This morning I have been online looking at one-way flights to Melbourne.
Trying to find a flight that will arrive mid-afternoon, not too expensive has been laborious.
There are all these ad-on prices to consider.
I am not even sure I have the wherewithal to accomplish this task.
I think all I can do is book a flight and pay the final, tallied price.
Qantas is my choice of carrier, though most expensive of course.
You could take the train and see some of the country although it does take over 3 days and you’ll have to change in Adelaide 
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I have done the train trip Melbourne to Perth 3 times. The last time was 38 years ago.
I had a look. All seats in April are sold out except for three seats. The lowest fare is $3090.
That is Perth to Adelaide. Still need to get to Melbourne.
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The Ghan and Indian Pacific prices are a joke, why not drive? it is not a bad trip, treat it like a holiday, I quite like driving across the Nullarbour, the roadhouses are affordable, fuel is expensive but I always carry a jerry can.
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I don’t know Bret personally but, i get the feeling he is a bit old to handle change 
I do not know what has been happening in the last few years for air travel in Australia but in Europe the number of flights has dropped hugely and the prices have gone up significantly. There used to be about 14-16 daily flights from Toulouse to a London airport (across 3-4 airlines). Now there perhaps 5 or 6. And mostly at inconvenient times. It was previously possible to get a one-way ticket for £20-30 if you booked well in advance. Now it is more often £70-80. More if you use BA.
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Flying has always been expensive here, I could fly to Singapore for less than it costs to fly to Darwin. In fact years ago people used to buy tickets to Singapore then book the ongoing flight when they were there it was so much cheaper.
When a new airline starts up here Qantas lowers its prices to send them broke, Qantas also owns Jetstar the cheap airline.
My Malaysian friend, flies exactly the same route as I do except, of course, from Malaysia, she pays the same in Ringetts as I do in Aus$ for the same flight on the same airline. In other words her flight cost one third of mine - Aus$1 = RM3
Rip off Australia
BTW I have on flown on a domestic flight once, in 1967 I flew to Canberra paid for by my employer at the time
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