AnZaC DaYz

On The Beaches they landed, In the trenches they fought, 90 years ago...

9 May 2005

Turkey, a land of mystery, hidden in the Hills of the Middle East, 90 Years ago a battle took place, which as we know included some brave young men and women from New Zealand and Australia.

We took on a Ten day tour of Turkey, spending 3 days in and around Gallipoli and ANZAC Cove, to say the least it was a moving experience. From the start we knew it was going to be huge, over 600 buses in one massive convoy making there way to the battlefield, for the 25th of April.

For those of us that braved it (all 17,000) we camped out all night for the Dawn Service.

With our Expert guides Nigel & Aran we managed to jump most of the queue and get a great viewing spot. I was even lucky enough to fly my silver fern flag high enough to attract some media attention.

As the night set upon us we knew it was a good 7 hours till the sun was going to rise, a few big screens had be erected and started showing a few music videos, they mostly young crowd seemed to enjoy the light entertainment.

As the sun started to rise the dawn Service began, Helen Clark and John Howard both said there pieces and there was some musical pieces played.

When the last post strung its first cord a massive hush went over the crowd, simply amazing.

Later on in the morning our bus spilt and we Kiwis went to our service and the Aussie boys and girls headed to their's.

The rest of Turkey was just party time, we all made new friends, consumed lots of local beer, had a good laugh and danced till the sun came up.

The Party scene in that country is quite amazing.

Turkey 2005 unforgettable

Coach 2 - we rock