During April-May 2006 i spent 3 weeks outside Australia visiting overseas Turkey, France and Belgium as part of a World War 1 battlefield tour with some people. This trip was amazing as it opened my eyes up to how much we in Australia have a better life than most other people in the world.
Seeing different cultures, lifestyles and scenery helped to again see how diverse the world truly is and how lucky we are in Australia as much as we think it is bad.
I spent a week in Turkey visiting the Gallipoli Peninsula which saw me go to Anzac Cove, Sulva Bay and southern area including the Dardanelles. This tour highlighted the hellish conditions the Anzacs, British and French and others fought in during 1915-16. So much was seen and relics abounded.
I also went to Troy and saw buildings thousands of years old still standing. (This Troy aspect really amazed me as Australia in 1788 ....only 224yrs ago had bark huts which Aboriginals used for housing.. so the comparison showed how advanced European civilisation was thousands of year before...)
I then went onto France and saw the horrific aftermath of WW1 and then to Belgium. I had no idea what to really expect despite years of military research and knowing we had many of our family had died in serving in the Australian Army during WW1 in France and Egypt.
The touring of France was interesting in many ways as i saw how different traveling distances were in some cases when compared to Australia. The most noticeable thing i saw was how the French honour their war dead with many many museums of high quality.
So we now begin the reflection back on my trip - 2006.
DEPARTURE TO TURKEY
We left Mascot Airport at Sydney on a Singapore 747 to Singapore which was a 7hr flight.
This first part was a scenic flight over the vastness of Australia which i had never experienced before. The green and industrial landscape of Sydney soon gave way to desert and red dry outback and then into the tropical coastlines of Western Australia showing me how diverse the country was.
We descended into the evening light as we crossed the coast of far north western Australia. Tropical thunderstorms brewed and formed which was truly amazing to see from around 40,000ft. The golden rays of the setting sunlight highlighted the clouds in ways some can only imagine.
These are my favourite photos of the clouds and storms
We eventually landed at Singapore - a total new experience to me. A 24hr operational airport, thousands of people and a security setup unlike Australia. I had grown fond of my inflight tv and "entertainment" system. I found some music i hadnt heard for years playing.....so i played the songs over and over. That kept me amused as we transited the airspace of Indonesia.
Next stage would see us fly from Singapore to the Middle East and then onto Turkey - that will be next in this review.
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