Le 25/03/12, 15:02
141.11223185714-28.119143428571
I’m going more and more lazy (maybe just adapting to Aussie lifestyle “buddy” ), so I’ll just make you a resume of my week in Sydney.
I’ve seen :
Sydney Harbour with the bridge and the Opera (my first modern architectural orgasm ! fuck off Foster, Gehry and Nouvel...this is THE masterpiece), Manly beach and Sydney Harbour national park. The aquarium (amazing), lady bay (nudist beach), swimmed in a 50 m salt water pool, The Blue Mountains (just one hour from the center and really fabulous), and some of Sydney diferent neighborhoods like Kings Cross, Newtown, Surry Hills, the Rocks, the CBD...
I liked : wildlife and wilderness in the middle of the city (huge spiders, lizards and even bats in the botanical gardens), the beaches so close, and beautiful, the healthy way of life (never seen so many people jogging, swimming, surfing ...before), the mix of modern and more ancient building, it’s really a beautiful town in a perfect location. Cheap asian restarurants everywhere too, like in all Australian cities.
I din’t like that much :
Hostels (they are frankly expensive and crappy in Australia, and Sydney is no exception), public transportation (quite complicated, not efficient), street lighting very poor at night, prices (if you work here you get very high wages so that’s not an issue...but for a traveller it is ), kind of “ghettos” neighborhoods, this is probably the most multicultural city in Australia, but you don’t really feel it because the center and beaches are really “white” neighborhoods, and urban tribes don’t really mix, and last but not least, the weather !! half of my stay under rain and clouds, and the town totally changes with bad weather....bye bye this cool outdoor lifestyle...it get’s really more depressed and boring.
One of Australia national sports is comparing Sydney and Melbourne...you have to like one and hate the other, and that’s supposed to define you.
For an European it seems to be a kind of absurd battle because they look much more alike than different !
Both are really wealthy, modern, with an american urbanism (business centre and sprwaling houses suburbs) and multicultural cities, with an outstanding “•Aussie barbie” lifestyle, beaches good restaurants, nice parks....both are also very far away from eveything else, expensive and with a weather which is not always as good as expected.
So which one did I prefer ? honestly from a “turistical” point of view Sydney is more beautiful and interesting (more views, buildings and beach fun). But it is a little bit more crowed than Melbourne and has already passed the “no return• point” when a city is just too big and people get consequently more stressed and don’t care about the others.
On the other hand Melbourne, as I said before, was the most “relaxed” big occidental city I’ve ever seen, it also has more galeries and a maybe a more “cafe and go out” oriented culture (that why they say it’s the most european city in Australia ) than the more “sport and look at me “ almost californian Sydney.
Anyway I enjoyed both of them, and wouldn’t mind to live there for a year or two (but actually I don’t know what I would do in Australia after all !!).
Here we are with the cities, now I’ll spend almost three weeks on the east coast, first wwoofing again in Byron Bay and then exploring the Great Bareer Reef near Cairns.
I’ve seen :
Sydney Harbour with the bridge and the Opera (my first modern architectural orgasm ! fuck off Foster, Gehry and Nouvel...this is THE masterpiece), Manly beach and Sydney Harbour national park. The aquarium (amazing), lady bay (nudist beach), swimmed in a 50 m salt water pool, The Blue Mountains (just one hour from the center and really fabulous), and some of Sydney diferent neighborhoods like Kings Cross, Newtown, Surry Hills, the Rocks, the CBD...
I liked : wildlife and wilderness in the middle of the city (huge spiders, lizards and even bats in the botanical gardens), the beaches so close, and beautiful, the healthy way of life (never seen so many people jogging, swimming, surfing ...before), the mix of modern and more ancient building, it’s really a beautiful town in a perfect location. Cheap asian restarurants everywhere too, like in all Australian cities.
I din’t like that much :
Hostels (they are frankly expensive and crappy in Australia, and Sydney is no exception), public transportation (quite complicated, not efficient), street lighting very poor at night, prices (if you work here you get very high wages so that’s not an issue...but for a traveller it is ), kind of “ghettos” neighborhoods, this is probably the most multicultural city in Australia, but you don’t really feel it because the center and beaches are really “white” neighborhoods, and urban tribes don’t really mix, and last but not least, the weather !! half of my stay under rain and clouds, and the town totally changes with bad weather....bye bye this cool outdoor lifestyle...it get’s really more depressed and boring.
One of Australia national sports is comparing Sydney and Melbourne...you have to like one and hate the other, and that’s supposed to define you.
For an European it seems to be a kind of absurd battle because they look much more alike than different !
Both are really wealthy, modern, with an american urbanism (business centre and sprwaling houses suburbs) and multicultural cities, with an outstanding “•Aussie barbie” lifestyle, beaches good restaurants, nice parks....both are also very far away from eveything else, expensive and with a weather which is not always as good as expected.
So which one did I prefer ? honestly from a “turistical” point of view Sydney is more beautiful and interesting (more views, buildings and beach fun). But it is a little bit more crowed than Melbourne and has already passed the “no return• point” when a city is just too big and people get consequently more stressed and don’t care about the others.
On the other hand Melbourne, as I said before, was the most “relaxed” big occidental city I’ve ever seen, it also has more galeries and a maybe a more “cafe and go out” oriented culture (that why they say it’s the most european city in Australia ) than the more “sport and look at me “ almost californian Sydney.
Anyway I enjoyed both of them, and wouldn’t mind to live there for a year or two (but actually I don’t know what I would do in Australia after all !!).
Here we are with the cities, now I’ll spend almost three weeks on the east coast, first wwoofing again in Byron Bay and then exploring the Great Bareer Reef near Cairns.
