I woke up at about 4am and couldn’t go back to sleep so just stayed awake until 5.30am when I got up and packed the last few things into my suitcase before heading down for breakfast at 6am. The intention was to leave at 6.30am but this was PNG time … so we left at 8am!As it turned out, this didn’t make any difference at all since our plane was delayed by a previous late arrival and then had technical difficulties so we didn’t actually leave Port Moresby until about 11.45am. Nothing we can do so just have to go with the flow. This also gives my knee an extra recovery day so I’m not complaining at all!

Fortunately, it’s only a 30-minute flight to Kokoda! From the plane, we got our first glimpse of the dense jungles, mountainous terrain and fast flowing rivers of the Kokoda Track as they all zoomed effortlessly past beneath us. It’ll take a LOT more effort to make the return journey!

The plane circled around to get low enough to land, giving us a closer view of the rivers, palm plantations and the grass landing strip. When we arrived, we were greeted by what looked like the entire village. Maybe they come out every time there’s a plane landing as it’s probably the most exciting thing that happens in Kokoda each day!

We walked through the village and up to the war memorial and museum. Trav discussed what had happened there in 1942 and showed us where the battles took place. It’s quite amazing to think about what has happened here as now it all looks so calm and relaxed.

We had some lunch and then met all our porters for the trek (my porter’s name is Derrick). Afterwards, we had some free time so spent this doing a brief swim in the rapids of the river, visiting the local supermarket where everything is locked behind wire mesh, and playing frisbee with the local kids. Maxine and Sampson were especially cute and Maxine seemed to only know one English word: Yes! She’s a girl after Mel’s own heart!

I even got to try climbing a palm tree (I reckon I could get the hang of it but I didn’t want to go very high in case I couldn’t get back down and injured myself!)

We packed everything up and then headed to breakfast at 5.30am so we could be on the track by about 6am. It was a big hike today as we had to make up the ground we’d missed from the previous day so we covered about 16km. That doesn’t sound like much for a day’s hike but when the terrain is steep, muddy and covered with tree roots and rocks, it’s a lot!

Everyone was excited to finally get going on the hike and there was a lot of chatter along the track.

The first part was very easy as we meandered past tiny villages with wooden huts and thatched roofs, often waving to the brightly-dressed kids who were on their way to school. No school drop-offs here!

We stopped at a little village for a morning break and I bought a coconut to get some extra water without depleting my supplies.

After 2-3km, the track started to head up into the mountains and really started to steepen. There were tree roots, rocks and mud all over the track so there was little opportunity to do anything other than watch where each foot was going.

As it started to get steeper, one of our team started to struggle. He had decided to wear a long sleeved too and long pants. Good for sun protection but not so good for getting rid of body heat or sweat. In the humidity, he started to overheat. This was surprising since he’s the one I thought would struggle the least as he runs ultra-marathons! Once he took some layers off, he gradually got back to normal and fortunately was ok by the end of the day.

We continued on up to Deniki, where we stopped to get some history, have a morning snack and to admire the Insta-worthy view out over the beautiful green valley below. There might’ve been one or two photos here too!

The forest alternated between thick rainforest and large open areas of creepers that smothered everything else, blanketing everything with their dense foliage. No wonder these vines are called “Choko”! There were frequent stream crossings though most were very small and easy.

The porters provided some hiking poles (sticks they’d cut for us) and these were very useful, especially in muddy areas and river crossings.

Partway along the track, the porters provided some musical entertainment with their guitar and ukulele. They had such beautiful voices, everyone was in awe.

Around 1.30pm, we reached Isurava, our lunchtime village and gladly put down our poles for a while to take a break. I bought some beautiful, perfectly ripened bananas to share with everyone and we had fun watching a mother hen and her chickens wander around our lunch spot. I even found something to hang off at our lunch spot, much to the amusement of the others, who tried to hang but couldn’t get past 10 seconds!

We continued on a bit further and came to the Isurava memorial, where a fierce battle had been fought. It’s amazing to learn more about the fascinating history of this place and contemplate how horrific it must have been. Coincidentally, Rob bumped into one of his old army buddies that he hadn’t seen for about 40 years!

