My Kokoda Journey: Day 3 on Kokoda (Day 4 in Papua New Guinea)

Welcome to Day 3 of my Kokoda trek (Day 4 in Papua New Guinea)! Notice how the space between posts this time was shorter (I'm trying my best). Today was set to be a pretty awesome day for a few reasons. For one, I was no longer sick (thank god for Gastro Stop) though still low on energy, and today was going to be the first day on the track where we would arrive at the camp site before sun set. It was a heap of fun! My tent-mate and I were able to pack up our tent in time today which was great because we were slowly getting used to it and faster each morning. We were excited because today we would be reaching the highest part of the Kokoda track and would be walking through some pretty amazing landscapes.

There were a few more rope bridges today which was entertaining and we also came across some other tour groups today. Sadly, they were overtaking us but in our defence, they had their porters carrying their packs and were only carrying small backpacks with water and snacks. Plus, the ones we passed today were all very nice whereas some of the other ones were really rude (more on them in future posts). There was a lot of uphill today (obviously because we were going to the highest point on the track) but I may have fallen over once or twice (by once or twice I mean a few times and by a few times I mean a lot) but hey, why not? Today was such a great day on the track (even though it was overcast).

We got to stop here for a break at one point which was great as it was after a long climb up and a bit of a drop down. It was awesome just to be able to rest our legs for a sec and refill our energy reserves.

This is a view from the highest point on the track. It was sort of funny because once we reached it, we didn't realise at the time because it looked like the track continued up for a bit further. Still, we used it as a break spot anyway so we still thought it was the top at that point. There was a whole lot of mud going up the hill today which made it fun. The mud continued for a little further on so our boots looked disgusting after a while but still, it made for some fun and gave us something to concentrate on for a while there.

After a few more hours we reached Myola which seems like a very nice plain but is actually a giant swamp. It cued us up for a few "Shrek is love. Shrek is life" jokes (some of the others were pretty obsessed with that and it came up a lot if we were struggling: "it hurts, but I'll do it for Shrek."). In all seriousness though, it was a very interesting place. We learnt about the historical significance as well. Apparently, one of the higher-ups in the Kokoda campaign (who had never been to Kokoda but was commanding things from Australia) had ordered the place to be used as a drop point or something (I forget the specifics) because they thought it would be a great piece of land (they did not know it was a swamp) and they would not listen to the soldiers when they said it was not plausible. It was really interesting.

It was another short walk a bit further down until we came to a spot where we dropped our packs. From here we walked for five more minutes to the spot where debris from a crashed biscuit-bomber was still there. It was beside a lake which had been formed by the crashed plane. What was really special was that it was the first time that our PNG Trekking Guide had seen the lake where the water was clear (this was her fiftieth time). It made us all feel pretty special. It was also rather poignant as this was just a month or so after flight MH370 had disappeared. The story of the American biscuit-bomber was also very similar. The plane had disappeared in July and then it was found in December of that year. It was a really interesting story.

We managed to get in to camp just before sunset and we were able to watch it set over the horizon under a clear blue sky. It was amazing. Another awesome thing about today was that when we came into camp a porter came around with popcorn. Yes, popcorn! It was amazing! It may not feel so special to you guys but back then, it was the best thing ever. By now we were already getting tired of some of the ration packs (guys, the spaghetti is awesome!! [but not the vegetarian pasta, stay away from that]). Today was pretty great.

I am sorry about how the photos are getting fewer every time but it is just because as the days went on we had less energy or looked too bad to take photos. Also, there are a number of photos I don't post because there are people in them that might now want those photos online.

Hopefully the rest will be up soon because they were pretty amazing. See you soon!

My Kokoda Journey: Day 2 on Kokoda (Day 3 in Papua New Guinea)

Sorry it is taking me so long to get these out! It's just hard trying to find the time with all my procrastinating. You know how it is. Today was our first day waking up on the Kokoda track and our view was incredible. As you can see in the picture below we were above the clouds and when we woke up it was like we were above a sea of white with little islands (mountain tops) peeking up over the top. It was amazing and was one of the sights that made our trip even more worth while. This morning was also the first time we got to hear our trekking guide Pam say "Good morning. Time to get up." This was something we would come to 'love' over the coming days as we waited in our tents having been woken by her awaking others. I think the phrase "Just 5 more minutes" became very popular and people just turned their headlights on and went back to sleep for a little bit longer. As a group, we could take some time to get ready in the morning and often would leave after our 6:30 deadline (we woke up at 5am every day).

