ANZAC Day Wrap

Yes, it was a busy day. According to the news there were 30-40000 people in attendance at Kings Park for the ANZAC Day dawn service. I was a bit surprised by the number. Luckily the rain held off. It is wonderful to see so many people paying their respect to the men and women who have served this country in times of war. Apart from the couple of people who brought their dogs and others with noisy kids. But there were very few disturbances.

The State War Memorial

Some of the 30-40000 thousand people paying their respects to the fallen.

Perth just after dawn, ANZAC Day 2007.

Flame of Rememberance.

Biplane flyover.

After the official ceremony, which included the Last Post being played on the bugle which always sends a chill up my spine, people were allowed to lay their own wreaths and walk around the memorial. I returned home shortly afterwards and managed to miss most of the traffic jam as I had parked a 10 minute walk away from Kings Park. Not so silly.

Traffic jam trying to leave.

Everyone else was up and we had breakfast. This was the second breakfast I had had for the day but I didn't tell anyone. The young fella and I jumped in the car to head back to the city for the ANZAC Day parade. We secured a reasonable spot and I ended up taking some 210 photos. Thankfully, not all of them will be included. I promise.

ANZAC Day Parade just starting.

11th and 28th Battalions Australian Infantry Force.

Aussie soldiers with a common service medal (possibly from the Gulf War).

Decorated naval personnel.

More decorated naval personnel.


There was one lady watching the parade calling out , "Thankyou guys/ladies. We think you are wonderful!" to every passing group of marchers. I'm sure that she was well received and appreciated.

Australian Women%27s Army Service 1941-1946.

Onya Digger.

This old Digger had too many medals to allow him to walk. Maybe.

Engineers were involved in conflict too.

Engineers were involved in conflict too II.

Fighter Squadrons of Western Australia.

Hello sailor.

Older veterans in jeeps.

Regiment involved in the Galipolli landing.

Police served in conflicts as well.

Vietnam Veterans 1962-1973.

Vietnam Veterans 1962-1973 II.

After the parade we bought some mandoo for lunch from Seoul Mart. The Aussie girl who was served before me spoke to the shop assistant in Korean so I did too. He was so surprised he said, "Everybody is speaking Korean!"

The footy was on after lunch - Essendon vs Collingwood. A genuine blockbuster with over 90000 fans in attendance. Normally the form team loses. And so was the case yesterday, which is a bummer because I'm an Essendon supporter and they were the form team but they went down by 17 points. Collingwood's hideous inaccuracy kept them in the match, it must be said. During the ad breaks I washed the dishes and helped Yu-Jin set up his army men. We had watched a bit of "The Desert Rats", a movie about the Rats of Tobruk - more. He set up trenches and the like that he had seen in the movie.

About 10 minutes before the footy finished Miky yelled at me to get outside to do the gardening which she had been doing on her own for the best part of two and a half hours. I told her when the footy would be finished and later on explained that our deal whereby I would do gardening until sunset only started once the footy had concluded. What right has she to get upset with me watching three hours of football anyway?

So, we spent the next three hours gardening together. I did the hole-digging/throw in soil conditioner/mix it up bit. Then we planted new grass for an edging effect. Can't believe we spent the afternoon taking out lawn grass and transplanting it to areas on the lawn that badly needed it and then placed more expensive grass in its place. It does look nice and three Xanadu plants were put into the garden as well.

Both too stuffed to cook tea afterwards so it was pizza on the menu. I filled Miky's car up with fuel before picking up the pizzas. The EFTPOS wasn't working at the petrol station and the young boy was having to charge credit cards manually. He wanted me to visit an ATM and withdraw cash to pay for my purchase. I explained that it was a credit card and not a bankcard therefore I wouldn't be making a cash advance. He wasn't too pleased as customers were waiting but I guess they would have been in the same boat. Who pays for petrol with cash these days?

Bit of an early night after a shower and story for the boy. I fell asleep after reading the story so that was the end of my night.