ANZAC DAY

April 25 is ANZAC Day 

Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and suffering of all those who have served". Wikipedia

Waltzing Matilda - John Williamson

March 2015 - Melbourne Australia


We were lucky to have met some Aussies on a Mekong River cruise and they graciously showed us around their home city of Melbourne in March. The Shrine of Remembrance was a highlight and I would love to spend more time there.

ANZAC Day, originally a commemoration of the landing of Australian and New Zealand forces at Gallipoli on the 25th April 1915, has grown to become perhaps the most important national day in Australia.

ANZAC is an acronym and stands for Australian New Zealand Army Corps, the name given to the body of troops raised by the two countries to aid the British Empire in the Great War. Throughout the war Australian and New Zealand troops, or 'Diggers' and 'Kiwis', would live, fight and die alongside each other creating a bond that still exists today between the two nations.

 ANZAC Day is also inextricably linked with the landings at Gallipoli in the Dardanelles Strait on the 25th April 1915. On this day ANZAC troops were committed to their first major action of the war, and though the campaign would ultimately prove a bloody failure and leave more than 8,000 Australians dead, it marked the beginning of the Anzac legend.

This legend was poignantly put into words by Sir William Deane, Governor-General of Australia on ANZAC Day 1999:

"Anzac is not merely about loss. It is about courage, and endurance, and duty, and love of country, and mateship, and good humour and the survival of a sense of self-worth and decency in the face of dreadful odds."

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Weekend Roundup

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KING'S Bridge Melbourne Australia

FAVOURITE

KEA Milford Sound New Zealand

KIND

Bloor St. West Toronto

Déjà Brew

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KONA Hawaii

Weekend Roundup

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ENORMOUS
Melbourne Australia

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April 25 – Anzac Day (Australia)

March 2015 - Melbourne Australia

The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the Battle of Gallipoli. General William Birdwood commanded the corps, which comprised troops from the First Australian Imperial Force and 1st New Zealand Expeditionary Force. The corps disbanded in 1916, following the Allied evacuation of the Gallipoli peninsula and the formation of I ANZAC Corps and II ANZAC Corps. The Corps was reestablished, briefly, in the Second World War during the Battle of Greece in 1941.

Click here for our visit to the Shrine of Remembrance

Mosaic Monday

I'm posting at Mosaic Monday today.

March 2015 - Melbourne Australia

We enjoyed a delicious dinner in an unusual venue, a colonial tramcar, that meandered aimlessly through the city as we dined.

Monday Mural

March 2015 - Melbourne Australia

We stumbled upon Hosier Lane which is full of murals a block away from our hotel.

We took a ton of photos!! These are just some.

Day 23 - Melbourne Australia to Queenstown New Zealand

Monday 16th March, 2015



Make your own way to the airport. It is again about a $40 taxi ride.

We are up and in the lobby by 6AM for our booked car to the airport. 6:30 comes and goes and no car. A driver comes in but has no name no room number so the desk clerk sends him away. She then calls the company and the driver is nowhere near the city, seems he had arranged for that driver to pick us up.

Traffic to the airport was really heavy, it is Monday morning and the Grand Prix and surfing championships are over. the ride actually cost $61.

We do the automated check in with Air New Zealand, get our luggage tags but no boarding passes, some message directs us somewhere. It is absolutely chaotic.
I track down an agent and she says New Zealand law requires we produce evidence of an outbound ticket. Why not tell me that?? I do and we get boarding passes. OR even better, do a simple enhancement to your online check in and ask for the details of your outgoing flight.

We board and the seats are so tight it is not funny. You have to pay for everything but you can do it on your in seat monitor.

Depart for Queenstown, New Zealand
Check-in at Melbourne Airport, Terminal 2 for:
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA INTL VA 7410
Depart Melbourne Airport at 9:30am
Arrive Queenstown Airport Monday 16 March 2015 at 2:40pm

Queenstown, New Zealand is 18 hours ahead of Toronto, ON, Canada
1:30 PM Tuesday, in Toronto, ON, Canada is
7:30 AM Wednesday, in Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, New Zealand is 2 hours ahead of Melbourne VIC, Australia
5:32 AM Wednesday, in Melbourne VIC, Australia is
7:32 AM Wednesday, in Queenstown, New Zealand

Flying into New Zealand we pass over Milford Sound where we are heading tomorrow.

Looking at the mountains makes me feel like we are being dropped into a 3D IMAX movie clip of Lord of the Rings!! The views are amazing.  As we get closer to landing it is even more stunning.

The flight is three hours and we lose two hours so it is around 2PM when we get into the terminal. We line up for customs, then another line that asks if you have used your shoes outside?? Really? How do I answer this we have walked everywhere. We get sent into the line to have our luggage re-x-rayed. What a pain. Some people had to step out of line, have their luggage examined and then back into the x-rayline.

Finally we are through and our shuttle is waiting. The woman sitting beside me is from Georgetown, right near us. They had gone to the Grand Prix as it was a passion of her husband's, and she had always wanted to go to Australia.

Queenstown is very hilly and everyone is getting nervous about their hotel location. Our description had said walking distance to town no hills!

Transfer from Queenstown Airport to Peppers Beacon - Queenstown.

Transfer Type: Seat in Coach

Pick up: 2:40pm

Drop off: 3:10pm

Queenstown, New Zealand, is the Southern Hemisphere's premier four season lake and alpine

resort. Surrounded by majestic mountains and nestled on the shores of crystal clear Lake

Wakatipu. Queenstown's stunning scenery is inspiring and revitalising. With such a huge range of

activities in Queenstown, no two days will ever be the same.

Accommodation:

Peppers Beacon - Queenstown

33 Lake Esplanade, Queenstown New Zealand

Duration: 2 nights

Peppers Beacon, Queenstown is situated on pristine Lake Wakatipu, an easy five-minute level

walk (no hills) from the centre of town. Many of Peppers Beacon's hotel rooms, and two- and three-bedroom suites offer superb views of the stunning lake and picturesque Remarkables mountains.

Pepper's Beacon is right on Lake Wakatipu. We check in and explain to the clerk that for some reason our agent had made us two bookings March 16 - 18 and then March 18-20. Different types of room, one a hotel roon, one a studio. We explain that we do not want to move, and in any case, can't as we will be overnight on March 17 at Milford Sound. The clerk agrees to find us something that we don't have to move.

Our room does not make me happy. It is at the end of a hall with a postage stamp balcony, facing a rock. I have decided, enough, so I call the desk and say it isn't satisfactory. The clerk, not the one who checks us in, comes and sees the room even though I explained it was the view I wasn't happy with.
I ask for the manager. Ashley and I have a phone conversation, he appears to understand that I don't like the room, and don't want to move. I agree to an upgrade fee of $265 for a one bedroom with a view.

It is a good view and the unit is good, a little odd, in that the bathroom is in the bedroom. But there is a washer and dryer. The balcony is huge overlooking the lake.

I am a happy camper (for now).

We go out exploring and doing a couple of errands like finding a new sim card for John's phone. I but a sweatshirt for tomorrow as it is a wee bit cool here in Queenstown.

It is a backpacker kind of town, so prices are reasonable.  The town is delightful, provided you don't have to clime one of the hills back to your hotel.
It is so odd to see the leaves turning colour in March.

We stop for a beer at Sublime, which has a fire burning. then pick up Indian take out for dinner.
Lots more photos tomorrow!