Their name liveth for evermore

Visiting Gallipoli for Anzac Day is something that I have wanted to do since high school.  Although it was different to how I had envisaged it, it surpassed all my expectations entirely.  Being on the soil that our diggers had been on all those years ago helped me to think about how blessed we are and put all my problems into perspective... (such as being cold - as you will discover as you read below!)

April 24 - Istanbul to Gallipoli

It was Easter Sunday (and also the eve of Anzac Day.)  It was different, to say the least, to not even have a remote reminder of the significance of this day - not even a measly chocolate bunny!!!  But that is the 'consequence' of being in an Islamic country at this time of year.  I certainly did miss my usual Easter celebrations... (especially when Mum messaged to say that she had missed me) but attending the commemoration of our ANZACs in Gallipoli was something I had always wanted to do.  And therefore to soften the blow of missing out on true Easter, I had come prepared with some chocolate eggs!

On the bus with Cadbury Mini Eggs
Me and Mia

We made the five-hour long bus trip from Istanbul to Gallipoli with our tour company On The Go.  Time passed (relatively) quickly by listening to our tour guide, Phyllis, deliver rather interesting information about WWI in the most boring of tones and thickest of Turkish accents, making it a real challenge to understand her at all.  However, a little more of the history made sense when she switched on the movie 'Gallipoli' (yes, the one with Mel Gibson!) which seemed to fill some of the gaps that I hadn't understood properly.  The closer we got to Gallipoli the more beautiful and scenic the view became, especially when we caught sight of the coast of the Aegean Sea.  The coast sits right alongside gorgeous hillside that was incredibly lush and green.

Coastline along Gallipoli

Just before we entered in to Anzac Cove, we stopped for a traditional Turkish BBQ (with Köfte and chicken kebabs) at the Boomerang Bar and Café... well as traditional as you can get at an Aussie themed pub!  Greg, Luke and I also tried an Efes beer (a Turkish pilsner - for all those keen beer brewers.)  

Efes beer (and a 'lame' free Efes hat!)
Luke, me & Greg

After we were full up on Turkish food and beer, we made our way to the Anzac Cove entrance.  This however, was the beginning of a rather 'interesting' afternoon.  We weren't the only ones trying to get to Anzac Cove - there were also hundreds of other buses.  Anzac Cove is actually controlled by the Turkish military and we had to wait for them to 'clear the area' so to speak before we could gain access.  Thus once we were allowed access through to the Anzac Cove area, we were joined by all the others that had come along too and thus we ended in a rather large traffic jam.  However, where we got stuck just happened to be just outside the Lone Pine memorial.  So we jumped off the bus and went to take a look before the ceremony that would take place the following day.

Lone Pine

The traffic began to move but only briefly.  Our tour group was rather impatient as a whole and before I could even get a grip on the situation, the group were overriding the decisions of our tour guide and walking to the Anzac Cove gates leaving her in our dust!!  But the jubilee was short-lived - our tour guide had missed a rather crucial step... we had not gone through the checkpoint gate at the bottom of the hill to get the necessary registration number that we needed for all buses and bags that were entering onsite.  Therefore, we boarded the bus again to take a long and scenic route back down to properly check in our bus and get the luggage tags.  We waited patiently (and some impatiently) in the long line of coaches trying to do the same thing (that we should have done originally).  


And then we waited and waited and waited.  We looked out the window and there were no buses in view.  But we were still waiting.  Huh?  We had a clear run!!  Then it dawned on me.  Our bus driver was trying to start the bus... but it was not starting.  It had broken down!  After a lot of horn tooting aimed at us and other bus drivers coming to help us out... it turned out that there was a relatively easy fix.  Push start!  So in good old fashioned style, the 'men' got out to give the bus a push and get it going again.

Boys pushing the bus to do a reverse jump start

So after many traffic jams, registered swing tags and a broken-down bus later... we made it to Anzac Cove...

Anzac Cove

...and were only too happy to sit down and enjoy the sunset over the Aegean Sea.

Sunset overlooking the Aegean Sea
Me, Mia, Luke & Greg

We chose a spot in the stands with a clear view of the stage and overlooking the ocean.  There was entertainment all throughout the evening that was absolutely fantastic with RAF bands, movie clips, personal stories and history of the ANZACs and that fateful day, 25 April 1915.


As soon as that sun disappeared over the water... so did all warmth known to humankind!  The MC announced that it was anticipated to be six degrees Celsius with a windchill factor of -2 overnight!  Thus... some sleeping bag warmth was required!

Snug as bugs in rugs
Me and Mia

Unfortunately, Mia and I did not get to enjoy the luxurious warmth of our sleeping bags all night as the boys had forgotten theirs... so we sacrificed our comfort so that they did not freeze.  It was a less significant gesture in comparison to what our diggers did for our country... which put our problems into perspective.  Although I have not managed to find the data on how cold it got - I am almost certain that it was colder than predicted!!

