When the last winless AFL team wins

As I have looked at the broader perspective of winless seasons - a terrifying but rare sight on top-level team sport - I have wanted to have a look at when actually the last winless team in each AFL season has actually managed to win.

Here I will provide statistics only about when exactly the last winless AFL club won its first game, and when each date for this occurrence last happened.

Last winless club won in	# of seasons	Most recent year of occurrence
Game #2	NEVER
Game #3	8	Four clubs in 1997
Game #4	14	Melbourne and Richmond in 2006
Game #5	16	Fremantle and Richmond in 2009
Game #6	14	Western Bulldogs in 2002
Game #7	12	Melbourne in 2008
Game #8	9	Brisbane in 2011
Game #9	5	St. Kilda in 1983
Game #10	5	Richmond in 2010
Game #11	3	St. Kilda in 2000
Game #12	4	Richmond in 2007
Game #13	2	St. Kilda in 1986
Game #14	3	South Melbourne in 1973
Game #15	4	Gold Coast in 2012
Game #16	1	North Melbourne in 1935
Game #17	1	North Melbourne in 1972
Game #18	2	Fremantle in 2001
Game #19	NEVER
Game #20	NEVER
Game #21	NEVER
Game #22	NEVER
Never Won A Game	13	Fitzroy in 1964

Some notable facts that can be drawn from the table above are:

1. The most common date for the last winless side to win in VFL/AFL history has been the fourth or fifth game
2. The median date for the last winless side to win over all VFL/AFL history is in its seventh game; though since the expansion in 2011 it has not yet occurred that all clubs have won after seven games.
3. Nine of thirty-three teams winless after ten games played more than nineteen games, which suggests a team would have to be winless for fourteen games to have an even chance of finishing 0-22 under a present schedule. Only three teams have been winless after fourteen games since 1968.

Also worth looking at before I tabulate the last winless side in each AFL season, is how often each competing club has been the last to win since it entered the league:

Club	# of years as last winless club	Most recent year as last winless club	% of years competing
Adelaide	1	2004	4.54
Brisbane	4	2011	15.38
Carlton	5	1997	4.31
Collingwood	8	1999	6.90
Essendon	NEVER		0.00
Fitzroy	12	1996	12.00
Footscray/Western Bulldogs	9	2002	10.23
Fremantle	2	2009	11.11
Geelong	12	2003	10.62
Gold Coast	1	2012	50.00
Greater Western Sydney	NEVER		0.00
Hawthorn	12	2005	13.63
Melbourne	12	2008	10.61
North Melbourne	10	1972	11.37
Port Adelaide	1	1997	6.25
Richmond	9	2010	8.57
South Melbourne/Sydney	15	1997	13.04
St. Kilda	20	2000	17.54
University	2	1914	28.57
West Coast	NEVER		0.00

It is an amazing feat that in one hundred and fourteen years of VFL and AFL football Essendon have never been the last or even equal-last winless team, although they were wooden spooners in 1907, 1918, 1921 and 1933. In all those four years except 1921 the last winless club had won after five rounds. In 2006 - their worst year since 1933 - all clubs had won after four weeks whilst the Bombers looked like achieving the unwanted and unprecedented ignominy of winning their opener against the reigning premier and losing every subsequent game, something not seen since 1901.

Below is a table of the number of times and most recent time each club has been the victim of the last winless side remaining in the AFL.

