**Was fortunate to be in Chinchilla town today and took a photo of the war memorial with the beautiful flowers around it. - 27 April 2007.

Before coming to Australia, the closest I'd ever heard of Anzac was the cookies. Used to get them at TMC, Bangsar via Aunty Linda. Love those cookies, hmmm - delicious. Some of my colleagues may have had a taste three years, no, four years ago? Just realised that I haven't bought those cookies in ages.

Well, today is a national holiday - it's Anzac Day! Yup it is celebrated on 25th April anually. Today marks 92 years since the Battle of Gallipoli (WWI) which took place in a place known today as the Anzac Cove. (It's a place in Turkey not Aussie). Anzac looks like the MOST important holiday in both Australia and New Zealand. Dawn services were organized around the country in commemoration of the servicemen during that fateful battle. Aussies seek pilgrimage year after year on this day to Anzac Cove. Some go there following the trail of their fathers, and forefathers.

Ahem, actually, the Aussies and Kiwis (hence ANZac - Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) mistakenly landed at Anzac Cove, where instead of a flat beach, they found themselves facing steep cliffs with Turkish troops firing from above them under the command of Ataturk. The Anzacs fought fiercely, protecting themselves by digging miles of trenches. By the way, the troops also called themselves "diggers". After reaching stalemate in the battle, the Anzacs retreated in December 1915, after having sacrificed not few lives (8,141 in all).

There is an interesting incident when Adolf Hitler launched a battle against Anzac troops during WWII on 25 March 1941 - on ANZAC day! Click here to read.

In Malaysia, Anzac dawn services are held in Penang (Fort Cornwallis), KL (Cheras Cemetery)and Sandakan (Memorial Park), while in Singapore it is usually held at the Kranji War Memorial.

Back to Chinchilla....

To my delight, when I tuned in to Channel 7 at 8 a.m. today, there was a live telecast of the Freedom Concert from Currumbin Beach, Gold Coast... Guess who was playing live? Powderfinger!

Wow, the last time I heard from them was when The Mission Impossible soundtrack was released. Love their music. They rock! They were singing from their soon-to-be-launched album. The concert was on an open-air stage just meters from the spectacular sea.

This was the first time I saw the band play - Bernard Fanning has the kind of messy hair that I'd like to have! It was beautiful the way the crowd responded in high spirits! Too bad it was four hours drive away to the concert and sigh I had to work anyway!

Got to see a short telecast from the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary too, because the Freedom concert was raising funds for the reptiles and marsupials who call the sanctuary home.

It was a fantastic way to start the morning. I was off to work at 9a.m. but thankfully I managed to stay till the very last, when they sang On My Mind in dedication to the servicemen at war. Kudos to Powderfinger, in the true Aussie spirit - after all, they hail from Brisbane.