Working Holiday

The long mid-semester break began on Friday with the Good Friday public holiday. This year, the break is a little longer than usual as the Monday we would normally return to studies is another public holiday, ANZAC Day Monday. ANZAC Day itself is the preceding Sunday but keeping in line with government policy, Monday is a public holiday. As much as I would like to take this time to relax, unfortunately I won't be able to. I'll be working at ACTTAB and I have 2 assignments due the week we get back, one of them the very day classes start again. Not only does this mean a working holiday, but also no opportunity to go to Melbourne or Sydney as I had originally hoped; I simply can't afford the time.


Like North Americans, Australians have the Easter Bunny concept though this has been subject to a quiet campaign of change in the last few years. Rabbits are a destructive introduced species and some years back it was decided to try and replace the Easter Bunny with something more native; they came up with the Easter Bilby (BYHL-bee). A bilby is a type of rodent, similar in size to a rabbit, but looking more like a cross between a kangaroo and a rat. The duties of the Easter Bilby are the same as those of the Easter Bunny. The idea hasn't really caught on, though.


While Manuka Oval is being resurfaced, we AFL umpires have had to find alternate arrangements. Last Tuesday, we trained at the Canberra Institute of Technology's (C.I.T.) sports center. We didn't do any training outdoors, using an indoor gym instead. It was very interesting though as there were speed tests, jump tests, flexibility tests and even the dreaded beep test. The last of these is a point-to-point test where the participant travels back and forth between 2 points separated by 20 meters. The participant must reach the next point before the next beep and as the levels progress the beeps get closer together. It was very tiring but I managed to get to level 10 which I'm told is very good, and it is the minimum for AFL goal umpires. I had a lot of fun with the other tests, especially the sprint. One of the C.I.T. instructors is actually from Canada as well. We're back there on Tuesday and I can't wait to see what is in store.


There is one thing from last week I forgot to mention and that was that I biked interstate so to speak. My first regular season game was in Queanbeyan at 09:00 last Sunday but no buses run from Canberra that early and a cab was too expensive, so I decided I had no choice but to bike. Queanbeyan is just 10 kilometers from Canberra but it sits just across the border in New South Wales. I took me a little over an hour to get to the sports ground as the ride is quite hilly. Luckily, there was a long descent into Queanbeyan from Canberra along Canberra Avenue. The game itself wasn't overly exciting but I realized that I was probably too tired to negotiate the long hill back up to Canberra so I managed to get a ride back into the city from one of the other umpires. Although a little fun, biking to Queanbeyan is not something I'd like to make a habit of. Anyway, enjoy the holidays.