Gold Coast 2026

I've lived in Gold Coast for 16 years now. High time to visit the Gold Coast Historical Museum in Surfers Paradise. I prefer not to drive a car anymore, and this was quite far for a bike trip, so I took a bus, or actually I got a lift to the train station in a car, then I took a train and then I took two buses. I have to say that the back streets of Surfers don't look pedestrian friendly:

No bike paths. Plenty of space for cars though.

Southport - the business district of Gold Coast, looks better. It has more people living there, a tram, and fewer car lanes:

The museum has a replica of an early settler's house, an artist's cottage and a couple other buildings/sheds with old tools, bikes, artefacts and lots of photos: 

A replica of a settler's house

Old bikes hanging from the ceilings:

This one has a petrol motor.

An original 1924 Ford model TT

South Coast railways:

Notice the Lahey's and Neranwood tramways. You could get by rail to the mountains!

Look at the size of the kids' hats!

Some station masters loved plants.

An interesting carriage with round windows.

Ads on public transport. We still do that, but maybe not whiskey?

I wonder what happened to these tunnels.

Japan started operation of the first Shinkansen in 1964.

These look quite modern.

And then it was all dismantled:

The last steam train to Southport, 1964.

Telegraph cable:

Floods and storms:

Car culture, from the very beginning:

What looks like early cars, right on the train platform.

Car parked inches from the train, of course. 

Car parking in the middle of the street. Still the same today.

Cars behind, cars in front, people waiting in the middle with no protection.

Would park on the beach if they could.

Europe Trip 2026 - Melbourne

The last stopover on the way home. I was pleasantly surprised this time by the green landscape:

The separation of residential and industry areas is very clear.

The city centre looked brilliant on a cool sunny day:

The unfinished Parliament House from 1855

The mix of old and new typical for big Australian cities.

17 Casselden Place - built in 1877, what remains of "Little Lon" - an area of slums, light industry and the vice trade - the other side of "Marvellous Melbourne".

Historic tram

Melbourne has the longest tram network in the world (250 km), but not the biggest patronage - Warsaw has a shorter network - about 143 km of tracks, but more trams (600 vs 500) and more people riding them per year (249 million vs 160 million). The Melbourne team took part in the European championship in Warsaw this year, but didn't do very well, taking the second to last spot, ahead of London. Perhaps because the bulk of the trams in Melbourne are less advanced than the Hyundai Rotem and Pesa Swing trams used in the competition? Listen to the Melbourne team comments at 10:52 here:

Melbourne will be hosting the world tram driver championship in 2028. 

One of the new Melbourne trams followed by a historic tram:

And of course what would Melbourne be without a political protest/event in progress or being planned:

A gold rush started in Victoria in 1851. I don't know if this was related or just bad planning, but I found the relocation info below funny:

I visited the free Old Treasury Building museum to learn about the history of Melbourne, which started with the removal of the natives and environmental destruction, and ended with skyscrapers and car-oriented sprawl, which lasts to this day.

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The turning basin

Melbourne needed a lot of housing post-war:

Cars ruin cities:

The car-sprawl of Melbourne is shocking when compared to Singapore, which has 10% more people, 14x less land and many wilderness areas, islands, parks, and generally a lot of greenery:

Some things change, some stay the same:

Sometimes, no building survives the changes:

Another street:

Same street, in 4 photos over the years, find the buildings that stay:

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Unexpectedly, after the flight boarding information telling me to "Relax" multiple times, my evening flight was cancelled for engineering reasons and I got to spend a night in Melbourne, courtesy of Jetstar Airways, in a very comfortable Royal Park hotel with a good view of the airport from the 9th floor:

This was the view from my bed: 

Speaking of Jetstar and comfort, I will not buy their economy class seat again. From Singapore to Melbourne I flew on a Boeing 787, in a recently refurbished cabin, and it was the most uncomfortable 8 hours on a plane ever. When the seat in front of me was declined, which was for most of the time, I could not sit straight without my head touching the back of that seat. I could not rise the armrest. I could not stretch. I was effectively trapped. I did not leave my seat once. I don't know how this was not a health and safety hazard. Governments must start regulating minimum seat sizes/clearances in public transport, especially on planes.