{"id":172,"date":"2013-12-29T21:28:43","date_gmt":"2013-12-29T11:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/?p=172"},"modified":"2013-12-31T14:53:55","modified_gmt":"2013-12-31T04:53:55","slug":"melbourne-observations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/2013\/12\/melbourne-observations\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne observations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00c2\u00a0(Disclaimer: based on a very small sample size.)<\/em><\/p>\n

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* Depicted above is one of the best signs I have seen, part of an official safety campaign.\u00c2\u00a0That particular photo is from the official Facebook page, but I saw rhino posters at several tram stops around the city.<\/p>\n

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* In general, Melbourne seems more concerned with aesthetics – and artistry – than Sydney. You know the concrete barriers by the side of freeways? This is the first time I’ve seen them\u00c2\u00a0painted\u00c2\u00a0– either in patterns or in cheerful green.<\/p>\n

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* Similarly, Melbourne retail appears more innovative. Almost every large Sydney mall I’ve been to was a big white enclosed box. However, in Melbourne I visited a centre (QV Building) with a nice courtyard and a surprisingly attractive minimalist concrete interior decor; and another (Melbourne Central, below) built around a central atrium housing a nineteenth-century shot tower!<\/p>\n

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* Housing seems much more affordable than Sydney, again based on a small sample (the listings in one agent’s window). I saw city apartments in both cities going for roughly the same rents; but the Sydney apartments were clapped-out while their Melbourne counterparts were sleek and new.<\/p>\n

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* The touristy part of central Melbourne is compact and walkable, and this means the good food in Chinatown isn’t too far away!<\/p>\n

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* Instead of Sydney’s iconic harbour and beaches, Melbourne has the Yarra river. The Yarra’s south bank (above) isn’t bad, but I don’t think it can rival the sheer loveliness of Sydney Harbour.<\/p>\n

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* As an aside, the Hume Highway linking Sydney and Melbourne is surprisingly scenic, flanked by hills and golden plains<\/a>. It’s also the most direct route, taking ~10 hours to drive.<\/p>\n

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Overall, after a few days, I perhaps slightly prefer Melbourne to Sydney. \u00c2\u00a0However, the differences (lack of a harbour aside) seem pretty modest — they are both large, Australian, cosmopolitan cities, closer alike than their respective partisans would suggest. Pleasant places for a visit!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00c2\u00a0(Disclaimer: based on a very small sample size.)   * Depicted above is one of the best signs I have seen, part of an official safety campaign.\u00c2\u00a0That particular photo is from the official Facebook page, but I saw rhino posters … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.petersahui.com\/optimist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}