OZ inspiring

This is a segment from my other writing blog on Sydney and Melbourne. I am only allowed 700 words so my whole thoughts, like how damn cold Melbourne is are absent:

Quick name the capital of Australia. Bet Sydney flew out of your mouth. This is the common misconception not unlike New York City. Canberra is the capital of Australia, and if you have traveled to here, inspiring, exciting are never adjectives to describe the country’s governmental dwelling- adjectives that come to mind range from dull, insipid to the ever popular, soul crushing. No, Canberra’s existence was attributed to the massive rivalry that resonates between Sydney and Melbourne-present even today. Canberra was constructed to appease the bigwigs in each state government- New South Wales (Sydney) and Victoria for (Melbourne). The respective party leaders balked in the past at permitting the other city to enjoy the advantage of being the heralded city in this growing nation within the international community.
A rivalry generally is born from commonalties within two entities who are vying to reach the top position. However today, these two cities offer a completely unique Australian experience that would appear to diffuse a rivalry, but it continues to smolder. Each city endeavors to claim the cultural and spiritual crown of Australia.
As a traveler, the rivalry seems peculiar as the two cities are like apples and oranges offering a wide range of sights, sounds and activities, which capture the attention of any open minded traveler and makes it difficult to arguably state that one city is superior.
Melbourne’s layout would no doubt please any directionally challenged person. The city’s layout is a network of streets that form an easy to navigate grid and a distinguishable downtown. Tram tracks (street trains) reinforce the grid with their cross-crossed railways. Sydney does not have this simplistic layout, as it is a chaotic intersection of numerous streets. Its main street, George St, cuts through the heart of downtown and straight to the harbor. Although Melbourne is the champion of perpendicular street corners, Sydney’s trademark design is no less unmistakable: the Harbor and the ocean. Everything seems to gravitate towards this natural beauty. Streets seem to bend to give a motorist or pedestrian a glimpse of its beauty before in moments there rests the Opera House, Bridge, beach and bays.
The main transit of the two cities differs greatly as well. Trams, antiquated and sleek new versions, dominate the roadways. They slowly glide forward swallowing up passengers from street corners as they move straight over the hills into the distance. In Sydney, big blue and white busses groan and push their way through traffic to reach some unattainable purpose. The style of old and new of the trams embodies the spirit of Melbourne as outdated buildings from the British and new high-rise architecture form a symbiosis of style and grace. It has a European medieval ambiance and one would expect to run into a person speaking like Hugh Grant around every corner. Sydney exudes more of a young child proudly displaying his or her new clothes. There are old buildings, but they quietly lurch in the corners- or belong to the first established part of Sydney, the Rocks area.
Culturally, there are small caveats that differentiate the people between the cities. The simplistic way can be described through the significance of numbers in conversations for a Melbournite or a Sydneysider. In Melbourne, the numbers most important are what tram you will take to the jazz show. Numbers within the address of the bar are tantamount. Melbourne, even with its perfect grid, is a maze of back street cafes and bars; they spring from nowhere and a regular door in alley can lead into a swank popular after hours club. Sydney, important numbers revolve around the height of your surfboard and the size of the wave at 6 a.m. or how many bars you partied at in Kings Cross.
The rivalry seems unfounded as the two cities offer such a unique experience that the other lacks. In truth, the two cities are becoming more homogenous as Melbourne is taking a page from Sydney trying to draw tourists to their habor and river within the city. Sydney, on the other hand, is steering tourist to places like Paddington with its terraces houses and small pubs in an attempt to recapture that lost European character.
They present opportunities for any traveler and even with this rivalry, the two cities can probably agree on one thing: They are wholly Australian.