Some people wait a whole lifetime for a moment like this - voting in Australia and immigration

The really great thing about music is that it can be interpreted by anyone in any possible way that they want to. I’ve been working the last few hours and I just noticed that Kelly Clarkson’s A Moment Like This was playing on my iPhone.  The moment I realised the song was playing was when the chorus begun,

“some people wait a whole lifetime for a moment like this.”

And although this is actually strictly a love song, I think it really fits what I’m blogging out from a personal point of view today.

Yesterday was Election Day in Australia where citizens could go to the polls and have their say on the running of the country. I am not yet a citizen, which I’ve been blogging about on and off for the last, oh God, it must be coming on 8 years now.

More specifically I’ve been blogging about the plight of New Zealand citizens in Australia and our inability to access democracy. After being frustrated for a week or so, well more frustrated than usual, I decided to turn that frustration into a marketing campaign. I was going to go to the polling booth and Town Hall in Sydney and hand out flyers fighting for people to campaign for our right to a voice.

Well I got as far as Town Hall and handed out three flyers before a few things happened.

1 – I had made a typo in my flyers so had to chuck them out. They simply couldn’t be used. I could have continued using them but I’d rather the message be correct and lose the money and promote the wrong message.

2 – When I tried to hand out the flyers very few people actually cared. People just weren’t interested in hearing about democracy. It was of no interest to them. People were incredibly apathetic. Of course because this issue is so important to me I wasn’t having any of that, “I’m not interested” business. I said, “how would you feel if you couldn’t vote?” and it was actually at that moment that they listened and were appalled about the issue. Whether or not they do anything remains to be seen.

3 – I was told by someone from the Katter Party to talk to my Prime Minister to which I said, my Prime Minister is Malcolm Turnbull. I think this was actually the comment that offended me the most because I am not here in Australia temporarily. This is my permanent home, so to tell me to talk to my Prime Minister, well you might as well have just told me to go back to NZ.

I think this is the fundamental issue. People genuinely don’t realise that New Zealand citizens are not here temporarily, that it’s actually a permanent move for people and you can’t fully integrate into society if you can’t participate in democracy and have the right to vote.

Adding insult to injury, Prime Ministers John Key of NZ and Australia's Malcolm Turnbull met, a few days out from the election and they didn’t speak at all about the lack of a parliamentary representation in parliament. It wasn’t brought up once. The only channel that actually ran a story was New Zealand’s TVNZ, but Prime Minister John Key was not interviewed, and they missed the message.

Now this Katter Party Volunteer said that NZ should be part of NSW and I agreed. It won’t happen though.

4 – I overheard while handing out flyers (for a political party – the tables turned and I was recruited to a political party) that someone was just going into the polling booth to have their name checked off. You have no idea how much that infuriated me.

5 – Tonight while watching the election coverage both Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten talked about standing up for people without a voice. I’m sorry, but unless you’re an immigrant (though some are only immigrants in law and not in practice – my Australian ancestry goes back to the Convicts but skipped a generation) you have a voice and you have representation in parliament. If you can’t vote then you have no representation. You have no voice You have no say on policies that affect you. New Zealand citizens access roads, Medicare and many such as myself actually go on to set up businesses. Yet are excluded from the most important thing in Australian democracy, not just Australian democracy, but Western democracy.

6 – A few people said while I was handing out these flyers, why don’t you become a citizen? You know you can have dual citizenship, to which I replied, that’s not the issue. The issue is the length of time it takes, that you have to earn over $53,900 per annum for five consecutive years (this policy was introduced in February 2016 and is the entire reason I set up my business in the first place – I needed extra money to actually qualify, and I'm only 12 months into my time).

It’s not fair to tar all immigrants with the same brush and say we’re all just here to take advantage of Australia and rort the system. But unfortunately all immigrants are tarred with that same brush and that means the genuine ones forgo their rights and must suffer in silence because nobody will listen and they have no representation in parliament.

