melbourne Vs sydney

Visit Melbourne first, you love it more. Visit Sydney first, you love it more. The two cities lie approx.850km apart, which in Australian terms is not far, and have enjoyed a (mostly) friendly rivalry ever since they were first conceived.

Today, Sydney has a population of 4.4million, is the largest in city Australia and is seen as the finance and media capital whereas Melbourne is trailing slightly with a population of 4 million and is seen as the arts, cultural and sports capital of Australia. Both cities continue to march side by side in terms of population however Sydney does remain the leading tourist destination.

For me it is about the cities as destinations rather than thinking about population or growth. On paper i am definitely a Melbourne girl, i love the arts and so gravitate to cities or settlements that seem to be nurturing the arts, have interesting buildings, theatres and of course a young, independent and creative population. I think Melbourne is this city. However, unfortunately as things worked out, i was only there for a few weeks and so i did not experience living and working in this city.

In practice i became a Sydney girl. This may have something do with the fact that whilst in Sydney, besides the fact my sister lives there, i lived and worked on a tall ship in Sydney harbour, a dream job for any backpacker. This job definitely shaped my view and my experience in Sydney. I see it as a city with two main sides to it; firstly there is the beach life where everyone has a suntan and enjoys the laid back way of life it provides; secondly it has its cbd which props up Australia's finance and media sectors. Together this creates a glossy city with monied inhabitants who have many a beach on which to pose at the weekend! I hope this doesn't sound too harsh because i loved my time there, i really did come to love Sydney (although HATED the suburbs).... who doesn't love the beach. And also, that harbour is a fantastic asset for a city; with the massive and imposing harbour bridge, the iconic opera house and then the many bays and islands which makeup the rest of the harbour. On the weekend the waters are so busy with yachts, its fantastic.

So for me, i don't feel like i can choose because i didn't spend the same amount of time in each city. But as they say, you have to chose one or the other and most people that i have had this conversation with have not spent the same amount of time in both cities, they just go with gut feeling. So anyway, i suppose the very fact that i still haven't chosen Sydney as a favourite despite spending so long in it means that i prefer Melbourne. Or perhaps I'm just not as cultural as i thought, perhaps i love the idea of Melbourne and nurturing the artist in me however in real life i fell for the glossy glamour of the beach in Sydney mixed with my historic, rustic and beautiful danish tall ship. The debate continues.......

Below: Federation Square in Melbourne is just one of the cities modern buildings

Below: Melbourne Street Art

Below: Melbourne is renowned for its creative inhabitants and is always hosting new arts festivals

Below: The wonderful beach huts on Brighton Beach, Melbourne

Below: The unforettable Sydney harbour

Below: Sydney CBD

...... and of course Bondi, reported to be the most photographed beach in the world

northampton, WA

I felt that this little town deserved a mention. You really don't come across many charming towns in Australia, infact by coming here i am constantly reminded of how spoilt us Europeans are; i think we often take our beautiful towns and cities forgranted. Anyway, it was lovely to stumble across this village, a real gem.

pinnicales visitor centre

I must say, I'm really quite impressed by all these well designed visitor centres. First the Kakadu centre designed by Glenn Murcutt, then the fantastic steel building in Karijini National Park and now this gem, located in the Pinnacles desert, Nambung National Park.

I was really very interested in this building when i saw it, i loved the burnt timber which is etched with various aboriginal names and words. The building is as rugged as the landscape that surrounds it. I have included the architects statement below which describes the concept behind the building.

The ritual burning of the Pinnacles Interpretive Centre in Western Australia, as part of its design and building process underscores the unique role of fire both culturally and environmentally in Australia. This incredibly evocative gesture by Woodhead and project architect for the Centre, John Nichols, introduces this specific practice into contemporary Australian architecture.

Located 250km north of Perth in the Nambung National Park, the Pinnacles is made of thousands of protruding limestone formations spread over a vast dunal landscape. The rock formations are the exposed eroded remnants of a formerly thick bed of Tamala Limestone, created over time by rain and wind.

The design principle for the centre is completely embedded in the mutable narrative of that landscape. The forces at play in the landscape determined the configuration of the elements and distinct staging of construction. Stage One involved the complete construction of the freestanding limestone walls only that were then left to sit inconspicuously in the landscape as both ‘ruins in reverse’ and ‘immature pinnacles’ for a period of time. At the completion of Stage two of construction, the vertical timber elements, which were a figurative reference to the heath shrub in the area, were deliberately set on fire.

The burning and the burnt remains are integral to the scheme and highlight the relationship between fire, the land and its inhabitants, particularly in Australia, which requires a specific way of engaging with space, which non-Aboriginal culture, is just beginning to engage with.

The material language for the scheme fits into its environment, becoming just another part of the background to the desert. Those materials used are specifically ‘of the place’: the podium and the walls are constructed in limestone, timbers used are direct references to the nearby grove of vanishing tuarts, disappearing under a shifting sand dune and the planting interventions involve species endemic to the region.

As a consequence this project deliberately favours shifting and multiple axis lines over a singular orientational logic, resulting in precarious spatial relationships. The configuration of the walls creates open-ended opportunities for enclosure, rather than clear-cut pockets of space, and material elements both fragment and overlap to emphasise the shifting focal points.

Architect: Woodhead

karijini visitor centre

This bold building blends into the surrounding landscape very well. The steel walls form a curve and so the building takes on an almost animal like form when you are standing next to it, like it is a snake slithering through the desert. It really was quite a joy to stumble across this building. It was designed by Woodhead International BDH Architects.