East v. North

Manly.

I'm talking about the town here, not my disposition. It's only a mile from Bondi as the crow flies, but some might say it's a world away. You see, there's a great divide that runs through Sydney. It's called the harbor. And it separates Sydney from North Sydney. That's just geography. More importantly, it separates Bondi Beach in the Eastern Suburbs from Manly Beach in the Northern Beaches. The harbor is full of bull sharks because we're meant to be separated. Because Bondi is better. But the Manly people...they think they're better. And so we're locked in a bitter battle over who's beach is better.

Some might say this is one of those superfluous arguments that can never be resolved. Paris versus London. Melbourne versus Sydney. Coke versus Pepsi. There's no right answer, these people say: just what's better for you. My mom once expressed a similar sentiment when she declared that she liked tie games because it meant nobody lost. She was promptly kicked out of America.

As an unbiased person I thought I'd compare the two combatants across a number of areas. This is a completely impartial comparison even though I lived in Bondi*.

Name: I have to give this one to Manly. After all, the name of the town is Manly. It was actually named for the manly comportment of the aborigines by an officer of the First Fleet. There are only two places that can outdo that name, and they're called Manlier and Manliest. They don't exist yet but I've got my eye on some cheap land in North Dakota and will someday become the Manliest Mayor. Has a ring to it. Bondi, an aborigine word, roughly translates into "the sound the waves make crashing on rocks." Poetic. But not manly. +1 Manly

Beach: Bondi is like the spokesperson for Australian beaches. It's famous and it's got an amazing setting -- curving from the cliffs of North Bondi south to the start of the beautiful Bondi-to-Bronte ocean walk. Whenever an advertiser needs an urban beach scene for a commercial they film it at Bondi. Manly also has a nice beach but it doesn't have quite the iconic setting. It also has a sewage pipe jutting out in the middle. It did have a whale and her calf stop by to play with some swimmers, which is cool, but the calf probably has developmental issues from the sewage now. +1 Bondi

 

Food/Bar Scene: Manly has a few winners. Some friends are constantly at one of three bars by the wharf and it's got a microbrewery that makes some solid beer. Bondi has actually changed a lot just in the years we've been there. Quite a few small, funky bars and new restaurants have opened up shop. We don't have a brewery but it's only a matter of time before some hipsters open one. Plus we've got Icebergs, which might have the best view in Australia for a bar.  +1 Bondi

 

People: The usual lazy dig against Bondi is that it's "full of Poms and backpackers". That's only partially true. It's actually full of hipsters. Think skin-tight jeans, plaid shirts or deep v-cut oversized t-shirts, Ray Ban Wayfarers, and beanies with a 5 day shadow. Manly seems to be full of tourists, though. And Poms and backpackers as well.  Draw

 

Wildlife: Besides an abundance of Staffordshire dogs in Bondi (all the hipsters buy them; there's seriously no originality when it comes to dog purchases in this part of the country) we've got Flying Foxes in the evening and the lovely sounds of the Kookaburra early in the morning. Manly had those whales, which is nice. But no one likes a retarded whale which is exactly what Manly will have once that calf returns next year.  Draw

And that settles it: Bondi wins with 2 points to Manly's 1 point. Sorry Manly, the East is better after all.

*This may be slightly partial after all.

Electrical Box Beautification

Not sure who's behind this great idea but someone is going around and painting electrical boxes around town turning them into cool pieces of art.

Pretty sure they do something like this in different parts of California, like San Diego, so if you found some in your area please share with us.

I started snapping pictures when I could so I could show them with you. Check out the ones I saw here in Sydney.

Bondi Road

Bondi Junction

Rushcutters Bay

Bondi Junction

Centennial Park 125 Anniversary

This year is Sydney's Centennial Park's 125 anniversary. For those that aren't familiar with CP, its Sydney's version of Central Park. Its a really beautiful park and though I haven't spent much time in it, mostly because I live in Bondi and rather be on the beach, its perfect for a variety of outdoor activities like jogging, picnicking and even horse back riding.

In honor of CP's 125 anniversary the park was hosting a number of cool things. So last night, we decided to head inward and see what it had to offer.

What a pretty and relaxing evening with the stars out, perfect temperature and colorful lights everywhere.

We had a snack at one of the food trucks, checked out the light garden, the wishing tree and the light boulevard. While at the wishing tree, I read one of the wishes already hanging and written in a young looking handwriting, its said "I want lots of friends." Instantly, it melt my heart and I could picture a young kid writing that. Man, I do not miss those years!

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the evening.

Light Garden

Wishes from the Wishing Tree

Wishing Tree

Light Boulevard

Celebrating 125 years of Centennial Park

There is a positive correlation between balconies and wine drinking

Real estate in Sydney, as in New York, is a blood sport. Prices are out of control and competition for homes is intense.  Real estate agents, who obviously never heard the phrase "A rising tide lifts all ships", plaster their faces around the city like they're rock stars for selling a place.

During the 15 minute showings for rentals it's not uncommon to have 10 other people looking at the apartment with you. As in New York, if you like a place you pretty much need to submit an application right away; the landlord then picks the best candidate. It's hard not to eye up the other people and judge which ones might look good on paper.

The apartment Sharon and I got when we first moved here was a five minute walk to the beach and had just been renovated. It would have been perfect but for two major reasons: 1) It had no outdoor space and 2) it was on the ground floor next to a major walkway, so we kept our shutters closed so all the people walking by wouldn't peek into our home. We felt like we lived in a bunker.

