I was fortunate enough to spend about 8 weeks in Sydney and Melbourne last year while on my gypsy travel binge, and I’d like to share a few quick light-hearted thoughts.
First, both Sydney and Melbourne are gorgeous cities – although Sydney has a bit of a harder edge to it. If the last 5 years hadn’t happened, it wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d chose to study there instead of Auckland back in 2004;)
Fast Walking
One of the differences I noticed most compared to NZ is how quickly people walk, especially in Sydney – which I reckon is a sign of how things are faster-paced there. I thought I was quick, but was barely keeping up with the short girls in high heels!
Another anecdotal comparison: when comparing the speed of deli service at the most urban supermarkets in Sydney and Auckland on multiple occasions, the apathy of Auckland’s service is stark (and consistent.)
Prickiness
And while I liked the added intensity of daily life in OZ, the overall friendliness as compared to NZ is definitely lacking. I joked about this on my status message at the time by saying “Dave thinks the average Aussie is a much bigger prick than the average Kiwi, but nowhere near as big a prick as the average Yankee.”
So being American, Sydney felt much more like a big US city than Auckland does (which isn’t always a good thing.)
Quality Over Quantity
But despite my friendly jabs at Auckland, I always seem to like it more after being gone awhile, and this was no exception.
And when not on anthropology duty, I was really lucky to see several of my friends – Mitch, Julia, Paul, Maria, and Kai – and also meet some cool new people.