 Funny how dreams become a reality. I've always dreamed of going to Anzac Cove to be at the dawn service at Gallipoli and to pay my respects to the fallen that gave their lives for our country. As a CFA firefighter for five years, one Sunday afternoon after training chatting with the guys I said, hey guys, I've always wanted to go to Gallipoli for the dawn service, a voice said, yeah, me too. And then another said, I wouldn't mind going as well. I said, okay, let's go and represent the CFA in Istanbul and visit a fire station there that also has volunteers. Soon I had seven members going. After emails to the Australian Embassy, Turkish Government and Turkish local council, we were set to visit Koka Sinan Fire Station 110 in Istanbul, where over 100 plus staff work 24 hours a day. I was going to visit a fire station on the other side of the world. I couldn't believe it. The station visit was great and we were treated like royalty. When it was time to go, we wished and waved our new international friends goodbye, but left them with a special gift from the Epping CFA of a CFA flag, which today flies proud and high over their station. Anzac Day, April the 25th. A very cold morning at 2.30am, sitting in the stand with my fellow firefighters, waiting for the 5.30am ceremony to start. My mind was working overtime of what happened here in battle. The noise, screams, bodies falling over each other, the fallen that are still buried somewhere in this area, whether in gravesites or just in the ground. The ceremony made me feel so humble to celebrate our fallen soldiers of all nationalities. Later that morning, the Australian service at Lone Pine Cemetery, we saw the Aussie spirit in full flight with hundreds in attendance. The next few days, we visited war cemeteries in the area and heard stories of courage and gallantry and of the soldiers who openly sacrificed their lives for our country. It left me sometimes with tears sitting in my eyes. My pilgrimage is complete. Anzac Cove showed us a true Aussie spirit of mateship, which is to never give up. And we're now keeping contact with our fellow firefighters across the world by emails. In some ways, like the Anzacs, we the firefighters of the CFA have that fighting spirit in us, to just get in and do what we do best for our communities 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.