We had a break, visited the 3 star toilets (the girls have been giving each site a rating), and even took a nice, refreshing cold shower. It felt so nice to wash the day’s sweat and mud off and then put on some clean clothes! Ahhhhh …

It was a tough day and my knees were a bit sore right at the end but it still felt within range for me. I was very pleased, especially considering my injured knee but it performed perfectly fine … a huge relief!

At dinner, we met two famous bird watchers from the US who were out, trying to spot some rare birds and document more about existing species. It was fascinating chatting with them about what they were doing and learning more about how they do it. Apparently, PNG is a birdwatcher’s paradise and with their endorsement, they expected the track to be inundated with birdwatching enthusiasts!

After dinner, we were serenaded by the porters again then everyone turned in for bed as we have another early start and another big day tomorrow.

I woke up early and went to take a sip from my water bladder and it seemed strange that I could only get a small amount out of it.When I eventually got up and started to pack up my things, I found that my bladder had leaked (the water one, not the one inside my body) and I now had a nice little puddle down the end of my tent which had also soaked my big backpack!

What a mess! Lucky it’s only water and also lucky all my clothes were inside a plastic bag! I didn’t realise I needed to switch the valve off. I hadn’t done this the night before but somehow it had been fine then. I apologised profusely to Derrick and promised not to make that mistake again! Oops!

We left camp at about 6.15am and everyone seemed to be in good spirits. The sun was shining brightly and it was turning into a beautiful day! We hiked along the muddy track but that didn’t worry any of us, except for Olivia whose knee was giving her grief. I gave her one of my knee braces and that seemed to help a bit.

It was another big day today as we had to make up for some of the ground we hadn’t covered on day 1. I don’t know how far we went but my Fitbit logged 33,000 steps, most of which were up or down!

We stopped for morning tea at a small village where we learned more about the fierce battles that had occurred there previously.

A little further up the track, we came to a large rock where an army surgeon had reportedly amputated a soldier’s leg, then saw the place where a soldier had held his dying in his arms as he died. Very moving as I’d seen the interview of the soldier on a YouTube documentary before coming here.

We crossed a rickety bridge and then stopped for lunch beside a large river at Eora Creek. The water was freezing so I could only stay in for a short time but it was nice to have a break from the heat, although it was noticeably cooler up there.

After lunch, we visited a metal cage containing various ordnances that had been collected. No one touched anything for fear of setting one-off, which would undoubtedly set all of them off! We continued climbing for most of the afternoon and eventually reached our campsite for the evening at Templeton’s Crossing.

I’d been using my left leg to do most of the heaving lifting during the day to try to protect my right knee (the one I injured before coming here) and about 200m before reaching the campsite, I felt a sharp pain in my left knee that I couldn’t ignore. I immediately put my knee brace on and that helped a bit but fortunately, it wasn’t far to go to get to camp. Hopefully, I’ll be able to rest it enough tonight for it to be ok tomorrow! Guess we’ll find out then!

We had a little spare time before dinner but it was actually quite cold and very windy so I decided not to go for a swim and started reading my book instead.

I thought that bringing my puffy jacket would be a waste of space but since it was light and could be squashed down easily, I popped it into my backpack. Lucky I did as it came in very handy that evening. The wind didn’t die down and instead seemed to increase. Then the temperature dropped just before dinner and it started to rain.

I’m hoping it doesn’t stay like this all night as it’s hard to sleep with the noise of the tarp flapping around so much!

The noise of the wind, the night cicadas and the flapping tarps woke me up many times and I didn’t sleep well at all. Consequently, I was pretty tired when it eventually came time to wake up at 5am.I decided to preemptively put braces on both of my knees and throughout the day, I consciously took smaller steps than usual, tried not to put additional weight on them, and took every opportunity to sit down and take the weight off my legs.

The combination of all these worked well and fortunately, I didn’t have any pain throughout the day. This was also the “easiest” 13km part of the track (relatively speaking of course!) so I’m sure that helped too!

Olivia wasn’t quite so lucky and she was in quite a bit of pain throughout the day. She ended up taking some medication and giving her pack to one of the porters. She made it through however and was very positive throughout the whole day, as she always is!

We hiked up, up and more up until we reached the highest point on the track, 2,243m above sea level. I didn’t have my jacket on so really couldn’t stop for long as it was quite cold up there.