Now just to go a little bit further, can you imagine having democracy and being a citizen in one country and then you lose that right to vote – I’m so passionate about democracy that was part of why I went for a holiday to NZ in December last year – to maintain my right to vote in at least one country, but in many ways it’s wrong that I can vote in New Zealand when I don’t live there. The only NZ policy that really affects me is around student loans.

It’s unreasonable for the mainstream political parties in Australia to say they want to represent the public when they then ignore the plight of contributing members of Australian society who don’t have a voice.

I’d like to put into words what losing your right to vote is like but it’s actually so impossible to explain. It’s like one minute you are a contributing fully functioning member of society and the next you’re not, the next your views don’t matter, the next you can't do something that other people just take for granted. To put it another way, on my 18^th birthday I joined a political party. That’s how important it is to me.

It’s fundamental to how we are as a society. Without a voice, and participation we don't have democracy. We have a dictatorship.

Parliamentarians are always focusing on how the poor are hard done by and how the poor don’t have a say, but it’s not just the poor. There are some things that money can’t, unfortunately, buy. If money could buy a vote I would’ve bought my vote today for $500. It’s an arbitrary number and a policy that must be introduced – if some NZ citizens have to wait at least five years to obtain citizenship then there should be the option to:

·      Prove you are committed to Australia

·      Have lived in Australia for at least 2 years

·      Can pass the citizenship test

·      Pay the $500 to vote in Federal elections, $300 for state and $200 for council elections.

It would be a mini temporary citizenship test if you like, a test only open to New Zealand citizens.

If you’re paying taxes and adding to Australia you should be able to have a say in how it’s run and not excluded and made to feel like a visitor when you've been here for several years - since 2008 in my case.

The mainstream media today ran a bunch of stories which basically in a nutshell amount to, “we don’t care about democracy,” and unless you’ve ever lost your right to vote you have no idea just how insulting that is.

And it’s wrong that so many people are apathetic when it comes to going to the polling booth and having their say because,

“some people wait a whole lifetime for a moment like this.”

The importance of democracy.....from someone who has no democratic voice

I've been avoiding the election. I've been trying to force it out of my mind. I've been trying act as if Australia is not going to the polls. I've been avoiding political news.

I don't even know where to begin with the election. Where do you begin talking about something that matters so much to you that you're excluded from? What do you even say about something which you've taken seriously your whole life?

Of course, I'm talking about the fact that New Zealand citizens living permanently in Australia cannot vote due to a law change in 2001 when former Prime Minister John Howard was leading the country.

Howard was forced to change the law because there were too many New Zealand citizens moving over to Australia who didn't actually care about the country and came over then one week later would claim welfare.

That unfortunately destroyed the bilateral relations between Australia and NZ because NZ citizens were treated as scum that was only out to rort the Australian taxpayer and the Australian legal system.

There were unintended consequences of course for the hardworking migrants caught in the crossfire of this policy targeted at people abusing the system.

It meant that they were left without simple rights, simple rights that other people take for granted.

Like voting.

Voting, the one time, once every three years where they can have their say. Where they can influence public policy. Where they can do the most important thing. It may seem insignificant, but it's not. It is so important.

And yet NZ citizens living permanently in Australia, many of whom would take up citizenship tomorrow are excluded from.

It's not fair.

Democracy doesn't exist without people's participation and viewpoints. It doesn't exist if people don't have their say.

Just look at the situation in Europe with Brexit. Only 70% of people voted. That means 30% threw away their democratic right. 30%. That's way too many. Since the poll results many people have complained that the outcome wasn't what they desired.

What happened to valuing democracy? What happened to actually understanding the importance of civic duty?

So that brings me to the Australian election and why I'm avoiding it.

Imagine this right, you're the most opinionated person in the room. You have an opinion on everything and yet you can't express your views. Imagine you physically lose your right to speak. Imagine that you have to stay silent.

Well readers, and you should be really disturbed by this, that's exactly what NZ citizens living in Australia are facing. They face years of being unable to have a say on how the country is run. It's so undemocratic and unreasonable.

