We had to get up early to pack our bags and get everything ready for Gallipoli we had to pack
for any weather. During the days in Turkey when in the sun it was hot but as soon as the sun went down it was quiet cold. As we couldn’t take our big packs down to ANZAC cove we had to leave them on the bus. We had to make up smaller bags, it was lucky we took an extra bag. I packed all our clothes into my day back. We also had to carry around our normal daypack of stuff as we would be seeing things on the way there.
It took 5hrs on the bus to get there. We first visited Lone Pine- the Australian memorial and then Chunuk Bair - the NZ memorial. The whole area was huge and very beautiful looking out over the water it was difficult to imagine it as a battlefield even though the many trenches are still evident. We were then driven down to ANZAC cove where the boys and girls were separated and our bags were searched as well as some 
people receiving a pat down (only the boys got the pat and the girls were upset they didn’t get one). The girl’s line was massive, as the boys moved through quickly just like toilets! All the nice boyfriend waited for their girls to come through. (A HINT don’t wait, What you want to do is go and get a good spot on the grass. The ladies will understand). On our way in we were also given wristbands and a souvenir bag that had some ANZAC biscuits, booklets for the services, a badge, bookmark etc. 
We were there from about 530pm and we sat with Matt and Rebecca, Katrina and Steve, Jen and another NZ couple Matt and Hayley. We were not right down the front which we had hoped we would be but we were also not 
in the seats. We had our spot on the grass which is what we wanted. It got cold very quickly but we had brought many layers with us. We even zipped our sleeping bags together for more warmth. During the night Kieran and I probably only slept for an hour or so. We even managed to find Lloydy (Our Europe tour mate) in the crowd he was doing the same tour but for 9 days.They had a big screen on each side of the site and every 30 mins to an hour a 15min documentary was on, as well as interviews of people from the crowd and messages from the prime ministers.
The Dawn service started at about 530am we had to watch it on the big screen from where we were as people were standing on the walkway below which blocked our view. The Dawn Service was nice, not as emotional as we had anticipated, it was also fairly short but it was very respectful. It was interesting to stand there while the sun was rising behind us over the sphinx (a rock formation) and to think back 92 years ago that the diggers would have seen the same thing but it would have been for very very different reasons.After the service we had to wait 2hrs for the bus to pick us up and take us to Lone Pine. We did have the option to walk or get the bus, if you walked it would have taken 1 hr. (HINT: Walk, you
will get their quicker and why not have a look at more of the landscape closer, we should have done this). By this stage I was very tired and had no patience left and was very annoyed- the typical tired Kieran for all those who have had the pleasure to meet her. Once we got up to Lone Pine it was packed (we should have walked) but we got a good position on the grass at the front where we were able to see, especially when we were all standing. The service was much more moving, especially when past war veterans stood up and the crowd acknowledged them for what that had done. After this service we were able to write a message in the book inside the memorial.
We decided not to go to the NZ service as it was half an hour walk and it started half an hour after our service finished and we probably would not be able to see much. The Kiwi service was shown on the big screens in the Lone Pine area Kieran tried to watch but kept falling asleep. I stayed in the pick up area (Johnston Jolly Cemetery) and had a sleep on the grass Kieran came back after a little bit and slept. After the kiwi service we were picked up by the bus and taken to 
the war museum which was very small but had some interesting pieces like a skeleton with bullet holes and bullets that had hit each other in the air and were stuck together.
On our way back to Istanbul we all fell asleep on the bus and had Burger King (over kebabs) on the way. We got back to the hotel at about 9:30pm (Long few days) but…… our rooms had not been cleaned so we had to wait till 10 which was very annoying as we were all SO tired. Some of the guys didn’t get their room till 11:30.
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