For much of the first half of the hike, we were going through the most beautiful rainforest, passing moss covered rocks, and trees dripping with water, moss and ferns. Everywhere was iridescent green, glistening in the dew from the clouds.

And of course, where there’s water, there’s also mud … tonnes of it! That slowed us down somewhat as we tried in vain to find our way through all the slush. It was a completely pointless exercise but we tried anyway. The porters were much more accepting of the conditions and just sloshed their way through the middle of it all.

We stopped for morning tea at Dump 1, where the army had stored its provisions and ammunition. It was a beautiful location and didn’t look like a dump at all!

After this, we pressed on to our final lunch stop. Once we reached this, we dumped our gear and walked another 15 minutes to see Myola, a large open grassy field where the “biscuit bombers” had dropped off supplies from the air to the army during the war.

We came back to camp, had some lunch and a much needed wash, then I went to my tent and had a little nap before coming back out to be social and have dinner.

Before dinner, our porters put on a little play for us to enjoy where they demonstrated how they’d catch a pig! It was all very funny, especially the two porters who pretended to be dogs named Blackie and Brownie!

The local villagers came out to watch the performance too and were rolling on the floor with laughter at the antics of our porters. I’m guessing they don’t get a lot of live theatre up in the villages!

After dinner, the porters built a large bonfire for us to enjoy then combined with the local villagers to sing some songs for us with their beautiful voices. All that was missing was the marshmallows!

My morning routine is gradually getting better and slightly more organised! I left some clothes out last night, hoping they might dry a little… though I don’t know why as it has rained every night we’ve been here! I packed my wet clothes into a bag, to be dried at lunchtime instead.Today’s hike involved some quite steep, sustained climbs and some equally steep descents, though from now on, we should have more descending than ascending. I preemptively strapped both knees again today and took a Neurofen … just in case.

Not as much mud today, which was nice! We passed through a couple of small villages along the way, stopping only long enough to have some snacks for morning tea. At one of these, we visited the grave of Ovuru Irdiki, the last Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel.

I got my first blister shortly afterwards but managed to catch it in time to stop it developing into a problem by covering it with blister pads.

We stopped for lunch at Efogi, one of the largest villages we’ve been to so far. This was very significant as it had a sign saying we’d crossed the halfway point! Some of us visited the local war museum while others joined in the soccer game happening on the oval.

We continued on to Mission Ridge then Brigade Hill, where we learned about one of the battles in which Australia lost 100 men in just 2 days.

Tomorrow, we’ll have a dawn service to commemorate and remember these men.

After it was finished, we packed up the last few things and headed off down Brigade Hill. It was a steep descent to reach a river crossing where the bridge had broken so we had to wade across, then a steep ascent into the village of Menari.Since it was Saturday and all the villages along the track are Seventh Day Adventist, all the locals were in church and there was nothing for sale anywhere.

As I walked past a small group, I could see some Pathfinder uniforms so I called out “How are the Pathfinders?” They thought this was hilarious as they replied “We’re good!”

We stopped briefly for a short rest and a snack then headed up the steep ascent to Menari Gap, where our porters were playing music for us to lift our spirits. It’s always very encouraging to hear the music playing and getting louder since we know this means we’re getting closer to the top of the hill.

After another short rest, it was “Packs on” and “Go go go'” as we headed down a very long, steep section of the track, aptly named “The Wall”.

It seemed to go on forever but eventually we came to another river crossing (surprise!) then on just another 15-20 minutes to our camp and lunch site for today. A short but intense hike!

Everyone was really stuffed by the time we arrived and we were glad to find that lunch was already prepared and waiting for us. After lunch, we had a few hours spare to do whatever we wanted so I did some upper body exercises (I need to make sure I’m ready for Sardinia!), had a swim and a few other bits and pieces.

Rob provided another session on leadership and mindfulness (this one was better but I’m still struggling to see the point of it all), then we had dinner.

As we’re getting closer to the end of the track, we’re starting to get excited at the thought of finishing! We now only have two significant hikes to go, then a very easy last day and we’re done!

After dinner, Alex and I then went out and had fun with his DSLR, photographing the Milky Way and taking some night time shots of the village.

