Our Time in Sydney and Melbourne

We will be spending five weeks in Australia, rather than the expected four days. This has given us a unique opportunity to see Australia in a different light. Instead of just being tourists, we have had a chance to live in different places, and experience life like the locals.

Our first area we discovered was the area north of the harbour in Sydney. Staying with Simon and Sharon on an unexpected, extended stay, we had the chance to explore the areas of Balgowlah, Clontarf, Manly and Neutral Bay. Life in these areas is lovely, with the beaches and beautiful cliff walks. Rather surprisingly, life runs at a much earlier and slower timeframe, with dinner at 6,30pm, restaurants closing at 9pm and the cinema finishing at around 8.30pm. We did like it there, and can’t thank our hosts enough for letting us explore their part of town.

We then went for a change of pace and flew to Melbourne. Both Melbourne and Sydney have around 4 million people, and contain 40% of the whole Australian population between them, but are quite different; and great rivals.

Melbourne likes to think of itself as more arty, laid back , and more sporty than Sydney. There are some wonderful Victorian houses in Melbourne, and trams seem to be the way to get around. Melbourne is the home of cricket, tennis and formula one, with the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Australian Open tennis being located right in the city centre and by the lovely Yarra River.

We returned to Sydney, but this time stayed in an area called Camperdown, beside the trendy areas of Erskineville and Newtown. It seemed to be a cross between Camden and Shoreditch in London. We rented a lovely Airbnb, but did make the mistake of not having air conditioning at a time when Australia recorded five of its ten hottest days ever. However, we did manage to explore another side of the city.

Newtown is an area just full of trendy bars, restaurants, cinemas and shops. Some can be quite smart and expensive, but most are very competitively priced and absolutely heaving each night. We ate everything from pizzas to Vietnamese to vegan, and it was all great.

Living in the west of the city, we took the chance to go to the cinema and the outdoor swimming pool. Both were welcome in the sweltering heat. This part of town is full of trains and buses, so we soon worked our way in getting round the city.

It was fascinating living in both cities and experiencing local life and culture. Combined with returning to New Zealand, it is easy to see that we could spend more time in these great cities – although home will still always be the UK.