You see, I majored in politics at university. Not only that, I have previously been a member of a political party. That was when I was first year uni. When I progressed to third year I studied Political Participation (342) which was about just how low voter turnouts are and that voting is both a right and a responsibility. I'm the type of person, who in previous elections, votes the day I can. One time I was going to miss out on voting as I'd been away. I somehow managed to get my papers sent to me just in the nick of time. Other elections I've ordered papers three times just to make sure they arrive and that I am able to vote.

I take it very seriously.

So can you imagine not having that right? Can you imagine being excluded from the very thing that you value most in this world? Democracy. And freedom. Can you imagine just how hard that is to be excluded and silenced?

New Zealand citizens pay taxes, contribute to the economy and yet can't have a say on how it's run. It's not right. It's actually very wrong.

I really want you to think and digest this: Australia is a Western nation that's supposed to be founded on principles of freedom but 400,000 people are excluded from having a say every election and might as well have their mouths zipped together like asylum seekers in detention centres do in protest of immigration policy.

This blog is much longer than I intended but it's so important and everything must be included.

So to get to the point on why it's so important that you vote tomorrow:

1 - There are over 400,000 people living in Australia that do not have voting rights. These 400,000 people have no democratic say. They pay taxes and contribute but are excluded from having a say. These people, who let's be honest, this is suffrage. This is discrimination. This actually violates human rights. It goes against the principles of being an inclusive society which is sung about in the Australian national anthem. It goes against valuing everyone's opinions and allowing everyone a say.

So to summarise why you need to vote tomorrow: 400,000 people do not have a democratic voice. You do. Don't throw it away. Put yourself in their shoes.

2 - People often talk about how politicians do not listen to them and that their views are ignored. If we go back to the ancient Greece where democracy was born, the very principle of democracy is that everyone has their say, not just a select few. You cannot change the world if you don't speak your mind. The only way to drive change is to voice your opinions.

3 - Voting occurs only once every three years. If you only participate through the ballot box then this is even more important. As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said, "every vote counts," and it really does. We don't have democracy if people don't vote. It's that simple.

4 - It sets a good example to the future generation. People become like the people they associate with. If you don't vote you're actually setting up the next generation to become disenfranchised and not vote at the polls.

5 - It's your Civic Duty.  Your ancestors fought for your right to a democratic voice. They fought for your right to freedom. Don't let that be in vain.

So please, please make sure you get out and vote tomorrow. It doesn't matter which side of the political spectrum you are on, it's so important that you vote. If you don't vote then all you do is destroy democracy because politicians can get away with more. Voting holds them accountable to their actions and everything affects you - think about tax, roads, immigration. It all affects you so make sure you get out and vote.

And on that note, I'm not speaking for the next 25 hours. Being excluded from democracy after living in Australia for eight years when I would take up citizenship tomorrow just cuts way too deep.

Unlike others I miss nothing about the traditional workforce. Self employment is more fulfilling and you maximise every minute of every hour of every day.

Delta Goodrem might have recently released a song called Dear Life, but I want to start a blog called Dear Australia, or more importantly, it's called Dear Australian Business owners and staff members.

Here we go then.

Dear Australian Business Owners and Staff,

We have a problem that we need to talk about. It's a problem that nobody really seems to talk about, or if they do it's one you don't truly understand until you leave the corporate 9-5 world. What a way to make a livin', barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin', had to include those lyrics in this blog as they sprung to mind and now I'm listening to Dolly Parton's song.

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked, what we really need to talk about is the issue of productivity.

Now I'd been in the workforce for ten years prior to starting my own business, which was actually started completely by accident, or like most people, it was a planned accident. Until I started my own business I worked for employers who were so wasteful with resources.

I used to work an eight hour day and really only did about one or two hours of actual hardcore work.

Now that I'm self employed I work 16 hours, full on 16 hours, that's once you take into consideration a two hour break for the gym and a few hours for sleep, or as was the case tonight, a half hour sleep before getting stuck back into work.

