love in sydney??

I'm not a traitor... but I went to Sydney to go to All Tomorrows Parties and I loved it. I've been before, a few times, who hasn't? But this time i went on my own, stayed with a friend but travelled around on my own, and I remembered this: I dont hate Sydney.

Aside from the fact that Nick Cave is seriously unbelievable, and that ATP was honestly the best freaking music festival I have ever been too, I had a really good time. I even caught a ferry (!) and then a BUS (2 things I would never do in Melbourne) to Oxford St and went shopping. And bought stuff.

I agree that generically the shopping MAY be better in Melbs but theres a lot to be said for a completely new shopping strip, that you've never been to before. I bought a fab mens shirt from World (extremely awesome store dude informs me that a Melbourne store is trying to come about), they also sell great womens stuff and generally totally fun stuff and you can see their New Zealand website here..... PS if you have a larger than average (average being a c-d) TRY A MENS SHIRT. They button across the bust, and theres no gaping!!!!

I also almost spent about a third of my savings on some Nom*D pants but came to my senses... but Zambesi is of course also in Melbourne so I can always shop at home. Greatest find of my travels was by far Pink Zebra - and happily they have a Melbourne store. I bought some cashmere drastically reduced from almost 300 sequins to a much friendlier 70, and also a lovely soft singlet also on sale. Their Melb store is in High St Armadale which means its getting more and more worth it to travel out there. You can also buy online.

I love shopping in new places with different stores and genuinely different stock- it gets so tedious going to half a dozen stores only to find the same cheap trash in each one. (Also, I am OVER seeing the same jewellery but in very slight colour varieties in both Diva and Sportsgirl.... And I'm not afraid to say DIVA DOES IT BETTER GET OFF ITS BACK SPORTSGIRL- get your own junk its not that hard.)