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.

Most Anticipated Films of 2014

Welcome to yet another "At the Movies with Daily Lukey" segment where we continue our series of looking through some of the movies you should look out for in 2014. By the time you read this, or even as I am writing this, some of these movies will have already been released but they are still movies of 2014. It is kind of hard to believe we are near the end of March (and Term 1) already. Only 27 days to Kokoda!

Hot Tub Time Machine 2

The sequel to the home-entertainment comedy hit focuses on Lou (played by Rob Corddry) getting into trouble and his friends firing up the hot tub time machine in an attempt to go back to the past - only to land in the future. John Cusack, who appeared in the first movie, is not set to reprise his role in the sequel. It is set to be released on the 25th of December (in America).

The Book of Life

This is not a remake of the Brad Pitt film but rather a new movie altogether. Set in a fantastical world, The Book of Life is the story of a young man who must face his greatest fears and follow his heart in order to rewrite his destiny. Filled with love, laughter, music and suspense, this big adventure for the whole family will warm the hearts of audiences as it reminds everyone of the importance of honouring the past while embracing the future. It has been described as a Romeo and Juliet set against a Mexican Day of the Dead.

Adapted from: http://www.movieinsider.com/m9958/book-of-life/

Welcome to Yesterday

Source: http://www.movieinsider.com/posters/154510/

The poster may say February, but the release date is yet to be announced. The story focuses on a group of high schoolers who invent a time machine and record their trips into the past. The script was in development for a year so hopefully this makes for some good movie moments.

Jersey Boys

Source: http://www.movieinsider.com/m8056/jersey-boys/

Jersey Boys is the movie adaptation of the hit Tony-Award-Winning Broadway Musical. It is set to inlclude many of the hit songs that has caused audiences all over the world to fall in love with the story of Franki Valli and the Four Seasons. Jersey Boys tells the story of Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi who go from blue-collar wrong side of the track origins to become American pop sensations. They sold over 175 million records worldwide before they were thirty years old. Get set to fall in love with the musical that audiences have raved about.

This is Where I Leave You

This is Where I Leave You is based on the new novel of the same name by Jonathan Tropper. It centres on a man (played by Jason Bateman) whose father dies and tasks his dysfunctional family of four grown siblings with one last request: to spend seven days following the funeral together under the same roof for the first time in a decade. It has a comedy cast headed by Jason Bateman and Tina Fey with Jane Fonda in there also.

Welcome back to some more of my posts. See you tomorrow!

Random Thought Saturday: Thinking Ahead

Again, I bring you another Random Post Friday on a Saturday. That means that I have done more Random Thought Fridays on a Saturday than I have on a Friday. As such I had to change the name of the segment to Random Thought Saturday as it is more realistic that I can get these regular posts out on a Saturday as compared to a Friday. Anyway, onto the inaugural Random Thought Saturday! As you will know I recently missed two days in one week (very weird considering that over all I have only missed maybe 4 days (excluding the few days right at the start of this Blog where I was getting into the swing of things)) due to scheduling woes and late nights that went later than expected. Anyway, I would just like to say that every time this happens I feel bad about it as my blog is called "Daily Lukey" so I can not just get away with missing days every so often. I promise to work harder on this to prevent this from happening again but I can not make any promises that it will not happen again as it most likely will. In other news, I was surprised to realise that this is the 247th Post on this Blog. Seeing how far I had come made me think about where I was going and, as such, I got thinking about my one year anniversary which will be on March 24 2014. As part of this I began thinking of how I was going to celebrate it and make it special. Some ideas have already been drafted but you will have to wait until next year to find out what I am planning.

Source: https://museuminsider.co.uk/2011/11/10/feature/looking-and-thinking-ahead-libraries/

Thinking ahead another month and I will be in Papua New Guinea. This will, of course, mean no internet (how will I survive?) but it does not mean no posts. I will be scheduling posts to appear while I am away (16th to 25th of April 2014) and I have kind of an idea as to what I should write about but I also have to plan it out. After those dates there will probably still be a few days after where the posts will most likely focus on my experience. This may be a day-per-post or maybe one or two depending on what happens but I am planning to fill you all in on my experience when I return. If you have anything that you want to know about the journey, feel free to send them in via the contact form to the right, send it through my Facebook Page, comment below or email me directly at legolukeytutorials@gmail.com. Your question very well may be a part of one of my posts, if not the whole post (depending on the breadth of answer I can give). They will most likely be my experience of preparing for Kokoda and what the program has been like for me and how I got to where I am at that time. Basically the last half of April and most likely the beginning of May is all going to be about Kokoda and things in relation to it, so get ready for that! I may even give you all a little lesson in the history and significance of the place if I have space. Those posts will most likely be written sometime in March and April so they should be relevant and up-to-date. Thinking a little bit back from that point but still in the future, let us discuss Christmas and New Years. Since December (and Summer for Australia) begins tomorrow one of the main things on the majority of people's minds is Christmas and the new year. Today, after I returned from my training and boot-fitting for Kokoda, I helped my parents set up our Christmas decorations because Mum loves having them up before December because she really gets into the mood of Christmas for pretty much the whole month (it can take the remainder of December after Christmas for Mum to cool off from the buzz of the occasion). It is great though because it is a family tradition and what is family without a few traditions?

