Australia - Brisbane - Lest We Forget and Back Alley Gambling

Sidenote: for the curious out there (looking at you, Carly), the kangaroo meat was purchased, prepared and mostly consumed by none other than Mick the Australian, though he didn't want to eat it anymore either after Colin and Ingrid ragged on it as dog meat.

This past Saturday, April 25th was ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) Day in Australia, the second biggest holiday after Australia Day. Like Canada's Remembrance Day, everyone gathers to pay tribute to those who have served in the wars and to those in service around the world today. Australia holds candlelit dawn services all over the country to mark the occasion. For some reason, the dawn of said services started at 4:30am instead of when the sun actually rises at 6am.

However, once the dawn service is out of the way, the tone of the day changes quite dramatically. Where Canadians would file away from ceremonies dressed in dark clothes with jackets pinned with poppies and solemnity abound in remembrance, Australians disperse to "raise a glass" for ANZAC. Actual motto of the day.

I opted for my ANZAC Day experience to center more around the latter spirit of the day instead of the getting up at 4am part. I attended an ANZAC day BBQ (of course), where the orders of the day included a blind beer tasting competition before lunch and a fiercely competitive game of Two-Up in the back alley. Not kidding - our whole party of about twenty people were yelling at coins on a blanket in the alleyway behind our host's house for an hour.

For those who are unfamiliar with the game (like myself), Two-Up is gambling based on coin tosses. There are two coins; you bet that both will be heads or both will be tails. It's that simple. I'm appalling at gambling games but managed to not be the first person out of play money, quite a coup for me. Mysteriously, this game is illegal in Australia every day of the year except for ANZAC Day. No one knew why.

You almost want to wish people a Happy ANZAC Day. That's how festive the day felt at times. After the gambling, it was back to the booze. After all, those glasses aren't going to raise themselves to the veterans and the troops overseas.