 

Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels

Many a mother in Australia,
When the busy day is done,
Sends a prayer to the Almighty
For the keeping of her son,
Asking that an angel guide him
And bring him safely back—
Now we see those prayers are answered
On the Owen Stanley Track.

For they haven’t any halos,
Only holes slashed in their ears,
And their faces worked by tattoos,
With scratch pins in their hair.
Bringing back the badly wounded
Just as steady as a hearse,
Using leaves to keep the rain off
And as gentle as a nurse.

Slow and careful in bad places
On the awful mountain track,
The look upon their faces
Would make you think that Christ was black.
Not a move to hurt the wounded,
As they treat him like a saint;
It’s a picture worth recording,
That an artist’s yet to paint.

Many a lad will see his mother,
And husbands wee’uns and wives,
Just because the fuzzy wuzzies
Carried them to save their lives

From mortar bombs, machine-gun fire,
Or a chance surprise attack,
To safety and the care of doctors
At the bottom of the track.
May the mothers of Australia,
When they offer up a prayer,
Mention those impromptu angels,
With their fuzzy wuzzy hair.

Our hike today took us through some flat, swampy areas before we started a steep climb, followed by a steep descent, another steep climb and yet another steep descent. As soon as we reached the bottom, everyone jumped in the creek to cool down! The cool water felt so refreshing after our hard hiking all day.We stopped for lunch in Efogi Village, then it was “Go go go” for one more steep ascent for about 45 minutes and a 30 minute descent into Iriobawa. Everyone was so tired by the time we arrived!

Alex and I wandered down to the end of the village to take some photos looking down the valley. He and I had been chatting just about all day. I quite like it as it makes the kilometres seem to go faster.

I’ve tried to get to know each person in our group in this way since we have so much time together on the track. It’s provided a good opportunity to really listen to the stories of each person and get to know them. Something I’m not always very good at.

After we took our photos, Alex, Brian, Karl and I joined in with the local guys in a game of touch rugby … as if we hadn’t already done enough exercise today!

Fortunately, there are some showers here even though there isn’t any swimming hole. So after the rugby game, we definitely needed to wash up before dinner so that’s where we headed.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset over the valley and Karl asked me to show him how to take better photos so I was very happy to provide a few photography tips.

We had dinner out on the lawn, watching the remains of the day, then were treated to the boys singing us a few more songs.

Afterwards, we did a few practice run through of a song we’re planning on singing for the boys tomorrow night. Rob has written a Kokoda version of Still Call Australia Home that we’ll all perform for them … should be fun!

Despite this, our last day of trekking started out with everyone in good spirits. As usual, Mel dissected her porridge to extract all the banana and give it to me. She really hates bananas but also all fruit in general apart from pineapple and grapes! It’s hilarious!We were thinking about all the things we’re going to enjoy once we get back to civilisation: a nice bed, flushing toilets, water from a tap that you can drink …

The boys were also in great form and were whooping and singing all along the track. They often call out to each other and bark like dogs … just for fun! They sound so much like a real dog, it took me quite a few days before I realised it wasn’t an actual dog barking!

Our trek today took us down to a river which we then crossed over back and forth many times. Before we got there, we passed a makeshift stretcher that had been used a few years ago to carry out a big overweight guy to a waiting helicopter. He had unfortunately died from a heart attack on the track! Trav had the unpleasant job of having to inform his son who was also on the trek. Yes, this track is not to be trifled with!

Trav said we’d do about 20 river crossings today and recommended that we leave our hiking boots on for all of them rather than taking them on and off for each one.

Probably a very good idea … but where’s the fun in just wading across when there are so many rocks you could use to hop across instead? Yes, I just took each river crossing as a challenge to see if I could make it across without falling in or getting wet.

Fortunately, I made it all the way across each one without falling in! Success! There was only one where I had to wade across and that was because there weren’t any rocks at all.

We then had a steep climb up to the top of Imita Ridge, the southernmost point that the Japanese reached. Because their supply lines were so stretched by this point, their troops were literally starving (I certainly wouldn’t want to carry supplies up and down all those hills from the other end!).