April 25 - ANZAC Day
In the middle of the night (literally... right on midnight) I decided that the cove would be an awesome opportunity to take out my camera to get some long exposure shots of the stars.  I managed to convince Greg to come with me so that he could actually give me some tips as to how to do this.  We walked all the way back to the entry of Anzac Cove.  

Anzac Cove at the turn of Anzac Day

Hopefully you can see, I learnt quickly...

Stars at Anzac Cove

 ...and as I got a little more confident, I decided I wanted to experiment a little more by putting myself in the shot with the stars in the background... (harder than it sounds when its pitch black!)  But it worked - yay!

A timed-'selfie' with the stars

Then I got a little more playful... wanting to jump in the photo.  

Trying to perfectly time a jumping shot
Greg & me

But I got too excited!!  In my true klutzy style, I managed to land badly on the loose and large gravel and in urgency to save my bad ankles, I landed on my hands and knees (awkward, I know!)  This resulted in a few bad bruises and a trip to the Gallipoli 'hospital' for some treatment on my hand that began to gush the good red stuff.  After some brief exchanges in broken English, the Turkish doctors determined that I was up to date with all vaccines and I was good to go... though I felt a little nervous with more than four people treating a fairly superficial wound by wrapping it up rather extravagantly with bandages... it made me wonder if it was worse than I thought it was or if they were just bored! 

The Gallipoli 'hospital'
Me and a bandaged hand

After the longest and coldest night of my life, I awoke to the dawn of a very moving day.  The service was very official and felt like I was back in Australia!  I felt very united when we sang both verses of the National Anthem.  The bugle playing The Last Post was incredible as it seemed to echo throughout the cove and into the eerie silence that was held by thousands of people.  The light that lifted on the hills and encompassed the cove was quite a sight.  There was pink and orange bouncing off the mountains and the remaining scattered clouds.  Indescribable beauty to greet a brand new dawn.


And it was with thoughts of the diggers that it seemed only fitting to eat some of my pre-baked Anzac biccies for breakfast!

Anzac biscuits for breakfast
Luke, Mia, Greg & me

We made our way down to see the wreaths that had been laid in honour of our soldiers, and then continued down to walk along the beach where they had been so tragically greeted by the Turks 96 years earlier.  It was a solemn moment and I bent down to feel the fine grains and sweep the cool water.  It was actually the first sand I had felt since leaving Australia and it brought me sweet thoughts of all the amazing family and friends in my life back in Australia (and abroad too.)

The beach of Anzac Cove

Although the whole day was extremely emotive, it wasn't until we began to visit the cemeteries that I got emotional.  Only once did I get to the point where I had tears in my eyes (an achievement for me!) and it was one man's headstone in particular that choked me up.  He was a captain in the 1st 8N Infantry and his stone read: 

No reveille 
and no morning gun 
shall evermore waken him.

It was in that particular instant that I realised how silent the cemetery was and how once this exact spot had been rife with all kinds of terrible gun shot sounds and others I have trouble thinking about.  I thanked God for that man and for how blessed we all truly are.

Shrapnel Valley Cemetery

A short stop at the Beach cemetery found Simpson's gravestone.  This site also gave a pretty good idea as to why the ANZACs were such easy targets with the beach being such a short distance away (not what even seemed to be 30 metres away.)

"The Australian & New Zealand Army Corps landed near this spot on April 25th 1915"

The walk up to Lone Pine was on a steep, unstable and rocky road.  We visited the Shell Green cemetery along the way which had an incredible view and was also the site for a brief cricket game played by the diggers on December 17!  The Lone Pine service was great and I felt a little bit of a connection to home as it was the memorial for the Australians.  This is a significant site for Australians as we captured the area on August 6, 1915.

Shell Green cemetery

Immediately after the close of the Lone Pine service, we took the long and hilly path up to Chunuk Bair (for the New Zealand memorial).  We saw some remaining trenches that were still in tact which was quite a confronting sight.  As we continued we visited other cemeteries along the way and even spotted an old canon.  The Nek had an absolutely spectacular view of the coastline.  This high peak was quite significant where many Australians lost their lives.  There are over 400 unidentified people buried in this place - marks of a true tragedy.

View from The Nek

We finally made it to the top of the hill (even though it felt like we had just reached the peak of Everest) to the New Zealand service at Chunuk Bair.  They had best rendition of The Last Post and had, in general, a very touching service where the people that had gathered actually sang the hymns and anthem at a true volume.  I found the Kiwis to be very patriotic!


And that was finally the end of an experience that I had waited years to a part of.  I am so pleased that I have been to Gallipoli and witnessed the sites that made some of the heroes of our great nation.  I pray that this helps us to learn from what happened on this day that is so engraved in our country's history as to not make the same mistake again.


But until next time... Lest we forget.




There are more photos of my Gallipoli adventure through this link:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150187358029514.311097.502734513&l=293f8b2b39