How (not) to get to Canberra

 I live in Beechworth, in North Eastern Victoria, but I used to live in Canberra, and I occasionally go back, because, despite being boring as batshit it has big city facilities and people I know.

Normally I'd drive, and it takes about five hours each way, but as I get older (I'm 67 now) long freeway drives appeal less and less, so I thought I'd investigate public transport options.

After a little bit of research my choices as regards overground options come down to

V/Line

• Leave at 0743 on a weekday to get a V/Line bus to Wangaratta train station 

•  Wait for over an hour and get a local V/line train to Wodonga and then a bus to Canberra arriving at 1520

      Basically near enough an eight hour journey, but cheap at under $20 including my senior citizen discount.

Transport NSW

• Bus to Albury at 0945 

•  Wait for an hour for the Transport NSW XPT to Cootamundra
• Connecting coach service to Canberra  arriving at 1730

            Again near enough an eight hour journey and a bit more expensive at a tad under $40 including discounts.

There are other options, but I'm of an age where late night buses are on the same level as sardine class overnight flights. 

Insanely, given that I have a pile of loyalty points with both Qantas and Virgin, it would be cheaper and quicker to get the train to Melbourne and fly.

Sticking with surface transport, the Transport NSW option, while more expensive, seems the better choice simply because half the journey is by train, but if you ever wondered why people drive silly distances, this is it - while there still is a skeletal public transport network, skeletal is exactly what it is ...