Day 10

Day 10

The day we are heading home is here!

Our latest night to bed last night since we left home. There were a few celebratory drinks....some of us may have had a few more than others! Proud to say though we were in bed before midnight!

......And then Troy and Ben were awoken by the hotel reception at 6.45am to say that Mr Benson was here to see Donna. They had called the wrong Cameron/George room as Donna and Shay were in another room! The call then went to Donna and Shay's room and they were awoken from the only sleep in since we left home. 

So more about Benson. You might recall Donna speaking about Benson, her Porter from 10 years ago, on one of the earlier blogs when she still had her right hand in operation. Benson is now a bus driver.....his Porter career only lasted the one Trek after he had Donna for his initiation!

We ran into Benson on our way to Owers Corner and he told Donna he would see her at the airport at the end. The problem being that as there is no flight schedule from Kokoda to Port Moresby, Benson went to the airport in Port Moresby when he thought we might be there and waited and waited only to discover that we had been and gone.

He wanted to live up to his promise to Donna to see her at the end so this morning he had walked over two hours to get to the Hotel. Just a beautiful thing for Donna considering she had been so courageous with her injured wrist for the past 7 days. 

We all tucked into the breakfast buffet....it was all of the breakfast items we were all craving and then there were the items we were happy to leave alone......baked beans! 

The transfer bus was arranged for 10 am to get us to the airport for a 12.25 flight. When we arrived we couldn't work out why no check in counters were open....we were 1 hour ahead of schedule! Never mind, nice to not be in a rush.

The flight to Brisbane all went well. A little duty free shopping was on the cards in BrisVegas; it's just not fair on the credit cards to be left under utilised for this long!

4 hours to fill in at Brisbane Airport can be costly. After tucking into more food cravings of burgers, burritos, nachos and hot chips us girls hit the shops. Got some great bargains at Seed, Mimco and Peter Alexander. We had some lost time to make up in the shops....sorry to my husband Craig in advance!

After a few quiet beverages in the Sports Bar, we lost track of time and realised we were due to board so had to rush down to Gate 23. The flight into Sydney went quickly as Aaron did a crossword, Jo read the inflight mag, Grace entertained Troy, Shay and myself with a crossword and the rest slept. 

So here we now are on the final leg of our return in the mini bus on the way back to Maitland. We have bid a very fond farewell to Gracie, Adam, Kylie, Lou and Wacko 'The Sausage Man' as they were staying in Sydney or getting themselves home.

Many of you will have seen the posts the Trekkers have made on Facebook. Hopefully the words and photos shared show you a little more of how wonderful this experience has been for the crew of 13. We look forward to sharing more about it with you all and as I said a few days ago when we finished the Trek, we cannot thank you all enough for your support and love given to us all as we embarked on this journey. And we have survived and made life long friendships along the way! 

We can't wait to see you!

Until next time when we find some other way to challenge ourselves and support the beautiful kids of Camp Quality.

In the words of Ismal (the Trek Lead) .......

"Shakin' Bakin'!"

Ali x

Day 9

Day 9

So as you know we survived the Kokoda Track but little did we realise surviving a night in Kokoda Village would be a challenge in itself!!

 Most of us had the worst night sleep of the Trek as the locals of Kokoda are a pretty wild bunch and the ruckus going on outside of our tents is a little concerning! At one point in the night, as we lay awake, Ben is sure he heard a gun shot. There was plenty of squealing and yahooing, clearly that beetle nut does some weird things to the locals !!

As there is power in Kokoda in some places, the campsite was pretty well lit which made it hard for people like myself to go to the toilet 4 times during the night, just outside the tent. Lou was creative and didn't venture very far at all from her tent and nor did Troy. There are certain things you can do as long as your tent is sloping in the right direction!

It was the hottest night that we had had since the beginning of the Trek so there was plenty of tossing and turning. You can hear the plastic of the blow up mattresses as people move during the night. Aaron and Wacko have blown out sections of their mattresses....maybe too many snacks along the track (ha ha).

We all did a clean out of our bags and gear and decided what we would like to donate to our personal Porters or the Porters of the group. Troy Boy literally gave away the shirt off his back as well as ..... boots, pole, jumper, backpack, headlamp, socks, camelbak....you name it Snow got it. Snow looked like a professional trekker with all of Troy's gear on! The Porters were so excited by the many things they were given that we probably would have just thrown away. It goes to show that PNG is not the throw away society that Australia has become. 

