@ Courtenay: there's no way I would have thought of asking for time off just now even if there was something I wanted to go to. 

Quite so, when even a slightly extended long weekend was a bad look, when we went to the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth games closing ceremony.   I did do an evening shift on the Monday, though. 🤔 The 2000 Olympics were a different matter when my then employer, NSWTAFE, was a sponsor of sorts, heavily into training volunteers or event management, & when local use of public transport to venues was encouraged to save parking . I know what you mean about the distance between Birmingham & Manchester being distant in UK terms when in 1997, we found ourselves in a long, slow-moving motorway carpark, as bad as anything I've seen in Australia, from Chester to Birmingham, where a bypass finally allowed us to escape on our way to Stonehenge & Devizes. 

One question I have about that Birmingham Closing Ceremony is that the four cities named in the Victorian Aboriginal snippet, were Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong & Gippsland. But isn't the fourth one, Gippsland, more of a region than a city? Or that is my understanding of Regional Victoria. 

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

One question I have about that Birmingham Closing Ceremony is that the four cities named in the Victorian Aboriginal snippet, were Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong & Gippsland. But isn't the fourth one, Gippsland, more of a region than a city? Or that is my understanding of Regional Victoria. 

Gosh, I hadn't heard about that, but you're right — Gippsland IS a region, not a city. I should know, as it's where I come from!! It's not all that well defined, but roughly speaking it's everything east of Western Port Bay and south of the Great Dividing Range. A very large area! I'm glad it got a mention, but a bit weird to throw it in among Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong, which of course ARE our three biggest regional cities... I guess if they were talking about Aboriginal communities, they may have just been referring to ones from each of those areas. But Gippsland was traditionally home to several different Aboriginal nations, being such a big region, so I'm not sure what they might have been getting at...

@Courtenay: Gippsland IS a region, not a city. I should know, as it's where I come from!! It's not all that well defined, but roughly speaking it's everything east of Western Port Bay and south of the Great Dividing Range. 

Thank you. That is why I asked you, because you, of all people in the World, certainly would be the best person to ask.  I felt like I was missing something as a mere Sydneysider.   There were four Aboriginal tribes mentioned, who did a smoking ceremony for the handover part of the Closing ceremony, but I can't manage to call their names up on Internet, when these names were too long & involved to remember easily, let alone spell them.  I wish I had jotted them down. The segment was entitled A Treaty for Victoria. As a background there was a large display of different views of these four areas of people working in the countryside as farmers etc. On the whole it was a better & more dignified handing over presentation than the blow up kangaroos on bicycles we had at Atlanta in 1996, for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.  

It looks like you might just get a bit of the 2026 Commonwealth Games being held in Inverloch or thereabouts.  

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

On the whole it was a better & more dignified handing over presentation than the blow up kangaroos on bicycles we had at Atlanta in 1996, for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.  

Never to be forgotten!!!   (I remember they brought them back for the closing ceremony at Sydney and had them chased off by some other characters, if I recall rightly.)

Now I've just been looking up the plans for the 2026 Games... yes, they really are treating "Gippsland" as if it's equivalent to those three regional cities, even though it's something entirely different. Don't know what's got into them. Ha, and it seems the Gippsland events are actually being held in the Latrobe Valley, including Traralgon and Morwell... not very well off areas, to say the least!! Maybe they're figuring a major event like this will turn their fortunes around...  

@Courtenay:Maybe they're figuring a major event like this will turn their fortunes around...    

You could be right. The Birmingham Commonwealth Games seem to have done at least something to revitalise Birmingham, often depicted as an industrial area to be avoided, rather than a tourist destination in its own right. At most events the stands were full, & it can't have hurt that the locals, themselves, seem to have found it entertaining to share their city with so many visitors for the Games. 

Now you mention Traralgon & Morwell, I expect that the Games might help when the Yallourn brown coal mine has been closed, & when Ballarat & Bendigo, both known for gold-mining, might also need a boost in these post pandemic, anti-mining days. Geelong, on the west of Melbourne, is a mystery, though, & a bit out-of-the way. When we briefly went to the Melbourne 2006 games we travelled through Avalon Airport, nearly as far from Melbourne as is Geelong, itself, a bit further down the track. Avalon Airport was a makeshift sort of airport compared to Tullamarine, & might need upgrading if it is going to handle anything bigger than what they had back in 2006. By 2026, the Western Sydney Airport will be finished, so it is said, but it is too far away, 20 minutes from Penrith, NSW, to be much use to Victoria. 

