Day 14 - Anzac Day in Canberra

When we were first planning this family holiday, we looked at a number of options, and places to go, including flying to Melbourne and/or Tasmania etc. As we nutted out the details, we realised that this trip presented too good of an opportunity to be in Canberra for Anzac Day, and to give the kids an experience to remember (and us) if we were at the Australian War Memorial for the dawn service. We had our plan in place long before certain royal dignitaries (Will & Kate) decided that they also thought it sounded like it would be a good idea too.

The alarm went at 4.15am and we managed to drag ourselves into our thermals, jackets, beanies and scarves expecting it to be a bitter Canberra morning. We walked the 1.5km from where we were staying to the memorial, stripping off layers as we went - as while it was definitely cool, it was certainly not a cold bitter morning.

We joined the crowd in relative silence, and managed to score a standing spot inside the main parade ground in front of the war memorial - inside the ring of grandstands. The ceremony was just getting underway when a certain Ms4 stated "I need to go to the toilet". The kids had all gone before we left the apartment, so we quizzed her several times "are you sure", "can you wait", "if we leave we will NOT get back in here". After trying to avoid moving, I then proceeded to walk her back out of a crowd of around 30,000 people to find a toilet. Hub stayed in place with Ms10 and Mr8 and we didn't see them again until after the end of the service. I found my way half way back down Anzac Pde to where I had seen some portaloos on our way to the ceremony. We got there, and the first one was padlocked shut. And the second one. And the third one. Gah!!!!

I turned and headed back up towards the war memorial and found a spot to sit and listen to the ceremony and watch what we could on one of several big screen TVs. Ms4 didn't mention the toilet again - and an hour and a half after we first left the parade ground and were back in our apartment, ms4 calmly went to the loo. She is such a mischief maker that kid. So, while I'm a little disappointed to have missed some of the dawn service, I am glad that her hijinx didn't affect Ms10 and Mr8's experience.

Despite poor phone coverage (or the network being overloaded by the large crowd), we did manage to reconnect with the other half of the family after the service.

At this point, Ms10 was keen to take a handmade poppy that her class had made to lay at the tomb of the unknown soldier - so we split up again while the other three went and did that, and I walked Ms4 home again.

A bit of a rest and some breakfast, and before long it was time to head back up to the war memorial for the National Ceremony. We decided to hang back a little from the main crowd and found a spot on the side of the road where we thought we would be able to see one of the big screens, and also possibly see some of the marchers. To cut a long story short, where the crowd around us was shunted around a few times, we ended up being in a good position to see all the dignitaries fly past in their cars with their police escorts. The high commissioner of NZ didn't draw too much attention. Next was the prime minister's motorcade. Then the biggest motorcade - where we got a good glimpse of Prince William, and a hint of Kate. Then lastly, the governor general's motorcade moved through. Soon after, the march commenced and we ended up moving to a slightly better vantage point. It was great to see so many different groups represented. And the procession went on for what seemed like ages.

Then, just when we thought the procession was nearing the end, we became aware of "something" going on at the end of the march. We realised that a group of indigenous protesters had joined the end of the procession under a banner "Lest we forget the frontier wars", with a number of placards listing the various massacres that tend not to get talked about but unfortunately are part of our history. As this group had come closer to the part where the procession then entered the main parade ground, a line of police had formed in front of them blocking their path. Initially we weren't quite sure what was going on, but soon realised that it seemed to be a peaceful protest, and it provided an opportunity for discussion with Ms10 and Mr8 regarding what was going on. After a good 15 -20 mins or so of this seeming "stand-off" where the protestors and the police were holding their line, the protestors said a few things which we couldn't hear, then turned around and marched away again. They didn't disrupt the main service in any way. And it's interesting that I've seen no coverage of this aspect of the march in any of the media reports tonight.

Again, part way through the ceremony, Mr8 decided he needed the toilet and ms4 went it in sympathy. So, off I trod again, halfway back down Anzac Pde to those portaloos - which were at least by now unlocked. It was while in there that the F18 fighter jets flew over. Sigh!

As part of the ceremony, the dignitaries went into the tomb of the unknown soldier to lay wreaths. This was closed off to the public, but shown on the big screens and then repeated on news reports over and over. We have found an official photo online that shows Prince William and the Duchess laying their wreath, with Ms10's class poppy clearly shown in the photo - immortalised for all time.

After we were all ceremonied out, we headed back to the apartment for lunch, and then off to Old Parliament House where the Museum of Australian democracy is housed. It's a grand old building and we got to show the kids the old House of Reps and Senate rooms, and hopefully they learned a thing or two.

Given that it feels like the dawn service was a day ago - it's been a long day today! An early night tonight and tomorrow is our last full day of exploring before home.