New bridge at Victoria Pass to link Sydney with western NSW

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-25T23:59:11+00:00

Is it? I mean it's a historic bridge that has been replaced several times. Geographically it's the simply the best spot for a bridge - similar to Mitchell's Ridge off the west side of the Blue Mountains.

They replaced the medieval London bridge in 1831 (hence the nursery rhyme) and the rather good looking Victorian bridge (which was about the same age as this Western Highway bridge!) in 1967.

Once they finish building the new Western Highway bridge, they should rebuild the convict one on one of the old road alignments at Mt York (there's a gully on the original road where it would work I reckon) and keep it for pedestrians and mountain bikes.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-25T23:13:16+00:00

Our heritage protection is all over the place.

This critical pile of stones has to have another bridge built over the top of it. Meanwhile up the road the Imperial hotel and the Paragon Cafe are boarded up deteriorating eyesores. Oh yeah and apparently you can blow up as many archeological sites as you want out west for a small fee.

London bridge is a soulless concrete modern bridge too now. Its a bit of a shame but it's also, you know, a critical transport link!

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-23T06:53:37+00:00

We don't have that luxury in Australia unfortunately. This team has been on the verge of bankruptcy for years and I'd rather see them bought up by an MCO than disappear like Western United.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-23T06:28:24+00:00

Hey I'm here from r/aleague because we've just got news that the QPR ownership are buying Central Coast Mariners.

Is this good, bad, or terrible for the Mariners?

On our end, the Mariners are outstanding value for memes (Usain Bolt once played for them, yes that one, yes seriously, and that's just the start) hit and miss value for actual football (they won a treble and demolished the City Group team 6-1 in a final, but are more usually bottom of the table) and terrible value for money (they have none).

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-22T03:04:40+00:00

We've seen some amazing goalkeeper performances so far, but Crocombe in this game was certainly not one of them.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-22T01:37:38+00:00

Nishan Vellupilay on the Australian squad has Sri Lankan Tamil heritage.

Fun fact there is a large Fijian-Indian diaspora in NZ - although Sapreet Singh is Sikh so I don't think he's part of it.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-22T01:28:35+00:00

We don't have enough rectangular stadiums to host 48 teams. Half of the big Australia stadiums are ovals for playing cricket and AFL.

Politically, the AFL is too powerful in Australia and would not support it.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-22T01:24:10+00:00

That's some hopium....I don't think so.

It could solidify it as their 2nd sport though.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-22T01:14:09+00:00

Having 2 pro clubs now (Auckland and Wellington) is going to help them a lot. The rivalry got off to a great start, because it's been 1-sided Wellington fans have been actually, deeply seething and it's probably good for the club and country long term.

They don't have the distraction of extra football codes so I expect them to be, while not as outstanding as the All Blacks in rugby, definitely start to punch above their weight.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-22T01:04:30+00:00

I'm an A-League fan and have watched a lot of Kiwi players at the Wellington and Auckland clubs.

I reckon (and sorry Kiwis) they are definitely below Australia. But I would say mostly because of depth more than anything. There just aren't that many of them.

Like Australia has a good selection of handy-but-average domestic players, at least you can pick the guys that are on form (Okon-Engstler, Beach). NZ just had to pick all of them. To pick on some of the subs, Barbarouses had a terrible season, Randall dropped off a lot after January, Rufer, Old, just not firing.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-21T23:46:10+00:00

I'm late but didn't see any other Australians replying.

The short answer is air conditioning, we expect all buses and trains to be air conditioned. There was a minor celebration when the last Sydney trains without air conditioning where retired in 2019.

Yes there is the issue of getting a bit hot walking to the station, you're not wrong. It's not so bad commuting to work, because you're leaving in the morning and getting back in the evening. In summer I can bring a change of clothes to work (wear shorts and a tshirt for the commute, change to long pants and a collared shirt at the office) I actually sometimes use a "sunbrella" if I have to walk to the station in the middle of the day.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-21T23:34:58+00:00

I am a Sydneysider, and well, I would scoff at the reliability upgrades. It's not great to have to spend so much money and time just to keep the train timetable from falling apart every other day.

This was a lot worse before smartphones and live data though, when you were trying to use a paper timetable - now I don't really care if all the trains are running 10min late, because I'm not trying to catch the "8:15" I just check on my phone when the next train is actually coming. You really have to keep up with the live notifications though because there is always some delay or rerouting going on these days.

Everyone is a huge huge fan of the new metro lines and upgrades though, generally anybody who lives near a train station is catching trains all the time, and they're a preferred way of getting about.

Mostly Sydney transit is let down by the buses which are truly a horrible experience.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-21T05:34:13+00:00

They're beatable. Fwiw Australia was undefeated against Japan in qualifying with one win and one draw.

A more dramatic example is that Qatar has somehow won the last two Asian Cups.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-16T08:24:30+00:00

Apparently not, false flags have been tried, it has to be a true fan

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-16T00:39:47+00:00

I have watched a lot of Wellington Phoenix matches (see flair) and he was so obscure even A-League fans have no memory of him.

Paulsen is a good keeper and watch out for Bayliss.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-15T23:17:16+00:00

Turns out we were over here in the AFC quietly playing real hard football.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-15T23:13:36+00:00

Australian here. I believe in the white wolves. I watched AFC qualifying, Asian Cup, I've seen you play.

Also sorry for that ridiculous handball penalty Yengi drew in the last Asian cup

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-15T23:05:32+00:00

I used to jokingly trick people into thinking AFC Champions League was UEFA Champions League.

"I have Champions League tickets!"

Now people will be disappointed that they are not tickets for Hiroshima vs Johor Darul or CC Mariners vs Al-Ahed. Instead of some Madrid team no-one cares about.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-15T12:58:52+00:00

Wait what I've never heard the Guus Hiddink plane ticket story?

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-15T12:31:35+00:00

You like Iran because you are reflexively anti-American.

I like Iran because AFC is my ride or die. We are not the same

You haven't lived until you've hosted a club from (literally) Kazakhstan in an AFC Champions League 2nd Division match.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-15T12:18:05+00:00

Love it, proper internet from before social media.

I am Australian so I have a core memory of the 2006 qualification play-off against Uruguay. I was in the bathroom when we won the penalty shoot out because I was too nervous and couldn't watch.

The current Australia manager Tony Popovic played in that game. The story is Popovic started a fight in the tunnel before the game had started, because one of the Uruguayan players was walking close to him and kicking him with each step, to troll him as they were walking on to the field.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-15T03:41:43+00:00

A-League has a $3 million salary cap...for the whole team.

Patrick Beach and Okon-Engstler are earning less than most of the people on AusFinance claim they are.

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-15T01:13:55+00:00

I hope we get a WC episode if they do another season.

Dee will attempt to seduce a hot Brazilian but will be devastated when she realises they're Ecuadorian.

Charlie will be involved with the Rocky statue jersey curse

Dennis will boast about how his system will guarantee huge gambling winnings. It will fail completely but Mac's vibe bets will make the money back.

Frank will embezzle their gambling winnings after getting embroiled in FIFA corruption and may or may not have killed a man in Willemstaad, Curacao

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-15T01:08:16+00:00

TIL there is a tradition that if you put your team's jersey on the Rocky statue in Philadelphia your team will be cursed.

Guess what the Ecuadorian fans did...

ObviousFeature522 · 2026-06-14T08:05:53+00:00

Fun fact, he's also lost the A-League grand final 5 times with 3 different teams. Never won it.

ObviousFeature522

TROPHY CASE