#IllRideWithYou

Yesterday saw one of the darkest days in Australian history in recent years. It saw the siege of the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place Sydney. A place central to the large city of Sydney and close to Government Authorities and broadcasters. It was also very close to famous landmarks like the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/national/siege-at-sydneys-lindt-cafe-martin-place-long-identified-as-a-terrorist-target/story-fncynjr2-1227156454320

It was something that captured the attention of all Australians. This siege, done in the name of ISIS, finally came to an end just after 2 this morning, more than 16 hours after the siege began. This end came at the cost of three lives. One was the gunman himself who was holding the hostages. The other two were poor innocent people who had just gone out for a quick bite at the cafe. They were the 38 year-old barrister and mother of three Katrina Dawson and the 34 year-old manager of the cafe, Tori Johnson. Our thoughts go out to their friends and families at this troubled time.

[from top] Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson 

Source: http://www.news.com.au/national/martin-place-siege-victims-were-katrina-dawson-38-and-tori-johnson-34/story-fncynjr2-1227157794423

However, if there was one thing good to come out of this it was the sense of community that came out of it all. Despite the fact that the act was done in the name of ISIS many Australians stood up for the Muslims they knew had no support for the group who were destroying their reputation. In the face of adversity and immense suffering our country pulled together despite the ISIS plan to separate the Muslims from the rest of Australia. This was embodied through the hashtag "I'll ride with you".

Source: http://descrier.co.uk/news/world/illridewithyou-australians-show-solidarity-sydneys-muslims-siege/

It continues to trend on Twitter with thousands of people showing their support for their fellow Muslim Australians. It is a promise to show solidarity when you are with a Muslim, or anyone, and they could fear racial backlash from connotations regarding their faith. The following picture shows the Facebook post that started it all by Rachael Jacobs.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/martin-place-siege-illridewithyou-hashtag-goes-viral-20141216-127rm1.html

Since this many posts have come to show their supports and most Australians would have found at least one mention of the hashtag on Facebook or Twitter. This response to the attack by a person on Facebook which has since been shared by many people and pages sums up Australia's response to this incident perfectly.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/DanAndMaz

Nothing more needs to be said. See you soon.

Don't be a Phony

If you get one thing out of this post it is this (three guesses for what it is): don't be a phony. I can not make this any clearer. No one likes a phony. While you have friends who do not know the real you then you do not really have any friends because they like the version of you that you let them see, not the real you. Also, once they find out who you really are they may no longer be your friends as they feel betrayed that you lied to them for so long. However, as I said before, be they your friends or not, no one likes a phony.

As a high school student I have known and still know a lot of phonies. Of course, you might be asking yourselves "Luke, how do you know they're phonies?" Though really I know you're not thinking that but for the sake of the argument, you are. You can easily tell a phony when you notice that they are actually two separate people. I'm not talking about clones, I'm talking about them being different people when they are with their 'friends' and when they are talking to you. This is really annoying because you have to ask yourself which one is real? Some of the nicest people you will talk to can be total dicks (if you'll pardon my anatomy) when they are around their 'friends'. I put the 'friends' in quotation marks because can you really call them your friends if they do not actually know the real person? That is actually an important question. Another is how much can you really trust someone who is not able to even be themselves? That is why my message to all you phonies out there is to stop. Seriously, take a look at yourself and finally be true to who you are.

Sorry for the short post, see you soon.

Blog Update

So I've decided with this blog that I will no longer post updates regularly but rather whenever I feel like posting about something. I have decided this for a few reasons. First because I do not have the time anymore to keep daily posts on this blog (hence the extended hiatus) and secondly so I can deliver quality posts to you goes. What I noticed when I was doing daily writing is that my posts became kind of strained and not very good quality because I did not really have a topic that I particularly cared about. At least this way I can post about something when it comes to my head or write it down for later.

