Sydney.....or Melbourne?

If you are an Aussie, or anyone else for that matter then you either have an allegiance to Sydney, or to Melbourne - both very different cities. So you may wand
er about my opinion, or more likely, you don't care.
It's a tough call. For me, Melbourne is way better. Cooler, funkier shops, easier to get out of that big city feeling as it's much smaller, great coffee, great bar scene and reminds me a bit of Edinburgh in terms of ease of escape from the city feeling.
However, Sydney is in a fantastic location with loads of beaches, inlets, city centre marinas and far better weather. However in Sydney there is a greater feeling of being in a major city - you pretty much need reminded that despite the low population and great size of Australia, Sydney is up there with New York, Paris, London and the rest o n the world cities. I may be biased as I feel I know Melbourne a bit more than Sydney, largely due to being there twice.

My solution? Well it's a bit late now, but if Sydney were to be bombed, and Melbourne dropped down on top of it, you have the perfect capital city!

Melbourne Rocks

Melbourne's a great city. I reckon Edinburgh would be like this if it had a bigger population to sustain some more quirky and unusual shops. There are just so many shops, bars and cafes here with such a good vibe. The city is also a great mix of old and new as you don't have to walk far from the CBD to find older shophouses, parks and gardens to explore.

Sydney - can you win me over next week?

Typical cafe alleyway in central Melbourne.

Older building in Melbourne.

Newer Melbourne!

Mad in Melbourne

I only arrived in Melbourne yesterday morning and it seems like I've been here for a while. I've dropped my bags in my mate's apartment but have yet to see his housesitter! I didn't do much during the day yesterday apart from wander around a few streets I didn't see the last time. The pad is really central so you can easily walk into town or take a tram. I'm was really going to attempt to take my time here to chill out.....at least that's what I thought.
The afternoon came around and I contacted Jane (met in Borneo) and arranged to hook up for a beer, and at the same time I got a text from a couple of Irish girls I met in Laos who I knew were working in Melbourne, so arranged to gatecrash leaving drinks for their mates and met everyone in a pub in St Kilda. As it ended up getting to that point where I had to decide to take a train or taxi back to town I ended up couchsurfing and stayed out a bit later.
As I was on the tram back I got a call from Sara who was on my road trip from Alice Springs to Adelaide, so then went to meet her and an Irish bloke for lunch in town. Tonight I was meant to meet me housemate-for-three-days but not sure if that'll happen or not. Tomorrow I'm meeting another mate I met in Whistler many moons ago.

I love travelling!!!

Adelaide to Melbourne

I flew from Adelaide to Melbourne today. It was hard leaving Adelaide as I had a great time there, largely helped by Scott having days off, and the festival preview happening while I was there.
I managed to have a few beers, go for dinner, drive around for a day (thanks for the car Scott) and go mountain biking, and generally have a few days in out makeshift batchelor pad - no plans, food, drink, late nights.
I'll write a better description of one of our nights out when I hook up my laptop.
Not planning on doing too much in Melbourne as I was hear less than two years ago and could do with a chill out, except from hooking up with mates probably every evening....
I've got 'settled in' to my mate's pad in central Melbourne, despite him working somewhere in middle Asia just now, so I've yet to meet his housesitter who happily left me a key and some cake in the fridge. Now I've just got much more music to try and ahem, 'acquire'.
Anyway, better dash, got loads of music to trial....(cheers Alan!)