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Dear
Diary,
Today I went with Jenny to
interview Andrew Murphy, an Australian
Olympic Triple Jumper. Jenny is doing a
project on him.
Her mum picked us up from
school. We then drove to North Sydney. Since
Jenny's dad works with Andrew we went and
interviewed him in her dad's office. After
that I got his autograph.
It was then home for a
delicious dinner.
Webster
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Dear 5G,
On the weekend Ellie, Jessie, and
their mum and dad went to their friends farm in the
Blue Mountains 2 hours from Sydney. Ellie has a horse
called Murphy and Jessie has a motorbike and they keep
them there. The day started when we woke up at 7:15
a.m. because we had been sleeping on a couch. Tom and
Elliot (our friends) and their parents own some land
and love it up there. After breakfast Ellie saddled up
Mrphy and we set off for a ride (I felloff a few
times). In the afternoon, we (Tom, Elliot, Jessie,
Ellie, and I) made a yabby trap and set them up at
Yabby Dam. Elliot, who is 9, drove us down to the dam
in his car and Tom, who is 11, drove us home. Elliot
saw a yabby in the shallow water and jumped in to the
water and grabbed it, it was huge with big nippers and
a bright blue shell. That night we went to a trivia
night that is where you answer questions and win
prizes (they were adult questions). The next day we
woke up at 9:15 because I slept in the bed and not the
couch, it was better than 7:15 A.m. A few days ago
Terry (Tom and Elliot's dad) shot a yearly steer (boy
cow) and today the butcher came to cut up all the meat
for them. Then Ellie drove us down to put a horse
called Nugget in his paddock. I had a great weekend
with Ellie.
Webster
G'day Webster,
Hi, my name is Sarah and I live in
Sydney where the Olympics will be held this year.
Today my mum (Bronwyn, my brother (Bas) and myself all
went to the Macquarie Centre to watch the Olympic
Flame go by. The crowds roared and the flags waved.
The atmosphere was so amazing that it can't be
descirbe with words.
This afternoon I went down my
street on my bike with my next door neighbor. Her bike
is much better than mine.
See you later,
Sarah
7-15-00
Hi it's Webster. I have just
been at Hannah's house for the night. When we got home
we each had a bowl of Quick Pasta. It was delicious.
After the yummy meal, we went upstairs to do Hannah's
homework. The extradorniary thing about Hannah that I
found out was that she listened to very loud music and
does her homework at the same time. During her
homework, Hannah had rung a lot of people for fun and
for homework. The telephone bills must be very high.
Awhile later Hannah booted her brothers off the
computer and went on the Internet searching for math
items for her Powerpoint presentation. We had a lovely
dinner of Schnitzel and potatoes. Yum! Yum! Directly
after dinner Hannah and I fed her grandma's dog raw
chicken wings. Yuck! Later in bed Hannah read "Around
the World in Eighty Days" while I was stuck with
Winnie-the-Pooh (children's book). My sleep was very
comfortable except for Belle (the dog) who was
squishing my toes at the end of the bed. Overall I had
a great time staying with Hannah!
Webster
7-20-00
Today I went home with Rachel.
First she went to netball practice. I sat down and
watched her play a game. Rachel's mum pikced us up and
we had a finger bun for afternoon tea.
Rachel did her homework and I
helped her. I then had a shower. The water was
freezing. I screamed and quickly hopped out. Rachel
practiced her piano and violin and I sat at the
computer and wrote this. Rachel taught me how to play
the piano, but unfortunately I have no fingers to play
with. Rachel did her musicianship homework and I had a
nap. When I woke up, Rachel and her family were eating
dinner so I quickly joined them. I brushed my teeth
and went to bed.
Webster
7-25-00
Webster with Anna
Thursday
Here we are at Anna's house and
there is just one more day until I 'm off with
Cortney. When Anna finishes her homework we will have
5 minutes to play Nintendo before going to jazz, what
fun!
We arrived at jazz 10 minutes
early, that meant absolutely none of her classmates
were there yet, not even her teacher, Stephanie. But
after 5 minutes of waiting, Stepahanie arrived, but
only Natasha arrived.
We got home at 7:00 after 2 hours
of dancing and just crashed into Anna's bed, had
dinner in bed and fell asleep in bed.
