The difference between Sydney and Melbourne

Chances are that you will be flying direct to Sydney or Melbourne when you visit Australia, so what's the difference between the two cities? As a Sydneysider I love this advertising pitch to make Melbourne our Capital (sorry Melbourne).

There is a friendly rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne, similar to New York and Los Angeles in  America. Our Capital, Canberra, lies between Australia's two biggest cities, because we couldn't agree on which one should be our Capital. Melbourne is about 800-900 kilometres south of Sydney, or about a day's drive, and is therefore colder, and is infamous for its weather that we make fun of, constantly.

For much of Australia's history, Melbourne was Australia's biggest and richest city, which today is Sydney, so I'm sure it still rankles them down there. Melbourne would like to think they are more sophisticated, cultured, and cosmopolitan. Certainly, its easier to get around in Melbourne, and more thought has obviously been put into the planning and layout of the city.

I'll be doing some more blog posts on Sydney and Melbourne, however in the meantime you can view some of my old posts using the search engine, particularly our outback trip via Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road to the Northern Territory.

Dealing with Murphy's Law: Passengers stranded in Bali and why you need travel insurance

Many Australians love to visit the Indonesian island of Bali, and many were stranded in Bali due to a volcanic ash cloud that caused the cancellation of flights for several days. I must admit, like most Australians I have been to Bali, however as you know, I prefer Fiji or Hawaii. The event illustrates why you need travel insurance, because it can be quite costly to over stay a trip, as many people just budget for a certain period of time. Actually sometimes the best holidays are completely unplanned like one of our trips to Fiji when we lost an engine over the Pacific and had to turn around. We ended up staying an extra four nights and had a great time.

What I've learnt travelling and planning operations in another capacity is that things rarely go to plan, Murphys Law or what Clausewitz called, 'Friction', is always present in any human endeavour. People are unpredictable, they make mistakes, they make the wrong booking or they even can't fix jet engines that stop over the Pacific! I wasn't flying Qantas that time, but Qantas pilots are often ex military so they are adaptable, particularly once famously landing a jumbo with no engines in Singapore! The main antidote to 'Friction' or Murphsy Law is experience and adaptability, and of course cash, credit and insurance. Having $100 USD can get you out of a lot of trouble in most parts of the world, everybody accepts US dollars in my experience.

In conclusion rather than trying to develop, 'the perfect plan or itinerary' you should really be thinking about how can I become more flexible to react to opportunities and get around obstacles that life throws at us. Of course its much easier now with the internet, because you can buy transportation and accommodation with your credit card. In addition you can learn from the experience of others by looking at reviews on Trip Advisor or travel blogs.

Planning your trip to Australia

I can see that lots of you are interested in Australia, and are perhaps planning to visit us in the future. As I stated previously the Australian dollar is at a six year low, .74 USD, and probably only headed down. Of course if you have a Travelex Card or other Multi Currency card you can lock in the rate, but personally I can't see it rising above .80 USD anytime soon. I'm quite bullish on the United States economy, and I think the recovery is sustainable, particularly because of the cheap energy from Fracking and your insurmountable lead in the Digital Economy businesses like Apple, Microsoft, and digital manufacturing etc. As Asia becomes richer, they will tend to buy more American consumer products, at least thats the historical trend, which of course results in a stronger American dollar over time and stronger economic growth.

Whilst I was on my walk/run (more walking than running) this morning I thought about some blog posts I'll do on Australia on different topics. For example, about possible itineraries, eating out, going out, studying in Australia, doing business in Australia, and of course the fun things to do in my hometown Sydney. Australians work hard, but we also play hard too - we love to have fun. Some of you may actually be out here on business trips or being posted here as many companies have their Asia/Pacific headquarters in Sydney - and why not? Its more fun here than Singapore (sorry Singapore). From a business angle Australia has signed free trade agreements with South Korea, Japan, China and other countries in this region and Sydney's time zone is more conducive for doing business in this region of course. Plus, its only a 9 hour flight to Hong Kong. I'll do a more detailed blog post on doing business in Australia with a list of some business websites that you will find helpful.

