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If I were going to travel to that part of the world, I'd pick a less expensive destination like Vietnam, Thailand, or the Philippines. After spending more than two grand on a plane ticket, I'd barely have enough money left over to enjoy Australia. For this reason I think it is more well-to-do tourists from North America and Europe who are able to vacation in Oz.
Actually we get heaps at the backpacker end of the market as well, particularly from Europe. Where I live, if you're approached down town by someone trying to sign you up as a charity donor, in 90% of instances they will be an early 20s European who's earning some extra cash.
Last edited by Richard1098; 08-13-2013 at 01:57 AM..
I have been to all but Montreal. Admittedly every time as a tourist and for a few days only. I am actually writing this from Melbourne, it's my second time in Australia.
Melbourne is the clear winner for me. Why? Extremely nice, easy to walk and navigate CBD. Great communication with modern, silent and spacey tramways. People do have fashion sense and although it might go in the direction of hipsterism I'll have that any time over badly clad women (like in Sydney). It does have seasons of year which I enjoy, but this is my personal preference.
Sydney and Toronto are actually fairly ugly cities.
Sydney is very overrated mainly on the strength of the Opera House, the Bridge and the beach culture. It works only on a postcard but if you visit it and are a bit critical about architecture you will realize that the CBD is ass ugly. Sydney's downtown reflects the 1970s idea of what a modern skyscraper should look like. The pavements are made of poured bitumen and stained in so many central places by old chewing gum. It looks like the pavement in front of my London McDonald's and it does in some places which are actually premium spots. The downtown area has no proper proportions (somewhat too dense in many places) and is full of many, many loud diesel buses. I could not make out any fashion trends in Sydney as they simple don't exist.
Toronto was probably the larger disappointment to me although I visited it in the winter, which might have impacted my judgement. I saw Torontonians comparing their city against New York or Chicago on this forum but Toronto isn't in the league of either. It is just a boring and tasteless metropolis.
It is a very generic and non-descript North American city. It's hot spot (Dundas and Yonge?) is inferior to the city centres in most mid-size Western European cities which are 1/10th the size of Toronto. Waterfront? Lame... Please invest some money there. The Toronto Tower? In the middle of nowhere, you need to cross a bridge or a flyover, I can't even remember. Chicago's architecture eat's Toronto's any time.
A little OT, I haven't been back to Australia for some years now. But during my recent visits to Toronto, there are lots of glass residential towers going up in the city especially in the downtown area. Is the same thing happening in Sydney/Melbourne as well?
Toronto sucks. "It's like NYC without all the stuff", sums it up pretty accurately. A generic, ugly, boring North American city with a heap of super talls. So what.
I really do find Melbourne to be interesting from everything I've seen and read on forums like these. It does seem to have quite a bit in common with Toronto in that they both have lots of Victorian architecture and are both very cosmopolitan. I really would like to visit some day, but flights to Australia are very expensive from this part of the world, and traveling there isn't cheap either. If I were going to travel to that part of the world, I'd pick a less expensive destination like Vietnam, Thailand, or the Philippines. After spending more than two grand on a plane ticket, I'd barely have enough money left over to enjoy Australia. For this reason I think it is more well-to-do tourists from North America and Europe who are able to vacation in Oz.
As for Sydney, I haven't been there, but I've tried very hard to like it from a distance. I've seen hundreds of photos, read many travel articles and posts on forums like this from Sydneysiders who are eager to tell the world about all their city has to offer. But for some reason I don't really feel compelled to visit. Nothing about the city really captures my imagination.
Montreal is very familiar to me, and I've visited countless times over the years. Fifteen years ago I would have said Montreal was a better city than Toronto, but now I think Toronto has the edge. I know the tourists go ga-ga for the French influence and all, but to me it's really just another Canadian city where people speak French - it's not that exotic. It's a great town, but Toronto has surpassed it in most categories over the last ten years or so.
As for weather, I realize most people love warm weather and fear winter, but Toronto's winters really aren't that bad (Montreal's are quite a bit colder and snowier) and if you dress properly it really isn't a big deal. In fact, the winter can be an excellent time for recreation and there are all kinds of great activities that are not possible in warmer climates. The only thing I don't like about winters in TO is that the city loses some of its vitality because people want to be indoors.
So I chose Toronto. I know it's biased because I haven't been to Oz, but I think I know enough about the two Aussie cities to make a reasonably informed vote. Which is more than some posters can say, talking about how generic and boring Toronto is. Anyone who thinks that way doesn't know the city at all.
Australia isn't too far from Hong Kong or Japan, so if you really wanted to visit that part of the world, you could have a really memorable holiday by visiting all three places. But as far as prices go, it's a very expensive time to be travelling to all three. Or even New Zealand, which has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, and is only about 2 hours from AUS. I also don't think you can make such an informed vote without visiting Oz. You have to know it physically, rather than just seeing photos and Sydney is one of the most naturally beautiful places in the world because of its setting. On par with Hong Kong, Vancouver and Rio De Janeiro.
A little OT, I haven't been back to Australia for some years now. But during my recent visits to Toronto, there are lots of glass residential towers going up in the city especially in the downtown area. Is the same thing happening in Sydney/Melbourne as well?
Yep, especially Sydney. Also in Perth and Brisbane.
Toronto was probably the larger disappointment to me although I visited it in the winter, which might have impacted my judgement. I saw Torontonians comparing their city against New York or Chicago on this forum but Toronto isn't in the league of either. It is just a boring and tasteless metropolis.
It is a very generic and non-descript North American city. It's hot spot (Dundas and Yonge?) is inferior to the city centres in most mid-size Western European cities which are 1/10th the size of Toronto. Waterfront? Lame... Please invest some money there. The Toronto Tower? In the middle of nowhere, you need to cross a bridge or a flyover, I can't even remember. Chicago's architecture eat's Toronto's any time.
The CN Tower pedestrian bridge over the tracks you're referring to was removed over 20 years ago and that whole area has been developed and integrated into the rest of the downtown entertainment district. It sounds to me like the last time you were there was in the early 1990s which is laughable considering that the city has changed and grown by an ENORMOUS amount since then.
Toronto sucks. "It's like NYC without all the stuff", sums it up pretty accurately. A generic, ugly, boring North American city with a heap of super talls. So what.
Someone is jealous of or very threatened by Canada's world class metropolis.
Toronto has it's very own stuff, and it's pretty damn cool stuff at that.
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Melbourne clearly in the lead
