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.
If you’re at the right place and at the right time of day – lots of Australian wildlife is nocturnal – it’s often remarkably easy to encounter the critters and I certainly saw a few over the Christmas-New Year period. ◄ Starting with koalas – lots of wildlife you h...
Crazy, doomed, hopeless, wonderful – my first thoughts when I read about the very first Tour d’Afrique – 12,000km, four months, all the way from Cairo in Egypt to Cape Town in South Africa. It really is the Mt Everest of cycling. I didn’t realise that a few years late...
▲ Mosaics in the Archaeological Park in the Jordanian town of Madaba. I spent two weeks in Israel and Palestine just before Christmas 2011. You can check my reports on my travels in Palestine, the problems of Hebron, the Wall, an encouraging visit to Nazareth, ...
And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. — Genesis 35:19-20 ▲ Rachel’s Tomb – perhaps 100 years ago? It had to be one of the weirdest f...
◄ Palestine is one of those unusual countries without a McDonalds and when the big brands aren’t present you can be pretty certain some strange replacements will pop up. Like Ramallah’s Stars & Bucks coffee shop, right in the centre of Palestine’s de facto capital...
▲ The Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth is supposed to be on the site of Mary’s home, where the Angel Gabriel appeared to announce that she might be a good virgin, but she was still going to have a baby. The church is a curious structure, plonked on top of t...
My Israel and Palestine travels took me to these two towns. Hebron conjures up the worst aspects of the Israeli-Palestine dispute, while Nazareth indicates that the two sides can live together. ▲ The wire mesh over this old city street in the centre of Hebron is...
I missed British comedian Mark Thomas’ ‘walking the wall’ performance when I was at the Edinburgh Festival in August, but I have done the next best thing, read Extreme Rambling, the book of his walk. Rambling is walking British fashion, A to B, not necessarily by ...
◄ My Israeli friend Ohad Sharav climbing out of the Makhtesh Katan or Small Crater in the Negev Desert. My travels in Israel and Palestine featured spells on three walking tracks. I’ve always felt that walking puts you in touch with the land at the right ...
▲ The Wall at the Qalandia checkpoint between Ramallah and East Jerusalem ◄ Travelling around Palestine you certainly don’t get away from the Israeli settlements or The Wall – aka the Security Wall, the Separation Wall, the Segregation Wall or the Apartheid Wall...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013