Sometimes we must look into the future to really appreciate our past. See you tomorrow.

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!

Party Crazy

This post will continue on from my series on the numerous political parties in Australia. Click here to check out Part 1 and here to check out Part 2. I have gone through 24 parties so far and am still not halfway through. By the end of the next twelve today I will be though. The following list is from the Australian Electoral Commission Website which has the complete list accurate as of the ninth of August 2013 when it was last updated. Here is the link:

http://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/party_registration/Registered_parties/. 

Let's get started straight away.

Source: http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/careless-political-words/

Country Liberals is a Northern Territory Political Party affiliated with both the National and Liberal Parties of Australia and contests seats for the coalition in the Northern Territory rather than the National or Liberal Parties.

The Democratic Labor Party aims to stand for workers, fair trade, manufacturing, small businesses and families.

The Drug Law Reform Party exists to raise awareness of the ongoing harm being done to children, families, democratic institutions and society in general by current drug laws.

Family First Party is another of the more outspoken political parties and stands for strong families, strong values and a strong Australia.

The Future Party is one aimed at finding long-term solutions to problems through technology.

The Help End Marijuana Prohibition Party aims to re-legalise and regulate cannabis for personal, medical and industrial use in Australia. If you could not get that from the name then you should have paid more attention in class.

Source: http://www.virginvoters.com.au/parties/future-party/

Katter's Australian Party was one that received some negative attention from the media earlier this year due to their controversial views. Their ideology includes social conservatism, protectionism, developmentalism and Keynesianism.

The Liberal Democratic Party stands for "greater freedom, smaller government and personal responsibility".

The Liberal Party of Australia, alongside the Labor Party, is one of the most predominant parties in Australia. They stand for inalienable rights and freedoms for all peoples (although they do not stand for same-sex marriage, kind of a contradiction there) and it also believes in governments minimising interference in everyday life while also nurturing and encouraging citizens through incentives, rather than limits.

The National Party of Australia traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally.

The Nick Xenophon Group comprises of the independent member of senate Nick Xenophon who aims to stand for people who feel they have no voice in the Government. His website does not provide much useful information. However flashy it may be.

Finally, the No Carbon Tax Climate Sceptics is one of the more left-wing parties representing climate sceptics every. They aim to "... expose the fallacy of anthropogenic climate change". Anthropogenic basically means originating from human activity.

That is it for today, check back in two days for the next installment.

Still more to come, see you tomorrow!

Faith

Faith, it is what makes us hope for a brighter future. Faith is what makes people get out of bed every morning. Faith is believing in something even when you can't see it. Faith is believing in the good of something. It keeps us sane. Faith doesn't have to mean religion it can just be the belief in something that might happen (it could even be something bad). We all have faith within us it is just the person who decides whether to bring it out or not. When everything looks bleak, faith is what can pull us through.

Faith in a better tomorrow gives people the motivation to get out of bed or to exercise or help people out. Faith can help people who are sick, it can fill in the days for those who are lonely. Faith in a brighter future can pull people from the brink of despair and can change a person's life. Faith in a religion, in a god or in one another can change a person. It can make them see differently as if someone has given them new eyes or a new lease on life. Faith can change you, it can make you into someone entirely different. It can give you the confidence to stand up for what you believe in and do what you view as right and just. Faith is what causes people to persist and to keep fighting. Without it, what is there to fight for?

Things don't change without faith. Did Martin Luther King Junior have faith in the end of the Apartheid? Did Nelson Mandela have faith in an equal South Africa? Did NASA have faith in space travel? Of course they did, why else would they strive so hard and spend so much time on something? If you don't have faith in something happening then why do it? If Nelson Mandela couldn't envision an equal South Africa how could he expect anyone else to? Faith and action are closely linked and without Faith, action would be very limited and our world would be centuries behind what it is today. Steve Jobs may not have had Faith in Apple. Walt Disney may not have had Faith in Walt Disney Studios. Bill Gates may not have had Faith in Windows. If they hadn't we wouldn't have all the technology and entertainment around us today. Faith plays a big role in everything we do and without it we are lost.

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