Originally Posted by iamthecreaturefromuranus

Well I've been to Melbourne and I've been to Sydney and I thought Sydney was 'greener'...

Originally Posted by ProudVIC

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.

Originally Posted by iamthecreaturefromuranus

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.

Originally Posted by ProudVIC

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


http://lh5.ggpht.com/_p3q7bhQyD5c/TJ...l%20Sydney.jpg


MELBOURNE
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_p3q7bhQyD5c/TJ...0Melbourne.jpg

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.

Originally Posted by bcworld

I don't buy it either. Earlier this year when I was working up in Sydney I often had the pleasure of flying the whole length of the city south to north and then back again to land. I wish I'd taken a pic now, but from the air Sydney was incredibly green. The northern suburbs, from the very top...all the way down to North Sydney looked like a jungle from the air, virtually the only buildings poking through were the towers at Chatswood. From Chatswood where I was working it was green, green, green in all directions. Those aerial photos don't give any idea of streetscapes, but many of Sydney's inner suburbs are 'leafy' - I'd say more consistently so than Melbournes.

Originally Posted by BadgeIsBack

Melbourne was completely brown in March 2008 and it was a very disturbing sight.

Originally Posted by bcworld

Somewhere over Melbourne, Dec 2007.

Originally Posted by BenandPam

No-one, he is just stirring it.

As you previously said, both are great Cities and threads like these are just pointless. We looked at moving to Sydney 3 years ago with my wife's job, but it just didn't suit us as well as Melbourne. It's strokes for folks.

Originally Posted by bcworld

Somewhere over Melbourne, Dec 2007.

Originally Posted by Hutch

... And I'll tell you something else too, I don't think I've ever got as much karma for a post, so clearly there are a great number of people who share my opinion that Melbourne's loved only by those content to settle for second best. ....

Originally Posted by Petals

So Sydney is good for people who like it and Melbourne is good for people who like it and who cares what people think.

If one gets a lot of Karma could be people have just discovered the button

Originally Posted by Buzzy--Bee

It's very easy I think to be fooled by first impressions, positively or negatively. The first time I saw the "World Famous Bondi Beach", about 13 years ago, I remember describing it as "like a faded northern English resort such as Morecambe or Cleethorpes".

BB

Originally Posted by Hutch

Well now. For many years now I've read all these posts from people in Melbourne going on about the place and saying how superior it is to Sydney. Well I'm just back from my first trip to the place and I have to say, Melbourne people - you've been talking out of your arses.

Now obviously I've got no idea what it's like to live in the joint, but then I suspect most of you have no idea what it's like to live in Sydney, so hey ho. But if you're honestly trying to tell me that the port location of the city is in any way better than the natural harbour of Sydney then you need your head checking. The CBD was nice enough, but there are numerous parts of Sydney that beat it into a cocked hat. St Kilda was big, 'meh' - load of run-down hotels, kebab shops and some iffy bars. I especially liked the way the city planners stuck a siding over that bridge to the airport so you don't have to look at those four rank awful tower blocks.

Sorry if Melbourne is the apple of your eye, but my own very personal opinion is that Sydney is far and away the superior city by just about any metric you care to choose. All that anti-Sydney guff that emanated from Victoria has now been clearly revealed to me as little more than tall poppy syndrome. I suspect that the only reason your population is growing so fast is that it's marginally cheaper to buy property there.

You can keep that four-seasons-in-a-day shit too.

Originally Posted by Hutch

I didn't suggest my thread was a double-blind scientifically proven case - I flagged it quite clearly as my own opinion. And I'll tell you something else too, I don't think I've ever got as much karma for a post, so clearly there are a great number of people who share my opinion that Melbourne's loved only by those content to settle for second best. Honestly, I'm not sure why you bothered emigrating, you could have got a nicer spot in Dagenham.

Originally Posted by BadgeIsBack

Karma is a funny old thing - you'd only need about 20 people living in Sydney to hit the button...come on!

Anyway me old mucker - people give karma for amusing, well-presented posts or for bits that make them laugh...infact I might even give you karma for the fact that you compared a port to a harbour when noone ordinarily does. Here it is...incoming...

Melbourne is not second-best for all those people very, very unhappy elsewhere...

Originally Posted by iamthecreaturefromuranus

You might be on to something there...

http://www.morecambe.co.uk/wp-conten.../10/beach3.jpg

http://www.theodora.com/wfb/photos/a...ett_parkes.jpg