After a jaunt to his old hometown Melby, PB offers his Top 5 “Melbourne v Sydney” feelings on arriving in either of the two “Bigger Smokes” of OZ…
Ok, ok, I already sense you rolling your eyes and saying to yourself, “Here we go again, yawn-orama, another Melbourne v Sydney thing, pass me another soy, decaf cappuccino with honey” (oh, by the way, stop talking to yourself…)
No, it’s not going to be like that, I promise. Mostly.
This particular version of Melbourne v Sydney is not about which is better or which is worse – it’s just a quick grab of my observations as I flew into and then wandered through the streets of both of these great Aussie towns…
Melbourne
- Bikes. I’d forgotten how bikes rule the roads in Melbourne. Within 30 seconds of hitting the streets of the CBD, flocks of cyclists were zipping past me – one v.cool chick in a floppy brown hat (oops no helmet, shhhhh), flowing skirt and Audrey Hepburn sunglasses swanned past me, destination Cools-ville (ie probably Brunny). I can imagine the drivers amongst you cursing right now, but I’m in the opposite camp – cyclists somehow make a city…less angry…more human…more open…
- Coffee. Oh that first, delicious brew – a 3/4 latte @ my fave Melbourne cafe, Journal. It’s not a cliché, it’s a given. Melbourne does the coffee thing like no other city in OZ. Enough said.
- Grid City. I know the U-turns do most visitors’ heads in, but these aside, Melbourne being a grid city gives it that international flavour reminiscent of the famous grid cities of the world.
- Food. While Melbourne’s “Foodie-Capital” status is probably less set in stone than it once was, there is still something breathtaking about the variety available. I hadn’t been to Melbs in six months but even in this short absence I was astounded with more offerings on every other corner of the city…down the lane-ways…in the new shopping spaces like the Emporium. Bloody delish. #spoiledforchoice
- Integrated, multi-modal public transport. One thing PT planners got right (although it will always be a work in progress as the city grows) is an integrated system. While Sydney is playing catch-up with this, Melbourne remains decades ahead in the Melbourne v Sydney public transport stakes, and the question will always hang over Sydney – WTF were they thinking when they pulled up the tram lines??? Big DOH for Sydney, massive thumbs up for Melbourne.
Flying back into my now-hometown, these were my reverse observations of…
Sydney
- Flying into Sydney. Pretty pretty. Flying in over Sydney and seeing some iconic images – the Bridge, the House, the Harbour, the beaches – would no doubt make any newbie to OZ feel like they’re arriving to their dreamy idea of the country at the end of the rainbow…and make every local proud to be coming home.
- Training into Sydney from the airport. (Do you get the impression I’m a total PT victim – Ok yes I am, it’s a choice, and it’s more environmentally friendly, right? And I hate cars anyway, so sue me already.) Sydney got it soooooo right by building the Airport link. Less than ten minutes to Central straight from the airport? BOOOH YEAH. Melbourne has been trying to do this for 750 years and still can’t get it together. Sydney = WINNER.
- Weather. The Sydney version of Melbourne’s coffee cliché in the Sydney v Melbourne stakes is the climate but you just can’t deny it. Blue skies (ok, with occasional mad outbursts of the wet stuff – like today for example), but those extra few degrees most of the year and blue horizons more often than not are bloody great.
- The City Circle. This one is going to make people scratch their heads but big deal. I love the smell of the City Circle. It’s a funky brew of rubber, diesel, steamy dank water and other unmentionable odours. As I breathe in that lofty nasal soup, I am suddenly in the Subway in New York…the Underground in London…the Metro in Paris. Seriously. Love. The. Shit. (Check out this cool site on Sydney’s unfinished underground, which you’ll enjoy if you’re a nerd like me.)
- Thongs. (For our international readers, I am NOT referring to personal underclothing of the uncomfortable and revealing kind but rather flip flops.) On a simple level I love that it’s more warm the year around in Sydney and thus offers you the opportunity to let your feet breathe in a shoeless state. And yet on a semiotic level, thongs, especially when seen on Sydney residents right throughout even the chilliest bits of winter (you know, those 5.7 days), speak to me of some unbound optimism and confidence about Sydney and its people. No one else probably reads them that way but weirdly I do.
So…that’s it in the Melbourne v Sydney thing from me. I think I managed to steer clear of too much nastiness and also maybe made you think differently about different aspects of these two remarkably, spectacular cities of OZ.
We would love your thoughts on your own cities in a similar fashion and also your take on where you live (Similar to Michael Burrill’s great piece on Redfern – so get writing and join the TBS community of writers now!
(for those who didn’t get the headline reference…I present…)
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