Sydney not so great when you live there

[degrom]

Sydney is regularly voted one of the world's best cities by travel magazines, but for many Sydneysiders the allure of its beautiful harbour and beaches is fading as they struggle with urban sprawl and congestion.

Some urban planners say Sydney is like a supermodel on drugs - great to look at but difficult to live with.

Frustration with living in Sydney has many residents feeling their harbour city has become aggressive and rude.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10415235&ref=rss

[dawnrazor]

sounds lke EVERY big city in the world with a population over 1Million, whats makes them so fucking special.

FFS Sydney is a village compared to Tokyo or London or NYC.....I've always thought its a real nice town, a very managable size not to big and not to small (like someplace I could mention!!!!! LOL)...

[degrom]

sounds lke EVERY big city in the world with a population over 1Million, whats makes them so fucking special.

FFS Sydney is a village compared to Tokyo or London or NYC.....I've always thought its a real nice town, a very managable size not to big and not to small (like someplace I could mention!!!!! LOL)...

LOL... The question is when do you call it a "Supercity"....

[Big Dave]

I spent the first 24 years of my life in Sydney.
Auckland, but hotter - and colder, more crowded and 2 vowels are pronounced differently.

[degrom]

I spent the first 24 years of my life in Sydney.
Auckland, but hotter - and colder, more crowded and 2 vowels are pronounced differently.

So you are saying : Sydney/Auckland not so great when you live there... :dodge:

[Big Dave]

So you are saying : Sydney/Auckland not so great when you live there... :dodge:

Nah - places are what you make them. Had good times in both.

[terbang]

Was living there until 3 years ago. Loved the place...

[Drum]

Ex Sydney sider. Ex Aucklander. Enjoyed living in both.

But Wellington is better than both.

[Big Dave]

Sydney-Side

Henry Lawson

(http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/L/LawsonHenry/index.html) <hr width="40%"> WHERE’S the steward?—Bar-room steward? Berth? Oh, any berth will do—
I have left a three-pound billet just to come along with you.
Brighter shines the Star of Rovers on a world that’s growing wide,
But I think I’d give a kingdom for a glimpse of Sydney-Side.
Run of rocky shelves at sunrise, with their base on ocean’s bed;
Homes of Coogee, homes of Bondi, and the lighthouse on South Head.
For in loneliness and hardship—and with just a touch of pride—
Has my heart been taught to whisper, ‘You belong to Sydney-Side.’
Oh, there never dawned a morning, in the long and lonely days,
But I thought I saw the ferries streaming out across the bays—
And as fresh and fair in fancy did the picture rise again
As the sunrise flushed the city from Woollahra to Balmain:
And the sunny water frothing round the liners black and red,
And the coastal schooners working by the loom of Bradley’s Head;
And the whistles and the sirens that re-echo far and wide—
All the life and light and beauty that belong to Sydney-Side.
And the dreary cloud-line never veiled the end of one day more,
But the city set in jewels rose before me from ‘The Shore.’
Round the sea-world shine the beacons of a thousand ports o’ call,
But the harbour-lights of Sydney are the grandest of them all!
Toiling out beyond Coolgardie—heart and back and spirit broke,
Where the Rover’s Star gleams redly in the desert by the ‘soak’—
But says one mate to the other, ‘Brace your lip and do not fret,
We will laugh on trains and ’buses—Sydney’s in the same place yet.’
Working in the South in winter, to the waist in dripping fern,
Where the local spirit hungers for each sixpence that we earn—
We can stand it for a season, for our world is growing wide,
And they all are friends and strangers who belong to Sydney-Side.
‘T’other-siders! T’other-siders!’ Yet we wake the dusty dead;
It is we that send the backward province fifty years ahead;
We it is that ‘trim’ Australia—making narrow country wide—
Yet we’re always T’other-siders till we sail for Sydney-side.

[merv]

I love visiting so bugger it I'm off to Sydney for my hols this year and I'm even going to Canberra when the Summer-Nats are on - geez what's a biker going to do when all the car freaks are in town?

[xwhatsit]

I definitely agree with the Auckland/Sydney comparison. When I lived in Australia, I lived in Brisbane, which although can be very sleepy and boring (especially to a teenager), is a far, far nicer place to live than Sydney. Sydney has a lot of the bad elements of Auckland -- crowded roads, crime, lack of politeness (although I think Aucklanders are more friendly than they are given credit for), expensive... the list goes on. Of course, there are upsides, but if you're basing a decision to live somewhere on travel brochures then you are not the brightest chap. After I graduate from uni, I'm heading overseas, I plan on it, but I don't think I'll be heading to Sydney. I just don't get a nice feeling from the place, even after being there many times. Melbourne on the other hand is a wonderful place.

As Big_Dave said though, a place is what you make it. My father couldn't stand Auckland while he lived here, despite being born here, and couldn't understand why the hell I wanted to come back.

[Grumpy Gnomb]

Lived on Central Coast (Gosford) and drove into Sydney every day. Not to bad as you got used to it. Decent roads but to many tolls so watch out if they toll the roads in Auckland

[ceebie13]

I compare Christchurch to Milton Keynes. Both flat, both on a grid system, both a big sprawl, both dull, both very easy to lose your bearings and get lost in. (IMHO)
Give me Wellington any day! Yay! CHCH's saving grace is that it is in this beautiful country and not the gridlock that is the English Midlands.