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Sydney = Overrated?

Opinion by Snerkie posted 2 years ago
3.5
 by 8 fans
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Okay, the title may "shock" some people but I will explain the whole thing...

Hello, I am Krystal, 18, and I live in Adelaide, South Australia. I've been to Queensland in 99/00 (forgot), Sydney in 01/02 (forgot), and Melbourne in 04. I recently went to Sydney again to go see the wrestling. You see on TV and everything they say how beautiful Sydney is and it's like the heart of Australia...I saw differently though. Here are a few things.

Dirty
My first day there I got sick, terrible headache that shot my head and a very sore tummy. I had been walking around the streets looking at shops. So many people around, so many homeless people sitting on the streets very close to people (will bring this up later) and smoking...every one was smoking. Sydney turned into "Cancer City" for me, everyone to light up a fag whenever they could, was extremely terrible to walk through.

Fear
Adelaide has been seen as the murder capital of the world, I have never had a fear to hold my bag tightly though. All the other places I never had that fear till this trip to Sydney. Not saying all homeless people are pick pocketers but there were so many around and they were right on the footpaths, brought so much nervousness to me.

Un-Australian
I have nothing wrong with foreigners. My high school had a huge program where people from Japan, China and Germany came over to do their studies but there were a lot more Australian born students even then. Sydney it seemed there could have been more people that weren't born in Australia than were which made me feel like I was in a different world.


Sydney wasn't what it used to be and it scared me. It wasn't a whole beautiful place...it was cancer; it was dirty streets and unclean air.

This is not to scare anyone away from Sydney, but I learnt that I took Adelaide for granted. In Adelaide I felt safe and for most of my trip all I could think was "I want to go home". It was an experience...but I don't think I will go back there any time soon.

(Oh also...strange, odd note, but I sat next to a guy on the bus that said he was being investigated for a recent shooting...niiicceee...)
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8 comments
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I've only been to Melbourne and down along the Great Ocean Road. We were hoping to get to Sidney next year though...
posted 2 years ago.
 
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Snerkie said:
if you go to Sydney stay closer to Circular Quey (where the opera house and stuff is) more cleaner, the city part is just not too nice to be around lots. (Melbourne is a lot nicer as less people...one warning, the people in Melbourne are scary drivers...the people in Sydney don't understand the little red man means "stop walking, don't walk now!!"
posted 2 years ago.
 
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HA! Yeah, I did almost get run over a few times walking around Melbourne!
posted 2 years ago.
 
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Snerkie said:
lmao, yeah, it was scary 'cause my mum's friend drove us around and he'd lived there for ages so was a local nut case driver D:
posted 2 years ago.
 
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im from brissy but a couple of times a year i visit my gandparents in sydney, i agree with snerkie, stay close to circular quay, beautiful sight of the opera house and the bridge, but yes, the streets are dirty and here we have homelesss ppl which is sad, but not as much as sydney and they are not just sitting on the side of the road, they are up alleyways and if they are on the side of the road, they are trying to get money from you
posted 2 years ago.
 
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fuddle said:
I found Sydney to be dirty and not as portrayed also I didn't feel safe. Melbourne I enjoyed, Mackay (QLD) not so much, Perth is beautiful, but still I prefer Adelaide it has everything and is seriously underated, it is also only a 2 hr drive from my town.
posted 1 year ago.
 
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Cammie said:
Crikey, will some of you guys get real!
Where the hell do you all live - the garden of friggin Eden?
Sydney is about as dirty or clean as any other major city, it all bloody depends what part you're in. It sounds like most of you guys were either in Kings Cross (in the night-time, I might add) or at the local tip.
As for the advice from people that are NOT from Sydney to stay close to Circular Quay - that's just stupid! Yeah, stay close to Circular Quay if you're a tourist visiting the place for a few hours. Stay close to the Quay on a weekend after clubbing is over and it is rough. Homeless people? Where you guys come from there's no homeless people?
Until 10 years ago, I lived all my life in the Eastern Suburbs (Central Sydney). Sure, it's overcrowded. Sydney is a major city -not a quite little country town. Now I live in the outer suburbs and it is quiter and cleaner here because obviously the outer west isn't as populated.
It's really sad that as Australians you guys have such a low opinion of one of the country's nicest cities!
posted 9 months ago.
last edited 9 months ago
 
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zzz
I've been going to Sydney to visit relatives from Adelaide my whole life (Snerkie it's funny how we're from the same city and we view things quite differently) and I always love it. I feel like I'm becoming pretty familiar with the city and I still think it's beautiful. Sure it's dirty and big (I wouldn't want to live there - much to big for my liking) and majorly commercialised but it's a famous city. You'd expect that.
Circular Quay isn't the only nice spot in the whole city. The coast is gorgeous. I went to Olympic Park last time I was there for the Young Olympics (granted it took about 2 hours to get there on public transport - hence pro-tourism) and that was brilliant! It seems like there's always something to do (which I have a real issue with in Adelaide - movies, shopping and in summer beach. What else is there?) and I have a great time everytime I go. I would not put off going to Sydney if you're coming to visit. There are other places to go of course but Sydney is worth it to me.
posted 2 months ago.
 
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