Stay tuned for my next post "Don't be a Phoney" which will be released shortly. See you then

Life Update

The last post I wrote that was not related to Kokoda was on the 14th of April which makes the fact that it was only 19 posts ago one of the reasons I jokingly changed the title of this blog to "The Not-so-Daily Lukey" which I will change back to "Daily Lukey" once I get back into the swing of things again. Anyway, the point of that little fact was to show how long it has been (almost 6 months ago [that's half a year!]) since I wrote a regular post. In that time a lot has happened (I think, we'll see when I get down to it) and so today's post is a little bit of an update on what has been going on.

So I wrote that introduction two days ago and now I am here, writing the rest of the post. Welcome to the world of procrastination. Except, I procrastinated by doing other work so it was not entirely wasteful procrastination. Could it even be called procrastination then? Anyway, school has been busy lately, especially since it is VCE, and with my 3/4 Methods exam just four weeks away the work is becoming more real as I get through more and more practice papers. I have done well in my SACs so I have that but I also need to do well in the exam if I want to get a good score so there comes that. The plus side is that in four weeks, I will no longer be doing Methods. Although I will miss it because I like mathematics, it will be nice to not have that as one of my hardest subjects anymore so I can focus more equally on my subjects, particularly the ones I am struggling with. I guess nothing much really has happened though since Kokoda, though I do feel I could use a random thought Friday post right now (wait, I moved that to Saturdays but anyway) because, as you can tell, my mind is all over the place right now. Nothing much really has happened though. We've had a catch-up with the Kokoda group, a presentation night for the whole leadership program plus some minor Rotary events we help out at but it has been a while since we have all been together again, I think we need to organise something. It is sad how people drift apart some times but hopefully we can organise another Relay for Life next year which can act as our reunion of sorts. I'm on my school's first SRC (this is only the school's fourth year) which was a great experience but is sadly drawing to a close as the new SRC representatives are elected for next year. One of the best things about being in a new school (aside from the new facilities) is the new traditions you get to create as well as the community feel you get from it. So, we may have only been around for almost a semester but it was great to set some of the grounding and actually have some input into things at the school and inputting student ideas. I had better finish now as I think you are all pretty much up to speed. Of course there are always the personal moments that occur but that is why this is the internet, and not my real life.

Hope to get another post out soon, see you soon!

My Kokoda Journey: Day 10 in Papua New Guinea (ANZAC Day and Final Day in PNG)

Today was our final day in Papua New Guinea and it was also ANZAC Day (25th of April 2014) so it was going to be an exciting end to our journey in Papua New Guinea. We woke up at 3am so that we would be ready to leave on a bus to get to Bomana War Cemetery in time for the dawn service. My room mate and I actually slept in a little so when it came to 3:30 and we were leaving, we were still in our room but luckily we woke up and answered the phone and pretended we were running late but still coming. Truth was we had just woken up. Still, we managed to get changed and down to the lobby in two minutes which included an elevator trip so we were pretty quick. It was dark out but there were already plenty of people moving around and there was a fair amount of road traffic heading to the war cemetery.

When we arrived we exited the bus and were handed a glow stick and a program for the event which I still have at home (for the memories). There were a lot of people around and we all sat on the grass aside from the sea of graves that were before us. It was a moving ceremony where Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea were all represented in both the dignitaries involved in the ceremony and the spectators. The most moving part however came later.

By far the most moving and emotional part of the war cemetery was all the graves that merely had "known unto God" marked on them as their inhabitants' identities were unknown. As we used the directory to search through names and then find their grave it was sad to see so many name-less graves and we had poppies to put down so some of them did go to some of the unmarked graves while the majority did go to the graves of the men we were looking for you. There were many nationalities presented and after experiencing Kokoda for ourselves, this became more important as we had experienced just a small fraction of what the Kokoda Campaign was like for the soldiers involved.