Friday
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! What 6:30
a.m. no more time…
Zzzzzz "BREAKFAST" mmmmm! Extra
special PANCAKES!!!!!"School" OK, will you wait
Anna….Wait! Wait!! Your forgot me!!!! Oh, all
alone, all day, COME BACK!!!!!!
She got back at the end of day
finding me on the doorstep in tears "I'm sorry
Webster," she said, "I'll never do that again!" Well
let's think on the bright side of things. I get 2 more
days with Anna!
On Friday the 15th of September,
Jade and her family took me to a large stadium in
Olympic Park in Sydney, Australia, for the Opening
Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Jade and I
had to walk to the nearest bus stop on the north shore
which was Pymble, but there were too many people on
the first bus, so we hopped onto the next one. WE
finally arrived after a rattly and bumpy ride. More
walking but the people were so friendly and the place
was so exciting, we didn't mind. We passed a huge hill
made of dirt that was covered in little blue and white
flags, I don't know what on earth it was for. It
looked like the sea, we just kept on walking. Y'know
that if there wasn't that big hill of dirt you
wouldn't have to walk so far! Finally we got to our
venue , but we didn't realize that there would be such
a long queue. In fact, there were many queues for the
different entrances they wound round and round like
snakes and it was fun trying to find the end of
ours.
When we got into the enormous
stadium, it was incredibly empty, but it only took a
short time for it to fill. Everyone at the Opening
Ceremony was given little yellow suitcases that
represented the old globate suitcase that Jade's
parents used to take to school when they were
children. The suitcases were filled with all sorts of
memorabilia and objects to use in the Opening Ceremony
including stickers to (the rest of this entry from
Webster and Jade was missing).
Dear Journal,
Today was boiling hot. Not the
ideal September day for going to Olympic Park for
archery.
Lauren, Lauren's family, and I were
traveling on a smelly, old school bus. The ride was
tiring as the family had to stand for the whole 40
minutes (of course I was carried). I was relieved to
know when we had stopped and gotten off the bus, until
I was told that we had to go on a shuttle bus to the
archery venue! Fortunately we had a luxurious bus and
a non-bumpy road. The ride was not long and I realized
we had already gone through security.
The game had started and three sets
of extradordinary archers had gone. Since it was the
quarter-finals, the winner movers up and the loser is
out of the competition. I was acting very childish
along with the rest of the crowd cheering and yelling
as loud as I could. Suddenly the Australian crowd was
quiet as the Australian archer walked on. She was
versus the American! Of course I was very patriotic,
and therefore, cheered for the U.S.A.
The atmosphere was vociferous and
had erupted with cheers as the Australian shot a
perfect 10-10 shot.
The game continued and I was
overwhelmed when the American won. I only wished that
it could have been the finals and I could have sung,
"The Star Spangled Banner."
After that we ate extremely good
fish and chps. Afterwards we went and caught the bus
back home. We caught a country bus to the stadium.
Then believe it or not, the same smelly school bus
home.
Webster (helped by
Lauren)
September 15, 2000
On the first Saturday of the
Olympics, Deanna and her family took me to see the
swimming in the new, advanced Aquatic Centre. We left
their house and walked to the hot north shore station
to catch the train at about 3:00 o'clock. The bus was
crowded so we stood up in the long narrow aisle of the
upper level. The ride was extremely bumpy. We had to
change trains at Sydney's Central Station on to what
used to be fondly known as "the red rattlers" except
they're now modern and silver. From that point on it
took us 30 minutes to arrive at Olympic Park
Station.
Olympic Park was hot and humid. We
decided to stay and have dinner at McDonald's. It was
scrumptious. We eventually started to wander towards
our final destination, the Aquatic Centre.
We sat comfortably in our seats
listening to the enthusiastic roar of the crowd. We
turned our heads and saw an extremely famous tennis
player, Pat Rafter. Soon people started to get his
autograph.
"Please welcome the swimmers for
the Men's 400m freestyle," we heard over the loud
speakers. Every Australian in the audience cheered for
Ian Thorpe as he raised his hand. "Beep!" The athletes
had plunged into the crystal clear smooth water and
were racing as if their lives depended on it. Thorpe
was in the lead with 50m to go and was ahead of the
world record time too! He won! Gold! Australia had won
gold!! It was a world record time too! The crowd was
roaring. It was so exciting.
