Michael Sullivan Online

CANBERRA AUSTRALIA - 4 October 2000 - This, the last weekend of the Olympics, Mike tried to get to Sydney Harbour to see the spectatular fireworks that accompanied the Closing Ceremonies. On Friday, Mike conteplated his situation. He would go up to Sydney on Sunday morning and get in place in the afternoon. There'd be lots of people and big screen TV's. After the fireworks, there would be a concert and the party would go all night. In the morning, Mike could check out some of the sights he missed last time or go to the beach. Later in the day, he could catch a bus back to Canberra. That was the plan. So midday on Saturday, Mike wwent to the bus station to get a ticket. He got the last ticket out on Sunday, but there was nothing left coming back on Monday so he got a ticket for Tuesday hoping to figure something out. It soon became apparent though that it was going to be hard to find a place to stay. By early evening, Mike realized he wasn't going to be able to pull it off and so went into the bus station to get a refund.

It ended up that Mike stayed at home most of the weekend and watched the last remnants of the Olympics. Monday was a holiday (Labour Day) so this gave Mike the chance to get out of the house. Mike went with Mark to Floriade and saw lots and lots and lots of tulips. This is an annual event that take place outside near the lake. The weather was pretty nice (close to 70F) but a bit breezy. The flowers were great but the other memorable thing about the show was the Gnome Knoll. It was a grassy area with close to a hundred gnomes. There was a competition where the entrants painted their gnome how they liked and the best gnome won. There were a bunch of your normal gnomes, then there was your lumberjack gnome, Elvis gnome, and the local Canberra Raider Rugby gnome not to mention the anti-genome gnome, who was opposed to genetic engineering.

The rest of the day, Mike did a lot of relaxing. Tuesday was baseball practice and things went pretty well. His first game is on Sunday and he has his first practice with the Under-12 kids on Thursday. So much to look forward as the post-Olympic blues strike hard in Australia.

Here ends Mike's twenty second week in Australia.