Australia Redux

So I've decided to create a directors cut of our holiday that actually includes Sydney! The photos are up on flickr now!



Okay, so actually I completely forgot to do the Sydney leg. A bit silly, given I had more photos for there than anywhere up to that point. Also because I had actually chosen the photos to upload then deleted the folder from the desktop because I thought I had done it already.


Anyway, needless to say Sydney was great. Caught up with Dan & Naomi, Sera and cousin Felicity, which was nice. Had a bit of rain, but on the whole the weather was just dandy. Did a tour bus which took us around all the main sights, but just generally wandered about seeing what we could see. Our hotel was quite central, so we were able to walk around fairly easily.


Popped my head into a comic shop over there. Kings on Pitt St. Nice store, but a bit sterile and not terribly well laid out. Bought a copy of the Local issue set in Park Slope as a pressie for Lisa (who used to live there).

We really liked Sydney. Enough to realise that it was probably the #1 contender for us in terms of places to live when we leave the UK. We had been thinking of Melbourne, but Sydney just feels a little more vibrant to me. I know Melbourne gets a lot of NZ love these days, but to be honest Melbourne felt a little dull in comparison.


Okay, these are judgements based on very little time spent in either, but that's the immediate impression for me. Sydney, the city, feels more like a living, breathing, sprawling city, whereas Melbourne feels a bit like a collection of suburbs whose populace work and shop in the city. Unfair judgement? Possibly, but at the end of the day Sydney clicked with us in a way that Melbourne just didn't.


Oh, while we were there, a massive cruise ship had come into harbour. This thing was bloody huge! The Sapphire Princess. Tacky as all get-out, but quite the sight to behold. We sat by the opera house and watched it depart, which was sadly entertaining. Nice one, Sydney!