If it was next weekend you could do the replay of the grand final

For me Melbourne is a great place to visit.

The hills, Tulip festival, rhododendron garden, walks.

The bays, Geelong, interesting place, Surf coast

Mornington Peninsula wineries, beaches walks, mazes

Healesville Sanctuary

If time a trip up around Poowong lovely countryside

Jells Park if you have children

Bike paths abound

Trip on the Sorrento to Queenscliffe ferry

Boat trips up the Yarra, not down

I lived in Sydney so am able to make informed comparisons

It is flipping next weekend!

Its his birthday on Wednesday, so we could have gone this weekend or next weekend. Fortunately, we picked next weekend, although it was more by accident as had no idea it was the Grand Final this weekend.

We heaved a sigh of relief when we realised we'd picked the right one.. only to shake our heads in disbelief after yesterday!

So, for any Melbournians, how much effect does the Grand Final (mark 2) have on the CBD? I have no idea where the stadium is in relation to Melbourne itself.

Martin, I can't karma you again without spreading myself around, but thank you both of you for your suggestions

That's okay. I have to spread it as well apparently.

I guess the draw buggers up the MCG tour.

It's down Richmond way... So just east of the CBD.

I doubt they will have another grand final parade so disruption to the inner won't be too bad. Road closures happen aroung the MSG all the time when a game is on. There may be a big crowed at fed square to watch the match mind you...

That's up on Victoria St right!??

MSG! didn't know we had one in Melbourne.

There will be no grand parade next weekend

I though the MSG was on Little Bourke?

I have to say that in a game that has goals and behinds; that in a draw situation the number of goals would determine the winner.

Have to agree - and Melbourne after the summer of 2008 (it has since sort of recovered now - on the surface) was the worst I have ever seen it and it was an eye sore.

I think people are talking more about the gentrified, established feel of the inner burbs which in another city in the world might or could be endless concrete. I think that Melbourne does this and ranks up there with the best. Old enough to feel exclusive and rarified, new enough to be sort of planned.

I'm struggling with this concept a little. The northern inner burbs, green definitely does not spring to mind, in fact they'd be closer to the endless concrete end of the scale I'd say. Southern inner burbs, well there aren't really any but there's not much stand out green around here or in South / Port Melbourne. Recently I've been driving every day through Armadale, Malvern - I think these would qualify as gentrified, again I don't see green as a stand out feature, nothing out of the ordinary anyway. Some parts of Camberwell, Kew sure...are these still inner? Western inner burbs...um, no.

Depends what you mean by green. In the same way it depends on what people mean by grey(!) and I seem to be getting myself into trouble.

There are plenty of tree-lined avenues in the inner East off the main roads. That's all I will say, comparable to London leafy burbs - none of these are literally Kew Gardens in many places:

Basically to me, it's not literally about colour, more a general feel. That goes for both grey and green...

I motice that Sydney and Brisbane are more green in that they are sub-tropical in feel, if not literally in the case of Sydney. There is flora and fauna in abundence there that you get less of in Vic.

Well, someone mentioned perception, and it is interesting how it varies between individuals I agree.

Melbourne is a very green city. The central city area is more or less encircled with parkland. Inner suburban areas and many middle suburban areas, particularly eastern suburbs are very leafy, almost every major road and street in Melbourne is lined with street trees and most of these are mature specimens.

It is not just the ubiquitous plane trees either. There are many species of trees used as street trees in Melbourne.

I never got the feeling in central Sydney that I was encircled by greenery, parks and gardens. Most cities have some sort of greenery and parkland and street trees but Sydney doesn't really strike me as a leading city in this regard like many of your European cities and in Australia, Melbourne and Adelaide.

I don't want to appear pedantic and trying to force my point, but it is interesting to look at aerial images of both cities CBD and inner suburban areas.

SYDNEY





MELBOURNE


Note how Melbourne's inner suburbs are broken up by large tracts of parkland whereas Sydney's urban jungle is a lot more continuous. Sydney may have more bushland and wilderness closer to the city and have greener outer suburban areas thanks to the higher rainfall in some areas but in terms of inner city greenery, parks and gardens, Melbourne wins to be honest.

There is flora and fauna in abundance in Victoria as well, plus we have the exotic northern hemisphere temperate gardens that are a rarity further north. There is much less autumn colour and less deciduous trees around places like Sydney and Brisbane than most places in Victoria. Victoria has temperate rainforest like coastal NSW does, it also has the mountain ash eucalypt (along with TAS) which is the second tallest living plant species (some sources say the tallest) in the world. Victoria has stacks of your classic rolling green countryside in winter and spring. coastal QLD and NSW do not have the duopoly on this.

I really don't understand how people get the idea that Melbourne and Victoria are not green parts of Australia. We have the coolest average temps year around on the mainland and a lot of southern and central Victoria is quite wet (700-2000mm of rain a year) I think it is all just based on the freak drought conditions of the past 10 years. I gather few people on here know what it was like before 2000 and what it is like again this year.

Well I've been to Melbourne and I've been to Sydney and I thought Sydney was 'greener'... and I'm not part of the stupid tit for tat argument between the two cities.