We have now left Turkey and gone on our own different ways. Some are off to the Western Front Battlefield Tour, some are returning home and others (like myself) are continuing with other travelling.

There are more images and information to pass on. For example I have a number of images that I have taken to show how the battlefields have changed with “then and now” collections. There are also more images from ANZAC Day and the last days we had in Istanbul. But these will have to wait until I return to Australia later this week. Until then please send me any comments or photo requests. I will follow up these requests on my return.

The big day. We start at 1:30am from the Kum Hotel by bus and drive to ANZAC Cove. From there we have the short walk to the dawn service area. This is done early so that we miss the crowds and get some seating. While waiting for the service to begin we see some documentaries and information about some of the ANZACs that died in the campaign.

After the service we have a long walk up Artillery Road to Lone Pine. Some who require it are shuttled there by bus. This is the site of the Australian service. The wait from 7:30am, when most of us arrive, until the services start at 10:30am is made to feel shorter by a commentator who keeps the information about what is going to happen light hearted.

At the end of the formal proceedings there is time for the public to lay wreaths and a number of people in the group take the time to do this.

At the end of the Lone Pine service we head back down the Artillery Road where our bus is waiting to take us back to the Hotel. All this is over by about 12:30. The afternoon has a walk with Kenan for those with some energy left over – most have a sleep.

The day before ANZAC day and there is only a half day of activities planned as tommorrow is a 1am start. We use this time to visit some area of interest to the group. Some we have seen before, like Quin’s Post, and other areas like a walk along ANZAC Cove are done by some of the group for the first time. This is basically a catchup day.

In the afternoon a lot us get a bit of extra sleep but there are a group who go on an other walk.

Additonal images from day 11

The morning of our 10^th day on tour has the option of long walk along the ridge above the northern end of Sulva Bay or a shorter walk along the beach of ANZAC cove. For about half of the group (including myself) the long walk ridge walk was the choice. This gave us some great views of Suvla Bay from an area not visited by most visitors to Gallipoli due to its remoteness. The start of this walk also has the only remaining original Turkish Memorial.

The afternoon was a special treat with a ferry tip from the Kabatepe port, which is just south of ANZAC Cove, to the top of Suvla Bay and return. With a flat bottom car ferry is used for this trip the captain was able to bring as in quite close to the shore line giving not only a great view of the coast line and hills but also a view of the wreck of the sunken remains of the Milo.

Additional images from day 10

Turkish villager

Tour group members at a Turkish memorial

More photos from the afternoons walk.

Sunrise – Good morning!

Turkish, ANZAC and British Memorials at Helles

Gun emplacements at Helles

Redoubt cemetery

Turkish Village

Turkish Memorial, Kenan Celik and group photo

Happy birthday Janda!

ANZAC Cove and Beach Cemetery

The remains of a landing boat near Embarkation Peir

Shapnel Valley

Plugge’s Plateau

Lone Pine

4th Battalion Parade Ground

Shell Green

Morning on the Dardanelles

Fortress

Meet our excellent driver Cengis (the C in Turkish is pronounced as a J)

The first stop at the Gallipoli Battlefields is at a museum and memorial at Kabatepe

A Gallipoli Rose

The memorial of the Nek

Sunset

Now we have returned to Istanbul I can now load some more photos from day 6, 7, 8 and 9 and enter the stories and photos for days 10, 11 and 12. This includes the most important day of our trip, ANZAC Day.

Before doing these updates I would like to provide one item of interest. In the story for day 7 there was a reference to the recently discovered 10 seconds of footage. Due to internet connections issues while in the Gallipoli area these video files did not load. So now I can provide these. The first is the original footage as detailed on the AWM site and the second is a video I took while on one of our walks. It is from as close to the original location of I could find and shows what the location looks like today.

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We are now back in Istanbul for the end of our trip. On ANZAC Day we attended the dawn service and Lone Pine ceremony. We arrived at 1.30am and found some seats in the stands. It was very cold and there were thousands of people, many sleeping on the ground in their sleeping bags. There were films and interviews shown throughout the night to keep us entertained and informed. This included pictures and epitaphs of many soldiers buried at Gallipoli which was particularly moving. At 5.30am the service started. The moving service included a commemorative address by Australian MP Brendon Nelson, hymns and wreathlayings. It was amazing being at the very place where the ANZACs landed to have a dawn service and they used great lighting on the Sphinx and surrounding terrain.

Then we walked up Artillery Road to the Lone Pine site for the Australian service. I read the poem The Last to Leave during the service and the other Simpson Prize students were wreath handlers. It felt very special to a part of the service. The next day on 26 April we stopped off at the Turkish 57th Regiment cemetery to lay a wreath there with our Turkish bus driver Mehmet.

Emma Johnson