Official Top Ten Cities - Way to go Sydney!
Posted On Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at at 9:46 AM by ~ Swan
Hello everyone,
When I publish my work on Now Public, I have an option to automatically post it here and on my So Opinionated web site. I forgot to un-check for this site and it appeared here also.
Still, I've decided to keep it here anyway. ;) Enjoy!
Compounding Sydney's successful placement is not the only gorgeous Australian city to make it into the top thirty-five cities either.
Melbourne has stayed at seventeenth, as Perth has done, Adelaide improved by one, to hit twentieth and Brisbane came in at thirty-fourth place. I've been to three out of four, with a wish that one day, I'll manage to see Perth with my husband.When my children were young, my family and I once took a road trip from Melbourne, traveling north to Alice Springs. My eldest son and I climbed what was then known as Ayer's Rock (now Uluru, since aboriginals won their right to claim it back,) and lay exhausted at the top, breathing heavily, with a little laughter at our struggle and the greatest sense of achievement that I've ever felt in my life. It was that good.
Australian cities usually make it into the top thirty-five list, but it's not often that four have made it there in the same year.The factors which are considered when rating a city for inclusion are:
- established infrastructure;
- transport facilities;
- quality housing close to the city;
- a wide selection of restaurants and other amenities;
- good education and environment.
In addition to these criteria, Australia also has one of the best standards of living in the world. Therefore it's no wonder that Australia has many Americans in their upper management sector who have requested transfer to one Australian city or another.
The Top Ten Cities global survey relies on data that's been collected over a period of three months to November the previous year, with last minute monitoring conducted to confirm results.
The quality of life factors that are considered are:
- political and economic stability;
- human rights and personal freedoms;
- pollution;
- crime rates;
- health standards;
- cost of consumer staples;
- access to education, housing and entertainment;
- public transport and traffic congestion;
- climate and record of natural disasters.
With all these factors that are taken into consideration, I'd rather the Olympic committee used the same criteria to choose their host city - it would be far more appropriate and would certainly have cut Beijing out with it's ignorance of human rights as their major issue.
Two American cities also made it into the top thirty five - Honolulu and San Francisco. The latter I've been to and had many wonderful times there with friends but Honolulu, I keep thinking one day ....
Interesting Links:
About.com
Top 10 Free Sydney Attractions
by Larry Rivera
About.com
World's Best Concert Halls - Top 10 Concert Halls
By Aaron Green
Travel Industry Insider
Top 10 Things to do in Sydney, Australia
by Erin JulianTrip Advisor
Sydney, Australia Overview
by Erin JulianTrip Advisor
Vibe Hotels
Top Ten Tourist Attractions
Sources:
The Australian
Sydney cracks top ten cities
Image Sources:
Matthew Field
Wikimedia Commons
Fajitian2
Public Domain
Rob and Jules
Creative Commons
More information together with excellent photos of Sydney