Studying in Australia is of interest to a lot of US college students, because at my university, Macquarie, we have lots of American students and indeed students from all over the world doing a semester here, which is a great idea. I can recommend Macquarie University, although I am biased of course, because its one of the more progressive universities in Australia. We are the home of 'Big History.' We are the only university in Australia that meets the Bologna standard (EU standard), and are also heavily focused on research with our Masters of Research program. That basically means you can do your Masters or PHD here and be able to work in the EU. I'll explain further in my blog post on studying in Australia.

In the meantime what you can do is look at some of my old blog posts on Australia, including my driving trip to the outback and Ayers Rock in the Northern Territory via Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road. Its probably easier to just use the search engine  on the blog page and then move from older to newer posts.

Australian dollar drops to six year low

Today is July the 4th in Australia so happy Independence Day for my American followers. The Australian dollar has dropped to a six year low, so its cheaper to visit us. As I've stated previously our waning Mining Boom should see the Australian dollar slide, along with some mixed economic signals out of China. Personally, I can't see how a Communist dictatorship can manage the economy better than the free market in the long run, and my prediction is some type of Japanese style financial shock. The smart money is flowing out of China into our Sydney property market. That's good for us, I actually support the vision of, 'a Big Australia', with higher immigration and a faster growing economy, perhaps increasing our population above fifty million by 2050.

That means of course a bigger Sydney, and thats whats happening already with lots of cranes on the horizon building more apartments and of course our new Barangaroo complex on the harbour, which will be a combination of entertainment and residential apartments including another casino for the high rollers.

As I've said before Sydney is a great base for the Asia/Pacific Region, and there is a big American expatriate population here.  If you get the opportunity to get posted here definitely take up the chance to live here for a couple of years, or stay forever. Why, so much Asian Capital is moving here is of course our strong Property Rights based on the English system of law that we inherited of course, similar to the United States. We are a 'safe haven' in this turbulent region.

So, if you thinking about visiting us, now is a great time.

Gold Coast to Sydney

It was a perfect Queensland day and I'm flying back to Sydney this afternoon. I had a blip this morning when I got a text that the flight was ca

Sea World, Gold Coast

I like Sea World on the Gold Coast. Its one of my favourite theme parks on the Gold Coast. The shows are great, particularly the jet ski show on the great lake (pictured above). Most importantly they are focused on conservation, rehabilitating injured sea animals, and education. So, its the perfect blend of entertainment and education for everybody.

Sea World is also the closest theme park to the Gold Coast, only a five minute bus ride from Surfers Paradise.

As you would expect there are some great aquariums, and you can quite close to some of these bad boys.

This (below) is a Megalodon, which they say has been extinct for millions of years, its like a big Great White Shark. Maximum length was about 18 metres!

After watching Jurassic World a couple of days ago, I'm not taking any chances. Despite what you have heard its safe to swim in Australia, and shark attack is rare considering how much time Australians spend in the ocean. Having said that the Australian saltwater crocodile is absolutely deadly, and there are very few survivors of their attacks, so in the Northern Territory you can't take any chances with them.

Whilst your here definitely see the Jet ski show and the Sea Lion show as they are world class. Overall I think Sea World is good for all ages, even the parents find the shows intersting, and ittle kids get a chance to have fun and learn about wildlife. However, the most important point about Sea World is they do great work in wildlife conservation and helping injured sea life

Outside Sea World there are better food options with a number of good seafood restaurants, because its next to a working fishing port. In Australia we are lucky, because our chefs have a great supply of top quality fresh food, we are 'food bowl of Asia' after all. Its rare to have a really bad meal, and we are also blessed with cuisine from all over the world due our mulitcultural society, so definitely try our Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese restaurant on the Gold Coast.

