Irvine511 said:i suppose that's what official and de facto neutrality get you ...
Axver said:I wish they'd said more about New Zealand than "Cities in Europe, New Zealand, and Australia continue to rank highly."
I'm particularly curious to know how my native Wellington fared, or if it was even included at all. Odds are, only Auckland was considered, the most un-Kiwi part of the country.
Earnie Shavers said:
You can download the full pdf lists, but to save you time...
Earnie Shavers said:Brisbane is a cultural black hole, but you rarely meet people from Brisbane who care about that or even notice. In many ways it is a good 10 years behind Sydney & Melbourne, but if they don't know that, and don't care, they are living happy in Brisbane, no? The old argument: Someone from Brisbane says they could never live in Sydney because of the traffic. The Sydney person says that there is no traffic in Bribane because there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, and that's why they could never live there. Both are happy with where they live.
Axver said:
And on the traffic front, that's bollocks.
Earnie Shavers said:
Oh please. I've been in 'heavy traffic' in Brisbane and the G.Coast.... it's nothing. I was on the Gold Coast a few weeks ago and had a cab driver going nuts about the traffic. It was laughable. I strongly defend the fact that Sydney's road design is without any thought whatsoever. None. Zero. It is only designed to relieve pressure on whatever government okays it at the time.
timothius said:On the traffic front, I find it funny Sydney and Auckland ranked highest yet both have appauling Road Systems.
Sydney is bareable at say 3am in the morning... just. But it does have a reasonably efficient rail system which does help.
Auckland on the other hand is the second largest city in the world in terms of land size yet has absolutely no public transport system of note to speak of. When I was last there it was utter gridlock from 7am-12pm and then again from 3pm-7pm. I love the place to bits but I am surprised it ranked so high.
Earnie Shavers said:To be honest, I haven't spent a lot of time in Brisbane, only jetted in and out when absolutely necessary (work, weddings etc), but I agree about the Gold Coasts design. It's just fucking ugly to begin with. I must say the view from the top of that new Q1 is spectacular, but on the ground it's just an awful, awful place. Ruined two decades ago and made worse ever since. They should just completely open it up to gambling like Vegas and just let it be done with. That's it's destiny and we all know it. Some fucking roller coaster and Eiffel Tower replica on the beach. Perfect.
Good book to read: Secret Life of the Gold Coast written by a cynical Sydney based music writer, Brendan Shanahan, who lived there for a few months. If you hate the Gold Coast, you'll love it.