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.

Exercising with Sandy

So it is official, the percentage of this blog that is about Sandy is rising. This is becoming an issue but it is hard to avoid because he is such a large source of inspiration and every day he manages to do something that I either catalog in my brain for future posts or I write about straight away. Tonight's post is of the latter. So I recently acquired my exercise and diet plan for my Kokoda trip expedition. Last night I started my exercise regime and then I did the next thing on the calendar today. Today's workout was cardio and so because I came home late from my Methods tutor I had to do it in the backyard at night. This was where the trouble began and, guess what, it all revolved around Sandy (as so much of the world does [at least in his own world]).

Source: http://dogblog.finchester.org/2008/11/divesting.html

So Sandy is one of those spoilt dogs who gets so many toys and so they just accrue. The above picture is not of Sandy's toys. No, he has much more. Just joking, Sandy has a lot less (I think. Well, I hope). Sandy is also one of those dogs that thinks that whenever you go outside it is because of him and not because of everything else. So I go outside to start my exercise and so I begin by running around the backyard. This became a very dangerous experience as Sandy kept running 'with' me at random intervals of speed and constantly got in my way because he dropped a toy or ball. I actually tripped over him three times in the first ten minutes alone. Then he got a little tired and whenever I came back around to the entrance of the patio he kept running in thinking it was over. I kid you not he did this ten times before he got tired. From this point on he just sat in the middle of the backyard swiveling his head around following my laps. Occasionally he would get up and just jump on me and it was obvious that he just wanted to play. Seriously, exercising with Sandy is a very dangerous activity and next time I will think twice and probably put him on a rope so he can not annoy me the entirety of the time.

Sandy is a dangerous workout buddy, see you tomorrow!

RSPCA Million Paws Walk

Today was the RSPCA's (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) Million Paws Walk which is where dog owners come together to go for a walk (usually 3 kilometres so it isn't too much) with their dogs. Hence the name, Million Paws Walk. It is really a great experience and there are so many different breeds of dog. The following is Sandy's story (our dog) and his experience on the RSPCA's Million Paws Walk. All the photos, except the following logo, were taken by me.

Image Source: http://www.sidarousrealty.com.au/events/event/million-paws-walk/

The day started off with Sandy coming into my room really excited and waking me up. The reason he was excited wasn't because he was going to the Million Paws Walk (although that would have worked out really well if he was) because there was no way he could have known we were going there. He was really just excited because he got to come inside to wake us up. By the time we were ready to go he was already waiting at the front door and was getting more excited (and impatient) for every minute that passed.

Sandy still had no idea what was going on and still believed we were going on a walk. We were going on a walk but he didn't think it would also involve a car ride. Sandy is really a big fan of car rides and I think he really just loves the fact that he is in an enclosed space with people. The downside of this is that whenever we stopped he would get very excited thinking we were getting out to go on a walk. This was annoying when you were sitting next to him and it was only a stop light. By the time we got to the venue where we were doing the walk Sandy was getting really impatient. Then he saw all the other dogs and he got REALLY impatient. Seriously, it was very hard sitting next to him in the car.

Sandy was really excited when we got out of the car and we registered. We arrived at 9am and the walk didn't start until 10am and so we had a look around at the different stalls and purchased a new Million Paws Walk Coat for Sandy (we still have his old one but we use it for rainy days). It looked good on him and it warmed him up because it was still cold in the morning. For the next hour we waited and Sandy socialised with the other dogs. It was really good and Sandy was very excited.

Finally the walk started and Sandy was even more excited (somehow that was possible) and his head seemingly moved in every direction all at once. The start of the walk was actually sort of funny (in a disgusting way) because the start of the walk was where every dog that had to poo, did. This meant that the start of the walk stunk but Sandy didn't care, he was too excited to care. The worst part was when the dog owners let the dog go on the path and it was like mine bombs all over the place. It was disgusting but Sandy was really enjoying himself and it really was a nice day.

Sadly the walk had to come to an end and Sandy was severely disappointed but it was still fun to walk around some more and look at some more stalls. Sandy also got to do some more socialising and he was having a lot of fun. The finish line was sad for Sandy to see but it really was just a sign as Sandy is still enjoying himself now as he is sleeping off the walk. Sandy really enjoyed his day and the RSPCA really put together a great day and I cannot wait until next year.

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!