There wasn't a cloud in the sky. It is the best day I have had in Turkey, pity I had to spend the day on the bus. I was told to be ready between 6.30 and 7, but they didn't pick me up till 7.30. I had to walk to the bus, about 300mtr down the road in front of Hagia Sopfia, if they had told me I could have met them there. There was over 20 busses and after I was checked off they said any bus. A lot of tours have been sub contracted out to Crowded House Tours who are one of the biggest operators here. Instead of fill one bus and send it they all left together, they say " for security reasons". What a great phrase these days for ANYTING you want to do in ya own time "for security reasons"?
So "for security reasons" we all head off at 9, (this was always their intended start time) The first stop, is at a truck stop at about 12. As you can imagine the busses have stretched out over 3 hours but there is still 8-10 at the truck stop when we arrive. You can imagine the lines to get food or a drink? Our 15-20min stop turned into 45min and still 3 hour to go.
On the way to Eceabat asked the tour guide if I can get off here tomorrow instead of going back to Istanbul. She said she wasn't sure but would check with her boss. She tried to put me off by saying the prices are high, so said "no **** look at your price and we know you are price gouging" so she3 said all the hotels are full. Lunch at Eceabat was good. I bet the guy supplying it made a bomb, but he deserved it he did a great job with so many people. After lunch I had about ab hour before the bust was to go so I went looking for a room. The first two places I went into there was a room so I was sure there would be no problem and I am NOT going back to Istanbul.
The first checkpoint was at 5pm and they register our bus and issue us with arm tags and scan our tickets. This took about 40min. Second check point, at Mimoza Park, was a big one. They check our bags, Passport and ticket and we leave the bus here till tomorrow . this process was surprisingly quick and we had to wait at Mimoza park. They were only letting small groups leave to walk to Anzac cove "for security reasons" . Buy the time it was our turn I had seen on the big screen that the grandstands were nearly full. I decided to stay at Mimoza park for the night. I didn't want to sit on the grass all night and Mimoza park had chairs, some tree cover and a big screen showing the same as at Anzac cove. They told me I could stay and go up there at 3 in the morning. All night they showed doco's on the big screen.
At 3am I went up in a shuttle bus, with the other 1400 they had deliberately kept back "for security reasons" and we all crammed into Anzac cove so everyone on the grass area and walkways had to stand for the duration.
The service was not what I was expecting. I was expecting something different, better. It was just another service and I was expecting more from the 100th. Having said that I bawled like a girl through half of it. When they were laying the reaths they had a piper playing and I totally went the blub. It was too dark to take photo's at first but I got some shot later showing the3 terrain of the place. It is very a dramatic setting and knowing what happened here makes it all the more dramatic.
We had to walk 3.5km to Lone Pine and the last half was up hill on a dirt track. I had to have a couple of rest stops on the way and a stop at Shell Green cemetery but I made it. There was another checkpoint here (I don't know where they thought we were going to get the contraband from) so that slowed us down getting in but there was plenty of time. The service here was almost a repeat of the dawn service and again good but I was expecting a bit more.
After the service we had to wait for the Turkish to have theirs then the Kiwis to have theirs before the busses could come to get us. The Kiwis had theirs at Chanuk Bair which was 3km walk past ours and all up hill. They did a great job getting all the way up there... in 1915 when they took it, and today. there are over 400 busses here and they are calling them up in no particular order. Yesterday when they were registered they were given a number and we got the same number on a tag so we just have to watch the big screen for our number. I had a sure fire way to get mine up early, go for a leak! It worked! My bus was about number 25 to come so we got out earlyish. I think the last busses would have been about 3hr after mine.
We picked up the Kiwis and the guide said we were heading back to Eceabat for lunch. Half the people spat it. They didn't want to go there they just want to go straight back to Istanbul. Too bad we are going back and they can sort it when we get there. As it turns out 5 of us were getting off at Eceabat so they had to go back anyway. When we got there most were tired and just wanted to go but some wanted to get food. I grabbed my pack and went to check in to a hotel. I found one and checked in then went back for "lunch". Again the guy doing the food has done a great job so I had dinner with the other 4 and we discussed travel plans. After I had finished dinner the bus left. Those ********s could have had dinner then left but they wanted to make a point.
I went to bed a 7pm and woke at 5am this morning. It was a looong day.

I am really glad I did it but I would NEVER do it again. I spent 42hr travelling or waiting for two 1hr services. I think I would rather come at another time to really appreciate the dramatic setting.

Today Im going to get the ferry across the Dardanelles to Canakkale and prolly bet there for a couple of days