Bushwalk Australia

I'm attempting to get from Thredbo to Melbourne as quickly and easily as possible.

A longish walk is planned ending at Thredbo, an awkward place to finish if one relies on public transport. The walk is in school term, making it a little easier. A school bus leaves Thredbo at 8.00am, arrives at Jindabyne at 8.40-8.56am, several locations. Problem is the Canberra bus leaves Jindabyne at 8.04am.
http://www.coomacoaches.com.au/display_ ... .php?id=42

Also, the bus arrives at Canberra around the time the Yass Junction train departs. A flight from Cooma has to go to Sydney. Flying from Canberra is another option. I could be looking at several overnight stays to catch an early bus to somewhere useful, tedious.

Suggestions would be valued. TIA.

One way car hire?

What Dates?

There are a number of point to point car services in the area these days - Snowy Shuttles is one but there are a few. They may get you to Jindy earlier, or to Cooma. Around $2-3/km.

You could also ask for info on services etc on the FB page 'Jindabyne Message Board" https://www.facebook.com/groups/302156863884/ , plenty of folks there will know the range of options. Try not to mention horses.

Thanks for the ideas. I had not thought of hire cars. Driving to the airport may cost but will cost less than several nights at motels, and will be faster. I'll be arriving at Thredbo in October, date to be determined. FB is an option. I'm after a car, not a horse. Would they be interested in my horse recipes? Hint - take off the saddle before cooking.

It might be a bit of mucking around, but it looks like you can get a 3:30pm bus from Thredbo to Canberra with Murrays. This arrives in Canberra at 6:30pm.

Then you could get the overnight Greyhound bus to Melbourne, leaving Canberra at 11pm, and arriving in Melbourne at 7:05am.

The main flaw is the 4.5h between the buses. The buses should be leaving from the Jolimont Centre on Northbourne, so I suppose you could go have dinner in Civic somewhere. It's probably a slightly longer trip, but at least the bulk of it is on an overnight bus.

Lops I can probably give you a lift direct back to Melb if we can fudge the dates a tad to suit. Possibly from Threds. Jindy or Cooma easier.

Advice as a local - abandon all hope ye who board a bus. Timetables are suggestions, there is zero communication for co-ordination, and asking a driver to cut his 20 minute ciggy break short to make the 3 minute transfer minute window at the end a little less frantic, usually gets met with a borderline violent response.

Unless things have changed, buses only run out of Thredbo on Sundays and only during the ski season. Doubt you'll get a bus in October. Mainly locals on the road that time of the year, so you will be able to hitch a lift to Jindy and on to Cooma. Drop into the Bistro after you've had a shower and ask around. They're friendly down there out-of-season.

crollsurf wrote:Unless things have changed, buses only run out of Thredbo on Sundays and only during the ski season. Doubt you'll get a bus in October. Mainly locals on the road that time of the year, so you will be able to hitch a lift to Jindy and on to Cooma. Drop into the Bistro after you've had a shower and ask around. They're friendly down there out-of-season.

I have caught the school bus to and from Thredbo several times over the years for long walks. As long as school is on the bus runs. it costs $20 to the driver. It can be quite fun.

Thank you. As far as I can determine the bus to Canberra is ski season only. The bus websites are not that helpful - no timetables or buried in the website. I have not used FB yet, will give that a go later. The school bus looks good, runs daily in term. The dates are uncertain, depend on a few commitments that I have to work around.

This might help https://www.rome2rio.com/

Lophophaps wrote:Thanks for the ideas. I had not thought of hire cars. Driving to the airport may cost but will cost less than several nights at motels, and will be faster. I'll be arriving at Thredbo in October, date to be determined. FB is an option. I'm after a car, not a horse. Would they be interested in my horse recipes? Hint - take off the saddle before cooking.

The shuttles aren't hire cars, more like an Uber or taxi, now operating in NSW under the Point to Point arrangement. There's a few snowy mts services, outside ski season they do lots of walker / rider / etc pick up or drop offs.

Climberman, useful, thanks. Can you please advise where these can be found online?

https://www.snowlinkshuttle.com.au/

http://www.snowymountainsshuttles.com.au/

https://www.snowalliance.com.au/

http://www.snowconnect.com.au/

https://www.snowymountainsairportlink.com/

https://www.alpinecharters.com.au/

Give them a try

Thank you. There needs to be a place where people like me can find things easily. I did look - under the couch, next to the Post Office, on a traffic island ... nothing. I even checked my main computer, a 486DX, also nothing. I will stick to things I know, such as, um ... I'll get back to you.

