Just back from 4 days in Melbourne and I am ready to give a thumbnail assessment. Like any tourist to a new town, with the best sites and accommodation, nice restaurants, good coffee and plenty of time to do anything, a positive impression is very hard not to have. But even if you subtract the former advantages, Melbourne is still a pretty impressive place, with wide boulevards, fine public buildings and parks, a strong sense of place and history, and trams that pleasantly ding as they depart their stops. I really liked the town and thought it liveable.

Sydney has a harbour and many fine beaches, but it was poorly laid out from the start and public transport lags way behind its southern sibling. The two cities compete for attention as the premium metropolis, not unlike Tokyo and Osaka, but the battle is largely cosmetic and often made in jest. There is no winner in my estimation though Melbourne feels, on first inspection, to be the more liveable.

Ann and I had a good time, taking a tour of the Great Ocean Road on Sunday, a spectacular drive along a dramatic coastline. The numerically challenged 12 Apostles was most excellent, though I particularly liked Loch Ard Gorge, where the tale of shipwreck, survival and unrequited love was transformative of the rocks, sheer cliffs and roiling surf. The clipper ship Loch Ard ran aground in 1871 and all perished save two young people, Eva and Tom. The latter saved the former but alas, she turned down his hand in marriage. He was working class, she from somewhere higher up. What a fabulous class system the British had!