The last week has been somewhat Antipodean themed in the hostel. There is never a lack of aussie and kiwi guests in backpackers hostels but this week was even more so than usual.
It started last Wednesday with Anzac Day. Anzac Day for the uninitiated is celebrated by Australia and New Zealand on the 25th April every year. It commemorates the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC.. get it?!) who landed at Gallipoli in Turkey for the Battle of Gallipoli, over 10,000 of whom were killed. I was impressed to see that quite a few guests got the early wake up call to head to the dawn service in Grangegorman Cemetery for 6.30am... that's dedication to the cause! This was then followed by the traditional 'gunfire breakfast'... where they got the rum to put in their coffee at that hour we'll never know, it certainly isn't included in our light breakfast! Perhaps they were cub scouts when they were young... very prepared! Later in the day (hopefully after a restorative nap!) they headed to the Dublin aussie/kiwi institutions of The Woolshed and Down Under for a few games of two-up. Now I think you have to be from Oz or New Zealand to understand that game. Back in my Sydney backpacker glory days I spent a drunken day losing my rent money playing that game... the reason I lost.. cos I didn't have a clue what I was doing! Cheap beer and not knowing how to play, do not a successful gambling day out make! Anyway I don't think our guests won too big, but they certainly seemed to have had fun, judging by the prevalence of sun glasses and painkillers the next morning!
Then of course there was Australia's triumph in the Cricket World Cup over the weekend. That resulted in plenty of smiling but tired aussie faces on Sunday morning! Of course here in Ireland, we feel that we all but won the world cup ourselves, having had somewhat of a 'cool runnings' moment in the competition, coming from nowhere to qualifying for the super eight round!
In other news the sun hasn't stopped shining in Dublin all week which has resulted in a shorts and flip-flops uniform among the guest! The temperatures have hit 18-20 degrees most days, not bad for April in Dublin!
