamabad in Pakistan to Kashgar in China. Part 1 took us to the town of Gilgit, this report continues up to the Chinese border. ◄ Shigar Castle’s security guar...
Islamabad to Gilgit Way back in 1992 I made up a 15 line ‘must do’ list, I don’t think the word ‘bucket list’ had been invented yet. I visited Angkor Wat in Cambodia later that year and put the first tick beside the list. In 1992 Cambodia was still not a totally safe...
I’ve been in Mumbai and Delhi in India helping the newest Lonely Planet office – Lonely Planet India – launch their first 10 guidebooks ‘for the Indian Traveller.’ They’re in English, but specifically developed for the rapidly growing Indian overseas travel market. Fr...
On my last India visit in early 2010 Delhi was in chaos, the city was being torn apart as they raced to get the Delhi Metro finished in time for the Commonwealth Games. This time I got to ride the Metro and, just as for hundreds of thousands of local users every day, ...
Last year I made a stopover in Doha, the capital of Qatar, while I was travelling back from Europe to Australia. I wanted to have a look at what the site for the 2022 Football World Cup had to offer. Answer? Not much. This year, en route to India, I stopped off in ...
I chaired the 2012 Dolman Travel Book of the Year awards, deciding on the best travel book published in Britain last year. I’ve posted blogs about the awards and, as I worked my way through the entrants and the long list and then the short list my thoughts on the book...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013