As an Antipodean it’s impossible to go to the Gallipoli Peninsula and not be moved.

That was most certainly the experience for ten thousand Kiwis and Aussies over the weekend. It was an emotional experience, probably made more so because they were expected to wait patiently in the bitter cold for ten hours or more through the night, waiting for the ceremony to begin and the sun to rise.

The requirement to turn up a working day early was all about security, in contrast to other years where you could front up at the uncivil hour of maybe 3am.

Still the late entrance for the early start didn’t seem to upset too many, they seemed to have realised that hypothermia is the right of passage for pilgrims to the Gallipoli Anzac Day ceremonies. And if anyone complained they were rightly and promptly reminded of what it must have been like for the young men who went there a hundred years ago.

John Key fronted up early evening, posing for selfies and pressing the willing flesh as the television camera lights guided him through the throng. Several who were clearly aware of the marathon wait that lay ahead of them, praised him for being one of them and arriving so early.

They didn’t seem to notice when the television lights headed toward the exit gate so that the Key entourage could again cross the much fought over Dardanelles to the comfort of their hotel rooms for a bit of shuteye before the main course.

By the time that came the applause was automatic, they needed only to hold their shivering hands within proximity of each other for them to engage.

In fairness though Key did engage, this event was being held on Turkish soil and they suffered significantly greater losses than we did. He rightly put it into perspective saying that if we were invaded by foreign forces we’d react in the same way.

And on Anzac afternoon he stepped out of the frying pan and into the fire, flying to Dubai and into the political storm in the region over Isis and the war in Yemen which will later today come into sharp focus when he touches down in the Islamic stronghold of Saudi Arabia.

That country’s resumed air strikes against its neighbour Yemen, now fighting on two fronts against Isis and the rebels who’ve overthrown the Government there.

So a century on from the meaningless loss of life at Gallipoli and it seems the world’s learnt very little!