Of course Sydney in my opinion has some of the best restaurants in the world, although of course I'm biased, because its my home town. Tomorrow, I'll be flying home back to Sydney, but I might do some blog posts about Sydney whilst I'm still on holidays, so you can understand why I think its one of the best cities in the world.

Travel Information 

Sea World -  http://seaworld.com.au

The Arts Centre, Gold Coast - Far from the Madding Crowd

It rained again today so I went to a little known place on the Gold Coast, The Arts Centre. Yes, there is culture on the Gold Coast, and, the Gold Coast Arts Centre, is literally the centre of art and culture on the Gold Coast. There is an art gallery, a live music and comedy venue (the Basement), stage shows and what I frequented today, the cinema.



Admittingly, I was the only one under fifty I think at the cinema today, but at $13.50 its good value and you can see some more independent or 'arty' (is that a word) films.

Today I saw a great film by one of my favourite actresses, Carey Mulligan called,  Far from the Madding Crowd' 

Its based on the Tom Hardy novel of the same name. Its one of those very English dramas that the English do so very well with strong performances from Carey and Michael Sheen (Tony Blair in, The Queen). Try and see it on the big screen if you can to revel in views of the English countryside in all its glory, and it probably will also win a couple of Oscar I suspect.

'Far from the Madding Crowd' at IMDB -  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2935476/

If you are on the Gold Coast and want to take in a show, see some comedy, or just see an independent or 'arty' film, then head to the Gold Coast Art Centre. They even have a nice cafe if you want to discuss your art experience, perhaps over a bottle of Australian Chardonnay.

Tomorrow, no matter what the weather I'm going my next theme park, Sea World.


Travel info 

Gold Coast Arts Centre - http://www.theartscentregc.com.au

What to do on the Gold Coast when it rains? Pac Fair?

It rained today, but don't worry, there is plenty of fun stuff to do on the Gold Coast when it rains. I've put the mocker on the weather obviously. I lingered longer on my morning breakfast, and had Banana Bread, which is basically healthy, because its got bananas in it, right? I even mixed it up and went to Oliver Brown Belgian cafe, where the cool kids go too, right? Most importantly I was able to update my Facebook page - yes, I'm on Facebook, or as Julian Assange calls, 'the most appalling spying machine', all the cool kids are on it at university.

Last time I was with my nephews we went to Timezone, an amusement arcade on Cavill Avenue, that has Laser Skirmish, which was a lot of fun. By the end of it they were not exactly a well trained SWAT team, they at least showed the intensity of the kids from 'Lord of the Flies' defending the conch or this case our home base.

Actually what I ended up doing was catching the tram to Broadbeach South, and walking across the canal to Pacific Fair or 'Pac Fair' to the locals. I thought it would be nearly finished, but boy was I surprised (see below)

Now, everytime I've been to 'Pac Fair' I've run into someone I know, so central it is to life on the Gold Coast. Not this time, because its not nearly finished refurbishment yet. I don't know what the locals are doing, they are probably going to Robina Fair shopping centre. Therefore I didn't run into anybody I know, but they know what I'm doing because of this travel blog and most importantly, from Facebook.

The most amazing thing is that I get all these stats from Google and found out that 250,000 people have viewed my personal profile regarding this travel blog, which got me thinking. If I can get all those people to become my Facebook friends I may be able to crash the system or better yet get to that celebrity status of not being able to accept any more friends like Nicky Minaj.

You have to have goals in life......

Surfers Paradise, South Port and Jurassic World

It really was overcast today, so not good weather for my next theme park. I hung out at my favourite coffee shop, Star Bucks, which regular travellers will know not only have 'good coffee', but free WiFi. Not only that, but this delicious treat called a Mocha Frappacino, kind of like an ice chocolate on steroids.

Star Bucks are located on Cavill Avenue Mall, the kind of main mall in Surfers Paradise and in the Chevron Renaissance mall.