When we returned the hotel we had breakfast (again, nice not to have to add hot water to food to eat it) and then we spent the rest of the morning finalising our packing as well as relaxing and watching some television in our rooms. A few of us napped for a bit but I also found myself drawn to some Regular Show and Adventure Time that was on Cartoon Network at the time. It had started raining outside which reflected our feelings on leaving the beautiful country of Papua New Guinea. However, the upside was that we would be reunited with our families when we landed back in Melbourne that night. We all gathered down at the lobby before catching buses to the airport. We spent some time at the check-in desk before making us way through their duty free store and into the main airport where we waited for our flight to Brisbane (we then caught a connecting flight to Melbourne).

Arriving in Brisbane was an interesting experience as it was a beautiful sun set and it felt nice to be back in Australia again. We then bought ourselves dinner before waiting at the gate for our flight to Melbourne. The final stint of our journey was at night and, luckily, I had a section of seating to myself so I managed to spread out with another person who decided to share with me and actually got some nice sleep before landing in Melbourne and being reunited with our families.

Kokoda was an amazing experience that I will never forget. I will treasure and be forever grateful with the friendships that I have made through this experience.

Back to regular posts from tomorrow! See you then.

My Kokoda Journey: Day 8 on Kokoda (Day 9 in Papua New Guinea)

We had made it! There was only three hours ahead of us before we could say that we had completed the Kokoda track. It was a bitter-sweet realisation as it would also mean saying goodbye to our porters with whom we had formed a connection with over our experience. We woke up to the usual "Good morning, turn your torches on please" from our guide from PNG Trekking Adventures which was a big moment in itself but I think it was more a moment of relief more than anything. Still, it made for some great memories that we still refer to today. After we had packed up our tents for the final time and had eaten our final breakfast (our ration pack only consisted of breakfast that day which meant less weight in our bags for the big climb out) we listened to the head porter give us a run-down on what was going to happen and what the terrain was going to be like before we had our last morning chant. We then took a group photo of our porters and began our final bit of the journey.

After about ninety minutes of hiking (in which I only fell down a few times in the mud) we came to this river which was not too deep but deep enough that the water was over our waists. The porters went through first to take some of the packs and other materials across and to prepare for our crossing. They then formed a line, sort of like a guard of honour, and they guided each of us across.

You can see in the picture above how some of the porters have their hands in the water, that is because as we went past they would splash us with water. So while the water was not deep, we came out the other side drenched. Luckily though it was sunny and none of us really cared if we were wet anymore. There was a massive water fight when everyone had gotten across and we even chased down our head porter and dumped him in the river too (he was also splashing us before and dunking some of us in). We had a short break on the other side before we started the last forty-five minute climb to Owers Corner which was very steep. The worst part was the end because once you came to the sunlight it was a further while of criss-crossing before we reached the top and even when we saw the arches we were to pass through it was a while until we reached the top. We all formed a guard of honour before entering the arches and let our porters go through first. Then the rest of us went through and it was an amazing feeling. We had done it. It was hard to believe but we had done it. I still cannot believe it as I look back now.

We were greeted with cold cans and salad rolls (after 8 days of ration packs, they were amazing) which we all happily feasted on before we took hundreds of photos under the arches and then gathered in a circle with our porters. We made a few presentations to them and they also made some to us. Some of them even carved a few of us sticks with our name on it. I was surprised when one of the porters had made one for me but I held on to it the whole way back to the hotel (except when I gave it to others to look at) and I still treasure it to this day. It was an amazing gift that was so intricate. It had my name on it, the name of the trekking company (PNG Trekking Adventures), the name of the trek (Kokoda) and also the year. I was so grateful to him.

  

Before long though we had to say our final goodbyes and get on the buses that would drive us back to the hotel (it was about a two to three hour bus drive) in Port Moresby. On the way we saw a lot of Papua New Guinea which was amazing and down below you can see a ferris wheel at their Adventure Park which we drove past on our way back. It was so nice to be able to sit down and be driven somewhere after eight days of hiking.