Club	# of years losing to last winless club	Most recent year losing to last winless club	% of years competing
Adelaide	1	1997	4.54
Brisbane	3	2006	15.38
Carlton	9	2002	7.76
Collingwood	4	1997	3.45
Essendon	8	1982	7.02
Fitzroy	13	1990	13.00
Footscray/Western Bulldogs	10	1995	11.36
Fremantle	3	2008	16.67
Geelong	10	1997	8.85
Gold Coast	NEVER		0.00
Greater Western Sydney	NEVER		0.00
Hawthorn	9	2001	10.23
Melbourne	12	2007	10.62
North Melbourne	7	2011	7.95
Port Adelaide	2	2010	13.50
Richmond	11	2012	10.48
South Melbourne/Sydney	11	2009	9.57
St. Kilda	7	1988	6.14
University	2	1911	28.57
West Coast	NEVER		0.00

It is notable that West Coast have never been either the last winless club or the team who lost to the last winless club. Even in 1989, Carlton took a week longer to win. When Fremantle looked like an 0-and-22 season in 2001, people seemed not to consider the local derby in Round Nineteen as a possible win, though it was the most logical candidate after they failed against St. Kilda in their thirteenth game. Perhaps the Eagles would have doomed the Dockers to 0-and-22 and the first 0-19 start had they not beaten Hawthorn?

Table of last winless AFL club by season

Below is a table of the last winless club in every AFL or VFL season, with its record before its first win, along with the opponent and scores for that win and the final record of the last winless club in each season.

If a season has multiple clubs who were last to win, I have listed them in order of final season record, or in the case of the 1995 season I placed Collingwood, who had drawn with Essendon, first.

