Weighing into the Great Cities of The World Debate...

Like I said. (article: "Sydney suffers and the winner is....Melbourne!")

Am I aiming to be contentious and provocative in writing this post?

No. Rather, this is just an expression of my honest opinion.

I've only ever been out of Sydney 1 year of my life and that was all that was needed to convince me Sydney no longer deserves such high ranking in the most liveable cities in the world as it always used to: that's a totally bygone era.

Sure, Sydney was a great place growing up 20 years back but now on my return although it makes for a great tourist visit city (great beaches, good food, iconic landmarks etc) it's not particularly liveable- most notably,
Crime, traffic, high housing, petrol and rental costs, really bad public transport...even food costs which used to be relatively cheap, the rapid inflation on that I've witnessed in the past year alone has been incredible!

People are also not as friendly as they used to be(ok, bar rare and random exceptions)- everybody is very much caught up in the rat race as people work ridiculous hours comparable to any other major city, just to survive.

The irony is that most Sydneysiders still retain that "superiority complex" that they're better than any other inhabitants of Oz! Basically while Sydney has been sitting back resting on its laurels, other cities have actually made effort and bypassed it!

Before Global Warming became so apparent these last 5 years or so, yes we had awesome weather as a major liveable city drawcard but now...there are no longer 4 distinct seasons- so we have become just like Melbourne where you famously get '4 seasons in one day'!

Unlike most globe trotting Sydneysiders who have not set foot in their own backyard, I've actually travelled most of this big brown land and I'd have to say there are still plenty of really nice places in this country to live, just Sydney is not one of them!

If you have an opinion on this, feel free to weigh in on the debate ;)