Gallipoli 'lager lout' antics turn off young visitors

By THERESA GARNER and AINSLEY THOMSON

Young New Zealanders and Australians in Europe are planning to avoid Gallipoli on Thursday because "lager louts" are taking over the battlefields.

About 12,000 New Zealanders, mainly backpackers, visit Turkey every year. Between 5000 and 6000 usually attend the dawn ceremony at Gallipoli on Anzac Day, April 25.

But a number of New Zealanders and Australians, disgusted at how some fellow backpackers treat the occasion, are talking of avoiding Gallipoli on Anzac Day even if it means giving up a childhood dream.

They say extreme drunkenness on the peninsula, urinating and disrespect have put them off. Many blame tour companies.

One tour company is said to have promoted a mock landing with a can of Foster's in your hand.

Some New Zealanders in London question the psyche of their compatriots.

"Can you imagine the British doing piss-laden reconstructions of the Somme?

"Or the Japanese doing the same at Hiroshima or Nagasaki?" asked one expatriate on an internet chat room.

Another New Zealander, Nigel, said his birthday was on Anzac Day.

"My whole life I have wanted to go to Gallipoli on that day and just be there to remember those who have fallen for us in that tragedy."

But after arriving in London and discovering the trip had become one of the must-dos for Antipodean travellers, "not unlike the alcohol-soaked Running of the Bulls at Pamploma and the Munich Oktoberfest", he changed his mind.

"Is there no end to what tourism companies will go to to make a buck? Any self-respecting Aussie or New Zealander should boycott such packages at all costs," he said.

"The people who do take these packages and go and get hammered on the beach will hopefully one day, when they sober up, realise the idiocy of what they have done."

Rick Percival, formerly of Hamilton, said he was avoiding April 25.

"I wouldn't be able to control myself with the beer louts."

Duncan St Clair, a 25-year-old Australian, said he and his flatmates were going this year, but had avoided taking an organised tour.

"We plan to walk up from the beach during the night to the ceremony at dawn. Most of my friends have done it at Anzac Day because the feelings and emotions that are around at that time are moving and that's what I want to experience."

Holly Sounness, from Perth, who works at Anzac House in the village of Canakkale near Anzac Cove, was at the ceremony last year.

She said most people had been respectful and well-behaved and a sombre mood prevailed.

The 26-year-old said that in the afternoon people relaxed and some did drink, but she did not think that ruined the day.