Sydney

It's been a while since I last posted and once you haven't posted for a while all the stuff you want to write about gets a bit overwhelming so you end up not posting anything and the list of stuff to write about just gets longer. So there may end up being a lot of postings today as I try to clear the backlog. At the moment I am in Sydney for a 6 week holiday, I love the French public servant holidays. I came back via Hong Kong where I spent a day exploring the city, before arriving back here 2 days before Christmas with Christmas shopping still to complete. Sydney has been good, I've never spent so much time here before, only ever visiting for a weekend or so. It is a really pretty city what with its parks and beaches all over the place as well as the harbour, of course. It's just a pity that all the beaches are hard to get to, what with the pitiful public transport and really bad parking and driving. The buses are not too bad, so long as you only have to catch one, once there is a connection involved though it can get really painful.

It is certainly different from Canberra, there the emphasis was on outdoor sports, things like rogaining, triathlons, cross country races and Canberra was really awesome for that sort of thing. It's only when you leave that you realise just how great you had it. Sydney has different attractions, the beaches and the warmer weather sure is nice. It's just a shame that the long bike rides are going to be full of traffic and the mountain biking is going to be in short supply.

I've also found that Sydneysiders really are different from Canberrans and Darwinians, which are the only other 2 cities I have lived in. I've found them to be way more judgemental here, when you walk into a pub or if you are out shopping you can certainly feel everyone giving you the once over as to what you are wearing, which is a little disconcerting. You also can't help thinking of the stereotypical comparison of Sydney and Melbourne and Los Angeles and New York. Sydney feels like it is full of vain sun worshippers (like Los Angeles) whilst Melbourne gives the impression of black-wearing, artsy types (perhaps more like New York). Sydney sure has it's own sense of style which I wouldn't call classy, but I suppose it is too hot to worry about class and so people go for that skin bearing, beachy wear. I'm looking forward to exploring the place though and finding the good spots of Sydney as well as some good places to exercise.