Gallipoli - Lest we forget

What an amazing experience! Left our hotel at 10:45pm and made our way to the ferry that would take us and our bus to Gallipoli. We were advised to layer up and that's exactly what we did - I had 7 layers. Having Cardinal Pell travelling with us, we became official guests and had reserved seating at all the events. Very, very, lucky! We rocked into our seats at 2:30am to see all of the sleeping bag brigade who had already been camped out for hours. We were excited, cold and tired all at once. There was to be no sleep tonight. Our seats were right next to Gallipoli Cove and the water was eerily lit by blue lights. The ceremony was one to treasure and it was amazing to see so many people come together in unity, so respectfully and peacefully, as the sunrise greeted the morning. We took a few photos and munched on our prepacked breakfast before heading to Lone Pine. By this time it was warming up and 3 layers of clothing were lost on the 3 km trek up the mountain. Reserved seating near the front again- yippee!! Another beautiful ceremony, with this one being geared towards the Australians that were there. A few pilgrims had photos with Julia Gillard as she visited the crowd prior to her address. Thanks again to our VIP status, we caught a bus from the top of Lone Pine and watched as all the crowd walked the 3 km down the mountain and then the other few towards the bus parking. By this time it was quite hot and only one layer of clothing was required. It sure pays to have the Cardinal traveling with you!
The day ended with a 5 hour bus drive on our way towards Istanbul. Very, very tired pilgrims and lots of sleepers on the bus.