Season	Last winless club	Winless start	Season record	Score in first win	Opponent	Opponent’s record	Opponent’s score
1897	St. Kilda	0-14	0-14	Never Won a Game
1898	St. Kilda	0-17	0-17	Never Won a Game
1899	St. Kilda	0-17	0-17	Never Won a Game
1900	Carlton	0-2	7-10	3.9 (27)	St. Kilda	1-2	2.6 (18)
1901	St. Kilda	0-11	1-16	7.8 (50)	Carlton	2-9	4.8 (32)
1902	St. Kilda	0-17	0-17	Never Won a Game
1903	Melbourne	0-6	3-14	4.8 (32)	Carlton	5-0	1.2 (8)
1904	Melbourne	0-3	8-9	9.17 (71)	Essendon	2-1	6.3 (39)
1905	Geelong	0-6	6-11	7.14 (56)	Melbourne	2-4	7.12 (54)
1906	Geelong	0-4	4-13	11.9 (75)	Melbourne	1-3	8.8 (56)
1907	South Melbourne	0-2	11-6	7.14 (56)	Collingwood	1-1	5.8 (38)
1907	Geelong	0-2	7-10	12.5 (77)	Fitzroy	1-1	9.10 (64)
1908	St. Kilda	0-2	10-8	7.13 (55)	South Melbourne	2-0	4.2 (26)
1908	Collingwood	0-2	10-8	8.14 (62)	University	1-1	7.12 (54)
1908	Melbourne	0-2	7-11	10.12 (72)	Geelong	1-1	7.8 (50)
1909	Geelong	0-3	3-15	12.13 (85)	Carlton	1-2	8.13 (61)
1910	St. Kilda	0-17	1-17	5.6 (36)	Carlton	15-2	2.12 (24)
1911	Carlton	0-1-2	12-4-2	9.11 (65)	University	1-2	6.8 (44)
1912	Collingwood	0-3	9-9	6.10 (46)	Carlton	2-1	6.9 (45)
1913	University	0-18	0-18	Never Won a Game
1914	University	0-18	0-18	Never Won a Game
1915	South Melbourne	0-3	8-8	8.8 (56)	Fitzroy	3-0-1	6.4 (40)
1916	Richmond	0-4	5-7	19.13 (127)	Fitzroy	2-1-1	9.14 (68)
1917	Geelong	0-3	6-9	12.13 (85)	Carlton	1-2	8.13 (61)
1918	Carlton	0-2	8-6	11.11 (77)	St. Kilda	1-1	7.9 (51)
1918	Fitzroy	0-2	6-8	10.12 (72)	Richmond	2-0	6.8 (44)
1918	Geelong	0-2	3-11	6.16 (52)	Essendon	1-1	4.12 (36)
1919	Melbourne	0-16	0-16	Never Won a Game
1920	Geelong	0-7	5-11	17.11 (113)	Melbourne	4-3	6.12 (48)
1921	Fitzroy	0-5-1	6-8-2	12.13 (85)	Essendon	1-4-1	6.10 (46)
1922	Geelong	0-3	5-11	11.9 (75)	Richmond	1-1	11.7 (73)
1923	South Melbourne	0-4	9-7	13.11 (89)	Geelong	1-2	10.15 (75)
1924	Richmond	0-4	10-6	9.19 (73)	St. Kilda	2-3	8.6 (54)
1925	Hawthorn	0-4	3-14	10.14 (74)	Footscray	1-3	8.10 (58)
1926	North Melbourne	0-17-1	0-17-1	Never Won a Game
1927	Hawthorn	0-14	1-17	15.9 (99)	North Melbourne	3-11	11.10 (76)
1928	Hawthorn	0-18	0-18	Never Won a Game
1929	North Melbourne	0-13	1-17	9.8 (62)	Footscray	6-6-1	7.7 (49)
1930	South Melbourne	0-6	9-9	17.11 (113)	Hawthorn	1-5	9.10 (64)
1931	North Melbourne	0-18	0-18	Never Won a Game
1932	Melbourne	0-8	4-14	12.13 (85)	St. Kilda	1-7	10.14 (74)
1933	St. Kilda	0-4	6-12	13.19 (97)	North Melbourne	1-2-1	11.10 (76)
1934	North Melbourne	0-18	0-18	Never Won a Game
1935	North Melbourne	0-15	1-17	10.9 (69)	Footscray	2-11-2	8.14 (62)
1936	North Melbourne	0-6	4-14	12.19 (91)	Footscray	1-5	13.7 (85)
1937	South Melbourne	0-4-1	6-11-1	15.11 (101)	Hawthorn	1-4	13.20 (98)
