Day Nine. Leaving.

This morning was leaving day :( So much sadness. I didn't actually get to say goodbye to all of the group as my flight was at 10:55am, so I had to leave the hotel at 7:30am and missed breakfast. It was one of the most amazing trips ever, I'm so glad I went! I'm planning to do heaps of travelling on my own now, I feel like I met more people that way.

I stopped over again in Toulouse on the way home, and caught the train from there. I don't remember much from the trip though, I was pretty much passed out the whole time. 

And, now that I've broken the news to mum (such great faces were pulled on her part, with dads hysterical laughter in the background), I can break the news that I had my nose pierced! Woohoo!

Day Eight. Gallipoli.

I don't have many photos from the services today as I wanted to experience it first hand, and not through a camera.
It was hard to get a decent sleep during the night because of the cold, the flood lights shining on you, the programs on the big screen, and the anticipation of the day to come. It was freezing, but not deathly cold. I couldn't sleep, so at breakfast at 2am haha. At 4:30am, we were woken by a Maori song being sung by two women. It was lovely. 4:30am was the landing time of the Anzacs on the Gallipoli peninsula. Then the service began at 5:30am. It was very moving and poignant, but surprisingly, I didn't cry. I think the tiredness and adrenaline of where I was helped with that.

Waking up

After the service

Breakfas!

Packing up

Sun rising walking up to Lone Pine

After the service, we hiked 3km up to Lone Pine. The kiwis headed up to Chunuk Bair. The Aussie service was at 10am, and the Kiwi one as 11:15am. There was a steep uphill 3.5km hike between the two places so there was no way you could make both. The walk up was on an unsealed road and the view was beautiful. I have never felt so much like I am going to turn into a piece of charcoal than I did sitting under that sun in the stands at Lone Pine. It was scorchingly hot. I ended up using my scarf as a cocoon type thing, and gave up all hope of appearing fresh. There were graves and a tree in the centre of the stands. It's not the original lone pine, as it was destroyed. Again, I didn't cry, as all of my remaining energy went into staying awake under the sun. I did get teary towards the end though, when the MC was concluding the service and said "Tread softly. As you're walking on the fallen graves of many men here. Tread softly and go in peace". Lone Pine was about the size of a football field, and during the war, was full of trenches. 7000 men died there.

Al, Dale, Tim and Brant at Lone Pine

Lone Pine service

Lone Pine

Laying of the wreaths

After the service, we slowly hiked up to Chunuk Bair to wait for our bus. It was so so so so hot hiking up there. There was a sealed road, but no shade. At one point, I walked through the trenches that were on the sides of the road to get a bit of relief from the sun. Trenches on either side of the road were from both the Turkish and Anzacs. They were no more than 7-8m apart.

Trenches

Trenches

Memorial site on the way to Chunuk Bair

Turkish monument

Gallipoli peninsula from Chunuk Bair

Stopping to buy ice cream on the way up, we finally made it. We had to wait about an hour there for our coach. Getting back onto the bus for Istanbul was so gross haha. Everyone was just covered in sweat. But we all slept anyway so you didn't really mind lol.
Arriving in Istanbul at 7:30pm, we headed back to the same bar as on the first night. After grabbing dinner, some of us headed to another bar. Feeling incredibly tired, I headed home with some of the girls at about 2am.

Day Seven. Bergamo to Gallipoli.

After packing our small backpacks and grabbing some brekkie, we put our bigger packs under the bus to not see for another 48 hours. We drove a while before stopping at the city of Troy. The wooden horse was a bit disappointing (it was under renovations, and looked considerably in good condition considering its a few thousand years old). It was a city of ruins as well, but more ruinous than the others; there were less ruins and they were more scattered over the place. There was a small theatre still in pretty good condition. During free time at the site, Kathleen, Georgie and I walked to a small cave which has been in existence since before the origin of the city. I think maybe 4000 b.c. It was sectioned off, but was cool to see. I picked a poppy from the field and head back to the bus for Gallipoli.

Leaving Bergamo

Trojan horse

Theatre in Troy

So many ruins!

Heading for the cave

Trojan field

Wanting to get out my toga and roll around in the fields

The original lego + a poppy

Puppies!

Ancient pots

There's a small town at Gallipoli, but it's not near the cove so we stopped off at a larger shopping centre to buy food for the next lunch, dinner, breakfast, and lunch the next day. I grabbed some bread, Nutella, apples and chocolate and biscuit snacks. To get to Gallipoli, we also caught a ferry instead of driving the whole way around. There's about 200 coaches that travel to Gallipoli each year so there was a lot of waiting to get onto the ferry. Once across to Gallipoli, we went through several security checks, including registering the bus, etc. This was about 3pm. The gates were opening at 6pm, because there are so many people, it's important to get in early to get a good spot. We jumped off the coach at the top of ANZAC cove. It was absolutely beautiful! The water was so blue and the grass so green. The cliffs looked dangerously cool, but it was sad looking at them picturing them during war times. We walked down to the gates and sat in a massive queue, about 100m from the front until 6pm. To pass the time, there was cricket and market sellers with flags and hats. There was also a memorial to Aussie and NZ soldiers with grave stones on the beach.

Food for the next 24 hours

Ferrying to Gallipoli

Arriving in Gallipoli

Anzac Cove!

The bluest water 

Queuing to get in

Graves at Anzac Cove

Me with the landing site behind

Aussie cricket waiting to get in

THE BEST GROUP 8C

At 6pm, when we were allowed in, we filed in, being searched again for alcohol and things, and then grabbed spots on the grass for sleeping. It was pretty tight, but most of us got together and then explored the site a bit. There was a bit of food for sale, like kebabs and things, but Nutella trumps all of those.

Setting sun

Camping out

One of the cliffs the Anzacs had to face

Al and I

Sunset

At 8pm, the big screen things started. All night there was a band playing, a choir, and videos and documentaries playing. The massive lights were also on all night so grabbing some sleep was difficult, but possible eventually.
It got pretty cold, but not freezing. I felt about 5-6 degrees, so wearing thermals, but you're snot isn't turning to icicles on the end of your nose.