Sydney

Walking around downtown Toronto and taking transit through Scarborough (granted, not the best sample) made me cognizant of just how shabby Torontonians are relative to Sydneysiders, and Canberrians, and Aussies in general.



Sydney is now my favourite city in the world, and I'll safely say that it's the only city I've been to that I'd rather live in than Toronto. Beautiful city, beautiful people, beautiful weather - everything one could ask for.

What makes Sydney so great?



The city - Sydney is perfection. The harbour, dotted with beaches, marinas, sailboats, and the world-famous Opera House and Harbour Bridge, is breathtaking. The skyline is impressive. The downtown core is remarkably clean and green, with palm trees and gum trees lining the streets, and the monumental Hyde Park and the beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens giving Sydneysiders a break from the hustle and bustle. There are pedestrian-only streets and alleys and passageways filled with fine dining, patios, and shopping. The city is constantly brimming with energy and life. The nightlife is positively happening. And there are no homeless people or panhandlers hassling you at every corner. You always feel safe.



The whole city has a very relaxed, upbeat vibe, and there's a classy, cosmopolitan sophistication to the city - moreso than Toronto, which at times feels very gritty and industrial. Sydney just feels richer, more white-collar - more of a world city than Toronto.



Demographics - Sydney is a diverse city with IMO the ideal ethnic mix: 60% white (mostly WASP), 30% Asian (mostly Hong Kongers, but Koreans and Viets as well), 10% brown (mostly Lebanese and Indian) - enough to make me not feel like an outcast, but not so much to degrade the city ala. Scarborough. The minorities seem educated and well-integrated - they do a good job of screening immigrants and only letting the good ones in. No Mondays.



People - The Aussies are a good-looking people. The guys are slack-jawed and well-built, the women slender and sophisticated - a lot of blondes. You'd be hard-pressed to find a fat or pasty person. I think it's the outdoors/sporting culture and the year-round balmy weather. But what struck me especially was how well-dressed the people were - all the people looked very clean-cut and well put together, and there aren't many people that looked poor or notably shabby. The Asian girls in particular are some of the most attractive and fashionable ones I've seen.



What also struck me was how little influence hip hop culture had over there - no kids running around in baggy jeans, oversized basketball jerseys, hats tilted sideways, bandanas and chains... no thugs, wiggers, chiggers, wankstas or wannabe gangsters. There isn't that hard ghetto culture that's pervasive in the T-Dot. Rather, Aussie kids seemed really clean-cut and well-behaved, and it was a refreshing change.



Transit - There are surface trains (no subways) that run in every direction, reaching out far into the distant suburbs. Fares are paid proportional to how far one is travelling, and you buy tickets from a kiosk, not an overpaid-but-perpetually-striking booth attendant who gets paid a ridiculous sum of money to sit on his lard ass. There are screens that inform passengers of when the next train is to arrive, and where it will stop. They have light rail on the streets, and even a monorail that circles the CBD!



Suburbs - I love the Sydney suburbs. Every suburb is in proximity of a train station, and by every train station you'll have a pharmacy ("chemist"), a grocery store, a laundromat, some ethnic shops etc. giving it a quaint, almost small-town like feel. My relatives there lived a 10-15 min walk from the train station, and one doesn't get the sense you don't need a car to get by. The suburban houses are mostly bungalows (without basements) built on good-sized lots, each house with a fence and gate. And everyone lives in a single-family home - they don't have vast suburban apartment blocks like we do, keeping pride in home ownership high and preventing ghettos from forming.



Accent - I love the accent. They do say "mate" a lot! Walk into a shop, and you're more than likely to be greeted with a loud, cheery "How you going, mate?" Also, say "thank you", and they they won't say "you're welcome"; instead, they'll say "no worries". I think that in essence epitomizes the difference between polite, reserved nature of Canadians and the open, friendly character of Australians. But what was really strange was seeing brown kids like my cousins and Asian girls especially speak with a hardcore Aussie accent - that really messed up my reality. It's totally hot.



Culture - What I like about Aussies is that they seem to have a proud, distinct culture. We Canadians tend to define ourselves in opposition to the Americans. The Aussies have their own thing going - like Rugby League/Rugby Union/Aussie Rules Football - perhaps owing to the fact their remote location as a Western outpost by the South Pacific. But there are things that make Australia somewhat parochial; for example, all shops close at 5pm, except on Thursdays (late-night shopping). Also, some stuff are really expensive - think $2.80 for a bottle of Coke, and I forked over $3.00 for bottled water at Hungry Jack's!



Fortunately, sushi was a lot more reasonably priced. I met with Fiona, who was doing a co-op term there, and she, too was thoroughly blown away by Sydney and echoed a lot of the same sentiments.



Australia thoroughly impressed me. I think of it as hidden gem, a place that's so far and remote that not many people really bother to think to head down to it. But if Toronto keeps going downhill, then I'm just about ready to flee for sunnier pastures Down Under.