  

When we arrived at the hotel we took our bags up to our rooms and had a long-awaited and well-deserved shower. I basically felt sorry for everyone else in the hotel at the time because we must have stunk. We couldn't tell because we had all grown used to it over our time on the trek but it must have been pretty bad. There is not much river water and eco-friendly soap can do in the long run. Especially after splashing around in a river and hiking in the sun. After the shower we had a buffet lunch (more real food!) as it was only around 1pm and everyone was so excited and there was a lot of chatter. It felt refreshing to finally be able to relax. After that, a few of us lounged around the pool area for a bit (it was still a beautiful sunny day) and then after that sat on our beds and watched some television.

That night when we had dinner we also had some presentations where all the students/young leaders went around and talked about what they had learnt about themselves on the trek. I am not going to discuss that though as it was a very emotional and deep moment. It was something special that we will all share. After that we were handed a certificate from PNG Trekking Adventures with our name and the dates of our trek as well as a PNG Trekking Adventures shirt that also had "Kokoda" on it which I still wear today (I actually wore it today to be honest). We were then given the second dog tag to go on the necklace with the one we had received on the morning of the second day at the Isurava War Memorial (click here for that day's post). It had "Courage", "Endurance", "Mateship" and "Sacrifice" written on it which were the four words/values that were on the pillars at the Isurava war memorial as they are the key values associated with the Kokoda campaign. I still wear those dog tags to this day and will cherish them for the rest of my life. After more chatting it was then time to head to bed as we had to be up at 3am the next morning so we could get to the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at the Bomana War Cemetery in Papua New Guinea.

This may have been my last day on the Kokoda trek but I still have one more day to post about before this Kokoda series is over. I hope to have this one out tomorrow but usually when I get a run of two posts in a row it stops but I will try.

Hope you are well, see you soon!

My Kokoda Journey: Day 7 on Kokoda (Day 8 in Papua New Guinea)

Finally, we are back! You may have noticed that I have changed the title of this blog for now to the "Not-So-Daily-Lukey" (however, the URL still remains the same) until I get back on track with these posts. It has been a while but as this is the second-last post in this series that I will resume regular posting soon. Anyway, on to Day 7 of our trek on Kokoda (day 8 in Papua New Guinea) which was our second-last day. Waking up and having to put on wet boots (they did not dry) was far from the best way to start the day but the knowledge that we were almost done, while sad, also provided us with the motivation to trek onwards and, literally, upwards. Today was a day of a lot of ups and then a very long down. There were also a lot of river crossings (around 12 to 17) today and we did not take our boots off this time. Although, they were nothing like the river we crossed the day before (click here for pictures) they were above our ankles which meant the water was always getting into our boots.

It was still a beautiful day though with a lot of amazing scenery all around us. When we woke up in the morning we could see our surroundings fully where we appeared to be in a valley of sorts surrounded by mountains covered in trees. It was an amazing sight, especially as the sun was rising. Our day began with an immediate uphill which was but a mere beacon of what was to come that day as we climbed Imita Ridge and then descended to our last camp site. Before I continue, I would like to apologise for the lack of photos in this post. I do remove the photos that clearly show a person's face but even with those photos there was only eleven in total (excluding the top picture above).

After we had reached the top of our first climbing for the day, we managed a bit of a descent before we reached this area (see above picture) after our morning break. It was a few hours of this where we were winding our way around (and through) several rivers and navigating dense forests. Then we came to our lunch break in a village just outside of this area. It was a sunny day and so everyone had taken off their shoes and socks in the false hope that they would dry just a little bit. It did help however in ridding ourselves of the excess water that was sloshing around our boots but aside from that, it did not do much. It did let our feet breath though which was something. It felt relaxing, it was nice. Before long it was over and we found ourselves continuing with an upward hike which, after about an hour, led us to the bottom of Imita Ridge. It was a further hour and a half to two hours before we finally reached the top of Imita Ridge having climbed some of the steepest and hardest terrains of the Kokoda track. It was kind of fun though to pull yourself up some parts as it made it feel more rough.