After more gripping races,
including gold in the men's 4 x 100m and listening to
lots of National Anthems being played, we rushed out
the doors to beat the noisy crowd. I felt nostalgic
when I heard the stars and stripes. Exhausted from the
exciting day we backtracked our steps home. I jumped
into my bed as soon as we got inside the house and
closed my eyes. What a breathtaking day.
Webster (with help from
Dee)
September 16th, 2000
Dear Diary,
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Today I went to see the
women's Olympic Hockey with Anna R. and her
family. We went by a slow old bus. It went
from St. Ives Shops to Homebush Bay on Route
1B.
As soon as we arrived
there, we walked for what felt like 3 miles.
Finally, we reached the State Hockey Centre
(which was shaped like a bowl) for the 1:30
p.m. session. I felt so hot and drowsy
because of all the plastic and metal
surrounding me. Even worse was the hot sticky
crowd making a deafening noise, especially as
the patriotic Australians were cheering for
their team.
The first game was the
Netherlands versus South Africa. Halfway
through the game a South African player got a
ball in the nose and broke it. I felt the
pain! The final score was a draw-2
all.
The second game was
Australia versus Spain. There were about 1000
AUSSIE! AUSSIE! AUSSIES! And they even tried
a Mexican Wave! (We call it the Red Wave in
Fresno, California). Anna was looking very
proud of her country even though she was
sweating a lot. The spring sun in Australia
is powerfully hot.
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The way home was faster and I was
looking forward to having some prawns on the barbecue,
a real Aussie dish after a very Aussie
Experience.
Webster Sept. 19 (with help from Anna)
"Time to go," yelled a voice
from the distance.
"Just let me finish my vegemite
sandwich," Meggie replied. Finally after waiting and
waiting, the day had arrived I was so enthusiastic
about it! We were going to the Olympics, in which the
highlight would be the held, the 400m final for women
with Cathy Freeman!
I was quickly stuffed into the back
pocket of a backpack with my head sticking out. We
were all in the Olympic spirit. Meggie was super
patriotic with green and gold all over and a precise
detailed tattoo of Australia's flag on her cheek. The
quick drive to the bus stop was disturbed by the sound
of Michael (Meggie's childish 13 year old brother)
asking, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are
we…?" We were there, but it wasn't over yet. We
still had the bumpy bus ride. The beautiful sights
outside on a jubilant sunny Monday afternoon at 3:00
p.m. made the bus trip short.
We arrived at Olympic Park no later
than 3:40 p.m. The walk was nothing short of
everlasting! After 1km we had reached security. A walk
through the metal detector took forever, since it went
off when Meggie walked through and it took a lifetime
to realize it was her sunglasses. Walking, walking,
walking, tick tock, tick tock. Waiting, waiting,
waiting. Time passed and waiting in the queue made me
restless. Eventually we got inside and got a coke,
within a jiffy sat in our seats, which were located on
the first floor 13 rows form the front at the 200m
start which allowed us to see the first straight and
the second bend, which was reasonably good.
The excitement and tenseness
gathered while running the events like men's 800m,
hepathlon, men's 400m, and various other things. The
one that kept us most occupied was the women's pole
vault. Tatiana Gregomara and the American were
fighting it out for gold. Tatiana cleared an awesome
4.68m but the American cleared a more awesome 4.71m
and just missed out on the World Record.
"Women's 400." I looked up. The
world hushed, "BOOM." They were off and so was the
crowd. 49 seconds seemed like an eternity. Everyone
knew the Aboriginal silver medallist from Atlanta
would win, but that didn't settle the crowd. That
atmosphere was electric! Around the bend Cathy Freeman
was coming 3rd, but she came home and won by a
smashing 11/2 metros. Daring to be different, she did
a victory lap of honor carrying the Aussie and
Aboriginal flags.
The medal ceremony was great.
Kissing her gold medal made the lady next to us cry.
The bus trip was log and tiring but after Australia's
awesome success, it didn't matter.
