Another ANZAC Day

April is an awesome time of year in Sydney when the weather is still gorgeous and the warm days give way to crisp, comfortable evenings. There are also a few national holidays that allow us to enjoy long, lazy weekends aplenty. We started the month with both Good Friday and Easter Monday off and ended with ANZAC Day, a day that recognizes the veterans from past wars.

In America, Veterans Day is like any other day... not much is to be said for remembrance. In Australia, ANZAC Day (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) is not only a full on public holiday - it includes national and regional dawn services, parades, and afternoons in the pub gambling on two-up, a game that's only legal one day a year.

The Rocks in Sydney was the first part of the city to be discovered and friends and I settled into the classic Captain Cook Hotel which had a two-up game stage that was nearly as big as the pub itself.

In short, this is how two-up is played: A 'Spinner' throws two coins into the air and players gamble on whether the coins will fall with both heads up or both tails up. One and one doesn't count. To gamble, you hold money over your head with one hand and either pat your head (heads) or bum (tails) with the other hand. Gamblers look for people holding up the same amount of money as them (easy as Australian notes are all different colors) who want to bet on the opposite side they do. The gambler who wants to bet on heads holds the money until the "spinner" tosses two-of-a-kind. Pretty simple and silly, but very fun... especially after a few beers! I didn't gamble myself, but a friend thought I was lucky and had me choosing his bets. I had him up $20 before I had to retreat to refill my beverage.

It was a great day, but the best was yet to come. Because ANZAC Day landed on a Sunday this year, we got Monday off as a holiday! Lucky, lucky indeed.