Productivity is such a huge issue. People are so wasteful with their resources, and it's only when you start running your own business that you see this. People do not set their staff true targets. I'm not sure if the world is full of bad managers or if when you're an employee you simply don't care, and that the moment you become self employed you suddenly do.

The reason I'm blogging about the issue of productivity in the first place is I just read a blog written by Sydney copywriter Kate Toon. Her blog was about things she missed about the workforce and it got me thinking about productivity because she was talking about how she would often take extended breaks.

When you're self employed you simply can't do that. Every minute of every hour of every day is costing you money, and if you're not working that hour that minute then you're effectively losing money. How much money you lose will depend upon what you charge for your services or product, depending of course on the field that you are in.

When you're self employed you'll even be concerned about the time you spend on phone calls because although that has the potential to generate you an income, it generally won't. Generally phone calls will cost you money because of the lost productivity you have while you're on the phone. When you're on the phone you can't do the jobs you need to do which means you need to work longer hours later on.

You see, when you're self employed there is nobody to cover for you. You have to do it. If you get sick then you've got to work. If you're tired, you've got to work. Even if it's your birthday or Christmas Day that's right, you'll still have to work. When you are self employed it is much like the social media meme says, you work 70 hours a week so you don't have to work for someone else.

When you do work for someone else you will be pigeon holed. You're either position x or position y or a or b or c or d. You're not all of the above. You perform one business function and that is all. You don't have the choices you do when you're self employed.

Unlike Kate Toon, I don't miss being an employee. I love being in control. I love that I choose what I earn and what I charge. I love that I am in charge of my future. Like a lot of self employed people, I ended up setting up my own business after years of thinking about it but the real trigger was when I was made redundant in November 2015. It's not until you have no money, and no control of your future that you will make a decision to either continue letting people control and determine you're future, or you'll take back control yourself.

The only thing I do miss about the workforce is that I had a separate place to go to. Now my office is right next to my bed which means there is no escaping. If I have work to do and it's 3am then I am going to get out of bed (as I've done) and do it because I have the time and inspiration. There's no way a sane person would get out of bed and go to the office if they worked for an employer. They would leave it until tomorrow. When you're self employed if you want to succeed then there is no such thing as procrastinating. You will do as much as you possibly can in one day otherwise that's lost time you could be spending generating new business and extra work you have tomorrow.

I also miss not having business expenses. When you're self employed you will account for everything. If you had a pen while you were in an office you wouldn't care if you threw it out. When you work for yourself you won't even want to pay for printing let alone actual set up costs like equipment such as a computer or photographs (if you're a web developer or graphic designer and work with stock images).

Other than the financial cost I don't miss anything about the traditional workforce. Once you've tasted the freedom of being your own boss you can never go back.

And that's what being in business is about. It's about being extremely motivated and driven to succeed. It's about making the most of every opportunity. Being in business gives you a thrill that being an employee never did, and never will do. When you're your own boss it's exciting and thrilling. It's like being on a constant buzz not knowing what tomorrow's going to bring.

Some people of course aren't cut out for business ownership, but those who are should enjoy it otherwise they should get out of it. That buzz isn't just about the big things like bringing in big deals. It's also the little things like getting business cards, or as was the case with me earlier this week, setting up my proper official business email and the bigger momentous activity, like planning for your first staff member.

Business ownership isn't for the faint hearted but those who are right for it will have a lot of fun. It's like nothing else.

What nobody tells you about running a small business

There are some things people don't tell you about running your own business. You only discover them when you establish a business yourself.

TIME: So you thought you had it tough when you were an employee. You thought eight hours a day was demanding? Eight hours a day is nothing compared to the 16 hours a day most small business owners work. That 16 hours of course isn't in one block. But all the work you do amounts to 16 hours every day.

As a small business owner it is imperative you manage your time effectively. If you've never been the type of person to make to do lists you suddenly will be and nothing will ever be done. The list will forever grow.