Never mind the kangaroos on bicycles, hilarious though they were , what about the flying vintage Melbourne tram that featured in the Opening Ceremony for the 2006 Commonwealth Games? Those lovely little white wings it had... flip, flop, it flew....   Quite an engineering feat to get something so hefty up into the air, like that. Or was it just a more lightweight life-sized model?  Then in the closing ceremony there was Dame Edna Everidge saying rude things about every other Australian Capital City. Except Melbourne of course.   Plus those model fish in the centre of the Yarra River, there for the duration of those Games. Though we saw the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games they weren't a patch on the Melbourne ones, to tell the truth, even though we got as many as 80 Gold medals. It seems Brisbane, building on its own stab at the Commonwealth Games in 1982, is to be the 2032 venue for the Olympic Games, after Los Angeles in 2028. 

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

Never mind the kangaroos on bicycles, hilarious though they were , what about the flying vintage Melbourne tram that featured in the Opening Ceremony for the 2006 Commonwealth Games? Those lovely little white wings it had... flip, flop, it flew....   Quite an engineering feat to get something so hefty up into the air, like that. Or was it just a more lightweight life-sized model?

Oi, don't knock the flying tram.   My mum had a job at the 2006 Commonwealth Games — she worked for a government department (she's just recently retired this year) and they had an offer for workers to go to Melbourne and do all the admin work for setting up the Games, so Mum applied and was given the job and was there for several weeks. She got a free ticket to the opening ceremony, so she saw it all in person!!

Brisbane Olympics should be fab (to use a term I've picked up over here in England). I lived in Brisbane for a few years in the early 2000s and I'm very fond of that little city. Whereas Sydney...   (No, I've nothing against Sydney, honestly. I lived there for a month in 2010 and absolutely loved the harbour and the Opera House and Ku-ring-gai National Park. The drawback was that I was in an unpaid internship and nearly ran out of money, plus I'd recently had my heart broken (there was a young bloke who didn't feel the same way about me that I felt about him... long story), and so it was very hard not to feel insanely homesick the whole time I was there. But that wasn't Sydney's fault. )

And now, as I'm not very good at talking about sports and we're going off topic again, I will shut up! (Unless we can start a General Aussie Banter thread somewhere to continue this conversation? Or maybe make it Aussie / NZ Banter so Coracle can join in too??  )

Way overdue posting here. But tonight is too big of a sports moment for me to not.

My Astros, who I am extremely proud of, are playing game 7 of the ALCS tonight against the Rangers. Now I live in Rangers territory. So a win tonight would mean more to me than I could say. We've played a hard-fought series so far. And we just need one more. I have been a diehard for years. I've seen the bad times, and the really good ones. And rI have never wanted to win a game more.

So... LETS GO STROS!!!!

I'm usually not a big sports fan, though I watch them on occasion! Sometimes world series and Superbowl for NFL! Though I'm guessing now it's time for the world series!

There's a competition on in France called the Rugby World Cup. My country has a team playing in it. 😉 
Yeah.. 🤩 

On Sunday 29th, the Final will be played between New Zealand (the All Blacks) and South Africa (the Springboks).

Well, New Zealand (All Blacks) did well, just the same to last to the finals, even if South Africa (Springboks) won the Rugby World Cup. I haven't been following Rugby Union when it seems the Australian team has been having so many problems of late, that they fell in a heap, & were soon coming home. When is the Bledisloe Cup going to be played again? I suppose the All Blacks will be having Roast Wallaby for celebration then.  

Apparently, the opening round of the NRL, (National Rugby League) which begins on March 2nd, next year, will be playing in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium , at 1.30 pm, between the Sea Eagles (Manly), and the Rabbitos (South Sydney). Our local team, the Panthers, which won the Grand Final for the third year in a row, on October the 1st, this year, won't be playing against the Melbourne Storm until the following Friday. The same evening, at 8.00 pm AEST, the Warriors (Auckland, New Zealand) play the Sharks (Cronulla). 

I'm not a sports person (except for the Olympics), but since I live in Kansas, I flipped on the TV last weekend, just out of curiosity to see the Kansas City Chiefs score. And in that one instant, I managed to hook my 9 year old daughter onto American football. LOL

So we had to watch the Chiefs play this afternoon, and they won. And then we had to watch the 49ers vs Lions this evening to see who the Chiefs will play in the Super Bowl in a couple weeks.

This is absolutely cracking me up because this particular daughter is the least sporty of all my kids.

Anyways, go Chiefs!

How fun about your daughter, @fantasia! Both of Sunday's games were pretty entertaining. (I'm not terribly sporty either but do enjoy watching the occasional NFL game, especially if the home town team is playing, or if it's the playoffs). Some friends have hosted Super Bowl parties for years, and it's always fun to get together to talk, watch the game (and the commercials!) and enjoy good food.

I see there's an active online discussion about whether Taylor Swift will attend the Super Bowl this year.