Cavill Avenue, is kind of the main drag in Surfers Paradise, and the main location of 'Schoolies mayhem' in December, when hordes of end of school leavers, hence the name, descend on the Gold Coast for drunken 'shenanigans' (love that word) - think Spring Break, but Australian style. Getting drunk and doing stupid shit is an Australian tradition, and can't be legislated or educated away.

I actually completed yesterdays plan today, and went to the movies, but just not any movies, Gold Class at South Port. Now, if you hop on the tram thing going North, imaginatively called, the 'G', remembering to touch your 'Go Card' at the station, you will eventually come to South Port. Now, touching off again at the station if you head to the big beige shopping centre you can go to the cheapest Gold Class cinema in Australia, well, at least as far as I know. For $20 AUD ($15 US) you can recline in a lounge chair and enjoy table service and enjoy, in my case, the new Jurassic Park movie.

The film was actually quite good, about genetically modified dinosaurs. Although as a historian I can say that man is the ultimate predator, because we are still alive. Although in 'Big History' terms we have existed for only a brief time in the scheme of things.

The main shopping centre on the Gold Coast is probably Pacific Fair or 'Pac Fair" as the locals call it, which is currently undergoing refurbishment, although at the time of writing many of the new stores are now open. Its located opposite Broadbeach South tram station.

Believe it or not Queensland weather is not perfect, particularly at this time of year, the Australian winter, however it is distinctly warmer than Sydney. So, when the weather is not good you can go shopping or see a movie at one of the many shopping centres on the Gold Coast.

Travel Info 

South Port shopping centre - http://www.southportpark.com.au

Movie World on the Gold Coast

It was overcast thing this morning and I had half decided to go to the cinema, but then the sun came out and I planned on going to my first theme park, Sea World. As readers know my travel plans rarely go to plan, sometimes I even end up in completely different countries! In any case the first bus that came along was going to Movie World, so I hopped on that, again completely make a mockery of my planning. You might have heard of Movie World on the Gold Coast, because surprisingly enough movies are still actually made on the Gold Coast. You also might not know that Australia was a pioneer of the film industry, but like many of our innovative industries, they are not always developed to their full potential. Having said that Australia has a movie industry that has fluctuated considerably over the decades from Picnic at Hanging Rock to Crocodile Dundee. However, lately Australian films have had a revival and if you haven't seen Mad Max Fury Road yet you should, because its one of the best action films in the last decade.

Movie World is about twenty minute bus ride North of Surfers Paradise, and there were exactly eight people on the bus including the driver, and four slightly apprehensive Chinese female tourists. School holidays start next week, and it seems every kid in Queensland has a season pass to the theme parks, so avoiding school holidays. like I'm doing, is the best thing to preserve your sanity.

I was surprised there were quite a number of people in Movie World, but nowhere like the Children Crusade in the school holidays. I saw one quite well known Sydney celebrity out with the family, perhaps baffled why nobody recognised him. On this note, unlike some other countries, generally a celebrity or politician is 'off duty' when they are with their family, so its good form to leave them alone to enjoy their family time.

This is the Superman ride, and on my last trip I was dared by my nephews to go on this. All I can say that if you go on this ride you never have to prove your courage in any other way. You may get this Disneyland vibe going down main street, however thats about it - Movie World is relatively tiny in comparison, but on the plus side you don't have the queues like Disneyland either.

Of all the glorious deaths one could have, falling into a vat of chocolate like the fat kid in Charlie and the Chocolate factory, would be up there on my list, along with dying in my bed at an old age with my fifth wife, Bambi, but I digress. This store is full of chocolate and candy and clearly one could eat oneself to an early, but inglorious death.

This show was amazing, not the girls dressed as Cat Woman, but this is the first time I've seen the infamous 'Selfie Stick' in action. This photograph is so 'avant garde' - the photographer taken a photo of another photographer, so artistic......

