Tiki Touring Australia Travel

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Tiki Touring Australia offers you the best ideas on where to stay and what to do while touring Australia.

BASIC TRAVEL
INFORMATION

Map of Australia
Map of Victoria
Currency Converter
Customs, Quarantine
Distances Between Cities
Hotels in Australia
Weather Forecast
Car Hire
 
VICTORIA
MELBOURNE
Marvellous Melbourne
Where to Stay
City & Street Maps
Car Hire
Things to Do in Victoria
Where to Eat Guide
Australian Rules Football
Sports Mad
City & Street Maps
Transport Journey Planner
(Bus and train timetables)
Tullamarine Airport
Flight information

GEELONG
Geelong
The Great Ocean Road
Geelong Hotels

BALLARAT
Ballarat
Ballarat Hotels

BENDIGO
Bendigo
Bendigo Hotels

ECHUCA
Echuca
Echuca Hotels

GIPPSLAND LAKES
Lakes Entrance
Lakes Entrance Hotels

WARRNAMBOOL
Warrnambool
Warrnambool Hotels

YARRA VALLEY
Yarra Valley
Yarra Glen Hotels


OTHER PLACES TO
STAY IN VICTORIA

Hotels in Victoria
Anglesea
Apollo Bay
Ararat
Arthur's Seat
Bairnsdale
Cape Otway
Colac
Hamilton
Halls Gap
Horsham
Lorne
Maryborough
Mansfield
Merrijig
Metung
Mildura
Ocean Grove
Point Lonsdale
Port Fairy
Portland
Portsea
Queenscliff
Rutherglen
Shepparton
Sorrento
Swan Hill
Torquay
Yarra Junction
 


Tiki Touring Victoria

Tourism and Travel information

 

Public Transport in Melbourne

 

THINGS TO DO
IN MELBOURNE
Spirit of Melbourne Dinner Cruise
Melbourne Sunrise Balloon Flight
Aquarium, Eureka Skydeck 88 and Old Melbourne Gaol
Aussie Rules Football - See It Live with a Local Host
City Sights Morning Tour
City Afternoon Tour
Central Melbourne Walking Tour
City and Williamstown Ferry Cruise
Highlights of Melbourne Cruise
Port of Melbourne and Docklands Sightseeing Cruise
Melbourne Aquarium Tickets
Shark Walking Experience
Melbourne Helicopter Tour: City Centre and St Kilda Beach
Melbourne Helicopter Tour: Super-Saver Scenic Flight
Melbourne Food and Wine Small-Group Walking Tour
Melbourne Cafe and Coffee Culture Walking Tour
Melbourne Lanes and Arcades Walking Tour
Outlet Shopping Tour
Eureka Skydeck 88
Penguin Passport at Melbourne Aquarium
Opera Performance at the Arts Centre Melbourne
River Gardens Melbourne Sightseeing Cruise
'Neighbours' Tour of Ramsay Street
Private Balloon Flight over Melbourne
Underbelly Crime Tour
Small-Group Melbourne Sightseeing Tour
Melbourne Chill On Ice Lounge
Melbourne Sightseeing and Attraction Pass
Sports Lovers Tours
Tramcar Restaurant
Melbourne Super Saver: City Sightseeing Tour plus Phillip Island Penguin Parade
Melbourne Super Saver: Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island plus Melbourne Attraction Pass
Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs and Wine Tasting Day Trip from Melbourne
 

By Richard Moore

Melbourne is blessed with a public transport system that would have many other major cities in the world green with envy.

It isn't perfect, as Melburnians will tell you, but clearly they haven't had to put up with other systems.

Flinders St Station, MelbourneMelbourne's transport is a mixture of trains, trams and buses that can get you to any part of the city quickly and pretty easily.

The train lines spread out from the inner city underground loop and form the bones of the system reaching out to the farflung outer suburbs.

Closer in trams are the easiest way to travel with main lines regularly servicing the inner city and major routes through the older established parts of town.

Travelling by tram is wonderful. They are easy to get on and off and there is just something about the squeal of their metal wheels on metal tracks, and the ding, ding, dinging of their bells, that brings a city to life.

Running between the train lines and trams are bus services.

So far so good.

Melbourne TramHowever, heading back to Melbourne after almost a decade away I was a tad lost with the network's Myki ticketing system.

We'd flown in early in the morning and wanted to have a bit of an explore and do some financial housework while home.

Problem was there was nowhere to buy a Myki card where we were - and nothing to explain it to us at the stop we arrived at.

Fortunately we were able to grab a free City Loop vintage tram and legally head to Flinders St Station - Melbourne's main passenger hub - otherwise we could have been at the mercy of the city's fiercesome ticket inspectors.

And if you are caught with a Myki card - or not having paid - the fine can be $200.

So transport chiefs - lift your game when it comes to tourists will you.

Melbourne TrainsNow an information officer at Flinders St did try to explain how the Myki thing works but, in the noise of the place, most was lost in the glass panel.

Basically Myki is like a debit card you buy and have to keep topping up.

You swipe it when you get on your train, tram or bus and then - for some reason - swipe it when you get off.

Why you do it twice is anyone's guess - but I'm sure someone will explain it to me.

Anyway, ticketing aside, Melbourne transport system is a beaut and makes sightseeing without the hassles of car parking an absolute breeze.

And do have a few journeys on the free City Circle trams.

They are the burgundy ones and run a loop circuit around the outside of the Central Business District. They are classic Old Melbourne W Class trams and you can rattle around the city as people did 90 years ago.

Ah, Melbourne and trams - what a pairing.

 

Train Network Map (downloadable)

Metro Trains Website

Yarra Trams Website

Train, Tram, Bus Timetables

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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