When our landlord decided to raise our rent, we decided it was time to find a new place. Sharon and I looked at a couple apartments that turned out to be dumps, and one day I went solo. It was the best I'd seen so I put an application down. Apparently, on paper we looked the best because it was offered to us.

We moved this past Saturday, which proved exhausting since we had several flights of stairs (and no elevator!) to contend with at our new location. But it was worth it: we've got a big balcony with a decent view (the trees are semi-blocking the water, but in winter when they drop their leaves we'll have a fantastic view), natural light streams in from big windows, and we're on the top floor so the only passers-by are some birds.

A view and a balcony are much more conducive to drinking wine, I've discovered. After all, savoring wine is about savoring life, and that's hard to do in a bunker. We might have opened one bottle of wine to drink by ourselves during the year in our old place; we already put down a bottle our first night here while wolfing down some Dominos. We just need to get a couple of chairs and a small table for the balcony and then it'll be off to the races.

Oh, and now we're a 15 minute walk to the beach, but I think we can live with that. :)

Sydney vs. Melbourne

Every country has great rivalries between its capital cities. Barcelona versus Madrid. NYC versus LA. Cleveland versus Pittsburgh. Given that Australia only has about five cities, and only Sydney and Melbourne are of consequence, it's no surprise that their rivalry is fairly intense.

Sydneysiders and Melbournites (neither exactly rolls off the tongue) are locked in battle over whose city is better. The whole reason Canberra, the country's capital, exists is because Melbourne and Sydney fought so viciously over which should host Australia's government that a miserable spot in between the two was picked to teach them a lesson.

  

When I first moved to Australia, a colleague from the States who has toyed with the idea of moving here asked me which city I liked better. I wasn't qualified to tell him at the time, but after spending a few weeks in Melbourne for work and getting the chance to explore quite a bit I'm ready to make a call:

If I had to pick a city to live in for the next 2 years or so (which is our situation), Sydney wins. If I had to pick a city to live in for a longer period of time, I'd pick Melbourne. Melbourne is the better city.*

I can hear my Sydney friends crying "Traitor!" and my Melbourne colleagues saying "We already knew that." But city preference, of course, is a personal thing. There are people who love Los Angeles who wouldn't dream of moving to New York, and vice versa. My vote is based on personal preferences. So here's my breakdown based on a number of criteria:

Lifestyle:

Sydney has a gorgeous harbor and a number of great beaches. For two years -- and after living in the concrete valleys of Manhattan -- that's the lifestyle I want: mosey down to the beach, have a swim, get some sun, sit at a café and look out onto the water while I drink a beer. Just a few weekends ago Sharon and I hung out at the beach -- and it was winter here! That's good living. Melbourne of course isn't far from the water; its harbor is great for parasurfing and the beach is accessible by train. But it doesn't have the beach town feel that pervades Sydney. (Sydney is, according to one of Sharon's coworkers, just a giant beach town). Win for Sydney.

Restaurant and Bar Scene:

After 9 months in Sydney, I feel as if I've already eaten at all the restaurants and checked out all the cool bars. Obviously I haven't; there are probably dozens of good restaurants I have yet to try, but that's the feeling I get. We actually have to do research to pick a new place to try out. For me, the key to enjoying a city long term is a sense of discovery and Melbourne seriously kicks Sydney's ass when it comes to cool little bars and restaurants waiting to be discovered. Just walking around a Melbourne neighborhood like Fitzroy or South Yarra I feel like the number and variety of restaurants could keep me busy for a long time. Win for Melbourne.

Transportation:

Sydney public transportation sucks. It is a car city…or rather would be if the parking situation was passable. The roads curve and wind and end unexpectedly and right turns are not allowed at half the intersections. A friend once said it's like someone dropped a pile of giant spaghetti on the city and then built roads using the noodles as a guideline. Melbourne, on the other hand, has a simple grid layout and a fantastic number of trams (not to mention buses and trains) to get around easily. And whether it's due to the ease of transportation or simple geography, Melbourne feels more compact -- it's simply easier to get around. Win for Melbourne.

Weather:

Sydney wins, though it's certainly not the year-round mecca I expected (see previous post). As I write this, Melbourne is a good 10 degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler and I've seen the sun for all of a few hours since I started working here. The gloom and cold do get depressing after a while. A YouTube video spoofs the weather in Melbourne: Jacket on, jacket off, jacket on, jacket off -- all in one day. When the weather is beautiful, you'll be hard pressed to find a better place than Sydney. Win for Sydney.

Shopping:

As a dude, I don't really shop -- I go on missions. However, being engaged to a woman who loves to shop, I can appreciate the things that make shopping good. Melbourne wins here. It's not just the variety of stores, because Sydney also has a huge variety, it's also the density. While Sydney has shopping districts such as Paddington, Melbourne packs much more in, and in a smaller area. This applies to many of the Melbourne suburbs I've seen as well as the center of the city. In fact, I told a coworker that if I didn't already know Sydney had the bigger population, I'd assume Melbourne is the bigger city -- it just has that density of shops, restaurants, and bars. Win for Melbourne.

And that's all she wrote.

*Unfortunately, Fitness First gyms play the same crappy Euro-trash pop in both cities**

**Europe's economy has been getting all the attention lately, but seriously, the real crisis is all the shitty pop music they produce