1938	Fitzroy	0-5	5-13	14.9 (93)	Essendon	3-2	11.13 (79)
1939	Footscray	0-10	4-14	5.10 (40)	Geelong	5-5	3.7 (25)
1940	South Melbourne	0-3	7-11	22.13 (145)	Hawthorn	1-2	16.10 (106)
1941	South Melbourne	0-3	8-10	15.19 (109)	Fitzroy	1-2	12.10 (82)
1941	Hawthorn	0-3	3-15	13.16 (94)	Geelong	1-2	11.13 (79)
1942	Collingwood	0-6	2-12	14.21 (105)	Melbourne	1-6	11.14 (80)
1943	South Melbourne	0-8	6-9	16.14 (110)	Collingwood	3-5	9.6 (60)
1944	Geelong	0-13	1-17	11.20 (86)	Hawthorn	2-11	8.13 (61)
1945	Geelong	0-5	2-18	10.16 (76)	Hawthorn	1-4	10.8 (68)
1946	Hawthorn	0-5	3-16	16.10 (106)	Melbourne	3-2	13.13 (91)
1947	Hawthorn	0-3	4-15	12.12 (84)	St. Kilda	1-2	10.17 (77)
1948	St. Kilda	0-14	2-17	10.12 (72)	Fitzroy	9-5	9.10 (64)
1949	St. Kilda	0-12	4-15	16.15 (111)	South Melbourne	5-7	13.13 (91)
1950	Hawthorn	0-18	0-18	Never Won a Game
1951	Melbourne	0-5	1-17	11.12 (78)	Carlton	2-3	8.10 (58)
1952	St. Kilda	0-7	2-17	7.7 (49)	Footscray	2-5	5.4 (34)
1953	Hawthorn	0-5	3-15	10.7 (67)	Carlton	3-2	6.11 (47)
1954	Fitzroy	0-8-1	4-13-1	11.10 (76)	South Melbourne	5-4	10.14 (74)
1955	St. Kilda	0-10	1-17	10.8 (68)	North Melbourne	2-8	8.13 (61)
1956	St. Kilda	0-6	4-13-1	9.10 (64)	Richmond	1-5	6.8 (44)
1957	Collingwood	0-2	9-8-1	12.15 (87)	Geelong	1-0-1	12.5 (77)
1957	North Melbourne	0-2	8-10	13.9 (87)	Hawthorn	2-0	11.12 (78)
1957	South Melbourne	0-2	7-11	19.16 (130)	Richmond	1-1	13.9 (87)
1958	Geelong	0-5	4-14	10.15 (75)	Footscray	2-3	6.22 (58)
1959	Collingwood	0-5	12-6	16.16 (112)	Footscray	1-4	10.11 (71)
1960	Hawthorn	0-5	11-7	9.8 (62)	North Melbourne	2-3	7.6 (48)
1961	Fitzroy	0-4	10-7-1	16.20 (116)	Collingwood	1-3	8.7 (55)
1962	North Melbourne	0-8	4-14	10.8 (68)	Hawthorn	3-5	10.7 (67)
1963	Fitzroy	0-9	1-17	9.13 (67)	Geelong	6-2-1	3.13 (31)
1964	Fitzroy	0-18	0-18	Never Won a Game
1965	North Melbourne	0-4	5-13	16.13 (109)	Fitzroy	1-3	12.9 (81)
1965	Footscray	0-4	4-14	11.11 (77)	South Melbourne	2-2	10.16 (76)
1966	Fitzroy	0-14	1-17	13.17 (95)	Footscray	4-10	13.11 (89)
1967	Fitzroy	0-7	4-14	12.9 (81)	Footscray	2-5	7.15 (57)
1968	Footscray	0-5	5-15	13.7 (85)	Melbourne	3-2	6.12 (48)
1969	Melbourne	0-7	3-17	15.12 (102)	Fitzroy	1-6	12.9 (81)
1970	Hawthorn	0-7	10-12	21.20 (146)	South Melbourne	5-2	12.12 (84)
1971	South Melbourne	0-6	3-19	16.9 (105)	Essendon	1-4-1	12.17 (89)
1972	North Melbourne	0-16	1-21	13.9 (87)	South Melbourne	2-14	11.12 (78)
1973	South Melbourne	0-13	4-18	18.15 (123)	Geelong	2-11	12.6 (78)
1974	Melbourne	0-9	3-19	18.16 (124)	Fitzroy	3-5-1	13.15 (93)
1975	South Melbourne	0-8	2-20	11.26 (92)	Geelong	2-6	7.13 (55)
1976	Fitzroy	0-6	7-15	11.22 (88)	South Melbourne	2-4	12.15 (87)
1977	Melbourne	0-7	5-17	19.26 (140)	Fitzroy	1-6	14.8 (92)
1978	Footscray	0-4	7-15	15.20 (110)	Essendon	3-1	13.15 (93)