At the top of the ridge we were greeted by these plaques to commemorate what was a very important place on the Kokoda track for Australian troops. It was a key defensive position in the Kokoda campaign and it could have been an entirely different outcome without it. We had a break of about fifteen minutes up here where our guide talked to us about Imita Ridge and where we also heard a poem read by one of our sponsors. It was a moving experience to hear these stories and learn about the struggles of the soldiers who had come before us and had trekked, and died, on the very land that we were standing on. It was a humbling experience to say the least.

It was another two-hour long hike all the way down Imita Ridge to our final campsite. The best part was that we arrived before dark and so we had some time in the light to go down to the river and just sit there and chat as we did the best we could to clean ourselves. It was relaxing to just sit back with your feet in the water and talk to other people. It felt like a nice holiday (we obviously were not trekking at that exact moment in time) and personally I felt grateful to be there (as incredibly corny as that sounds).

That night there was a more festive mood around the camp as people were excited to finish the track with only two to three hours of trekking left to go in the morning. We had another sing-a-long with the porters and everyone was really getting into it and so when we went to sleep that night there were still a few tents abuzz with people chatting excitedly.

I hope to get the next day out to you very soon! Hope you are well, see you soon.

My Kokoda Journey: Day 6 on Kokoda (Day 7 in Papua New Guinea)

Day 6 was the longest day on the trek and it just seemed to last forever. We passed some amazing scenery on our way but in the end there was a lot of downhill that never seemed to finish. Still, it was a pretty good day as it only rained towards the end (which made going downhill that much more fun [and slippery]). I was actually in a group that left about thirty minutes before the rest of the trekking group so we were already a little bit ahead before our first break at a river crossing (which you will see below). Today was also an emotional time as one of our members had to withdraw and be evacuated from the track via helicopter due to an infection in his foot. This was the result of not properly breaking in the boots pre-Kokoda and also for not taking proper care of their feet but it did not make the moment any less emotional. We had started as a team and we had hoped to finish as one. We just held hopes that he would meet us at the finish line (he was not going to die but we hoped he was not stuck in hospital or bed rest).

Today was going to be really muddy and right from the start as we left Menari behind us and entered the forest we were immediately greeted by a whole lot of mud. After climbing up hill for a bit we proceeded to begin a downward descent that would have lasted for a little over an hour. It was fun at times to try not to fall or to laugh at myself when I did fall but after a while the mud started to really annoy me. At the bottom of our descent we reached a little river (not the one pictured below [that was far from little]) where we could refill our water as well as get some of the mud off our boots so we could walk with some level of certainty. We then continued through a whole lot of mud patches that reminded us of a swamp but we had yet to reach that part yet. After about another hour and a bit (though it may have been longer, I did not have the time on me) we reached our first major river crossing of the track. We had to wait for about five to ten minutes before we could cross as there was another trekking group ahead of us that had to go. We also had to wait as the current was so strong they had to keep repositioning the rope that we were using to guide ourselves across.  

  

 Crossing the river was definitely an experience. The current was strong and you could not see where you put your feet as the water was far from clear. It made those little drops that much more exhilarating. To give you an idea of how strong the current was, one of the locals was trying to swim across and was making as much headway as a seagull in strong winds that seems to be staying in the same spot. Plus, as we were walking across we were getting pulled by the current and if we had not had the rope we would have easily been dragged away. It was times like these that we had a new appreciation for the porters who were helping us.

We had a break on the other side of the river as people cooled down on the banks of the river by putting their feet in. After this break we continued through some pretty thick and slippery mud which we got through some tall grass that was above our heads. It was like walking in through some other land through to the land of the swamp. It was really muddy so our boots were quickly covered in mud. After about an hour or two we finally reached the end of this muddy mess and came to a hill. For me, it was exciting to be back on more solid ground with less mud. It was refreshing. This was also part of the walk where every now and again there would be the faintest breeze which felt like heaven. It was amazing! 