FREEDOM: Nobody will tell you to get back from your extended lunch break or gym break. You choose when you work, so you can start as late or as early as you want. In fact, as I type this blog I am cycling at the gym. That said, your customers will expect you to be available 24/7 and if you're a demanding customer like I am, if you're not available they will go to your competitor. 

CUSTOMER SERVICE: When you're a small business owner you can't afford to have even one unhappy customer. One unhappy customer has the potential to destroy your reputation. You will find yourself bending over backwards to get jobs done. That will mean taking calls from customers at midnight. Another case, and this happened to me this weekend, I had a customer who required a design job to be completed by tomorrow. Now I've been using a lap top and needed to upgrade. I ended up upgrading yesterday. Friends looked at me like I was crazy to upgrade a few days prior to what I'd planned. Customers expect it and if you don't deliver they will go elsewhere for their services. You never know when a one off customer could become a regular client, and the more regular clients you have, the better.

Sometimes of course there is no pleasing customers and you have to know when to cut your losses and let the customer go.

MONEY CHASING: Everyone hates debt collectors, well my fellow readers, if you run your own business you will constantly be chasing payments and waiting for money to come in. You will negotiate rates and payment terms. These are things that are essential and the bottom line is you must be paid for your work. Some people of course don't value people's work and will try to get out of paying. There are customers who don't comprehend that you're running a business and that you're not a charity.

STAFF: People frequently talk about how people don't hire staff easily and that wages are too low. Until you run your own business you don't realise the reason for that. Most small businesses are run by people who don't have a huge amount of money to spare. The money simply isn't there to pay higher wages. This is one reason why more and more business owners, myself included, use independent contractors. As soon as you start a business you will have people lining up to work for you. That's another thing. You must treat your staff well with open communication. Make expectations very clear from the start. You will find yourself being very picky about who you hire because your neck and your money is on the line.

PRODUCTIVITY: That brings me to my next point about productivity. In the early stages of a business it isn't productive to hire staff full time. You will hire people based on projects. You will pay them for the work they do, not to sit there for 40 hours a week.  You will want to make sure something productive comes out of every minute of every hour. You will find yourself scheduling phone calls and multi tasking a lot more as a small business owner.

When you're an employee, you just care about your job but the moment you become an SBO you will start requiring reports of profit increases, expenses and the general direction of your business. You will start caring about the numbers and the bottom line.

That said, numbers matter but in some cases you have to spend money to make money.

LEARNING AND JOB CAPABILITIES: All too frequently when you work for someone else they will only give you jobs based on what they think your capabilities are. When you're a small business owner you choose the work you take on and that means one day you're designing a website, the next day you're writing content or managing a marketing campaign. You're not pigeon holed.

BYE BYE HOLIDAYS: I was made redundant in November so took a holiday. It was fantastic so I booked another. Then a short time after getting a new job I set up my own business (a planned accident) and had to cancel my holiday. When you run a small business, especially if you're a sole trader there is no such thing as holidays. Nobody can replace you and you don't want your clients to go down the road to your competitor.

RELATIONSHIPS: Business relationships are so essential, especially in the early stages of your business, the more mutual relationships you can start, the better it will be for your business and your reputation. 

Of course there are many more things I could discuss about running a small business but these are a few thoughts I have had, that I just haven't had time to put down on paper because I'm busy helping everyone else with their businesses.

Self employment doesn't feel like work, more people should do it

As I type this email I'm sitting at a cafe on Sydney's George Street, yesterday I spent the afternoon at a cafe in King's Cross. Monday and Tuesday it was Bondi Beach.

You may be wondering, but don't you have an office to go to? Don't you need to go to work? The answer is no as I am self employed. I work for myself so I can choose where I work and the hours I work.

So there may be a question in your mind, what prompted you to become self employed? Was it so hard to find a job that you had to work for yourself? The answer, and it's not a simple one, is that I was in the full time workforce until November and that employment relationship ended.

Now, anyone who knows anything about me knows that I've been talking about starting my own business since I was 18, so 12 years now but it was never the right time and getting that elusive first client always proves difficult.