If it all gets too much, and it appeared all too much for some dads (yes, they were all dads) you can have a beer in the appropriate named, Dirty Harry Bar. Poor mums never get a break it seems.

This is my favourite ride, Wild West falls, particularly on a hot day. You know the drop is coming, you can see it as you walk in, but that makes it more fun some how. Don't sit up the front like stupid, me, did.

Regarding food options I wouldn't hazzard an opinion. There are a number of options that generally involve food fried, baked or covered in chocolate and or all of the above. As a theme park veteran, I've been to every Disneyland in the world (LA, Florida, Euro and Honker) I brought my own food - its that liquid orange cheese that did it for me in America. 'The horror, the horror.'

Movie World is small, but fun, and not too taxing on the nerves, Superman ride exempted. If you have half a day this would be perfect, and dads can always disappear to the Dirty Harry bar. Movie World probably appeals most of all to small kids and it has some excellent rides and a driving school for little kids that was tremendously popular. Gold Coast has lots of theme parks and for parents Movie World is a good one to go to first to get conditioned for some of the larger and longer day excursions.

Travel Info

Movie World website - http://movieworld.com.au

Theme Park tickets - http://themeparks.com.au

Sydney to the Gold Coast

Travelling around Sydney can be quite challenging, basically for two hundred years the city has grown, defeating all our politicians best efforts to sabotage growth, by failing either to plan or to build infrastructure projects. Fortunately, we now we have a progressive Premier (State Governor) who is rolling out the infrastructure projects, so we might be able to continue to power the Australian economy, and importantly be able to move around this great city.

What it means for you, as a traveller, that you will be able to, in the coming years more easily traverse Sydney, and in a few years we will actually have a second airport to ease congestion at Sydney airport. Ironically, the second airport may be named, Bradfield, who actually designed a good transport network for Sydney, although those plans were ignored by each subsequent State government for a hundred odd years! Actually, even with the announced infrastructure projects, we will still need to invest more, and maybe a more enlightened Prime Minister might realise borrowing money (at around 2%) to build infrastructure might actually improve productivity and increase economic growth!

However, I digress, you can catch the train to both Sydney International and Sydney Domestic terminals, which I did today, and thats a good thing. All you have to do is get off at Sydney Domestic station, which is the one after Mascot Station when you are travelling from the City. The International airport is the next stop. One fairly recent improvement is that we have travel cards that you literally 'tap and go' at the entry gates on most of our transport network, albeit we still have some paper based tickets. Now, if you are flying with out national carrier, Qantas, you will turn to the right and go to T3 (Terminal 3) and anything else you will turn left and go to T3 (Terminal 3). Follow the signs and up the escalators to Departures.

I actually like airports, although Domestic airports are not as exciting as International, but anytime you only have a one hour flight, instead of a 24 hour flight to Europe is in itself exciting for Australian travellers. The great thing about airports is that within 24 hours you can be on the other side of the world, that you can hop on a plane and be another place entirely is kind of miraculous.

Gold Coast airport is one of those airports that you walk across the tarmac giving it a holdiay island airport feel. The airport is about half an hour from Surfers Paradise and you can get a taxi for about $60, an airport shuttle that will drop you at your hotel ($30) or you can do what I do and catch the bus for about $5. As readers might be aware I like catching transport, because that s what the people do, and I like to see how people live, even Queenslanders, who we call 'Banana Benders' or worse things particularly if they have beaten us at football. Traditionally Sydney and Melbourne, the two biggest Australian cities have an old rivalry, sort of like New York and Los Angeles have in America. There is no real animosity between Queenslanders and NSW, except when it comes to Rugby League or Rugby Union, which believe it or not are two very different games played by very different people.

If you catch a public bus it will drop you at Broadbeach South tram station where you will have to catch a tram (pictured above) to take you to Surfers Paradise. The electronic tickets are imaginatively called 'Go cards' and work by tapping on at the station and tapping off at the next station. You can buy tickets at 711 convenience stores or online at the Translink website and they will post it out to you, probably something you should do before going to Queensland, because they use the same card for all public transport. The tram system works quite well, but it really needs to connect with Gold Coast airport and the heavy rail network, but baby steps, baby steps for Queensland.

