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Dawn Service Crowd
Second biggest crowd of 17,000. There was 20,000 in 2005 for 90 year. Can you imagine 2015? 24-4-08
A long day. It was our trio down to Gallipoli. We were killing time in morning walking around the Saltanahmet area until our tour left. We arrived at our tour office to find that we weren’t leaving at 12, but at 1 instead. At 1 we found out that the bus was running 30 minutes late. At 3 we were finally on our way.
It usually takes about four to five hours to get to Gallipoli. It took us eight! Our bus driver refused to exceed 60km/h, because it was windy (slight breeze I would say), but had no problem in doing snakes on the road, while taking on his mobile phone. It was a very painful journey.
On the plus side, there were some amazing sights along the way. The Turkish countryside is beautiful and very green. Everything was so pretty. Once again I was impressed with Turkey.
We finally made it to Gallipoli. On arrival you get your bags checked, a wristband and a tote bag with a few goodies in it about the service and ANZAC Day. We walked up to ANZAC Cove to get our seats. It was a small walk along
the cliffs. It’s a shame it wasn’t lighter to be able to see around us, but that’s what happens when you get in at 11pm.
When we made it to where the service was being held, we were a bit struck with how many people were there. The next step was finding a seat. When walking up amongst the seats, there was a real community feel; with everyone yelling out where seats were and helping you get how many you need together. Now for those of you who don’t know, it gets bloody cold at night in Gallipoli. We were prepared with thermals, jackets, sleeping bags and lots and lots of hand warmers. The hand warmers were the best investment. We ended up sitting next to two Kiwi guys and they arrived in shorts and t-shirts only. The community spirit came out here again, with people leading spare jackets and sleeping bags. They were very grateful for some hand warmers. An old fella ended up sitting next to James, and he was rugged up, but didn’t have a sleeping bag or blanket (probably the most important of all!), so James lent him his gloves and more hand warmers were
handed out. And people thought Megan and I were silly for taking 10 pairs each. Now who’s laughing!
All through the night they had bands playing music from the 1910s, as well as some traditional Kiwi music and documentaries about ANZAC Day. The impossible mission was then trying to get some sleep. This is not easy sitting in stadium style seats, but I think I managed to get an hour in all up.
25-4-08
The service in the morning was well done. They lit up the cliffs, showing us our first glimpse of them. It was quite an eerie sight to see how massive they were. They also lit up the water, which just brought home all the stories you have ever heard about the conflict, and how bloody hard it would have been for those boys. Everyone was very tired by the time the ceremony started, but I still found it quite emotional and had a bit of trouble trying to choke out the National Anthem.
After the main dawn service, there was an Australian Service at Lone Pine Cemetery. This was a 1.5km walk up the cliffs, of course on a path these
days. It was pretty had work, but you really had to admire the older people who were making the trek. Once we were up at Lone Pine, we got our seats and waited about two hours for the services. Could the wind cut in up here! It was very windy!
We had time to look around the area after the ceremony, as in the late morning were the Turkish and New Zealand services. Unfortunately for us, most of this time was spent trying to find out where to meet the bus, as no one in our group had any idea. We found most of the people on our bus, and waited together, after finding out from a volunteer where the buses were. Our theory in waiting together being they can’t leave half the bus behind. It was a shame this happened, as it put a dampener on the day. So our tour group was useless and pretty shit, but the service and set up in Gallipoli was incredibly well organised. Thank goodness the volunteer knew what was going on.
We were then on our way back to Istanbul. Yet another eight-hour trip. By the time we got back,
ANZAC Cove
View of where the dawn service is held I was straight to bed.
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