After we had 'enjoyed' our ration pack breakfasts (though the porridge we had that morning wasn't so bad) we were told to head up the hill a little bit for a memorial service at the Isurava war memorial. It was an amazing and moving time and the pictures below show some of what we saw. We had about five to ten minutes to look around beforehand and then we began our service with Pam reading a bit of the background of the place as well as one of our sponsors reading a poem. It was really emotional and it all struck home what we were actually doing right now and how the soldiers before us must have struggled. It said a lot about the endurance and courage our Aussie diggers had to withstand during the Kokoda campaign.

After Pam's speech and the poem we all stood around in a circle while our Police members talked more about the soldier's side and then handed each of us a dog tag with a necklace. This dog tag I still wear today and it has our name on it, the date (April 2014) and the Kokoda trail. We were told that we would get our second dog tag when we finished the trail which was something that motivated us as well as made it very special. After this ceremony, the Porters (pictured below, some had already gone ahead to set up our camp for that night) gathered on the steps and sang their national anthem which was both amazing and humbling. Then Silus, the head porter, (who was really a very very nice and amazing person) gave us our morning briefing on the day's trekking which set us up to start our day knowing where we were going (in a general sense, it was still a mystery to us).

When we began our trek we had not been trekking for long (probably just under an hour or so) before we reached a part of the track that used to home Surgeon's Rock where they would perform amputations that could not wait until they were evacuated from the track (which could take weeks). It was a little disappointing not be able to see it (it had been washed down the side of the track a few years ago) but just to be able to stand on that spot and see where it used to be was again a very humbling experience. It was also scary to think of the horrifying conditions that the Australian soldiers had to go through. Today was very much a reflective day. We then continued our trek through some of the beautiful landscapes you see below.

We were then able to stop after a while at a village where we had our morning tea. They were selling bananas and soft drink there but I only had the banana (wasn't feeling up to the coke yet) which was sooo good! It was nice just to sit down and, again, take in our surroundings. Also, the villagers were again so nice! It was an amazing experience everywhere you look. After about ten to fifteen minutes we continued on our journey.

The above photo shows us walking through a small river (we thought those were river crossings, wait until Day 6 (Day 7 in Papua New Guinea)) and below we walked over a bridge. These bridge crossings caused a lot of nerves in themselves as below us was raging rivers and all that was to stop us falling in were some of these bridges. Still, we crossed one a t a time with the help of a porter and a rope (some only had porters to hold on to and boy, did I hold on tight during these ones). The best part was when you walk on a log the whole way across only to find out at the last little bit that it was the only log not secured to the bridge (which explained why it rolled over so much).

We were almost at our lunch break when we came to a part off the track near Eora Creek where we could walk up for a bit and then come to the remnants of some Japanese war materials (like empty shells and some weapons) as well as some of their 'rabbit hole' things they would use to get under and around the mountains as well as to hide at times. It was pretty high up but there was a lot to see.

It was a little entertaining (if not a bit worrying) to see one of our police men trip on something and fall on the old Japanese ammo shells spreading the pile everywhere. It was sort of funny when he had to put it back together again but still, he should have been a little more careful (coming from the person who fell over the most on the track).

These (below) are some of the amazing bridges we got to cross over on our journey and they were actually quite beautiful in an abstract kind of way. It was a lot of fun to walk over these as you felt safer as there were arm rails (of sorts) along the sides and it seemed more stable than some of the ones we had previously walked over. At times it humbled us to think of all the bridges we crossed that the soldiers before us had not.

This is where we stopped for Lunch on the banks of Eora Creek before we continued on our last three to four hour trek up a hill and then down the other side to our camp site at Templeton's Crossing (I think it was Templeton's Crossing 1 [there were 2]). Some of us managed to arrive before dark but those of us who had fallen behind (due to Gastro or falling over a lot [both categories for me]) arrived just after dark so it was fun to cross the bridge you can see below at this time. It was times like these that I was glad for the porters (also as I fell down a lot on the way down the hill [don't blame me, it was muddy. It was bound to happen]) help throughout it all.

The sight of our camp site was definitely a great sight and that night we were able to have our dinner and talk for a bit and just enjoy ourselves. It was also nice to finally have a toilet to go to (even though it was still a drop hole it had a hut over it) and a place to rest our legs for longer than thirty minutes. Today was a great day and we were glad to have put two of some of the hardest days on the track behind us (Days 1, 2 and 6 were the hardest for us but each trekking company has a different itinerary and spread out the days differently). We were able to reflect on our journey and enjoy and appreciate where we were. Plus, it was the first night we were able to go in the river and wash some of the gunk and stuff of us (which was nice as I went to bed with a little less mud on my legs [hooray!]).

I hope to have Day 3 on Kokoda up in a few days, thank you for waiting. See you soon!