After a while we finally managed to reach a village where we stopped for lunch. It was a great village as it had some spectacular views of the mountains behind us (as it was on the edge of a mountain itself) and when we heard the clap of thunder and the dark clouds rolling over the mountains it gave us the push we needed to get back on our way. The thing about this part of the track was that it was the day of the nine false peaks. This means that as you are climbing the mountain it looks like you have reached the top right until you actually do and see that there is still more to climb. It was quite the spirit-breaker for some but I was glad when it was over. At the top we began our long descent down. It was literally three to four hours of climbing downhill non stop. It seemed like it was never going to finish and when it finally did we were greeted with another river crossing. It was not a great mental game to finish the day with soaking boots (you did not take your boots off for some of the river crossings because you could not or because there was no time). 

Today was a long day and so it was nice to be able to relax at the end of it knowing that the next day was our last full day on the track. It was both sad and exciting to know that our journey was going to be at an end and to know that we had completed the Kokoda track. It was going to be a great day.

It is so much fun reliving these as I write it. Sorry it takes so long to get these out. See you soon!

My Kokoda Journey: Day 5 on Kokoda (Day 6 in Papua New Guinea)

So hey guys, new layout! Did you notice? I had to do it because the old template took way too long to load and would not even load on some devices so I changed it. Today was going to be a good day as we would reach the village of Menari where we were donating over AU$13,000 to their medical centre. We were all really excited and it was another short day today which was going to be amazing also as we would have more time to rest and enjoy our surroundings at the end of the day.

The mornings on Kokoda were always so beautiful as you can see in these pictures. Everything looks so amazing and it is almost hard to believe that we were there (but I still have some damaged toe nails to prove it). This morning started out right away with a steep incline but it was still an amazing experience (we probably were not thinking that all the time back then but looking back it was).

We were actually travelling on some pretty dangerous parts of the track again as we again scaled the sides of mountains. In the next picture if you looked to the right with the camera you would see open air as the mountain just drops away. If you fell, you were done. It was another one of those exhilarating moments.

Still, there was a part that was particularly dangerous that had a small section of fence to stop the majority of people falling. It was the only piece of fencing on the side of the track so it was probably the most perilous part or something like that. It was really high though and to get up you had to basically rock climb and shift your weight around a lot to jump up to parts so if you got up there and swung too far without the porter you would have fallen without the fence (though you may still have fallen through the fence).

Here we are pictured on brigade hill which was the sight of a place where a lot of Australian soldiers were killed by the Japanese. We had a moments of silence and also heard from our trekking guide about what happened. We also had one of our sponsors read out a poem that was appropriate to the place. It was fairly emotional but we also had our police officers wearing colourful tutus (I won't post them here as it will show who they are and I do not think they want those pictures floating around the internet). They were wearing the tutus as part of a bet. They had bet at the start of the program that if we could raise over $10,000 that they would wear tutus for a day on the track. We did pass that goal and so they chose the most fitting day to wear them (the day we would be reaching the village where the money would be donated to).

Before long we again continued on our way which seemed to go forever and was slippery and muddy (amazingly I did not fall as much as I expected to). We went through a lot of forest and it was great when we arrived at the river and dropped our packs. It was only a further 20 minutes to Menari up a hill but we decided to have a break and cool off in the river. After a long day it was nice to get in the water and cool off. It was actually pretty nice water too and I managed to wash off a lot of the mud that had gathered on my legs from my falls between Brigade Hill and this river.

After our river break we dried ourselves and headed up towards Menari. We actually passed some local villagers from Menari who were harvesting some fruit and vegetables. When we arrived at Menari we were greeted with some fresh avocado as well as popcorn. They were both amazing and even their bananas tasted like they had come from out of this world. The rest of that day was spent playing with balloons and the local children (they were so excited when they saw the bag of balloons, it was such a humbling experience), as well as popping a giant blister that had been growing on one of our sponsors for most of our trek. We had named it El Louise (I have mentioned it on a previous day I think) and even filmed the encounter. It was disgusting but to us it seemed more exciting than our favourite television show starting again, or the next big block-buster being released at the movies.

With dinner that night we were also treated to some sweet potato and other veggies which was yummy and also gave us more excitement about our ration pack meals. After dinner the local villagers came to thank us for our kind donation. They sang a few songs to us and it was an amazing experience and they were all so happy and excited. It was one of our fondest memories on the track.

