OZ - Sydney vs. Melbourne

I'm considering spending a couple of months in Australia around
January-March or thereabouts. I am wondering what locals or adopted
locals think of the differences between Sydney and Melbourne. What
makes these cities different? What makes them unique to one another?
What factors make a person choose one instead of the other?

Thanks!
--
"The problem with unemployment is that the moment you wake up, you're on the job."

"Terrence Chan" wrote in message
...
I'm considering spending a couple of months in Australia around
January-March or thereabouts. I am wondering what locals or adopted
locals think of the differences between Sydney and Melbourne. What
makes these cities different? What makes them unique to one another?
What factors make a person choose one instead of the other?

Thanks!
--
"The problem with unemployment is that the moment you wake up, you're on
the job."

Going to Australia and by-passing Sydney is the same as England without
London, USA without New York or France without Paris. Sydney is one of the
world's most well known cities with such famous features such as the Opera
House and the harbour bridge . For that reason alone I would go there first.
But apart from that I find it more interesting anyway. There's nothing wrong
with Melbourne either, but when all said and done it's just another city;
however if you are there for two months I'm sure you could spend some time
in both places.

In article , Terrence Chan
writes
I'm considering spending a couple of months in Australia around
January-March or thereabouts. I am wondering what locals or adopted
locals think of the differences between Sydney and Melbourne. What
makes these cities different? What makes them unique to one another?
What factors make a person choose one instead of the other?


As a visitor, you really have to see Sydney. By all means go to
Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Alice or whatever, but don't miss
Sydney.

--
JohnM

"JohnM" wrote in message
...
In article , Terrence Chan
writes
I'm considering spending a couple of months in Australia around
January-March or thereabouts. I am wondering what locals or adopted
locals think of the differences between Sydney and Melbourne. What
makes these cities different? What makes them unique to one another?
What factors make a person choose one instead of the other?


As a visitor, you really have to see Sydney. By all means go to
Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Alice or whatever, but don't miss
Sydney.

--
JohnM

The question was WHY

I have visited both a few times, but not lived in Sydney or Melbourne.

Sydney is a beautiful city, being situated on the wonderful harbor. If
you like water and a faster pace, it is definitely for you. It is
also warmer and more humid. As a tourist, Sydney was also more
expensive.

Melbourne is more laid back, and more understated. It is also an
attractive city with many different districts that cater to different
tastes and budgets.

Both cities offer good public transit and offer lots of opportunities
to explore the hinterland. The Blue Mountains and coast to the north
and south of Sydney are very nice side trips. The Great Ocean Road,
Ballarat and Bendigo (gold rush cities) are close to Melbourne.

You choice should be based on what you want to do and see and what you
can afford.

PS Based on your domain name, I would say that Sydney is more like
Vancouver and Melbourne is more like Seattle.

On Thu, 31 Aug 2006 01:19:55 -0700, Terrence Chan
wrote:

I'm considering spending a couple of months in Australia around
January-March or thereabouts. I am wondering what locals or adopted
locals think of the differences between Sydney and Melbourne. What
makes these cities different? What makes them unique to one another?
What factors make a person choose one instead of the other?

Thanks!

On Thu, 31 Aug 2006 22:46:20 -0700, Anonymous
wrote:

I have visited both a few times, but not lived in Sydney or Melbourne.

Sydney is a beautiful city, being situated on the wonderful harbor. If
you like water and a faster pace, it is definitely for you. It is
also warmer and more humid. As a tourist, Sydney was also more
expensive.

I definitely am a faster pace kind of person; a city boy through and
through. As far as money matters, I like saving money as much as the
next guy, but it's not a big deal to me. I do have a preference for
cooler climates though. How much difference is there?

Thanks for all the responses so far.
--
"The problem with unemployment is that the moment you wake up, you're on the job."

Here are the average high and low temps and rainfall for Sydney and
Melbourne from Weather.com. The temperatures aren't as different as
I expected.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/trave...12?from=search
http://www.weather.com/outlook/trave...75?from=search

Sydney does, however, get far more rain.


On Fri, 01 Sep 2006 02:05:35 -0700, Terrence Chan
wrote:

On Thu, 31 Aug 2006 22:46:20 -0700, Anonymous
wrote:

I have visited both a few times, but not lived in Sydney or Melbourne.

Sydney is a beautiful city, being situated on the wonderful harbor. If
you like water and a faster pace, it is definitely for you. It is
also warmer and more humid. As a tourist, Sydney was also more
expensive.

I definitely am a faster pace kind of person; a city boy through and
through. As far as money matters, I like saving money as much as the
next guy, but it's not a big deal to me. I do have a preference for
cooler climates though. How much difference is there?

Thanks for all the responses so far.

On Fri, 01 Sep 2006 02:05:35 -0700, Terrence Chan
wrote:

On Thu, 31 Aug 2006 22:46:20 -0700, Anonymous
wrote:

I have visited both a few times, but not lived in Sydney or Melbourne.

Sydney is a beautiful city, being situated on the wonderful harbor. If
you like water and a faster pace, it is definitely for you. It is
also warmer and more humid. As a tourist, Sydney was also more
expensive.

I definitely am a faster pace kind of person; a city boy through and
through. As far as money matters, I like saving money as much as the
next guy, but it's not a big deal to me. I do have a preference for
cooler climates though. How much difference is there?

Thanks for all the responses so far.


Well, then go to Melbourne, for as they say, "If you don't like the
weather, wait a minute"

It can have the four seasons in a day....

Perth is MUCH nicer......

One wrote:
On Fri, 01 Sep 2006 02:05:35 -0700, Terrence Chan wrote:
If you like water and a faster pace, it [Sydney] is definitely for
you.

This is probably true by Australian standards, but don't expect
something like London or NY, for example. Sydney is a large and
modern city, but after living for 3 years here, I have never had the
feeling of living in a big city. It seems to me that Sydney is pretty
quiet and has a relatively slow pace. I have talked to other
residents in Sydney who has the same feeling. Anyway, maybe I am
wrong. It would be interesting to hear from others about this.

Sydney seems crazy to me, everyone's going 100 km/hr, hurry hurry hurry.
There's noise, everything seems dirty. It's a great place to visit,
especially for shopping, but I always leave it with a headache.

--
ant
Don't try to email me;
I'm borrowing the spammer du jour's addy

On Fri, 01 Sep 2006 02:05:35 -0700, Terrence Chan
wrote:

On Thu, 31 Aug 2006 22:46:20 -0700, Anonymous
wrote:

I have visited both a few times, but not lived in Sydney or Melbourne.

Sydney is a beautiful city, being situated on the wonderful harbor. If
you like water and a faster pace, it is definitely for you. It is
also warmer and more humid. As a tourist, Sydney was also more
expensive.

I definitely am a faster pace kind of person; a city boy through and
through. As far as money matters, I like saving money as much as the
next guy, but it's not a big deal to me. I do have a preference for
cooler climates though. How much difference is there?

Thanks for all the responses so far.

You've got a couple of months. Do both, and spend a few
weeks sauntering down the coast to get from one to the
other.

The only cool climate Jan-Mar is Tasmania.

Cheers, Alan