Webster 25th of September
(Meggie)
Dear Diary,
I was awaken today at 5:30 a.m. to
the sound of heavy rain to accompany us on our visit
to the Olympic Equestrian competition. I wearily got
up and Jenny and Jen dressed.
We stumbled down the stairs to meet
Jenny's mum, Fran. They both had a cup of steaming,
hot, strong, black coffee.
Following this, we raced into the
car and drove to Lindfield Station. We then caught the
sleak silver train from there to Central, where we
caught another train to Blacktown. On the train we had
breakfast. I had a worm sandwich (worm?), Jenny had a
honey and peanut butter whilst Jen had ham lettuce and
mustard. YUM! (Remember, Webster is a goose, so I
guess worms make sense!)
We got off at Blacktown, a suburb
in the western outskirts of the city and got on an
old, rattley, wet bus and drove to Horsely Park, the
Equestrian Centre. Since there were huge puddles
everywhere, they put wood chips on the ground to soak
up the water.
We then found our seats, which were
good because we could see everything, but it was very
wet. Jenny and Jen cheered and cheered for Australia,
but I cheered for America of course! We then had
lunch. The girls had chips with T-sauce and I had mine
with grubs.
Suddenly it started to POUR. We
tried to get on our raincoats quickly, but we still
got saturated! We then said goodbye to the stadium and
went home to a nice, warm, bubble bath.
I had a wonderful, exciting yet
tiring day! (These Aussies are CRAZY!!!)
From Webster (and Jenny)
September 28, 2000
Dear Journal,
G'day. It was the 30th of September
and a glorious day it was too. I journeyed to Homebush
Olympic Park in an overcrowded, smooth, steady running
train. We saw a rough and tumble soccer game, the gold
medal match. We arrived at the Olympic Park in the
city of Dreamers and Winners. We walked over to
security and showed them our amazingly vibrant tickets
which allowed us to pass through a metal dectector
like the ones in the airport.
After a long walk in a warm breeze,
I was face to face with an athletic track and field
stadium. The air was filled with anticipation and
eagerness to win. We found our seats. We were as lucky
as polar bears on ice. Emily's mum, brother, and I sat
in the shade. We were saved from the scorching sun for
the amazing match. I sat there stunned. I was sitting
in the stadium where the Aussie, Cathy Freeman, ran
against America's sprinter, Marian Jones. The two
girls fought for the gold. Now that magnificent
athletic site was turned into a soccer field. Suddenly
I heard cheers and shouts everywhere. The players were
running on the field. The game was off and running.
The goalies were leaping for the balls so high it
looked they were going to fly. The players were
running up and hitting the ball with their heads. If I
were to do that, it would squash me flat like a
pancake. Some of the injuries were pretty bad and
players were taken off on a bright orange stretcher.
Most of the Aussies were going for Camaroon nd
chanting, "Camaroon, Camaroon, Camaroon, Oi, Oi, Oi."
The crowds were screaming, shouting, and whistling
extremely loudly.
The score was two all. They had a
one-on-one penalty goal shoot out. The first team to
score five goals would win. Everyone, including the
crowd, was dead silent and anticipating who would win.
Camaroon went first. One player kicked the ball, it
went right past the goalie, and went in. There was an
almighty roar, but there were still four more to go.
It went back and forth, one goal to the next. Then
Spain kicked the ball. It went high, hit the post, and
missed. Camaroon needed one more ball to win. The
crowd went silent. A player kicked…and scored!
The silence was broken with a combination of roars,
screams, shouts, and whistles. The bitterly
disappointed goalie from Spain fell to the ground and
cried. The Camaroons were going crazy. They were
throwing their shirts to the crowd. I wish I'd caught
one! There were mixed emotions of tears and laughter.
It was Camarron's first gold medal ever!!!
I had the best time. The crowd
noise was extreme and the help around the stadium from
the volunteers was unforgettable. Next Olympics in
Athens, I'll get a front row seat to the gold medal
match for soccer.
See 'ya,
Webster (helped by
Emily)
September 30th, 2000
(Note: Typing this made me very
jealous of Webster. I love to watch soccer! How
wonderful for Camaroon!)
