The (Sydney) Magazine, Sydney Morning Herald, July 03
By Matt Buchanan

The beauty of the harbour, the unbeatable food, the straightforward approach. Matt Buchanan finds that, for this actor, Sydney does it best. Especially the coffee.

"I left Sydney for LA when I was 26 because I wanted to expand my horizons. It was an adventure. You see, when I first came here from Ballina, Sydney seemed massive. But after a while it started to feel very small. And when you're young, you crave broader horizons like a drug. At first, Sydney was a big hit. I still remember driving over the bridge in my Torana for the first time. I was in the far lane, where it narrows, just shitting my pants. The bridge just felt so massive. You long for that sort of excitement again, and that's what sort of took me out of here to LA.

"But I really miss Sydney when I'm away. The last time I was back was last year, just for a day! I spent it in the back bar of the Woollahra Hotel, playing pool with an old mate. Then we watched the footy. I love Woollahra. It's got beautiful streets. It's got an old-fashioned Australian village community feeling I really like.

"When we [myself and wife Rebecca] came back this time we stayed a while at the Park Hyatt because we just had a longing to be on the harbour, to experience the beauty of the city Sydney is a ridiculously pretty city, stunningly beautiful. I mean, when you arrive back in LA after being in Sydney, it's just so depressing. As soon as you're off the plane and driving through LA ... it's like endless Parramatta Roads, Parramatta Road multiplied.

"It's very hard to do anything in LA without comparing it to Sydney. For one thing, the food in Sydney is ridiculous, beyond compare, really. When we go to dinner with Americans it's just pathetic how much we talk about how great our city's food is. And I just can't eat seafood in America. I just can't; won't! Even if it's a seafood restaurant, it's just like chewing on rubber. And you can't get a coffee over there. When I order a coffee over there, I get a texta and mark the cup like: 'I want coffee to here, and I want milk to here'.

"Americans aren't that familiar with Sydney. They talk about the Opera House, the bridge, the New Year's celebrations. People will say: 'Oh my Gaaaad, I went to Sydney and it was fantaaaaastic. We stayed at Daarling Harrrbourrrrrr'. And I'll say: 'I'm sorry but you stayed in the worst place'. I haven't been there [Darling Harbour] for seven years, but I see Darling Harbour as the pimple on the arse of Sydney.

"I like the old Sydney, the little pockets. When I was first acting in Sydney in the 1990s, there was a real sense of community, particular haunts where everyone from different places could sit
around and chat. Places like the Tropicana cafe, or Goodbar (when it was still the Freezer), or Soho, at four in the morning, trying to chase that ball of fun, never catching it.

"Sydney used to be a little bit more low-rent. Every time I come back I've noticed that a lot of my friends who used to live in the eastern suburbs are spreading further out because they can't afford to live there any more; the old warehouses friends used to live in are now redevelopments.

"I think it's hard to explain what an experience of Sydney can be unless you've lived here for a while, and know how to take advantage of it. Everyone I know takes Sydney for granted. But if you live overseas for a few years, you realise how good everyone has it in this city. There's a reason why the cost of living here is going through the roof.

"The urge to return is just in me. I've moved around a lot in my life - Tasmania, New Guinea, St Marys in the western suburbs, Ballina - but Sydney's our city. We've been in LA a long enough
time. My kids are surrounded by American kids, they speak with American accents. I don't know whether it's my own shit, my own baggage, but I want to bring them up here. And I think there's
something to be said about our values. Sydney has a straightforward approach to it. There's nothing more comforting than going to Glenmore Road School [Paddington] and hearing the headmistress say: 'Stevie, sit up. I'll have that ball, thank you.'There's a warm discipline there that's so comforting. In California it's more like: 'OK now, Steven, tell us why you got upset. How did that make you feel?'

"We will get back here. But I'm on this television show [The Guardian], everything's great, there's 12 million people watching every week and it's wonderful for my career. But it's also like, 'Now I'm done. I want to come back'. So, I'm kind of stuck there, in a sense, but longing more to be back. Still, my daughter's booked into school [in Sydney], so we have to be back for that.

"As I've got older, I've started to crave the familiar, have more respect for the simplicity of the lifestyle you can have in this city the sense of community This is a pretty great city where you can sit in the pub and have a beer next to a guy who makes millions, while the guy on the other side is on the f—ing dole queue, and you can all still have a conversation. I hope that continues. We've just got to get rid of Johnny Howard."