A Black Swan Event in Canberra

A pelican getting ready for a black swan attack

Swan Song verses Storm Boy in Canberra?!

Black swan theory
"The black swan theory or theory of black swan events is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight."
After the Sharks had won their semi-final game against the Cowboys, which I wrote about in this post -
My Happiest Birthday Ever
I headed down to Canberra for the next seven days before heading back to Sydney to watch the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks hopefully win their first ever premiership trophy against the Melbourne Storm.

Had the Sharks lost to the Cowboys I would have been heading down to Melbourne to watch the AFL grand final between the Sydney Swans and the Western Bulldogs. 
The Sydney Swans and Melbourne Storm were the hot favourites to win in the two different major football codes in Australia.
But they both lost to teams that haven't won a major trophy for over fifty years.

I noticed that there was a flower show being held in a park on the city side of Lake Burley Griffin and since it was free to get in, I went to have a look.

In this park there is another lake which is home to a pelican, some seagulls, black swans and other birds.

This struck me as rather strange as Canberra is an inland city and to my mind pelicans and seagulls are beach dwelling birds, so what are they doing in Canberra?

When I saw the pelican preparing for a black swan attack, I couldn't help thinking of the Colin Thiele books 'Swan Song' and 'Storm Boy' and wondered if this wasn't a sign of a black swan event for the weekend finals with both hot favourites going down to the underdogs?
Turned out it was in hindsight.

Not only that, but when I went round the corner, I saw a painted garden gnome competition was being held.

And there was one painted like a Cronulla-Sutherland shark.

The really weird thing in hindsight though was the Canberra Raiders had been knocked out of the finals by the Melbourne Storm 14 points to 12 and my team the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks would beat the Melbourne Storm 14 points to 12 in the grand final that Sunday.

Follow the white rabbit?

And if all of that wasn't bizarre enough, around the other side of the lake was a petting zoo where I came across a white rabbit.

I had to tip-toe through here;-)

The flowers at this show looked spectacular from the ground, and while there did appear to be some kind of pattern in the way they were arranged in the soil, like life itself sometimes, you need to look at things from a higher perspective it get it and take in the bigger picture.

Western Bulldogs finals campaign will go down as the most magical in AFL history
Turned out black swan events all round that weekend in the finals, with no white Swans or Storms turning up on the winner's podium, just blue skies and bulldogs to be seen there instead.
NRL grand final: Cronulla Sharks defeat Melbourne Storm to claim first premiership