Anyway, after that employment relationship ended I started to get more determined about starting my own business, but again, I didn't really know how to go about it. It is one of those decisions that can't be taken lightly and there is so much to consider.

For starters, starting your own business is a huge risk and a huge unknown.

I didn't leave the full time workforce after that job in November though. I actually worked casually for a couple of months before getting another full time job. It was that full time job that gave me the skills necessary to start my own business.

You see, how it really came about was that there was an Immigration Policy Change in Australia for NZ citizens so I decided to join an online platform to get some extra money because I was going to be under the required threshold to qualify. Little did I know that within a couple of weeks I'd be bringing in more money from the online platform than my day job, and that it would end up being a full time job on top of my day job.

I planned an exit strategy from the workforce but that isn't a decision to be taken lightly. When you work for someone else you have the security of holiday and sick pay. When you work for yourself you're it, you're in control of everything. But that also means if you get sick or want to take a holiday you can't because nobody else can do what you do.

Most people are afraid of self employment because of the responsibility involved. In reality you could work for 8 hours a day for someone else, or you could work 12 hours a day for yourself and make significantly more money and have the freedom.

Employers have a mindset that you must work 9-5 in an office, but as The Drum and other media organisations report, technology is suggesting that the 9-5 workforce is on the way out, and that people will have multiple little jobs. These could be casual jobs, or they could be people working for themselves with the plan to grow their business substantially.

9-5 is rigid and technology has meant that jobs which previously would have taken 40 hours in a week no longer do, they can be done in five hours. Before you get scared, technology is also creating jobs so it balances out.

There actually comes a moment in any self employed person's life when they decide they can no longer work for other people. For me, it was that moment in November when my employment ended and without exaggeration, it nearly left me homeless (had it not been for good friends and family money I would have been). It was that moment that it became more of a risk to work for someone else, and most entrepreneurs will tell you the same thing. Just look at Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey or others like Donald Trump who have lost all their money and had to start from scratch all over again.

Self employment gives you a freedom that the paid workforce never will. You are free to take on any role. As a self employed person you're responsible for doing the job, in my case writing, copywriting, marketing and you're also responsible for managing client relationships. When you work for someone else you are pigeonholed into a particular category and you are limited in what you can earn.

Self employment, doesn't even feel like work. It's week one and already I strongly recommend it. With technology constantly evolving I can't see the 9-5 workforce being around for much longer, and I think we need to get out of this mindset that you must work 9-5 in an office to be productive at a job. If we stepped away from this and people took more responsibility for their careers we might see unemployment drop because people would be gaining skills they could transfer to other employment. As it happened my 12 years of working awful jobs gave me all the tools to set up my business.

Everyone is different and not everyone works well from 9-5. Personally my work day starts at 12pm and ends at 1-2am the next day. It's hard work but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

It's not for the faint hearted though. Back to work now but I really wanted to share just how awesome self employment is compared to working for someone else.

ANZAC Weekend in Melbourne

Given it was ANZAC Weekend and I hadn't been out of Sydney other than to Newcastle for a day trip with a former job, I randomly decided to book a trip to Melbourne. I've never been crash hot on Melbourne, always preferring Sydney and not understanding what the fuss with Melbourne was. There has always been a rivalry between the two cities, with people either being on Team Sydney or Team Melbourne. I'm still Team Sydney but I don't hate Melbourne and I'm bound to visit again. It really does have its own culture as shown in the two photographs below.

(Photographer: Liz Shaw, Location: Swanston Street entrance of Flinders Station)

I decided I would go with an open mind, so I hopped on my train from Sydney to Melbourne. That's another blog post entirely though.

As we got closer and arrived at Broadmeadows on the outskirts of Melbourne I started getting excited about arriving in Melbourne, with a list of things I wanted to do.

I arrived at Southern Cross Station and thought, "well Melbourne you're not half bad at all. In fact, I dare say, I kind of like you." I noticed the buildings in the distance, and I'm a city slicker so buildings and bright lights excite me. 