Dear Journal,
On Saturday the 30th of September,
2000, Maddie, her dad, and I went to the water polo
events in the Aquatic Centre at Homebush Bay, Olympic
Park. We caught the bus from Fullers Road
Chatswood.
We arrived in a great wave of
excitement. The crowd was very interactive. When we
went into the Aquatic Centre and found our seats,
there was a sudden roar from the crowd. The Russian
team walked on. Then there was another uproar as the
Spanish team walked on. They were playing against each
other. There was an ear splitting crack and they were
off, the game had begun.
The ball went to Russia up to the
north end…but no Spain got it back to the east
end…and YES! They scored a goal, the ball past
the goal keeper and into the net. At first the crowd
seem to be dumbfounded and speechless. Then without
warning, they erupted with cheers and flags were
waving in midair. It was 1-0 Spain! The game went on
like that the whole way and with all the effort the
teams put in, it was great. The Russians won. The
whole crowd was very enthusiastic in their support. I
thought that the crowd and the match was inspiring.
From the travel buddy down under!
Webster (with help from
Maddie)
September 30th, 2000
On a miserable looking afternoon
during the Olympics, I was getting ready for an
evening of suspense at the Rhythmic Gymnastics.
Eleanor, her family, and I were very enthusiastic
despite the weather.
After a short period of time, we
were waiting at the bus stop. The bus service had been
excellent so far so we expected not to have to wait
long. At that very moment an old looking bus came
around the corner. Well, you can't always live in
luxury and it would do the job. The trip to Olympic
Park was very enjoyable despite how uncomfortable the
bus was. I was very much looking forward to the night
ahead.
Eventually we reached Olympic Park.
Unfortunately our event was located in Pavilion 3,
which was on the other side of the park.
The walk was breathtaking. We saw
the stadium where the Opening and Closing Ceremonies
were held and best of all the, the cauldron and
flame.
When we finally took our seats, we
found we had a great view of the gymnasts for we were
next door to the warm-up area. They all looked anxious
and apprehensive. It was very humid, so I took off my
jacket (it felt like it might rain).
The events were marvelous to watch,
because it was all color coordinated as well as
movement coordinated. The first competitor (a female
as it's only for females) started with the ball. She
jumped and flipped and did spectacular things with the
ball. The second girl started with the ribbon and did
much the same. Gradually they got to an Australian and
the, "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi," cry went up
all around the stadium. The crowd was restless and the
atmosphere was filled with excitement. The athlete's
flexibility amazed me. Even as a goose who can fly so
gracefully, I don't imagine I can ever reach such
heights.
All in all, the night was most
interesting I'd had in a series of interesting
experiences Down Under.
Webster (and Eleanor)
September 31st, 2000
(I'm even more envious of Webster now!!!)
Dear Journal,
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On the beautiful Sunday
morning of October 1st, 2000, Ellie, her
Auntie Cindy, and I went to the International
Sydney Equestrian Centre at Horsely Park to
see the finals of the show jumping and the
medal presentation. (Note: For those of you
who wonder how Webster pulled off both events
on the same day, remember he is a clever
goose.)
It took 1 hours drive to
get to Wonderland, which is a fun park in
Sydney's west and was where you could park
Olympic buses. We caught a school country bus
that had come to Sydney especially to be part
of the Olympic fleet. There was a huge queue
to get on the bus as everyone was going to
see the equestrian event. We crammed on and
Ellie, Cindy, and I were told we could either
wait for another bus or stand up on the first
bus. We chose to stand up. After a 15 minute
bus drive we pulled up at the Equestrian
Centre and off we scrambled.
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Cindy told us to take out
our tickets and be ready to show them to the
lady at the security check. The ladies
unpacked our bags to check we didn't have any
dangerous goods with us. After showing our
tickets and bags, we strolled off to find our
seats.
We peered up and down the
rows and sections wondering if our tickets
got us in section A or B. We looked, checked
them, and headed for Section A Row 2. We
found our seats and realized we had the best
seats ever! If we had been up top we would
not have had a good view and if had been in
Row 1, we would have had bars in our
faces.
