Anzac Day

Anzac Day is the Australian equivalent of Veteran’s Day and was celebrated last Wednesday (in my opinion, with much more respect & observance than we do in the US).  In addition to honoring their veterans, it’s the only day of the year Australians can play 2Up, a game I’ll talk about in detail later.  We were invited by a friend from college’s little brother to join him and his friends in Manly for the celebration and we were treated to the authentic experience – a fun afternoon of drunken gambling.

In order to catch the ferry to Manly, we had to cut through downtown which was alive with activity – a ceremony at the Anzac Memorial, a massive parade with veterans of all ages proudly wearing their military medals, marching bands (many with boys in full Scottish attire, kilts and all), and proud citizens out to celebrate those who served their country.  It was heart-warming at every turn, though we were on a mission to catch the ferry so we didn’t stick around to witness much of it. 

Once in Manly, we met up with Andy and his mates at the Wharf Bar and got our first few drinks under our belts.  From there we headed to Diggers, a private club with amazing views of Manly and a jam-packed yard full of twenty and thirty-somethings playing 2Up.  All that’s needed to play 2Up are a wooden paddle with three spots carved out to fit three coins, the coins, a big circle and someone to bet against.  It’s about as simple a game as there ever was – someone tosses the coins in the air, you bet heads or tails, and whatever side two of the three coins lands on wins.  How could this be fun, you’re probably wondering (don’t worry, I thought the same thing) but was it ever! 

There were multiple games going on around the grounds and each one had a huge crowd of people standing around screaming ‘5 on heads, 5 on heads’ or ’20 on tails, 20 on tails’ with the corresponding hand gesture (making a tipping your hat motion for heads or waving your hands in the air for tails) and money up until the throw.  In order to bet, all you had to do was find someone who would take the opposite side of your bet and hand over the cash to whoever bet heads (Alex pointed out immediately that at home, as soon as you gave a stranger $20, you’d never see him again [and consequently he never bet on tails!], but that wasn’t the case here).  The coins are thrown, the judge yells heads or tails depending on who won (obviously), the crowd cheers, the winner keeps the money and then the mayhem starts all over again.  You still may be wondering how this was fun, but take my word for it, it was - we stayed there drinking lukewarm, overpriced beer from a can and playing 2Up all afternoon until I was sufficiently wasted and Alex had lost all his money (damn heads).  Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday and another cool Australian experience for the books…