ANZAC Day

One of the new holidays that we have observed while in Australia was the recent ANZAC Day. On the 25th of April in 1915, the Australian and New Zealand Armed Corps (ANZACs) headed for the Gallipoli Peninsula to clear the way to the Black Sea for the Allied navy. Instead of a quick push it turned into 8 months of trench warfare and eventually the troops had to be evacuated from the beach after thousands of lives had been lost. The day is remembered for the loss of life along with commemorating the first time Australia and New Zealand participated in an international armed conflict.

ANZAC day starts with lots of dawn memorial services all over the country and world including a huge gathering on the beach in Gallipoli (televised live here). After the parades and memorials, it is time for the FOOTY! One of the biggest and most-watched games of the year is the ANZAC Day Footy played on the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The Essendon Bombers faced off against the Collingwood Magpies this year, which we were only able to watch on TV because tickets sell out so far in advance.

We decided that rather than spend the holiday home alone, we would invite some of our friends from the Telstra project over to our house for a barbecue and to watch footy. Ironically we spent this Australian holiday with a house full of Americans! We'd stocked up on meat from the Queen Victoria market and had plenty of drinks from the Grog Raffle last month, and everyone brought over great sides and desserts to share. The weather was fantastic and we had an enjoyable time catching up with friends during the mid-week break.

ps - Collingwood won in the final minutes after a very close match. Good game!