In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “We Built This City.”
Sydney is a safe country, I would say relatively to anywhere in the world, and especially compared to my home. That is the biggest aspect most South Africans would agree on when arriving in Australia. It feels so safe! No looking over your shoulder at all times, and fearing for your life, because today might be the day you might be carjacked and raped and murdered (no joke).
There are no hawkers on the street. It took a while to get used to not seeing hawkers selling their wares at every intersection.
There are many beautiful advantages living in Sydney. There are plenty of parks. We can walk to about four or five different parks from where we live. In Johannesburg there were NO parks nearby to where we lived. There were only restaurants that may have a kids play area. But then you would have to eat something.
And it was and still is a big novelty to park my car on the street to catch the city bus. My car was stolen on a suburban Johannesburg street in 2000. I had left it to visit someone for an hour. In that time my car was gone. Now I leave it for the whole day on a suburban street and it is still there when I return.
We are able to walk to our children’s school. It is about a seven minute walk. I love being able to walk to the school. Except this year my son has started to leave earlier and walk by himself. It saddens me when I think of my children slipping out my fingers. My son’s goal is to be taller than his mother. He measures himself against me every day, hoping that this might be the day he might be taller than me. He reaches to about my eyes now. No, my boy, you still have a while to grow!
If I had to change anything about Sydney I would change house prices. Property in Sydney is exorbitantly high.
And I would add more public transport. Standing on a bus to the city and back is never any fun. But great that there is a bus to catch.
Sydney is a great place to live. I feel safe, and very privileged that my family and I can live here.
Poems and Petals 
You sound very happy in Sydney, Australia. I saw another blog that talked about the transportation also. I have the same complaint when it comes to where I live in Southern California.
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I am glad for the public transport that we do have. In Johannesburg there was none from where I lived to where I needed to be. Most use their own cars.
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That is how it is here in California. Everyone has their own car. So bad for the environment.
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I know, my husband and I now share a car, whereas we both had to have one previously.
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Thank you for sharing a piece of your daily life. One thing I enjoy about blogging is discovering how different and similar others’ daily routines are, even thousands of miles away. Your son sounds delightful and I wish you more happy days at the local parks.
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Thank you very much! My son is very kind and respectful, my daughter is a bit more passionate!
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Thank-you for sharing a little piece of yourself and your life in Sydney! I have all sons and they all now stand taller than me – with great pride 🙂 Funny how that is seen to be such an accomplishment by our sons but I guess they see it as a rite of passage bringing them closer to adulthood. I’m glad it doesn’t actually change how we still view them as our “boys” 🙂
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Yes, I’ve asked him, what happens when you are taller than me, then what? Then he needs to grow taller than his Dad he reckons. But his Dad is tall so it may or may not happen! Good to hear about yours being similar!
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Sounds like you’re happy and your son is going to pass you up soon. My husband is from west Africa, so I’ve heard plenty of dangerous stories and feel safe, free and blessed in the US with steady electricity, lol.
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Steady electricity is a good thing, my family and friends have been scheduled power outages in South Africa for months now, no electricity for a couple of hours every second day! We have no family here, that is the drawback and it is so expensive to go back.
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I’m sure safety is a top consideration no matter where you live. I’m so gad you are now in a place where the traffic takes over the first place in your worries! Judy
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Hi Judy, you have articulated it so well, in South Africa we would love to worry about traffic, we would call it *first world problems*!
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