Day 8

After a relatively early morning, we showered, fed and prepared for the long and interesting day ahead. The group made their way onto the bus, and it chugged its way along to the first visit of the day: Bedford House Cemetery. We visited this site to pay our respects to Braydee and Kellye Thompson's relative, Private Evan Thompson, who had been killed in battle. Coincidently enough, Evan Thompson had lived on Roberts Street in Collie (or as many of the group clarified as the road next to the footy oval). We commemorated him with a poem read by Brie Seaton followed by a minute silence to show our respect, and then we departed from Bedford House Cemetery.

After leaving, we began driving toward Cobbers Memorial to pay respect to the Australians who fought in the "Battle of Fromelles". This soldier, Simon Fraser, demonstrated true 'Aussie Spirit' as he performed acts of bravery, mateship and sacrifice in an attempt to save his comrades and his mates. After a formal photo and a brief moment of remembrance, we progressed down from the Cobbers Memorial along the road to VC Corner where 410 Australian soldiers are buried in two mass graves. Although upon walking along the road toward VC Corner Colin (our tour guide) had noticed a British mortar lying next to a power pole and to our concern and surprise it was live and armed. The group dispersed quickly from the region of the armed explosive, as if it was going to explode within the short time we were surrounding it. Moving on, we arrived at VC Corner and paid our respects to the soldiers buried there in a mass grave. Following this we visited the newest cemetery ar Pheasant Wood where some 450 Australians have recently been interned from a discovery of their bodies in 2007. We then stopped at Bizet to have lunch, where we had a choice between hotdogs or cheese burgers, as well as the main meal, we had a side of the highly regarded 'Belgian chips'. Once lunch was over the group progressed toward the border that separates France from Belgium by a simple sign, and believe it or not there is a gap between the border of Belgium and France that is technically known as 'No Man's Land.'

After taking many photos of ourselves standing between the two countries we walked to a local store where the prices were unbelievably low for chocolates and other snacks. We took advantage of this and stocked up on many of the treats Belgium has to offer. Mrs Abbott took the prize for the most chocolate bought, but we believe this was down to her buying Luke's chocolate as well! After a short drive we arrived at Lijssenthoek Cemetery, which has just over 10,000 men in it. After visiting Tyne Cot yesterday, it was amazing to hear that it is smaller. We were here for Mrs Hanns to visit a relative, and commemorated him with another poem reading, this time by Fraser. After this we went into the visitors centre, where Megan discovered a letter on an audio set that was identical to the one Mrs Hanns had in her notes for her relative. Needless to say, we were all quite surprised by this. We returned to the bus, where some took the opportunity to have a bit of a nap. In fact, more than half the bus was sleeping on the trip back to Ypres. Once back at the hotel, people took the time to hang out at the hotel, walk around the town square or just relax in their room. We finished the night eating upstairs in a fancy restaurant, where we enjoyed excellent local cuisine, once again. With a good nights sleep, we will enjoy a full day tomorrow!

Mr Croft would like to say a big " Happy Birthday" to his son Quinlan who is eight today!

By Travis and Fraser

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