Happy ANZAC Day!

So, yesterday was ANZAC day. (click the blog title for the wikipedia explanation of ANZAC day.) I guess comparably it's like our Memorial Day, but of course, in true Aussie fashion, any holiday here means you drink. So, at about 2pm i met my friends at the bar, only to find i was walking into insanity! the place is huge and it was packed!! people were waiting 20 minutes to get a drink at any of the 4 bars, the ATM line was over an hour, and clearly getting food was just simply not even considered. somehow i found the boys, out back near a huge crowd that were screaming and cheering... no idea what was going on. Apparently there's an ANZAC tradition to play this game called 2-up. this bar was one of the ones in the area hosting it, hence the crowds. there was a crowd of people in a circle standing on grandstands and the balcony and the ground around this center area where two older guys were moderating this game. the old guy was dressed in a hilarious sparkly gold suit and funny hat and waving his arms everywhere, and the other slightly younger one was in a red velvet suit and matching hat. in one corner of this little area, someone from the crowd stood with a flat wooden stick that had 3 coins on it. he/she had to toss the coins above everyone's heads and, when they landed, whichever side (heads or tails) had the majority face up won. here's where it got nuts: the rest of the crowd is screaming before the coins are thrown, holding up different dollar values - some on their heads, some by their butts. if you wanted to bet heads and you had $5, for example, you'd yell "5 on heads, 5 on heads!" until you make eye contact with someone else in the crowd betting the same dollar amount against you. then the person betting heads takes the other's money to hold onto until the coins are tossed. once the bets are cut off and the coin tosser is about to throw, everyone chants either "head 'em up!" or "tail 'em up!". if the coin tosser does a bad throw (aka, not high enough, rolls off the playing area, etc.), the ENTIRE crowd starts booing! one of our friends was trying to convince me to get in the middle and throw, but i didn't think i could handle being booed by that many people:) people were betting $50 a toss or more! it's such a funny concept though, because really the "house" doesn't benefit at all, and it's just an exchange of funds amoungst the crowd! in reality though, i guess the bar wins because everyone that won was using their winnings to buy more drinks:)
so that was most of the day, till about 10 (yes, 8 hours!)... Wazz, Paul, another girl Amy, and I took the bus back to Coogee at that point and because they were all WAY too drunk to get into the CBH (our usual after hours spot), they gave up and we went to the Rugby Club for free drinks:) somehow, this turned into a debacle! Amy was behind the bar at one point and started spraying Wazz with soda water from the drink dispenser. Wazz of course fired back, and it turned into all out war! Paul grabbed me, kicking and fighting, and held me in the line of fire; somewhere along the lines a bucket came into use; and, at one point Amy accidentally started spraying Coke and Lemonade! I fought with as much as i could -- even grabbed onto the door handle while paul was trying to drag me by the legs -- but in the end we were all incredibly wet and VERY sticky! the bar was a little bit of a mess too:) don't worry, there are pictures and video of all this! well, some anyway cause most of the time i was fighting with paul for my life!:)
Happy ANZAC day!