So, finally we arrive at Surfers Paradise where it is a full four degrees warmer than Sydney, and I feel like I'm actually on holiday. I've lined up some fun things to do on this trip, which I'll talk about in the coming days. If you haven't been and are thinking about going or you just want to read my hapless attempts to experience the best that the Gold Coast have to offer then keep reading over the next couple of weeks.

Travel Info 

Translink website to buy 'Go Cards' for public transport in QLD - http://mobile.translink.com.au

Gold Coast here I come

On Saturday, the day after my last Uni (college) exam for this semester, I'll be flying up to the Gold Coast (pictured above) in the sunny Australian State of Queensland. 'Beautiful one day, perfect the next" is the tourist line for Queenland, and the warmer weather, and the declining Aussie dollar is why Australians go there for holidays. To be honest I go for those reasons, but mostly because my family have a holiday home there, which is hard to go past.

Gold Coast airport is both a domestic and international airport, so its possible to find a direct flight from overseas, and many flights from Asia do that, but on the whole most overseas flights arrive in Sydney or Melbourne. A word of warning Australian domestic flights vary enormously in price, however on the whole it seems cheaper to book further ahead. Webjet http://www.webjet.com.au is a handy website to finding the cheapest flight on any one day.

Finding accomodation is generally not a problem on the Gold Coast, because as you can see from the picture there are lots and lots of hotels and apartments. I can reccomend the Q1 hotel http://www.q1.com.au in the heart of Surfers Paradise for the terrific views (its one of the tallest buildings), and great pool.

I always find the Gold Coast the hardest to write about, because I've been coming here all my life, but I'll try to make this trip a little more exciting and do what the tourists do, so you have a better idea about what it has to offer.

Travel Information 

Destination: Surfers Paradise, 

Travel Time: 1 hour flight from Sydney 

Gold Coast travel guide http://www.visitgoldcoast.com/ipad/?mdr=%2Ftravel-guide%2F

'Winter is Coming' - what's your winter escape?

Its only the first days of the Australian winter and I'm already thinking of escape. To put in perspective its only 13 Degrees Celsius at the moment, however for seven months of the year you can literally walk around in flip flops (thongs), shorts, and a singlet, and many Australians do exactly that. A close analysis of my overseas trips reveal I often escape the Australian winter for the Northern summer. When I finally finish university I know I'll end up taking a job in the coldest universities like Dunedin, New Zealand or I don't know somewhere at the top of Canada.

Some Australians prefer winter, we do ski, in the appropriately named, Snowy Mountains, about seven hours south of Sydney. On the flip side I don't mind 37 Degrees Celsius, and will walk around quite happily like we did in Cordoba, Spain (You have to see Cordoba). I guess thats why I like Spain so much the weather, and of course the food, and theres so much to see, and of course the laid back lifestyle.

So, where was I, yes talking about my winter escape. Now, my favourite short winter escape trips are Fiji and the State of Queenlsand, which is only a one hour flight from Sydney. The Gold Coast (see blog entries) is a favourite Australian and international destination and is always at least a few degrees warmer. Although Fiji is really tempting (see my Fiji trips), and it normally costs around $300 to fly there from Sydney. As you might know the Australian dollar has dropped to just below 80 cents US making international travel more expensive. Our waning Mining Boom is mostly to blame, and I advise Australians to stock up on US dollars, if they haven't already, because the good times when our dollar was at parity might be over for another ten years to the next Mining Boom. Having said that our economy is still growing at around 2.5% - we are called 'The Lucky Country' after all.

However, I digress, I still haven't decided on my winter escape, and I'm interested in what your 'winter escapes' are, for one thing is for certain,

'Winter is Coming.'