My experience with Anzac Day (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) started during my days as a Scout when I would take part in the march down the main street of town holding the Australian Flag high and proud. Every year since on the 25th of April I’ve stopped for a minute’s silence to show respect and to remember the Australian soldiers that gave their life in the First World War and all wars since.
To those who don’t know about Anzac Day let me borrow this from the Australian War Memorial site:
Anzac Day is probably Australia’s most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War
And also this from Wikipedia:
Though the Gallipoli campaign failed to achieve its military objectives of capturing Constantinople and knocking the Ottoman Empire out of the war, the actions of the Australian and New Zealander troops during the campaign bequeathed an intangible but powerful legacy. The creation of what became known as an “Anzac legend” became an important part of the national identity in both countries. This has shaped the way their citizens have viewed both their past and their understanding of the present.
So highly regarded is this day among the Australian public that to attend a remembrance service at the site where our diggers (soldiers) landed has become somewhat of a holy grail trip for many young (and old) when travelling to Europe. To stand at Gallipoli where our troops landed way back on the 25th of April 1915 and lost so many lives is considered in my book the greatest way to pay my respects to them.
Why am I telling you all this then? Well I’m deeply honoured to be able to attend the Anzac Day Remembrance Service this year with good mate (and fellow aussie) Justin from 48houradventure.com.
We’ve teamed up with the lovely folks at Hostel Bookers where we are going to check out #bunk Hostel for 5 nights in Istanbul. While Intrepid Travel have provided a two-day tour to and from Gallipoli where we will visit Lone Pine, Anzac Cove and attend the Dawn Service.
Out of all the amazing things I’ve seen and will continue to see in the future on my travels this event will be a major milestone in my travel journey. If you’ve attended an Anzac Service at Gallipoli or have your own major travel milestones I’d love to hear your thoughts about them or see what you took away from it afterwards.
To read all about how the trip went and what experiencing the dawn service was like you can read my post here on Anzac Day at Gallipoli.
Photo Credit: aussiegall
That’s awesome! You guys will have some good stories. Last year on Anzac Day I was pouring Carltons for rowdy military men! So much fun though.
Thanks Caroline. Not sure I’d have been able to handle working the bar on Anzac Day as everyone gets a bit thirsty.
That’s awesome mate. It’s definitely something I am going to do one of these years.
Dean I’m really looking forward to it. Something all aussies travelling to this part of the world need to experience I think.
Very excited for you that you are getting to go to AnZAC Day at Gallipoli. I so wanted to go this year. There’s still time to try and find someone interested in sending a Kiwi travel blogger I guess.
haha I’m sure we can find someone keen to ship a kiwi over there, if not feel free to pretend you’ve been after I post my photos 🙂
Hi there Aussie Nomad,
I’ve not long returned from an around the world trip for a year with my boyfriend (everyone at home is sick of hearing my stories, and I’ve found myself going crazy on blogs and forums). We attend the ANZAC day service last year in Gallipoli.
While I’m very glad I went – I did learn a lot about the battle that I previously wasn’t aware of – I, personally found my experience of attending outside of a service in 2009 much more rewarding. Still I’ll look back very fondly this year, thinking I was there last year.
I’m very eager to hear how your personal experience goes and how you find it all 🙂
Make sure you rug up! Ashlee
I finally made it last year (12 months later than planned, courtesy of the ash cloud), and it was truly amazing. Words can’t describe it, 12 months on….
and like Ashlee said – warm clothes! I’ve never been so cold in my life…
Excited for you, mate! Attending the ceremony at Gallipoli is amongst the most important things on my bucket list. Really looking forward to reading about your experiences.
Hey Chris, hope you have a good time. Must feel good to be making the pilgrimage finally, after marking it every year as a little scout 🙂
As much as I would want to visit this place when I go to Australia soon, it being a graveyard freaks me out a little. So how is the ceremony done by the way? This is really interesting!
Thanks for sharing!
-Harold