Our "New" Nation's Capital

In April, I had the opportunity to head to Canberra, the capital of Australia, for a work-related trip. My expectations were very low because Australians tend to talk "trash" about Canberra, complaining about how boring of a place it is. On Friday evening, we arrived into the brand new airport terminal and took a taxi to our accommodation for the next five nights. Along the way, I was thinking that Canberra was a lovely place. Mountains surround the city, and due to the fact that it was Autumn, the leaves were changing colors, making for very nice scenery. There are some older military barrack-type housing areas that definitely look a bit run down, but the area where we stayed, Lyneham, and the area where we did most of our dining out, Dickson, where both nice neighborhoods. A cycling/running path ran right along our apartment and was used by many locals for their daily commute.

View looking left from our balcony...

...and the view in the other direction.

The first few days were spent getting certified as a Level 1 Club Weightlifting Coach. We teach Olympic lifts to our students from Year 9 onward at the Sports Academy (more details coming about my new-ish job soon!), so a few of my co-workers and I needed to obtain the certification.

For all of my WHS friends, learning these lifts again brought back memories of Rod and also made me wish I had spent more time perfecting these lifting techniques back in high school!

The lifting course took place all day Saturday and all day Sunday with a practical test at the end. On Sunday night, the rest of my coworkers arrived for the next part of our professional development trip. My manager (which is the word that Aussies use for "boss") was a coach at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) for the Australian race walkers until just last year. The AIS is essentially the equivalent of the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Not every Australian athlete lives and trains at the AIS, but quite a few do, and we had the opportunity to watch (and often learn from) their training sessions. I should note that Australians do not generally use the term "practice". They don't go to soccer practice...they have a soccer training session. Anyway, due to my manager's connections, we had a very unique and exciting trip to the AIS.

There were swimmers who competed in and won medals at the 2012 Olympics training while we watched this session.

One of the highlights of our trip was an early morning trip to watch the rowers train. We got to sit in the boat with a coach and watch/listen as he took his athletes through a training session. It was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity and it was also a gorgeous morning to be on the water.

My coworkers and Kim Crow, who won a few medals in London. She was one of the rowers who we got the chance to watch train. And, yes, I work with all blokes!

We also had the chance to watch athletes from a variety of sports train in the gym.

Boys will be boys, and my coworkers decided to race each other at the end of our last day at the AIS.

Due to our busy schedule, we did not have time to visit the "touristy" parts of Canberra. Despite what most Australians think, I wouldn't mind another short trip to Canberra, this time to see the "sights" and perhaps due some hiking in those surrounding mountains!