Our troops had a big advantage however since this end is close to Port Moresby, making our supply lines very short. This allowed us to get our soldiers the supplies they needed to hammer the Japanese. They say an army marches on its stomach and that was a huge factor in this campaign.

Imita Ridge has some massive cliffs on the side, which we inspected for potential climbing of course! I could see a few potential routes that could be bolted … although the hike in would be brutal!

The boys had walked on ahead of us to setup their band at the top of the ridge. It’s amazing how much inspiration hearing that music provides! Knowing that this was our final major hill brought a lot of unexpected emotion and I almost felt like crying! We all fist bumped each other at the top and the boys waved branches for each person as they reached the top.

We rested there briefly before heading back down the other side, then on to Goldie, our lunch and camping destination which is only about 2 hours’ hike from Ower’s Corner (we saw glimpses of this from the track). Goldie also has the advantage of no chickens or roosters!!!

On this last leg, I was feeling quite weak as I’d exhausted all my food supplies and was surviving on water alone. Although I wasn’t dehydrated, I was severely lacking energy and wishing I hadn’t given away all my lollies to Derrick!

We all made it into camp eventually and after dumping our packs, we all went down to the river and jumped into the beautiful, clear, cold water! Ahhhh … it felt so good!

After lunch, I setup my tent for the last time then went inside to have a nap. I was exhausted!

Following another refreshing swim which included backflips and bombies off the rocks, we got together for another rehearsal of our song then had our dinner.

As it was our last night, our porters had prepared some wood carvings for us, according to what we’d requested. They were beautiful and everyone was amazed with the quality of what they’d produced.

We performed our song for them to much clapping and cheering, especially when they heard their names! Mel and I did a little duet for this part.

They also performed some songs for us, including an Island version of Old McDonald had a Farm.

There was even a beautiful sunset, which felt like a wonderful way to end the trek.

Eventually, we all finished up and we to bed, our last night on the track.

It’s with mixed feelings that we’ll be returning to civilisation tomorrow. On one hand, it’s been great to take a break from everything, cut ourselves off from technology and take the time to have real conversations with each other. On the other hand, there are a lot of conveniences that we’re missing!

We did one last thank you and one last “When I wake up in the morning” song and then headed off. Our trek headed straight down to the river so we didn’t worry about putting our hiking shoes on until after we’d crossed over. We then headed up one last hill for about 45 minutes to reach Ower’s Corner, our finishing point.The boys went on ahead of us to prepare an arrival party for us where they were singing the song they always play for us when we reach the top of a big hill.

This time, they’d taken our hiking poles to form a little archway we all walked through. It was a beautiful and fitting end. So many emotions in those last few moments: relief that it’s finally over, a massive sense of joy and happiness and accomplishment for what we’ve just done, sadness that our little group that has gone through so much together will soon disband, admiration for the soldiers who did this before us in far worse conditions, and thankfulness that we’d all made it through safely.

Quite a few eyes were a bit teary!

We took about 1,000 photos at the archway, with the whole group, our porters, and various different sub-groups.

After a while, we headed back down towards Port Moresby, this time we were able to rest our weary legs and ride in a bus along the hot, dusty roads.

Partway through the trip, Christian turned on his phone to check messages and received the terrible news that his best mate and Operations Manager had passed away while we’d been out on the trek. He was absolutely devastated, as you’d imagine. Rob was able to comfort him a little when we stopped at the Bomana War Cemetery. Out of all the places to visit when you’ve received news like this!

I’d been to the cemetery before but this time, it was much more meaningful given all the stories we’d heard along the track and the research I’d done. I signed the visitors’ book then went to photograph some of the graves of the soldiers we’d heard so much about.

Such a sobering place.
Such a waste of life.
So much pain, heartache and suffering.

And, given that Japan surrendered a few years later when the US dropped the nuclear bombs on its cities, all the lives were essentially lost for nothing… although they had no way of knowing this at the time of course.

We had lunch and Trav read out some more poems and played a song about Kokoda.

More tears.

We then made the short trip back into Port Moresby, checked into our hotel and exchanged our extremely stinky clothes for some nice clean ones … after a shower of course, and emerged as brand new beings!

That evening, we spent some time at dinner thanking everyone, discussing our highlights and key learnings, and Trav presented certificates to us all.

What a great way to end the trip.