DOWN UNDER — GETTING AROUND

Public transportation is a high priority and very popular in Australia and New Zealand. There are many affordable options. But the highways into all of the big cities are still gridlocked, like America. Australians love their cars. And they are being pushed into the outlying suburbs where they can find affordable housing, thus adding ever-increasing numbers of daily commuters.

Motorcycles are all over the place. Rice rockets zoom in and out of traffic like there’s no tomorrow. Near misses are all part of the show. Older guys with beards, trying to be badass bikers, ride Harleys slowly, making lots of noise. It’s an interesting mix.

Highway tunnels almost entirely encircle Sydney. They do this to improve the flow of traffic. Above the tunnels, it’s a bit chaotic, but below ground, the cars and trucks are usually zipping right along. And they have toll cameras to alleviate tollgate backups. The tolls for the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Tunnel vary based on the time of day and day of the week, with peak hours costing more than off-peak hours. For example, weekday peak hours (6:30 am-9:30 am and 4:00 pm-7:00 pm) currently cost $4.41. Off-peak weekday and weekend tolls are currently $3.20, increasing to $3.30 from July 1, 2025. Nighttime and weekend tolls are $2.76. And that’s each time, not round-trip.

New Zealand only has one road that an American might call a real highway, like, say, I-95 in the States. It’s Highway 1. But it only lasts about forty miles north and south of Auckland, after which it turns back into a pumpkin—two lanes, undivided, with lots of dips and hairpin turns, and loaded for bear. Eastern Australia has a lot of super highways, invariably servicing the ever-expanding suburbs around all its big cities on the coast.

Each of the highway overpasses in Auckland is different and specially designed for that particular location. It’s like public infrastructure art. While the Ministry of Works and Development (MWD) handles much of the initial motorway design, local consultants and various contractors have also contributed to the network over time, leading to stylistic and technical variations. It is the unique combination of these influencing factors for each overpass that contributes to the diversity of designs across Auckland’s highway network.

We easily rented a car in downtown Auckland and did a weeklong burn run drive around the North Island from top to bottom. If you are prepared to drive LeMans on the wrong side of the road, then New Zealand is for you. Figure $100 a day for the car rental, and a white knuckle crash course in defensive driving.

Getting around Australia is safer but trickier because it would take you forever to just drive the coast from Melbourne to Cairns (2,200 miles and 40 hours one way). So, we flew a lot. We flew from Auckland to Brisbane ($325 per person), Brisbane to Cairns ($150 pp), Cairns to Melbourne ($250 pp), and Melbourne to Sydney ($80 pp). That might sound crazy, but it was actually quite enjoyable and got us where we wanted to go quickly. The airports aren’t as cranked as those in the U.S., and we could get there just a little over an hour before the flight and waltz right through check-in and security. The flights were short—two to three and a half hours. The service was excellent on Air New Zealand and Qantas. And driving that distance would have been mind-numbingly tedious and way more expensive.

We could have opted for trains. The train service in Australia is extensive and similar to AMTRAK in the States. Trains opened up the country, starting in the 1850s. Australia’s rail network encompasses over 20,000 miles of track with a mix of gauges: standard, broad, and narrow. The rail industry is a significant contributor to the Australian economy, supporting jobs and connecting communities. Demand for both passenger and freight rail is predicted to continue growing, and the government is investing in upgrades and new projects like the Inland Rail, Australia’s largest infrastructure project. Once complete, it will connect Melbourne and Brisbane along a new route inland through Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland that allows for the use of double-stacked freight trains. The line is designed for freight, although passenger services could apply for the right to use it as well. And plans for high-speed rail lines, particularly along the eastern seaboard, are in the works. Australians are very proud of their choo choo trains.

The extravagant Flinders Street train station in Melbourne sits next to the Yarra River and covers two city blocks. Each weekday, about 105,000 people and 1,500 trains use the station. It’s a very busy place. In 1882, the government decided to build a new central passenger station to replace the scattered stations around the city. A worldwide design competition was held in 1899, with 17 entries received. The £500 first prize went to railway employees J. W Facett and H.P.C. Ashworth, whose design included a giant dome and clock tower. Work began in 1901 and ended in 1910. The interior of the station is made of lovely extinct wood.

Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane also offer streetcars and trolleys, and they are free, even on the busiest streets. Best of all, they stop at every platform every ten minutes, so we never had to wait very long. It was a great way to get around when we got tired of walking.

The Melbourne streetcars have wooden brakes, and when they die, they are sold to San Francisco, where metal brakes are immediately installed before being put back into service. So, if you have ever ridden an old streetcar in San Francisco, chances are it started its journey in Melbourne.

The metro trains are very user-friendly. You just tap your fare card or regular credit card on a plastic reader attached to the yellow light pole scanner when you get on and off the train, and you’re good to go. You don’t have to go to a store or kiosk and buy a fare card, then load it with money from your bank account. And SURPRISE! when you make public transportation easy to use, people actually use it.

The bus system in each town was equally easy to use and efficient. They run on time, and the buses are clean and attractive. Everybody’s super friendly. Many are hydrogen-powered because everybody is conscious of climate change. We used Google Maps to see when and where we could catch the next bus, and it always ran like clockwork. And just like with the trains, you don’t need to deal with all that fare card nonsense; you just tap your credit card and off you go.

You don’t see too many American cars down under—only the occasional Ford truck—and there are very few German cars, either. I would estimate that 95% of the cars on the road are Japanese or Korean. Given their proximity, perhaps that explains it. Teslas are non-existent. I heard from several Hyundai Ioniq owners that they never cared much for Musk or his overpriced Teslas. The lack of charging stations is the biggest impediment to the electric car market in Australia and New Zealand.

We noticed that a lot of the larger and more rugged pickups had these weird black telescope tubes attached to the engine hood. We had seen them in Iceland, too. We asked the owner what it was, and he said it was a snorkel. We thought he was putting us on, but he was serious. It’s for when a truck is crossing a body of water that is deeper than the engine—apparently a regular occurrence in the Outback during the rainy season. When the engine gets submerged, the snorkel provides air to circulate through the engine so that it doesn’t stall out.

Each big city on the water also has an efficient and reasonably priced ($3-$6 each way) ferry system to service travelers and commuters between the nearby suburbs and the countless islands off the coast. We rode the ferries as much as we could because there’s nothing like getting out on the water when you want to travel somewhere. Standing up on the top deck as we motored past the Sydney Opera House on our way to Manly Island on a warm sunny day was heavenly!

For those who like to rough it and camp out as you explore the down under sites, many tour companies will load about six of you into a van and do all the driving and work. The most popular seemed to be a company called Jucy. We encountered their green vans wherever we went. This is a very inexpensive way to get around, though doing it in the rain wouldn’t be a ride in the park. We saw some drowned rats, drying their gear in wayside pullouts on several occasions, and they looked pretty miserable.

And let’s not forget the Cruise ships. The terminals in Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, and Melbourne were always doing a land office business. But we never saw more than one ship at a time.

Bikes, especially electric bikes, are very popular. There are bike lanes through and around every city—even on the bridges.

There were scooters and blue Hellobikes scattered throughout every metro area, and people were zipping around like they were in a playground.

And that’s what I remember the most about getting around in Australia and New Zealand. It was fun!