Remembering the ANZACs

 ANZAC Day is one of those all important commemorations that appears on the annual calendar. Prior to ANZAC Day this year, they were going on about the amount of Australians who take part. As one person said, just because people aren't at services doesn't mean they don't take part in ANZAC Day and that many people probably do commemorate in their own way.

This year I yet again missed Dawn Service. This time I did set an alarm but it was not very nice weather out so I opted to go back to sleep instead. Instead I decided to commemorate the day in my own way.

(ANZAC Day last year)

Getting up so late I thought there was nothing wrong with eating ANZAC muffins for breakfast. Not exactly a Gunfire breakfast but tasty all the same.

Usually on ANZAC Day, before or after dawn service a Gunfire breakfast is something to take part in. Often it is a big breakfast of bacon, eggs and all the other bits and pieces. When I still lived down south we joined in after the dawn service and it was put on by the RSL at the pub. The Gunfire part is actually black coffee with rum in it. I believe the history of it is that it was given a dutch courage to soldiers in the morning before a battle.

This afternoon, as my way of commemorating, I decided to head to the monument at the cemetery. I had never been there and what I didn't realise is that there is actually a War Cemetery within the cemetery.

It was peaceful walking there among the old graves and the Cairns War Cemetery itself was a great place for reflection.

I looked at other old grave sites on my wander back to the car. I spotted a few of the other service burials around the cemetery.

I then headed down to the Cairns Esplanade to the Cenotaph. It is across the road from the RSL (Returned Services League). They were certainly busy there.

It was interesting seeing pretty much everyone who walked past stop to look, read, discuss and show their respect. 

Where the Cairns War Cemetery is a resting place for those who served in WWII the Cenotaph list the names of those who served in WWI.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
Lest We Forget

Laurence Binyon

  

To me, this reflecting and being thankful for what those have done in the past brings peace. The feelings you have when attending, especially dawn service are indescribable. Whether I go to an ANZAC Service or not I still think on it and commemorate it, even if it is only in my thoughts.

More about ANZAC Day here

 

Hazy Mountains

Humidity, part and parcel of living in the tropics. 

It is a parcel I would prefer stayed unwrapped, personally.

We've hit the time of year where the air conditioning goes on at night and we spend half the day deciding whether or not it is hot enough to warrant using it. Actually, what I want to know is, how an earth did people live up here before air con. I know suck it up. You would never think that I lived for years on a cattle station in the dry tropics, where humidity in the lead up to wet season is also a killer, without air con. We only had our trusty pedestal fans to move the hot, sticky air.

I know it isn't summer just yet, but it is certainly around the corner. I've swapped t-shirts for sleeveless shirts most days and dread putting on long pants and shoes for work of an evening. 

What a whinger I am.

Well yesterday afternoon, I wasn't having to put on the dreaded long pants for work, so I went for a bit of a drive. More to get out of the house than anything. Getting out and about and taking photos just makes my world smile. It wasn't too bad of an afternoon with fairly clear skies, air con in the car and humidity blurring everything in the distance.

Today dawned like that too, that hazy look over the city. That is maybe because at 5:30am it was 98% humidity. It is always muggier then but then the temperature is cooler so you don't notice it as much.

Do you know what is the craziest thing about this weather? It was just snowing again in Tasmania. You see we, up in the north aren't the only ones getting some heat. My Grandparents, a few hours from Sydney copped 42 degrees C yesterday and down on the Darling Downs they are getting some rather hot weather too. In fact our temps up here are pretty low really, compared to that anyway. So I really do need to stop whinging.

So, I was saying, I went for a drive.

I was too early for sunset so I decided to find some sugar cane, farm kind of stuff to take photos of. Actually, I never really decided, I was just driving along, I took a random road, saw a nice view and stopped to take a photo.

So sugar cane, mountains, cows and trees it was. I realised then that I miss taking pictures of cattle.Who would have thought you would find all this rural, farm-y goodness only about 1/2 an hour from the middle of the city.

I found a really great spot that looks back across the Gordonvale and Walsh's Pyramid. It is the opposite direction to where I was at the river. Now I think I have covered all four directions from this cool looking mountain.

The haze softened the mountains, making them blend in to the sky and clouds. Very pretty really. The people who live on the other side of the road have an awesome view to wake up to every day.

I could spot the sugar mill, hard at work, which was looking pretty tiny in comparison to the Pyramid.

I could also see lines in the sugar cane. I really do love the lines in crops. It looks like they ran out of cane to plant here, right at the end.

Ugh!! Dinner time! I better go eat so I can head to work so I'll leave this post here and let you enjoy the hazy mountain view in silence.

Have a great weekend!