Day 7

We began the day with a 7.30 breakfast and after this some of us that weren't too tired went for a shop around the markets in the town square.. Courtney Salmari's main purchase being half a kilo of lollies, even though she doesn't really like lollies she just thought they looked good. Colin then took us for a walk around the town pointing out some of the main monuments that we will later be learning more about. We then got on the bus and drove to Hill 60, where we saw craters created by an explosion aimed at the Germans on the 7th of June 1917. The explosion was so huge it was felt in London! We were quite surprised at how beautiful the crater had become as the ground is made of blue clay which holds the water in and formed a little lake. We then hoped back on the bus and made our way to Hooge Crater War Museum to have lunch and explore the museum containing war artifacts from around the area and realistic wax figures placed in settings depicting situations from days in the war. At this museum there was an opportunity to purchase old war artifacts and some of the boys thought that is would be cool to take home a grenade or a bayonet. And now it will just be interesting to see whether they can get it back into Australia or not. After viewing the war museum, a few members of the group crossed the road to the cemetery. This was where we got the opportunity to find one of the few Australians who was awarded a VC (Victorian Cross) by the name of Private P. Bugden for his incredible bravery in battle. We then got into the bus and made our way to Polygon Woods which was captured on the 26th of September 1917. These days it looks quite pretty and picturesque but during the time of the battle there were absolutely no trees, it was wet, full of mud and human waste. We walked through the Polygon Woods and to the New Zealand Memorial, the Australian 5th Division Memorial and the Buttes Cemetery where lay the bodies of 2000 soldiers, 75% of them being unknown. Here Luke read his poem in remembrance of those in the 5th Division. We then made our way to where the battle of Passchendaele occurred. This had a huge impact on the group as we learnt that the Tyne Cot cemetery and the Australian 3rd Division memorial represented 46000 of the soldiers that were killed, of these 35,000 soldiers still missing within the battle fields of Passchendaele. At the memorial, I (Megan) read a poem commemorating these brave men and this was a huge honour. After our small ceremony we continued on to a small place known as Vancouver Corner, where stands a Canadian Memorial in remembrance of those Canadian that were gassed. This memorial consists of a statue of a soldier brooding, which symbolises the awful feeling that hung among those soldiers on the day of the gassing. After visiting this memorial we headed back to the hotel to swap into our formal uniform in preparation for the Menin Gate Service. We were privileged enough to witness and participate in this moving ceremony, honouring the soldiers who fell in and around the area of Ypres (Ieper) during The Great War. Courtney Salmeri, Braydee Thompson and Luke Abbott laid a wreath on behalf of the group. This was truly breathtaking and the group's emotions really reflected this with half of us having to reach for the tissues by the time the service finished. I think the fact that we were freezing cold was soon forgotten (well almost forgotten) because of the overwhelming emotions we were all feeling. The sounds of the bugle, the choir, the bagpipes and the band was truly beautiful. Comprehending the emotions we were feeling due to what we had just witnessed, we headed to the the restaurant to have our dinner which had been preselected. This night was also a great time to celebrate Courtney Salmeri's sixteenth birthday with a great big cake covered in plenty of sugary lollies. HAPPY BIRTHDAY COURTNEY!

By Megan and Brittany

For more pictures of the tour please visit Mr Bylund's photo blog at jebx4.tumblr.com