A Sydneysider last week told me Sydney was better than Melbourne because Melbourne had no beaches. I humoured her a little because (1) as a pom, I've got no desire to get into the debate on which is the better City and (2) I presumed she purposely meant no OCEAN beaches, since Melbourne is surrounded by the bayside beaches of Port Philip Bay. Are Melbourne's bay beaches that inferior to Sydney's? Sure there is no surf, more a minor ripple or two, but there are some gorgeous stretches of sand close to the city. And besides, Bondi Beach which is Sydney's crowning glory, is almost an hour out of the CBD: well, take a trip an hour out of Melbourne and you have the glorious ocean beaches of Ocean Grove and Torquay too.
Besides, by anyone else's standards, the bayside beaches are pretty good. I was grateful to have the opportunity to put this to the test on Saturday, after an afternoon get together at a friends in Beaumaris. We went for a lovely sunset stroll along Mentone Beach, a long golden stretch of coast starting at the cliffs in Beaumaris and fringed by a public footpath and native bush. It passed the test.
How can you take anyone with a name like Sydneysider seriously anyway?
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