I'm trying to get these out more often so I actually wrote this right after I finished on Day 4 and scheduled it to come out on Saturday so that they were spread out. See you soon!

My Kokoda Journey: Day 4 on Kokoda (Day 5 in Papua New Guinea)

First of all, I am super dooper sorry for falling behind on these posts, school has become hectic and procrastination is also growing at an alarmingly exponential rate. Anyway, today was actually a pretty good day on the track and not only because it was one of our shortest days on the track (for some reason we did all the long days at the start and then one right near the end [Days 1, 2 and 6]). It was amazing because we were able to play with the village children and the weather was great (for our hike at least, when we arrived it poured) and the awesome sun set you will see below was one of our most memorable experiences on the track.

Those photos were from the Naduri Community health outpost where we had our morning rest before continuing on. We were able to try some of their local bread as well as refill our energy levels with cans, twisties and fruit (some of the best fruit around mind you) before we continued on our journey. We also met some local children who enjoyed playing with our hiking sticks. It was an amazing view as we were on the side of one of the mountains in the Owen Stanley Ranges and the sun was shining but it was not oppressively hot as it was still relatively early (I think it was around 8 or 9 so three or so hours into our trek).

This was a tree-house that was behind where we were resting and enjoying some of the local fruits. Below you have our group lying around in the sun just soaking up where we were. Kokoda really was a beautiful place and I would do it again just to be able to see this beauty again. It was hard, but the rewards were everywhere you looked.

They lay our tents out so they would dry as they had not really had a chance to dry after some of the rainy nights we had recently witnessed.

After about thirty minutes we continued our trek and quickly descended towards a river. The worst part was that the river seemed to be teasing us as we could hear it for at least an hour before we finally finished our descent down to it. There are a lot of winding paths on the track and so patience is greatly needed from time to time (well, most of it). It really is a mental challenge in having to find distractions so that you don't focus on anything that might be hurting you and ensure that you can continue on.

When we reached the river we were taken one by one across where we then began probably the most beautiful ascent on the track. We were literally climbing up a waterfall as the path we were using to get up actually was the waterfall for parts and when we weren't in the waterfall we were winding our way around it. Once we passed the waterfall there was a bit of a further climb before we reached Efogi 1 (we were camping at Efogi 2 so after a bit of a climb it was a bit of a tease when the porter told me were at Efogi. Still, I feel our porters enjoyed teasing us sometimes with what they would tell us [only ten more minutes, two hours later we would arrive]).

We were able to break at Efogi 1 before we continued on and during our break we were able to play with the local children. It was so fun to see them enjoy themselves so much. It was wildly entertaining to see some of their sneaky tactics (they knew how to use their height to their advantage) to ensure they maintained control of the ball. They were quite the opposition!

However, as Efogi 2 was just thirty minutes away and it was not even lunch yet (well, we arrived at Efogi around 1 or 2pm and sometimes that would be when we would have our lunch) and we continued on. We had to descend to a river before we climbed back out the other side. It was wonderful and I only fell a few times (and that was because one of the police officers was behind me because they needed 'entertainment' and knew I would fall [thanks for the confidence vote Tommo (nickname, not his real name)]. It was still an amazing view though.

This was our first glimpse of where we would be staying that night and it was actually quite the first view. The only catch was we still had to go down further, across a river, and then back up the other side. Still, it was an amazing incentive. Especially since we had never arrived at camp so early before.

We were again welcomed by some village children as we arrived at Efogi 2. They were all so welcoming and amazing. "Oro" [meaning welcome] was a phrase commonly thrown around on our trek [even though some were unaware of its meaning] and it just showed our welcome the local Papua New Guineans were.

This is the famous sun set we were talking about. There are other shots but this was the best and did not have anyone in the photos.

Once again I am sorry for taking so long to get these out but still, it is fun to relive these experiences so many months later. See you soon!