The commemorative plaque for the 'unknown' soldiers who lost their lives. All in all, more than 8700 Australians and more than 2700 New Zealanders were killed in the Gallipoli Campaign. In relation to the two countries' population at the time, this was a horrendously massive loss of lives.The British lost 20,000 and the Turks 200,000 men!
Plaque at Anzac Cove where they landed that fateful day.
Another plaque with a memorium to the lives lost ... 
Me standing in front of a statue of a Turkish Soldier.. this was about 4.5km into the uphill walk.
Anzac Cove looking up towards North Beach from one of the cemetaries. The ANZAC’s landed at Anzac Cove. Here they were faced with steep cliffs which they had to climb to get off the beach. To make matter worse, Anzac Cove was a tiny beach and quickly became very congested.
The three flags just as the sun was setting
About 4pm and the crowds. Of course this is when the sun was shining and only half the people had arrived, they continued to pour in until about 3am.
Me again before we actually got to the Cove standing in front of another commemoration
The view looking down from about 3/4 of the way up our walk to the NZ ceremony looking down not only on the cemetary but also on the trail of people struggling up the hill... imagine doing this in full military uniform and rifles?
Winston Peters with the Army Band in the background at the NZ Service. Yep it was amazing... one of the most memorable things I have done although I wouldnt want to do it again.. laying on the hard ground for 16 hours isnt really my cup of tea.. but a kind of pilgrimage and a once in a lifetime thing to do.
We arrived at ANZAC cove about 3.30pm and with our warm gear and sleeping bags found a place on the grass where we had to entertain ourselves until 5.30am for the Dawn Service. It was freezing!! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The whole experience was one of the most moving experiences of my life (sounds corny, sorry but it was!).
Amongst 15,000 Kiwis and Ozzies the time went relatively fast although sleep was impossible as it was so crowded, people crawling all over you to get out to the toilets, the wind howling (I didn't take a scarf or gloves like some!) but I did have a sleeping bag. For most of the night the big screen played tributes to the thousands who died there, an Army Band played tunes from first world war era, some idiot ozzie kept making speeches (yep he was a pain! and told the crowd off for doing the Mexican Wave.. told them it wasnt the MCG.. one had to laugh) and parts of various documentaries about the horrific conditions during the Gallipoli campaign were played.
At 4am the crowd was stirred into action - not that we took much waking as very few of us got more than an hours sleep all night. Judy Bailey was the MC, Winston Peters spoke as did his Australian counterpart and various other important people whose names I can't even remember.
At about 7am the dawn service was all over and 15,000 people trapsed up the hill (and it was a killer hill) from the dawn service to the Australian Service.. we kept on walking to the NZ service which wasn't till 12.30. It was 5km straight up.. and up.. and up. Our group had split up but we had instructions on the busses and by 8.30 we were at the top and were one of the first there so had a great seat for the NZ service.
Once again Judy Bailey was MC and Winston spoke. He spoke well actually, addressing all the young people pushing home the message that the number of us there were the number of NZers who lost their lives at ANZAC cove at a time when our population was only 1 million (a fledgling nation!)He said... look at the person next to you.. if this was 1915 they would be dead within 3 months!! Another moving ceremony.. I don't think I have ever been that affected by an event in my life. It was numbing.
About 1.30 we lined up for the busses... yep all 15,000 (more or less) of us and waited as the busses (all numbered) rolled in, filled up and rolled out again. By 3pm we were away and thought we had waited ages only to see a queue of busses still to go about 3km long!! Our bus driver did well.