1979	Hawthorn	0-2	10-12	18.15 (123)	Geelong	1-1	11.17 (83)
1979	Footscray	0-2	7-14-1	16.13 (109)	St. Kilda	1-1	15.14 (104)
1980	Footscray	0-11	5-17	25.17 (167)	Fitzroy	2-8-1	18.15 (123)
1981	Footscray	0-5	2-20	13.13 (91)	Essendon	1-4	12.11 (83)
1982	Fitzroy	0-3-1	12-9-1	18.19 (127)	Essendon	2-2	15.12 (102)
1983	St. Kilda	0-8	5-17	16.12 (108)	Richmond	1-7	13.15 (93)
1984	St. Kilda	0-6	5-17	22.16 (148)	North Melbourne	2-4	14.17 (101)
1985	St. Kilda	0-4	3-19	19.12 (126)	Fitzroy	1-3	18.14 (122)
1986	St. Kilda	0-12	2-20	15.11 (101)	Melbourne	3-9	7.7 (49)
1987	Footscray	0-3	11-10-1	14.12 (96)	Hawthorn	3-0	7.13 (55)
1987	Collingwood	0-3	7-15	16.14 (110)	Richmond	1-3	15.10 (100)
1988	Richmond	0-4	8-14	23.15 (153)	Fitzroy	1-3	12.19 (91)
1988	Brisbane	0-4	7-15	13.15 (93)	St. Kilda	1-3	12.12 (84)
1989	Carlton	0-5	9-12-1	15.12 (102)	Richmond	2-3	9.12 (66)
1990	Richmond	0-4	7-15	21.17 (143)	Fitzroy	1-3	9.10 (64)
1991	Brisbane	0-9	3-19	26.12 (168)	Sydney	3-6	18.13 (121)
1992	Richmond	0-2	5-17	17.17 (119)	Melbourne	1-1	9.15 (69)
1993	Sydney	0-11	1-19	23.11 (149)	Melbourne	5-6	16.13 (109)
1994	Sydney	0-2	4-18	11.20 (86)	Richmond	1-2	10.12 (72)
1995	Collingwood	0-5-1	8-12-2	13.19 (97)	Sydney	2-4	11.10 (76)
1995	Melbourne	0-6	9-13	12.10 (82)	Brisbane	2-4	10.15 (75)
1995	St. Kilda	0-6	8-14	15.10 (105)	Footscray	4-2	12.15 (87)
1996	Fitzroy	0-7	1-21	16.11 (107)	Fremantle	3-4	10.16 (76)
1997	St. Kilda	0-2	15-7	19.11 (125)	Collingwood	2-0	13.15 (93)
1997	Sydney	0-2	12-10	15.9 (99)	Melbourne	1-1	14.7 (91)
1997	Port Adelaide	0-2	10-11-1	18.21 (129)	Geelong	1-1	12.15 (87)
1997	Carlton	0-2	10-12	15.18 (108)	Adelaide	1-1	14.8 (92)
1998	Brisbane	0-5	5-16-1	13.8 (86)	Richmond	3-2	7.9 (51)
1999	Collingwood	0-7	4-18	14.15 (99)	Fremantle	1-6	8.11 (59)
2000	St. Kilda	0-9-1	2-19-1	16.21 (117)	Port Adelaide	1-8-1	8.7 (55)
2001	Fremantle	0-17	2-20	16.10 (106)	Hawthorn	12-5	13.12 (90)
2002	Western Bulldogs	0-5	9-12-1	14.12 (96)	Carlton	1-4	9.14 (68)
2003	Geelong	0-3	7-14-1	13.12 (90)	Melbourne	2-1	6.8 (44)
2004	Adelaide	0-4	8-14	21.8 (134)	Richmond	1-3	9.5 (59)
2005	Hawthorn	0-4	5-17	18.7 (115)	Brisbane	1-3	10.9 (69)
2006	Melbourne	0-3	13-8-1	15.7 (97)	Sydney	1-2	13.14 (92)
2006	Richmond	0-3	11-11	14.12 (96)	Brisbane	1-2	11.16 (82)
2007	Richmond	0-10-1	3-18-1	18.16 (124)	Melbourne	2-9	11.9 (75)
2008	Melbourne	0-6	3-19	17.17 (119)	Fremantle	1-5	15.23 (113)
2009	Fremantle	0-4	6-16	18.13 (121)	Sydney	2-2	16.4 (100)
2009	Richmond	0-4	5-17	13.16 (94)	North Melbourne	2-2	7.16 (58)
2010	Richmond	0-9	6-16	10.17 (77)	Port Adelaide	5-4	3.12 (30)
2011	Brisbane	0-7	4-18	10.13 (73)	North Melbourne	2-5	8.11 (59)
2012	Gold Coast	0-14	3-19	13.12 (90)	Richmond	7-7	13.10 (88)

