Gallipoli

Our day trip to Gallipoli was an exhausting day with an early start and late return, but the tour was amazing. We had a fantastic guide that was so passionate and knowledgeable of the area that it was hard not to get caught up in the story. Our guide told the story from the beginning, with a thousand different anecdotes and I came away with a much greater understanding of one of the most important parts of our history.

The area was picturesque, with a couple of the cemetaries and monuments on the most beautiful lookouts ever and stunning views over the coast. The area the ANZACS had to conquer was so vast, hilly and inspiring - it was just awesome to be there and see it for yourself and is something I will remember every 25th of April to come.

From the uttermost ends of the earth. That’s what the plaque says at Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli, which perfectly encapsulates the utter pointlessness of a campaign that ended in so much bloodshed.

By the time the Gallipoli campaign ended, more than 120,000 men had been killed, including an estimated 80,000 Turkish soldiers, 44,000 British and French soldiers, 8500 Australians and 2721 Kiwis (the population of New Zealand was just over one million at the time).

But Gallipoli is more than just a site where so many men lost their lives; it’s the birth place of the ANZAC spirit and of New Zealand and Australia’s national identity. It represents a turning point in the history of both countries, as New Zealand and Australia stepped on to the world stage for the first time, fighting side by side against tremendous odds.

I have never been prouder to be a Kiwi as when I stood a top Chunuk Bair, the site of the Allies’ only successful battle of the entire campaign. On 8 August 1915, Kiwi troops fought their way from the beaches to one of the three peaks of the Sari Bair range, a position they held for a just few short days before being over-run by the Turks.

As pointless as it all seems now – the capture of Chunuk Bair was the only time the Allies ever saw the Dardanelles, the narrow strait that they were seeking to secure – it really is quite remarkable what these brave men achieved. It would have been quite a walk, across steep and rugged terrain under the cover of darkness.

All this from a man who has shamefully never been to a dawn service. With that, I’ll share with you now the inscription on the monument at ANZAC Cove:

"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives; you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are at peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."