ANZAC Day at ANZAC cove. This was, without a doubt, one of the most amazing things I have ever done and it came as an afterthought simply because my VodkaTrain tour finished in mid-April. ANZAC cove was a four hour bus ride from Istanbul, and we were regaled with Turkish history and the movie Anchorman. We stopped off at a nearby town for lunch and to wait for the gates to the cove to. There were tons of buses full of excited Aussies and Kiwis, so, not surprisingly, an international cricket match started off.
Still has larger boundaries than the West Indies grounds.
We turned up to the Cove entrance to discover a massive line of people waiting to get. We met many a bogane kicking footies and wearing national flags like capes. A few people were even wearing Collingwood tops - I vowed to stay away from them the following day so I could watch the ANZAC day footy match (Essendon vs Collingwood) without the result been spoiled.
This line went around TWO corners - and we were in the middle.
As the dawn service start at...well...dawn the event actually begins on the evening of the 24th. There are large grassy areas in which people can lay down and sleep until the service starts. However, the large grassy areas are not quite large enough for everyone. Those who don't fit end up having to spend the night on plastic chairs, hence the line of people waiting to get in (we waited for a couple of hours).
I was separated from the rest of my tour group in a bid to find somewhere to sleep. Unfortunately I found a Collingwood supporter to sleep next to instead.
Throughout the night they had speeches, a military orchestra playing songs, and documentaries on the wars on massive screens. They also played live footage of speeches from Julia Gillard and the NZ Prime Minister from their respective Dawn Services. This would have been about 11pm or midnight given the 6 or 7 hour time difference. Ms Gillard was at Townsville and I enjoyed her address. I can't remember the details but she essentially thanked all the Australians for putting in the effort to go to go Turkey to honour our soldiers - made me feel special for being there. I only got a few hours sleep but was never really all that bored.
ANZAC Cove the next morning. Baiky flirts with danger by sitting on the fence to the 'forbidden zone''.
With the rising sun the service began. Most was pretty standard of a usual dawn service with a few notable exceptions:
- When they said the soldiers had to advance upon cliff faces manned by Turkish machine gunners you could turn around and see the cliffs. Due to my stolen iPad I do not have those photos, but yup, it was an unlikely assault (note the Australian penchant for understatement).
- Three high school students gave speeches - I can't remember if they were Aussie, Kiwi, or a combination - but they had won public speaking competitions. They did well, I would have pooed myself in fear if I had to speak at such an occasion.
- Their was a speech given by a Turkish official - this was pretty much the first time I heard the Turkish side of the story. I won't ruin it for you much, but I recommend you read up on the Turks in WWI, especially General Attaturk...who later became the countries leader...and reformed said country...all after pretty much being the reason behind Turkey holding off the Allies. He also instigated the current friendly relation between Australia and Turkey. The photo below is the communique (or an excerpt of) he gave to to the nations involved in the Turkish invasion. He the let us visit the cove every year to commemorate our soldiers.
The talk by the Turkish representative also quoted this. Very moving. I might have cried but I was too busy wondering of Essendon had won or not.
After the dawn service at ANZAC cove there were two more services, one for Aussies and one for Kiwis, at different locations I went to the Aussie one. It was a bit of a hike, but we got to experience the terrain the Allies were trying to capture - except we had roads and there was a distinct lack of imminent death.
Many cemeteries for Allied soldiers were on route. One of them had Simpson (but not his donkey). I never saw the grave, but I imagine there were too mnay people crowded around it anyway.
As I didn't sleep too well the night before I spent most of the Aussie service trying to not fall asleep. I remember that the MC was hilarious. He had a tough job keeping the thousands of Aussies entertained for an hour or so before the ceremony began. The ceremony was more speeches and the tradiotional laying of the wreaths. It was cool to see that even some schools and universities had sent representatives. I should have told ANU I would be there so I could have scored a seat in the VIP section. Oh, and I think the bloke who won the most recent VC was there too. They had some war heros up front either giving awards or laying wreaths (it was a long time ago, I have forgotten some details) was HUGE and I recognised the name.
The location of the Aussie Ceremony.
Afterwards I made my up to the NZ ceremony, but I didn't get there in time. On the way my tour buddies and I went bush to follow the trenches (yes, they were still there - and they were shallow. Scary stuff). Baiky took brief refuge in a bunker. It was quite hard finding one without a thousand tourists, but we went pretty far bush in the end.
We also fond some bunkers that were prepared for WWII. They were never used though as this area was not involved. Alas, these photos are also lost to a thief who will never appreciate them.
After the NZ service we waited for a bus, which was one of the last to leave the site. It was at about this time that I suspected that Essendon had won the ANZAC day game. You see, the previous day waiting in line I saw a lot of Collingwood jumpers. These were conspicuously absent after the dawn service. What I did see though were a few Essendon jumpers. Aha, I said - another game ruined in advance.
From the NZ ceremony site - It was a long hike up a big hill.
Our tour guide had ice creams or iceypoles for us I believe, which was cool because it was very hot by this stage. Then we bussed back to Instanbul and hit the piss, again. Oh, and guess what movie we watched in the way back - Gallipoli.
Click on the photo and have a quick gander at this. When the Allies arrived and the Turks saw they were outnumbered Attaturk (at the time his name was Kamal) rallied the troops with these famous words. He was one of the only few to survive but the actions of him and his troops kept us out of Turkey.
