On the tented-roof dark patches resolved themselves into constellations of flies.
All about us were great piles of provisions and the hundred and one necessities of an army corps.
Behind were the steep hillsides of Anzac burrowed and scarred and trenched beyond recognition.
Looking up at the heights one wondered how they had ever been stormed, and wondered still more how they had ever been held in the face of superior numbers well entrenched.
On pontoons, the keel of a sunken boat, the tops of the masts and funnel of a small wrecked steamer, and the wharf erected by the Australian and New Zealand Engineers, also caught the eye.
The little waves of the Sea of Saros lapped the sands, and in the water at our feet lay the distending body of a dead mule.
Such was our introduction to Anzac Beach.
The rifle fire of the night had died down and we gazed contentedly at a beautiful and peaceful scene.
An officer came up and greeted the newcomers.
On the whole it looked as if our first day at Anzac were going to be a quiet one.
The men, and officers too, were bathing contentedly in the clear sea.
But presently there was a peculiarly singing noise in the air just over our heads, a loud explosion and a burst of bullets and broken shell in the water.
This, they told us, was ''Startling Annie'', a Turkish gun in a hidden position away on our left, beginning her morning hate.
But few people seemed to take any notice of her.
Some of the men did not trouble to come out of the water.
A non-com. passing pointed to a hole in the sack on which I was sitting.
''She sent one in there yesterday,'' he said.
Later he showed us a bit of the broken shell.
To our mind the beach did not seem to be a healthy spot, but the almost diabolical nonchalance of both officers and men made us stifle whatever feelings of fear we personally may have harboured. - By Malcolm Ross, official NZ war correspondent.
• A somewhat novel method of raising money for the Wounded Soldiers' and Red Cross Funds was adopted by a gathering of sportsmen during dinner at the Clarendon Hotel, Christchurch, on Wednesday evening (says the Lyttelton Times).
Mr W. Hayes, sporting editor of the Otago Daily Times, picked up a banana from a plate, and suggested that it should be sold by auction in aid of the funds.
The idea was agreed to immediately, and Mr Hayes officiated as auctioneer.
Bids came rapidly, and the banana was sold and resold again until it had realised £31 11s, the skin being knocked down for £2.
It was decided to divide the amount between the two funds.
The skin of the banana was retained by Mr Hayes as a trophy.
• During the year ended March 31, 1915 (says the Timaru Post), 41 houses have been built in the district under the Workers' Dwellings Act, and 13 are in course of construction.
There are six settlements in the district - Milton Road (10 dwellings), and Craigie Settlement (nine dwellings) in the Borough of Timaru; Willowbridge Settlement (13 dwellings), and Bixton Settlement (nine dwellings) in Temuka.
During the year 30 acres of land were acquired at Fairlie and cut up into six five-acre blocks and six half-acre sections.
All the large allotments and one half-acre section were taken up.
Thirteen cottages are now in course of erection on these sites. - ODT, 14.8.1915.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
