SYDNEY COULD BE VANCOUVER’S TWIN
Two cities similar in many ways and share many of the same concerns, though with different accents and better weather in Australia, Michael Sherman writes.
I’ve travelled a lot throughout my life, and I’ve always felt extremely fortunate that Vancouver is my home. And now I may have found its twin in Sydney, Australia. I was recently in Australia for just under a month, five days in Sydney, five more in Melbourne and then a couple weeks driving around in a rented camper van.
I was last in Sydney in 1974 when I lived and worked there for eight months. I developed a great affection for Sydney on that first trip and my return trip was long overdue. The culinary options have thankfully become vastly more diverse than the Big Ben meat pies “mainlined” with a squirt of ketchup through the top of the crust that were the leading edge of Aussie cuisine on my first trip.
Greater Vancouver has a population of approximately 2.4 million, whereas Sydney’s population is 4.6 million. In 1974, Australia officially ended their “White Australia” immigration policy and, at least in the major cities, Australia is now very multicultural. I’ve always felt that the two cities are similar in so many ways, just with different accents. Though, with the equivalent southern hemisphere latitude of Los Angeles, they definitely have the better weather.
It was fascinating for me to see how the city had evolved over those forty two years, but also even more remarkable to me was how many of the things that Vancouverites obsess about are also the same issues in Sydney and it was quite enlightening to see how Sydney had coped with many of those issues.
Like Vancouver, there has been much concern in Sydney with offshore purchasers driving up real estate values. Believe it or not, residential property values and rents in Sydney are substantially higher than Vancouver.
To combat rising property values, the government there has brought in new rules restricting foreign buyers to buying newly built homes, with the ability to buy an established property only if they live in it. The result has been a big slowdown of foreign purchasing and a corresponding dramatic drop in price increases to one per cent compared to an average of 13 per cent increases over previous years.
We found restaurant menu prices to be a lot more expensive than home, however tipping is much less a part of their service industry than in North America. Their wait-staff are typically paid a better wage than their Canadian counterparts. If Australians tip it’s usually rounding the bill up a couple bucks or maybe 10% in a nicer restaurant. Initially I thought that was a great idea, but by the end of our trip and after a few incidents of surprisingly bad service, I think I prefer our incentive based system.
Getting down to the really important items, wine prices seemed quite similar to ours. However, in a country famous for prodigious beer consumption, tax regulations make their beer almost twice the cost of ours. I was typically paying around $12 for a pint of draft beer.
While almost every Vancouver neighbourhood now has marijuana dispensaries popping up like weeds, I didn’t see one anywhere in Oz. I never even smelled a “recreational” whiff — anywhere. On Feb 24 of this year Australia introduced federal legislation making medical marijuana legal but I think it’s safe to say we are rolling far ahead of them on this issue.
In Vancouver, being accosted by multiple panhandlers in any block is a fact of life that we’ve become accustomed to. And though I’m sure they exist in Australia too,
I was only politely asked for money on the street once during our time in Oz.
Same sex marriage Down Under? Not yet mate.
There is still much political foot dragging with current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reluctant to even endorse a previously proposed referendum on the issue by the end of 2016.
We travelled on public transportation throughout the city on their newly introduced Opal card. It was amazingly easy to transfer between the ferries that ply the harbour, the extensive train system and the bus system. Pick up your Opal card from a corner shop, top it up with funds and swipe on and off any of the public transport entities. The Opal card designers are Cubic, the same company that produced our Compass card.
On the subject of transportation, Uber arrived in Sydney in December 2015. Though there was apparently strong opposition by the established taxi industry, a compromise was worked out resulting with the government compensating about 5,800 taxi owners $20,000 for each taxi plate. Owners of multiple plates received a maximum of $40,000. Now Uber and regular taxis coexist with each paying a dollar per trip levy for the next five years to fund the compensation initiative. The public loves the choice.
There are also automated bicycle rental stations around the city called “Swipe & Ride”. Helmets are provided and are mandatory. Riding a bike without a helmet nets a fine of $319. It’s also compulsory to carry ID when pedalling a bike and, if you are caught without it, it’ll cost you $109.
Along those lines it did occur to me that it’s maybe a slightly more regulated society, but that people seem OK with that too. When we were on the driving portion of our trip I was truly surprised with the number of highway signs announcing “Speed Cameras Ahead.” Other strident signs regularly reminded drivers of the severe penalties for speeding including loss of licence. They were everywhere, and apparently highly effective because in the 2,000 kilometres that we covered I don’t think I saw one excessive speeder.
Sydney and Vancouver both have great harbours. Sydney has its landmark Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We have Canada Place and the Lions Gate Bridge. And while there is still a prime parking spot for a cruise ship next to the Sydney Opera House, in recent years there has been a concerted effort to transform the harbour from industrial use to residential and recreational use. The last of the container terminals moved to nearby Botany Bay in 2012 along with most other industrial use including most of the cruise ship traffic.
The result is that Sydney harbour these days is looking better than ever with public access to most of the waterfront; its multitude of sparkling coves full of moored pleasure boats; and the busy fleet of small passenger ferries dropping people off at their waterfront neighbourhood ferry docks all around the bay. Vancouver’s harbour, spectacular as its setting is, is definitely more industrial in comparison, but we definitely beat them in the mountain department.
One of my favourite things about travel is that you always come home with fresh eyes. The rest of the world is out there, sometimes coming up with solutions to the same issues that we are struggling with.
Maybe this Compass Card thing will work out OK after all. Maybe they went overboard with that speed camera idea but, hey, that Uber compromise sounds pretty innovative too.
Believe it or not, residential property values and rents in Sydney are substantially higher than Vancouver.