The travels and musings of Matt and Heidi
Countless dead, countless! It was impossible to count. Memis Bayraktar, Turkish Soldier. On the 19th February 1915 the Royal Navy commenced a bombardment of Turkish positions along the Dardanelles straits in the hope of breaking through to Istanbul. The attack failed and the Gallipoli invasion began. The British expected the campaign to end quickly, but... Continue Reading →
"I am prepared for death and hope that God will have forgiven me all my sins." Lieutenant Colonel William Malone, New Zealand Soldier, in a letter to his wife shortly before he was killed defending the position his battalion held on the summit of Chunuk Bair. Between the 7th and 9th August 2015 a mixed... Continue Reading →
Distance between mutual trenches is eight meters, that it, death is imminent, imminent...Those standing the first trench were constantly falling with nobody surviving, and the ones standing in the second one are replacing them." Mustafa Kemel Ataturk. No one ever expected the Gallipoli campaign to take so long or result in so many casualties. 21,200... Continue Reading →
The flower of the youth of Victoria and Western Australia fell in that attempt. Charles Bean, Historian. The battle at the Nek was immortalised in the 1981 Australian movie 'Gallipoli', directed by Peter Weir. As a boy in high school this movie became standard viewing for our studies in history, but it wasn't until I... Continue Reading →
"There is hell waiting here." C.A. McAnulty, Australian soldier killed in action at Lone Pine. On the afternoon of August 6, 2015 Australian soldiers attacked Turkish positions at Lone Pine. They charged along 60 metres of flat, open ground under intense fire from the opposition and by 6:00pm they had captured the Turkish trenches. For... Continue Reading →
Those heroes that shed their blood And lost their lives... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side Here in this country of ours... You, the mothers Who sent their... Continue Reading →
A good army of 50,000 men and sea power - that is the end of the Turkish menace. Winston Churchill, 1915 Late last year Heidi and I had a short break in Turkey and managed to spend a day at Gallipoli. It was a haunting experience filled with admiration for the soldiers of both sides... Continue Reading →
As @BeefeaterDave pointed out to us, these jewels are real. They are not copies, fakes, faux gems or cubic zirconia, they are the real Crown Jewels. From memory the conversation went something like this; "Now ladies, when you go into the building next door make sure you see the Sovereign's Sceptre. When you find the... Continue Reading →
Did you know that Big Ben is actually the nickname of the bell inside the tower and not the clock itself? Well you do now 😉
A hearty combination of roast beef and Spitfire Ale. "The pride of Britain's oldest brewer, Shepherd Neame. Head brewer Richard says the Kentish hops in our signature brew give the perfect zesty punch to the rich roasted beef." So what else would a good British national like Heidi eat in Laos 😉
Wish You Were Here 