Day 15: The long way to Melbourne

My alarm woke me up at 05:30, and I was glad to have prepared my suitcase the night before. I took a shower and then made my way across the street to the Adelaide Bus Terminal, where I would be taking a coach to Bendigo.

Upon entering, one of the homeless people inside sensed I was a bit lost and asked if I was looking for the bus to Melbourne. I said yes, and he very energetically guided me to my bus and offered me some candy for the road. I politely declined.

The bus left right on time, and it was nice to be going in the opposite direction of all the commuters. Before long, we were out of the city and making our way through the Adelaide Hills. I ended up closing my eyes for a bit and when I woke up, we were already passed Tailem Bend. That wouldn’t have happened on the plane!

I was using VLine’s Adelaide Daylink route, which involves a coach ride to Bendigo connecting to a train to Melbourne. The total journey takes a little over 13 hours, but cost me only $30.

The state of Victoria has capped their public transport fares so that you can travel anywhere within the state for a maximum of $10 per day. This is fantastic for making travel accessible to everyone, and I’ll discuss this in more detail when I’m in Melbourne.

Since my trip involved interstate travel, I had to pay an extra $20. It really makes our transport in Canada, especially Alberta, look incredibly pathetic. Bus fares between Edmonton and Calgary go for about $80 one way, and that’s for a journey of less than 350 km. Today I would be travelling more than 700 km.

Our first stop was in Keith, South Australia. We had about half an hour to use the restroom and get some food. Since I hadn’t eaten, I had a late breakfast and treated myself to the official drink of South Australia, Farmer’s Union Iced Coffee.

Shortly after getting back on the road, we crossed the border into Victoria. The stops started to become more frequent, and more people were getting on the bus. Not only was this route popular for people travelling between Adelaide and Melbourne, but it was also used by people travelling from one small town to another.

We made our way to Horsham, where about half the bus emptied off. A quicker route to Melbourne went through Ballarat, but required a coach change and about an hour wait in Horsham. It had been raining on and off, and right as we pulled into the stop, it began to pour. There wasn’t any inside waiting area, so I was quite content to take the long way.

Our second rest stop was in St Arnaud, a small town in the Wimmera region. The roadhouse we stopped at had a bunch of offensive merchandise and signs placed around, giving the vibe that this wasn’t the friendliest place to be. I didn’t stick around too long and made my way back onto the bus.

It was about an hour and a half to Bendigo, so I decided to watch some TV shows I had downloaded. There was free wifi on the bus which was pretty quick, but it was limited to 100 MB, so not meant for streaming.

We arrived in Bendigo at 16:50, again right on schedule. I asked the driver, Larry, where he was headed next, since not everyone was getting off. He said he was on the way to Southern Cross Station, which was where I was headed. He offered to let me stay on the bus, which would have gotten me there quicker, but I wanted to take the train.

Bendigo is Victoria’s fourth largest city, and like its cousin Ballarat, has a gold rush history. It has a charming city centre, although I wouldn’t have time to visit on this trip.

I had about half an hour until my train left, so I decided to pick up a myki, Victoria’s public transport card. Soon after, a six-car train made up of two VLocity sets pulled in. The front half would be continuing on to Echuca while the back half would separate and become our train to Melbourne.

It was a longer journey to Melbourne than I had anticipated. Bendigo railway station is located only 160 km from Southern Cross but the journey takes over two hours. The Bendigo line is largely single track, and most of the services were heading out of Melbourne in the late afternoon, so we would spend a lot of time sitting in sidings.

I didn’t mind though; I had the latest episode of Jet Lag ready to go, and I quite enjoyed watching the scenery. I even saw quite a few kangaroos, but was never quick enough to switch to my camera.

Just after 19:00, the Melbourne skyline came into view and we made our way slowly through the western suburbs. Bendigo trains share tracks with the suburban trains into the city which really slows things down. The Ballarat and Geelong lines get their own dedicated tracks which were just built in the last ten years, greatly increasing the frequency and speed with which those services can run.

It started raining again as we pulled into Southern Cross Station. This place is very special to me as it’s where our year in Australia both started and finished.

I grabbed some takeout for dinner and made my way to my hotel for the night, which was only a ten minute walk away. My room was ready and I didn’t even need to stop at reception as I was able to use my phone as my key.

It had been a long day of travelling, but the journey was well worth it. For only $30 I was able to go from Adelaide to Melbourne, a distance of more than 750 km, a fact which I was continually impressed by. The trip was comfortable and I had lots of entertainment; from watching the landscapes to what was on my phone.

Today by the numbers

Steps taken: 3,928

Distance travelled: 780 km

Time taken: 13 hours, 5 minutes

Average speed: 60 km/h