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We sat down and waited a few minutes
before the man on the loudspeaker said, "Ladies and
gentlemen, please take your seats, the competition is
about to begin." Suddenly out rode a rider on his
small, but strong, horse, it was a thoroughbred
representing Australia. His name was Aeff Bloomfield
and judging by his horse (it was tiny), the jumps were
going to be a real challenge as they were huge. There
were water jumps, Athens 2001 jumps, and triple jumps
that had 3 jumps in a row and the horse could only do
one stride in between the jump before the next one
approached. The crowd cheered as his name was called
out, although the judge explained that we could not
cheer when the rider's name was called out as it may
frighten the horse so from then on we only cheered
when he finished jumping with only 12 penalty points.
If you knock down a bar, you get 4 ppts (penalty
points), and if your horse refuses, you get 3 ppts. If
you get thrown off your horse, you get 4 ppts, and if
you don't complete the course in a set time (92
seconds) you get 1.25 ppts. Aeff Bloomfield finished
with 12 ppts and in the set time. There was thunderous
applause from the crowd , flags were waved.
After 45 competitors had completed
in section A of 2 sections and a jump off (in case
riders tied with the least amount of penalty points
and if two or more riders got the least amount of
ppts, they compete in a jump off where you have 54
seconds to complete the course with the lowest ppts
and time wins). After having a lunch break and sitting
in the shade, the start of round B (oly competitors
who had 12 ppts or less) was announced. We raced back
to our seats and watched round B. After 31 riders,
including one whose horse had tripped and he retired,
the Aussie rider had competed (we had 2 Aussie riders
in Section A and only one qualified for Section B), it
came down to the last 3 riders. Two were from the
Netherlands and one from Saudi Arabia. The competitors
and audience held their breath as it was riding for a
gold medal. The riders quickly cleared the
jumps.
"Oh, Ah!" cheered the audience as
two from the Netherlands took gold and silver and
Saudi Arabia, the bronze. The atmosphere was electric
and the crowd erupted with cheers as the riders rode
their gold, silver, and bronze medal winning horses
around the arena to receive their medals. Another lap
of honor followed. It was fantastic.
I thought this was the best event
ever and I had a once in a lifetime
opportunity.
Webster (and Ellie)
October 1st, 2000
Dear Journal,
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G'day guys (That's
Australia's favorite way of saying
hello&emdash;I like it too!) Sunday, October
the 1st was a fine spring afternoon when I
was watching curiously and intently as Sarah
and her family consisting of Ian (her
father), Bronwyn (her mother), and Bas (her
brother) packed four bags for what looked
like an expedition. Shortly afterwards six
other Australians arrived at Sarah's den.
They also had knapsacks filled to the brim.
Promptly I discovered the names of the
Aussies: Alison (a girl), Pat (her mother),
Greg (her father), Tessa (Sarah's best
friend), her brother Matt (Bas' best friend)
and Shauna (their mother).
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Prior to the greetings,
the mob walked slowly over the road to a
bright blue shelter. It tuned out to be a bus
stop. After 10 minutes of waiting an old blue
bus came rolling down the street! What on
earth? Anyway, it turned out that people in
Australia take buses to other places than
school. In no time we were sitting on a hot
smelly bus with blue leather seats and tiny
windows so small that you could only catch a
small glimpse of the delicate
scenery.
Soon we were dropped off
at the start of what looked like a big event,
though this was not at Olympic Park. I soon
found out that it was the start of the men's
Olympic marathon. "Ready, BANG!: The muscular
men had begun to run swiftly down the carless
road and soon they were only a blur of colors
jogging away into the distance. The crowds of
people who had also experienced this
momentous event began to depart to their next
destination. Ours was Blue Point.
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Gradually, we arrived there and found
a windy spot on the grass. As the evening drew nearer,
I realized that we were going to see some fireworks.
The extremely patriotic and excitable crowd went crazy
when the multi-colored, technically advanced display
of fireworks began. There were lovely, and I really
enjoyed the illumination of the Harbour
Bridge.
The excitement of our gang soon
turned into frustration and mayhem as we walked 3
miles to the train stop, which provided the transport
home for us. At 2:00 a.m. Monday morning, I reflected
on the wonderful day a bit. I had had a start of an
Olympic event and amazing fireworks and decided that
it was one of the best I had ever
experienced.
Webster (helped by
Sarah)
October First, 2000
