Arriving in Australia was electrifying. It was my first ‘major' city outside the US and it had a familiar tempo that I loved. Taking absolutely nothing away form my first few Kiwi cities—and even Florida, LA and San Francisco, Sydney had a vibe that I personally long for and hadn't felt since NYC. Right when I hopped off the plane there was a bounce in people's steps and purpose to their hustle. Landing midmorning, I instantly ditched my bags and rushed to the business district and reconnected to what I was missing, the capitalist spirit. It oozes from this place and—ahhhh—it is nice to be amongst “my people.”

Another thing that I really liked about Sydney was the Opera House and Harbor Bridge . As a tourist when you first see internationally recognizable landmark a certain overexcitement takes hold as you're comforted by the presence of a familiar object in a completely foreign city. I must have taken a hundred pictures of this building that lives up to the beauty of its reputation. The next day, so enamored by the structure, I took the Opera House Tour and bought tickets to see Beethoven that evening.

Interesting facts non-locals might not know, the structure was supposed to take 3 years and cost around $12mm it took close to a decade and cost about $102mm. During the delays there was strife between the local government and the original designer, a famed architect from Europe, so after the external shell of the structure was complete the designer, Jorn Utzon, went back to Denmark and took the plans for the five interior halls with him. A totally different architectural team designed the equally beautiful interior of the structure.

So if the tour didn't get me wound up enough, watching the opera, classical music, and beautiful people, elite types (the pretentious people I love) file in and sip their champagne was almost too much. I could hardly contain my excitement to the point that I had to tell myself not to whistle like I was at a baseball game when the classical orchestra came on to the main stage. AWESOME!

Bondi Beach was the yin to that yang. Strolling into this low key, sun and fun beach town was as stress free as it gets. Only about 4 kilo meters (whatever those are) from Sydney 's city center, Bondi was a totally different great. Waves populated by surfers from dawn till dusk effortlessly crash into this famously picturesque and ever so charming beach. I stayed at the trendy Ravesi beachfront hotel. The down stairs hotel bar happened to be playing the local Australian (no) Rules Football game that conveniently brought the party to me. I drank a boat load of VBs (Victoria Bitter, the local brew) and made a lot of friends cheering (finally using my whistle) for the local team. Hung over in the morning, I still had no clue as to the premise of the game I just remembered everyone was happy the blue team won.

Melbourne was the sophisticated Sydney sibling. And although it didn't have that money making vibe, I liked it equally as much. The place was super sophisticated, had excellent food and nightlife and a very coffee-café cultured cosmopolitan way about it. I was lucky enough to meet a nice group at the Zanza Bar on the ground floor of my hotel. The fire starter of that group, Meagan, was all about making sure I liked Melbourne more than Sydney . We went New York City style bar hopping that included a bar, three lounges, two clubs (one with an impressive velvet rope), a pool hall and a Casino/club. Again, Australia , I was quite impressed. (and hung-over).

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