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!