Anzac Day is a bit like Remembrance Sunday - a big day in Australia and New Zealand. A dawn service is part of the proceedings and we went off down to the Cenotaph, leaving the hostel at 05.35 for a 6am service. There were speeches, readings, wreath laying, veterans, and at the end you could lay your own wreath at the memorial or a poppy (they were provided for the purpose). There must have been a few thousand people for this very powerful occasion. It finished around 07.00 and we re-grouped to go on to the next bit of tradition - eating breakfast at the RSL. This being Australia, it did include the option of a beer at 07.30! The breakfast comprised bacon, scrambled eggs, tomatoes with cheese on top, baked beans and hash browns. I skipped the bacon and had a rare cooked breakfast (I had been up for over two and a half hours by then).
At 09.00 there was a parade round town. Led by a riderless horse, there were various groups of marching (loosely not the precise version we're used to on these occasions) soldiers, sailors, marines in their uniforms; tanks; an eagle on someone's arm; military dogs; horses with riders; two flyovers - one of two helicopters the other three jets; all accompanied by much applause and flag waving. There was a little girl next to us, wearing replicas of her Dad's medals "He works on a boat" and he was in the parade too.
All in all a moving experience.
We didn't go to any footie which is part of the traditional day now, but we did have our own barbecue in the evening :-)
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