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.

Random Thought Saturday is Back

That's right, Random Thought Saturday is back after a month-long hiatus. It was so hard to not go in all these weird tangents in some of my posts so far this year and so I am glad that this segment is back to normal. Speaking of segments, have you all seen the two new segments that started this week? Every Wednesday is now "Entertainment Wednesday" with all things entertainment and every Thursday is now "At the Movies with Daily Lukey". I was smart enough to not put the day at the end of Thursday's segment so it is not as noticeable when I post it on a different day. Come to think of it, out of the seven days in the week there are only two days remaining without a segment on them. This will stay like that for a while (or at least until I come up with some new idea) but I think that I will always have at least one day where any type of post is possible. Plus, some of these segments I come up with as I am writing the post. Seriously, "At the Movies with Daily Lukey" started out as just a highly-anticipated films of 2014 series. That is why the Frozen review went on Entertainment Wednesday instead. If I had of known I may have chosen a different topic to write about. Anyway, I can find myself getting off topic now.

Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=4996

Tomorrow is Australia day and I would be writing about it tomorrow but it is Doctor Who Sunday and there is no way I am going to be able to write a whole post about Australia day anyway. Well I could but it would not be any good and who would want to read it? Besides, yesterday's post about the graffiti (and damage) done to Captain Cook's Cottage had a moment where I talked about Australia day. Still, what could I write about Australia day without coming off as weird or phony. Anyway, moving on from Australia day. There is just over two months until we fly out to Kokoda and there is still so much to do. We have started regular Tuesday and Thursday afternoon training sessions alongside our weekend hikes and other training as well as fundraising barbecues and events. It is definitely getting closer and more real by the day. It still has not fully hit me (but trust me, it has hit me a fair bit) what I am about to do. I guess I am just lucky that the others in the group are such a nice bunch of people. It would have been really bad if some of us did not get along. We are already going to do stuff we regret when we are tired, it would be a whole lot worse if there were people we did not like. Myself and the girl from my school who is going to have a joke about the amount of blackmail we are going to have on each other after the trip. Still, it is going to be a great and life-changing experience. Plus, in those surveys with "Your Greatest Achievement" sections I will be able to write about something really different and special. I also have to get on to writing some of the posts that are going to be scheduled to come out as I am away as well as some of the proceeding and preceding days to give myself a bit of a break. I think the majority of the posts are going to be about my experience leading up to Kokoda and then there are probably going to be several posts afterwards about my experience on the track. The annoying part is that I have a Piano exam when I come back from Kokoda. My teacher is going to try and get some of the later dates (the exam period for Grade 6 is April 28 to May 10 and I come back from Kokoda on April 25) so that I have time to rest up and get back into the practicing mode so I do not lose all my hard work right before the exam. You see, it is a bit difficult to practice the piano on the Kokoda track. Who would have thought? Moving on to some of the headlines of the week. Justin Bieber was arrested for driving under the influence and it just annoys me how, after all that he has done and been caught doing, people still stand up for him. I just can not believe all those "Beliebers" who stand up for him after all the things he has done. They even justify and down-play some of the stuff like drag racing. The best part is that they say the media is against him and yet as soon as they start reporting positive things the fans go crazy in support of the media. Seriously, some fan girls are just crazy. I am also excited because the new Hunger Games Mockingjay logo and poster was released. I used it in next week's "At the Movies with Daily Lukey" post about the highly anticipated films of 2014. If you missed it though, here it is again:

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

I think that is enough random for one post, see you tomorrow!

Another Busy Day

Seriously guys, you would think I would have time for longer posts but alas, not today. I do hope that tomorrow will bring another full-length Doctor Who Sunday post. Today was busy for a number of reasons. From 7am to 12pm I was training for Kokoda (group training session). After that I came home and had a shower and lunch before going driving (learners practice) followed by a long visit to Nana Vals. I was already tired from a long hard training session (which I know I am going to feel tomorrow) and this did not help. Luckily I could relax after all that so it was not too bad.

Hopefully tomorrow is better. See you tomorrow!

Random Thought Friday: Saturday Edition

So another week has passed and another Random Thought Friday has been missed due to reasons out of my control. Namely, losing track of time and basic forgetfulness. To make up for the lack of these posts I have decided to write one today, on a Saturday, to make up for all those we have missed. This is only the second Random Thought Friday post so enjoy and I hope to have another one up next Friday. However, I do not want to make any promises as sometimes circumstances escape my control. Hope you have a random weekend!

Source: http://www.sodahead.com/entertainment/forgetfulness/question-1228853/?link=ibaf&q=&esrc=s

Thursday night was a pretty important night for my Leaders of the Future Program. As those of you who read last night's incredibly short post would know, Thursday night was the official launch of the program. It was a really great time as it did not go for too long (so we were not stuck listening to repetitive boring speeches) and the speeches they did have were all very interesting. We had our local member who took over Julia Gillard's area (the term escapes me) as well as a person high up in the Wyndham Police Force (Super-Intendant I think). We also heard from a past participant from a similar program over the other side of Melbourne and how the program changed him. It was a great night and I really enjoyed it. Talking about this program we finally started our group training sessions on Sunday with a hike up in the You Yangs. It was only ten kilometres but towards the end it got very steep. Still, I wish Kokoda was going to be like that. The You Yangs are going to be a stroll in the park compared to Kokoda. Still though, it is great to have a place like the You Yangs where we can go hiking and it is not too far away for us. Wednesday night we went Fartlek running which is where you run for a while, then walk, then run, then walk and so on. Ours went a little bit more along the lines of Run, Jog, Run, Jog, Run, Walk, Run, Jog, Walk, Run and so on so it was a little more challenging but it was a great time to continue cementing strong friendships with the others in this program. I said today would be a random thought post and, in a way it is, except for the fact that the central focus is on the Kokoda program. Still though, it was a lot of random thoughts on the topic that I never would have been able to stretch over a whole post.

I hope you guys see another Random Thought Friday this Friday. See you tomorrow!

Kokoda Leadership Opportunity

So today I was called to the office at the end of the day along with a few other people. At first I was really worried because I wondered what I had done. Then the Vice Principal (who had called us there) started off by saying "The Wyndham Police have recently contacted us..." which really scared us all because we all thought we were in big trouble from the police. She then went on to continue to say they had offered each school the opportunity to allow students who display qualities of Leadership to apply to go on an all-expenses paid fully guided tour of the treacherous and historical Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.

This would also teach us lessons of Leadership along the way. At first I was hesitant because I knew how hard and dangerous it was and they offer training and have medics with us the whole time to be safe. I then went home and talked it over with my parents and we decided that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and so I decided to apply for it. Now I have to fill out a form and then answer some questions about Leadership and the significance of the Kokoda Track and that I will do tomorrow, I started tonight but had so much homework I had to stop. So there is no certainty I will get chosen as they will look through each person's application and decide the students they wish to take with them. If I do get in I will be very excited and most likely motivated to do more training (or I will find it very very hard) as even those who train for ages find it a hard track and I do hope I get in as I think it will be one of those great experiences I'll take with me until I grow old.

It is such an exciting opportunity and I am so happy that the Vice-Principal and Principal chose me and a few others to apply for the opportunity. I am just in awe a bit.

May the odds be ever in your favour, goodbye!