Suing the right targets for global warming disasters

Today's article in the Huffington Post by Jeremy Xu, titled “Climate Change: Countries That May Be Hit Hardest” constitutes one damning account of the inhospitability bought about by high taxes and unaffordable housing in the cool, low-fragility countries of Northern Europe.

What it shows is that it is the very low-growth, high environmental standard and high-tax cities of Northern Europe are least at risk from changes they try to combat directly via their effective renewable energy campaigns more and more efficiently than any other country. Their regular seasonal climates and highly fertile soils allow them to support dense populations at very low ecological cost. Xu shows that this will become of much greater importance the tropics suffers even more intense droughts and floods.

Mediterranean climates, as southwestern Australia and central Chile have been doing for some time now, are seeing something historically considered severe drought become their new climate.

Easing Northern Europe’s welfare states’ debts requires immigration or higher fertility to provide more workers to support the elderly and government. High taxes and extensive government regulations make it impossible for potential migrants or childbearing couples to find a tolerable ratio of housing space to cost. Even the most well-intentioned laws regarding energy efficiency, renewable energy and land conservation may in young and low-diversity Northern Europe exacerbate this.

In fact, energy efficiency gains and greenhouse emissions reductions by countries like Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands are of little value in the global scheme. As these nations lose population from low fertility and immigration it simply cannot be thought their global influence will remain as high as it is today.

If Australia and South Africa cannot achieve extremely high levels of conservation and a carbon-free economy, environmental achievements of the heavily glaciated far northern lands will become valueless. These lands have higher fertility, vastly more “non-intellectual” resources (flat land and mineral), lower taxes and less intrusive governments, so that in the long term the “superpower” will be Australia and not China or India as far too many naïvely think. People in all nations – hot or cool – affected by global warming must head straight to Canberra or Pretoria and try to challenge their right to pollute by cheap coal power and methane-intensive farming on land naturally totally unsuited to agriculture. The people who bear the blame and need to be sued for any global warming related disasters are Australia’s farmers, road builders and coal mining companies – nobody else!

This is a much tougher route than heading to their own governments or businesses: it costs time and money that people in Tropical World countries do not possess. Even in Australia, people affected by bushfires and floods this summer have proved themselves unwilling to face who is to blame (coal and car companies, along with methane-generating farmers). What chance is there, especially with education on ecological issues so flawed, that poorer Tropical World people, even faced with costly disasters, will do anything?

A second trip to Braeside

Today, in an effort to talk to Christian Ganaban about three games I had sent him early last year but still have not been returned, I planned a trip to the new Name A Game office in Braeside.

Early on, I thought I might take my bike to Dandenong Station, but because I feared my bicycle would not be expected on a peak (though “counter-peak”) train, I chose to try to get the peak-only route 705 bus. I woke up amazingly early for me at 6:00 and was in the city by 7:00 and at Mordialloc as early as 7:48, where the 705 bus was directly waiting!

The 705 bus, given there are only eight services per day, was surprisingly crowded, and it was not long before I was in Braeside. After that, I had no trouble finding Name A Game, but as I expected it was firmly shut and so I took an hour’s walk around Braeside to familiarise myself with the place and obtain some much-needed exercise. In the process, I walked down a drainage root dry from the drought and was worried I would be caught, but I found myself in a more familiar place than before at the next exit.

Once I was confident the store would be open I went back in and waited very patiently before talking to Christian Ganaban. A dearly-wanted game between West Coast and Adelaide from Round 10 of 1992 he said was not available because the master was totally staticky and AFL Films did not have a copy, and then he said three 1980s games I had traded for were not yet ready. Nonetheless, Christian did, after some discussion that even he finds repetitive about why people have no interest in these games, offer to give me three trades already: Richmond v Adelaide from 1995, Richmond v Hawthorn from 1995 and Geelong v Footscray from 1993. Unfortunately he had no Richmond or Geelong slips, but I was willing to wait.

After this, I went back to Governor Road in reasonable, if not perfect time for the 709 bus that leaves at 48 minutes past the hour. Looking around Braeside really shows how Australia should try to blend all the parks surrounding the  into a full-scale conservation area to help protect its unique species – though with the grass fires in Seaford this could be difficult in bone-dry weather. There is just too much bushland to allow for it to be destroyed for housing in such a fragile environment. I even saw a Masked Lapwing, which was surprising given such bone-dry weather.

