And with 883,501 calls fielded over the past financial year, there were more than a few unorthodox queries in the mix.

Calls tend to be about government services and events on in Canberra, however, callers have have also asked: ''What should the temperature in a house be?''; ''Is Valentine's Day a long weekend?''; ''Where can I buy lady beetle eggs?''; ''I had a few too many drinks last night and have lost my mobile phone ... can I leave a message in case someone rings me?''; and ''I got a parking infringement on April 1, I thought it was an April Fool's Day joke so that's why I didn't pay it.''

Call-taker and team leader Janice Seymour said she, like the other operators, dealt with about 100 to 200 calls a day.

Quirky queries enlivened her job considerably. And, no matter how offbeat the question, operators went to great lengths to answer it.

''It's a lot of fun,'' Ms Seymour said. A caller had wanted to know how many dung beetles perished in the Canberra bushfires, another wanted to know where they could get their toenails cut.

For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times