Lophophaps wrote:Thank you. There needs to be a place where people like me can find things easily. I did look - under the couch, next to the Post Office, on a traffic island ... nothing. I even checked my main computer, a 486DX, also nothing. I will stick to things I know, such as, um ... I'll get back to you.

The whole transfer driver-shuttle thing is newish in NSW and came out of a legislative change to legalise UBER-style products rather than the old taxi/hire car plates only. It's had a great flow on in that these styles of businesses are now able to operate.

I saw another one in my FB feed today 'myshuttletransfers'. not sure if they have a website; try insta or fb. myshuttletransfers@gmail.com

Have a look at the vline bus that goes from Canberra to Bainsdale via Cooma and Jindabyne 3 days a week. Then rail to Melbourne. I plan to use it to return from Walhalla to Canberra when I finally finish the last section of the aawt.

One reply from a shuttle company:
"We are here all year round but for us to drive up to Thredbo and bring you back down to Jindabyne to catch a bus to Canberra will be from $150.00. A private transfer to Tumut or Canberra would be approximately $500.00"
Ouchies. The Thredbo to Jindabyne school bus is about $20.

I have not excluded the Bairnsdale bus, but it's a long day and I may not survive. Bus and rail times are still being checked. The connections everywhere continue to be a PITA.

You could revert to hitching - still plenty of folks that will pick up hitch hikers, especially those with walking gear. Just need time in the schedule in case no-one is around.

A second charter-type quote has been received:
"We can do a private transfer ex-thredbo to Canberra for $500 one way. Alternatively there is a bus un by countrylink from jindabyne to Canberra on Mon, wed, Friday. We can get you there Thredbo to Jindy only for $175."
For all the cost and time involved I've come up with another option. Finish at Thredbo, go into sloth mode for a night, then walk the AAWT. Not all of it - there no train from Walhalla. Walk over Pilot and hope for e lift from Cowombat Flat to Omeo, where there's nice hotels and a bus most days.

If I allow three days to Cowombat and two more to Omeo it should be ample.

Lops, did you see my previous comment? I can give you a lift direct to Melbourne. It certainly wont cost you $500. Just need an idea of dates.

Series of rude words. I saw the post and it did not lodge in my brain, need more RAM. Dates flexible, mid to late October, even November.

Lophophaps wrote:Series of rude words. I saw the post and it did not lodge in my brain, need more RAM. Dates flexible, mid to late October, even November.

All good - Keep my updated as dates solidify and I'll shuffle my movements to suit.

https://www.snowymountainsairportlink.com/ might be cheaper. might not run in summer.

School bus Thredbo to Jindy, weekdays
VLine to Canberra
Train to Melb

The private shuttles are $$$

Cheers
Roger

The airport bus seems not to run in summer, and I'm unsure if there are even flghts except in winter. There are buses Thredbo-Jindy-Canberra but the timing is crook. The school bus leaves Thredbo at about the same time that the Canberra bus leaves Jindy. Even the bus to Gippsland is hard to pin down. Note the times. the bus runs from Canberra to Traralgon on Tuesday and Friday, with stops
Canberra 7.55am
Orbost 12.50pm
Nothing in between. There's a three hour wait at Bairnsdale, and a late arrival at Melbourne.

There's a three hour wait at Bairnsdale, and a late arrival at Melbourne.
You were expecting maybe connecting flights on public transport? Fair go!
Anyhow, that 3 hours could be put to a very good use: FOOD!

Cheers
Roger

I don't mind waiting, and, as needs dictate, eating. The late arrival is a nuisance, as I need my beauty sleep.

Where did you get that timetable from? Every V-Line timetable I’ve seen is expressed in 24 hour time.

You can get 08:00 Monday to Sunday bus from Canberra to Wodonga, arriving 12:35. Train departs 12:54, arriving Melbourne at 16:40.

The 8.00am timetable is
https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/timetables/line/4077/
I was searching for the V/Line timetable I posted above and found this
https://www.vline.com.au/getattachment/ ... pital-Link)-(1)
Cooma 9.15am, bus to Traralgon 5.00pm, Spencer Street at 7.35pm

The problem with most of the buses is that there's big gaps between one arriving and the next one departing. The Jindabyne one is something like 23 hours - arrive from Thredbo at about 9am, bus to Canberra leaves at 8am the next day. Arrive at Canberra mid-morning, bus to Wodonga leaves 22 hours later.