26 April 2020 ANZAC Day and biscuits!

ANZAC Day (April 25) is a highly significant, and almost reverent occasion when both Australia and New Zealand honor their veterans and commemorate the 1915 battle of Gallipoli.  As we have learned this day even surpasses Remembrance Day (Armistice Day or our Veteran's Day) in importance here.  But this year for the first time, there was no sunrise gathering at the Memorial sites due to the Covid-19 restrictions. So individuals were encouraged to rise at 6:00 am and stand at the end of their driveways or outside their homes for moments of silence.  Then those that had trumpets would play "The Last Post" or as we call it "Taps."  With candles burning, many people throughout the country, let alone here in New South Wales, willingly arose to show the honor to the soldiers, both living and dead.  

Afterward, the tradition is to have ANZAC biscuits and go to the pub!  Well, the pubs are mostly closed anyway, so one entrepreneur decided to drive around with his employees handing out free beer to all the veterans he found.  The news reports showed how appreciative everyone was of his efforts!  We stuck to our ANZAC biscuits that one of our colleagues in our building brought us from his wife.  The story goes that these were somehow sent to the soldiers because none of the ingredients would spoil, but that's mostly a myth.  But we thought the biscuits (cookies) were delicious no matter their history.  

New Zealand and Australian Flags

I understand New Zealand had two referendums in 2015 and 2016 about changing their flag and several designs had been suggested over the years.  Some Kiwis believe theirs is too closely related to the Australian and they do not like it one bit because they claim to have used the design first!  However, the poll showed that the majority voted to retain the current flag.  The stars are a bit different from the Australian flag but they were the first country to indicate the Southern Cross in the sky. The Australian flag has the large star under the Union Jack which which represents the Commonwealth and they have 5 stars to represent the Southern Cross. 

The Rodd Family Memorial Site - once was the mausoleum for many of the members of a well-known and prestigious early Australian  family

 Our nightly exercise consists of finding new areas in our local area to walk too and we often end up doing laps around the small field by our house.  But on the weekends, we  try to find a new place to get some exercise.  This week we learned of the Bay Run at Iron Cove.  Since it is only about a 25 minute drive we thought we would join the other walkers, joggers, and cyclists in circumventing the cove.  Just like "running the bridges" at home, this was over a 7.2 km or about 4 mile loop around the cove.  The memorial park above was near our carpark and so we started there before joining everyone on the actual Bay Run.

It was a gorgeous day with temperatures near 80 degrees F. for a rather warm Fall day.  It wasn't a difficult walk and we saw interesting flora, fauna, and fowl all around.  Many people keeping their distance, but also enjoying the sunshine as the beaches have been closed again.  Not  enough social-distancing going on and too many groups of people together.

Apparently, some of the walk goes by a former psychiatric hospital and grounds.  It was all boarded up so we assumed it was in "former" use.  

 Some metal fish baskets that would be attached to metal "weirs"  now stand as public art in one of the parks we passed through.

Finally, our  closest view of Sydney yet.  We have been here nearly two months and have yet to get to the Central Business District and tourist sites there due to the request by government to avoid any non-essential travel.  We sometimes wonder if our little 20 minutes drives just to go somewhere are pushing the limits/  But we are grateful to be here and doing anything that we can to be of service.