Ten Differences Between Wollongong and Sydney NSW

Ten Differences Between Wollongong and Sydney

1. Going to the Beach.

On the Illawarra Coast, it does not involve a major pre-planned exercise just to get to the sand to soak in your toes, have a surf and get back home in under 15 minutes.
In Sydney, you over plan your route and time yourself to find vehicle parking. Then you sit on the sand to watch over your belongings, pay top prices for snacks and get stressed just trying to get home.

2. Utilising Public Transport.

No prizes awarded to guessing which place has more regular trains or buses.
You have to know your time table well to make the most taking the Illawarra line of the railway network. You overwork your smart phone or watch at least two down loaded movies while sitting on your bum to get home. Even worse, you may have to stand all the way on trains fron Martin Place or Central in Sydney CBD to Sutherland, Thirroul, North Gong or Wollongong stations.

3. The Intensity of Road Traffic, if you are driving.

The Illawarra Coast is abuzz with over eager and self obsessed drivers only at certain hours of the day. Saturday mornings at Fairy Meadow, rush to work along the Lawrence Hargrave Drive, when school bells ring at the end of the student day along Memorial Drive and when tradies with barista coffee cups compete driving on the highway to southern Sydney before dawn on weekdays.

In greater Sydney, everyone expects traffic congestion.

4. Late Evening Shopping and Eating Out.

We know which region leads in these parameters. Sunday evenings are particularly disquieting for the Wollongong CBD.

One can have a satisfying dinner out in Wollongong and come home in as short as 5 minutes.

One can have an elegant dinner Sydney side and only come home 90 minutes after leaving the restaurant.

5. Choice of Cinema Complexes and Shopping Centres.

Everything that greater Sydney has, Wollongong may not have.
Everything that Wollongong has, greater Sydney has more.

6. Income Levels and Purchasing Power.

The ultimate dream for a Wollongong based family is to earn in Sydney, spend in the Illawarra Coast and view the moonlight over the beach on a week night. (Refer to No.1) 

7. Pockets of Fresh Air and Privacy.

Nothing beats the experience of having the ocean breeze over whelm you and your body at a look out point. Refer again to No. 1.

8. Diversity in Culinary Adventures.

The Illawarra coast stands out in barista made coffee, Italian restaurants and Aussie seafood.
Greater Sydney offers you so much variety in foodie journeys. Melbourne may not agree......

9. Liberating physical opportunities for health, exercise and fitness.

Wollongong is a university town, with a fair proportion of demographics in the twenty something age group, lots of coastal trails for cycling, a penchant for the performing arts and has escarpment hiking trails.

Greater Sydney has a larger population, where distance and traffic can discourage a greater appreciation of the outdoors. The down side of a higher density of residential living is offset by the benefits of a better transport network. Greater Sydney provides activity opportunities beside a few major rivers, has more reserves and charges for parking at its beaches or bays.

10. Access to fly away.

The lllawarra coast is around 50 to 65 km to Kingsford-Smith Airport, but getting there mainly involves transversing a highway or taking the public train.

Most residents of western and northern greater Sydney face more challenges in time and traffic to reach Kingsford-Smith.

Both regions have secondary airports but the Illawarra Airport at Albion Park is under utilised.

#yongkevthoughts

De-cluttering

Clearing clutter makes us reflect, forces us to drop persistent habits and frees up capacity for change.

Society makes us develop a regime and it is embedded in educational approaches, cultural norms and economic reward systems. So it is not surprising that change requires purpose, a determined effort and a re-questioning of our past rationale.

There was a logical reason why we purchased that shirt, that can of produce and the gadget that lies around. Was it on an act of impulse, a gesture of self reward, a true need that so many years ago or an echo of sentimentality? Whatever the reason it was, it does not matter now that I realise I have not used it in the past 3 months.

There can be that work office momento.
It can be that sensational cooking aid. There can be an accumulation of household stuff that once was utilised happily by more occupants. The reckoning comes with a limitation of storage space, less users and experiencing a different stage of life.

In our throw away contemporary society, there is a decreasing reward for the not unenviable attitude of taking good care of our possessions. Manufactured stuff are made obsolete in even shorter time cycles. The faster advent of technology attracts us to change to newer models that are more responsive. 

On the other hand, it can be argued that the construction of mass produced items, be they be housing, communications enablers or transport vehicles, may not have the same crafted quality of items made in the past with lesser numbers and more passion.

The emphasis on acquisition, especially of trivial items in a consumerist society, encourages the constant flow cycle of household stuff. When landfills, recycling and resale allow the clutter of a household to be reduced, on line purchases, physical shopping malls and children ensure the arrival of potentially more clutter through another door. Is it a fruitless and unwinnable process? It is up to each person to want to declutter, in goods, nutrition or in society's demands.

Millennials who value mobility more than possessions are an encouraging example of decluttering. They do not want to be tied down with a vehicle, furniture and pets when they know they have an adventurous life with only portable items and still be connected with the bigger world out there.

This all works out so well until the arrival of the baby.

In the end, each individual is best placed to first declutter the mind of unnecessary things and perspectives. Then only go to throw out the unhealthy food, the out of fashion trousers or skirt, the souvenir and the Facebook posting.

#yongkevthoughts