I then went on the so-called SmartBus to Box Hill and then a much-changed 735 route to Nunawading. (Route 735 once went down Middleborough Road and to Upper Ferntree Gully; then went via Elgar Road and Riversdale Road only to South Blackburn; and now goes via Foch Street and Haig Street to South Blackburn and Nunawading. The shared component of all 735 routes is via Fulton Road, Eley Road and Royton Street). On the 735 route there were more people than I expected, and as I recall it was scenic even in the bone-dry weather with dry sandy soils, but some of it was really hard on the back streets and one sees why the PTUA is so critical of having buses use them. Buses cannot go frequently if they must use back streets or they might meet each other on a street too narrow!

After reaching Nunawading, I had a look at one of the diminishing breed of secondhand bookstores and was impressed by some of the conversation between a customer and the shopkeeper about England’s poor immigration policy that has allowed Muslims to invade London. The woman who was talking seemed – as I would expect for outer suburbs – quite like the Politically Incorrect Guides in her viewpoints: she seemed to believe in Intelligent Design as well as being critical of Muslim migration. Unfortunately, I could not find anything to buy myself, so I went home by train after an hour, ending an unusual but enjoyable day out with a lot of football to watch.

Thoughts on a day’s bus trip: with planning one can be sustainable even here

For a long time, I was obsessed with buses and alarmed at the appalling services. Most buses in Melbourne went every half hour on weekdays, every hour on Saturdays and not at all on Sundays or public holidays - even when they went past Waverley Park on match days! I often imagined most bus drivers went to church on Sundays and that the people who ran bus companies were very religious and conservative - though my brother denied this consistently and now I laugh at it.

Recently, bus services have improved very marginally, though the way to make them profitable via cutting road capacity is never taken seriously. However, I have become less interested and no longer inclined to joke about drivers spending their time praying and reading the Bible on Sundays since I know bus drivers actually work on Sundays more often than many other people.

Still, when I bought a copy of the latter-day Doug Wilhelm Choose Your Own Adventure The Underground Railroad and was offered the option of travelling to pick it up, I did not hesitate to do so even though I knew the bus services where pathetic compared to those in Enriched and Tropical World cities.

However, what is notable compared with previous trips as recently as to Mooroolbark to pick up a few old Fitzroy games, is how well I planned my trip. I actually planned the trip outwardly to Vermont South exactly at midday - as exactly as planning which 742 bus from Oakleigh Station I would travel to Vermont South. All along I read a huge selection of poems from Thomas Merton which I had bought several years ago but never put away. I was quite interesting in places, actually.

Even with only one bus every forty minutes, it was very easy for me to reach Vermont South, and with direction from kind locals I found the house easily. Better than that, I did not ask obsessive questions about where the best weather in Australia is (and I know most do not agree with me that outside of the winter the answer has to be Tasmania) and did not waste time getting back to the 742 bus.

When I got back to the 742 bus, I went to Oakleigh station and did a bit of my old “galloping” on buses: riding for the first time ever the 701 from Oakleigh to Bentleigh and the the 703 from Blackburn to North Brighton after missing a train looking around the run-down shops of Bentleigh. I will admit there is, as with my half-sister’s sunshine home, a lot of charm to run-down places when they are a bit functional. At Brighton I considered my original aim of going into the city by bus before I found it would take forty minutes and went on the train home, in the process having read much of my new book.

All in all, it was a surprisingly easy bus journey, and offers lessons for visitors to Australia. Because Australia is so fragile, it is ecologically unacceptable to ever use cars or planes unless there is no remote alternative, yet the public transport is appalling without really good planning With such planning, however, it would be possible to travel more quickly than even I did - a satisfactory result one would guess for a tourist in the city.