I was a little lost once I departed the train and tried to figure out where to get a cab. This was super easy and I found one within a couple of minutes. I hopped in the cab and the cabbie thought I was nuts for only staying in Melbourne a couple of days but I explained I had work to do. I said I'd be back in Melbourne though.

I stayed at Breakfree in Preston. Preston is approximately 10kms from the city, and this was odd for me as I'm used to living right in the city, however transport was so easy to use and it was easy to travel with the Myki card on the trams.  I stayed in Preston because I booked my accommodation the same day I arrived in Melbourne so given this short notice it was impossible to find a place in the city. As the cabbie explained to me, by the time I'd factored in cab fares it would've been cheaper or the same price to stay in the city and he was right. I will bear that in mind for next time I'm in Melbourne.

I didn't see much of Melbourne only seeing Federation Square, Swanston Street, Flinders Station, Prahran and St Kilda Road. I tried to go to St Kilda Beach but I only got to the suburb of St Kilda and then I got lost.

The city is so incredibly clean. It's insane how clean it is compared to Sydney, and there are more clear rubbish bins.

Prahran is a few kms from the city on the way to South Yarra. It is amazing for anyone who loves their coffee or their designer shopping. I'm from Sydney so the shops there were no big deal because I can shop anywhere. If however you're from a small town then I recommend Prahran.

If you're a coffee connoisseur this is the ideal location too. Chapel Street is filled with outdoor cafe seating. It really is quite the view when you're not used to seeing things like that.

I had wanted to go to St Kilda Beach. I'd also wanted to see the Shrine of Remembrance, Docklands, the Southbank, the Yarra River (which I only caught glimpses of), Collins Street and Parliament. I did however see a small part of Collins Street on my way to Southern Cross Station to get my train back to Sydney. It was at night time though so I didn't really see much. 

Melbourne and Sydney are such different cities. The two simply aren't comparable. Would I live in Melbourne? No because it's cold and it doesn't have many beaches, and I love Sydney, but I would definitely holiday there again.

Next time I will visit Melbourne for longer rather than just a fleeting visit but I did discover that it's rep for good transport is true. The trams are amazing, and I did discover another thing. I don't hate Melbourne but a couple of days simply isn't enough to really see the city.

Southern Cross Station might be newer but Flinders Street is much more iconic. It's a gorgeous building and reminded me of Sydney's QVB building on George Street.

Melbourne is very welcoming and an easy city to get around. I recommend anyone would visit it. When you don't know what to expect from a city you're best to just go for a short time to see what you think. Given I'm left wanting more I would say it was the ideal length of time for a first time visit. 

Next time I would stay right in the city and go for at least three days, and even then I doubt I'd see everything I'd want to.

Melbourne impressed. The tram network really is incredible.

Two days is not enough time to really see Melbourne. It's enough to say "hi" to the city but not a lot more. I plan to go back for Queen's Birthday Weekend in June.

Sydney's Miles Glyphers releases debut record

Sydney based Miles Glyphers has released his debut record, Twisted Youth.

The inspiration behind the album for Miles was escapism. He never really felt like he was in control until he was making music which he has described as cathartic.

"Where do we go?" was based on his thought process for the record. He said, "All in all it made me feel like I am finally ready to work for what I want. I feel like I got a story to tell."

He describes his music style as chilled and relaxed and doesn't really consider it hip hop in a conventional sense. He has a love for fashion which sets him apart from his peers.

Miles has played a number of shows and toured Sydney in 2014. It was through the tour that he and Sound of Fractures formed a relationship. That relationship continued with them featuring on tracks such as "Lake House," "They are Free,  "Out of Time."

He was born in Sealey, a small town on the Ivory Coast and moved to Australia when he was 11 years old after living in Guineau. He now lives in Sydney but due to moving around as a child he has a hunger for new places and experiences.

No doubt this won't be the last we hear from Miles.

His record is now available and you can follow him on social media for further updates.