Once we had got our gear together we had one final exercise session with Greg....he never misses an opportunity to get us all to do burpees, push ups, etc.!

Off to the airport we went at 6.15 am as in Kokoda you just turn up and wait with all of the locals who are there to get their produce on the 4 flights a day to get it back to Port Moresby to be sold. No one knows what time the flights will come in so patience is very important. It is amazing to watch how patient everyone is, no pushing and shoving. The scales are put out and all bags, produce and people weighed and then they work out who and what can go on each plane. All done manually - a bit unnerving really.

We could hear a plane coming in the distance and 10 minutes later the little 12 seater, single prop plane lands on the grass air strip. Off jumps some Kokoda Trekkers ready to take on the challenge. Our group starts to come up with what we will say to them as they pass.....hilarious what we would love to say but decide we should keep it nice! One guy takes our attention in particular as he hobbles off the plane limping with knee guard on. Gee it's going to be a long 8 days for him!

Our turn arrives 3.5 hours later and we say our final farewell to the Porters. An emotional time as we have developed really strong bonds with them. 

Ben and Jo are particularly nervous about the plane ride. When the 'Air Steward' gives the 30 second safety briefing they both take full attention to his every word. The 'Air Steward' doesn't stay in the back, he is actually the pilot! And off we go!

It's a 40 minute trip into Port Moresby. Ben and Jo both don't take in the scenery as they are too busy gripping the seat in front of them! 

Once we get into Moresby we are greeted by the wife of Donna's Porter, John. Christina has travelled over an hour on the bus with two of their 4 children to give Donna a gift of a bag that she had made. Poor John is still feeling terrible for Donna's fall and is trying to make it up. Such beautiful people.

By now we are all super excited by the fact that we are only 30 minutes away from our shower at The Stanley.

Off we go in the bus. All we talk about on the way to the hotel is what we are going to have for lunch and dinner. It is decided Hogs Breath for lunch and buffet in the hotel for dinner. 

After check in we all rush to the rooms and the duos work out who is first in the shower. And it is heaven!!!!!!!!! It takes 4 goes of the shampoo to actually get rid of the grease and dirt. The poor white towels of The Stanley are no longer white!

Hogs Breath, beers and wine are delicious, just what we were all imagining. Following our final meeting with Greg at 4 pm we then settle in and enjoy some hard earned champagne, all the way from Tamburlaine in the Hunter Valley from our resident Winemaker, Aaron.

At 6.30 pm we are ready to eat again, this time steaks and the buffet. A few more drinks to cap off an unbelievable trip. 

After staying at The Stanley before the Trek we knew how comfy the beds were and after sleeping in tents, often wet, for the past 8 nights we were all looking forward to going and getting a great nights' sleep. 

It's amazing how you can go from primitive living to a luxury hotel all in the course of one day. 

One more night and we will all be home with our friends and families. We are all looking forward to seeing you.

Ali x

Day 8

Day 8

We are done! So excited, emotional, proud, grateful.....so many words to describe this experience.

Let's talk through the day before we get to the end! 

It absolutely poured rain last night, non stop so there were many Trekkers swimming in their tents, namely Wacko, Lou, Troy, Kylie and Bennie Boy. As we finished breakfast we were contemplating where to hold our special Camp Quality service (that we have had on every Trek) as it was raining but we decided to take it outside and thank God we did.

The Trekkers and Porters all gathered around as I started reading a tribute to the children of Camp Quality impacted by cancer as well as those who have lost their fight. I had literally said one sentence when the rain stopped, the sun started shining from the Kokoda Valley and a full rainbow appeared across the mountain range. It was such an emotional moment for everyone.

We believe it was a sign from the beautiful kiddies that have lost their fight looking over us to tell us they were okay. As our service finished 10 minutes later, the rainbow disappeared. Words cannot explain what this moment meant to us all. There were many tears shed and shared. 

Once we regathered ourselves we set out for our last day of trekking, about 6 hours and we would be at our finish line!

The day of trekking was not as difficult, but you still had to concentrate as we had to go downhill for a lot of the day to get into the Kokoda Valley and it was very muddy after the heavy downpour last night and the daily rain we have had for the past 8 days. 

Sheriff Ben had us all penalised if we slipped to the point of near fall and by the time we finished the day we were around 100 penalties! 

We reached Deneki for morning tea 2 hours in where you experience THE best view of the Kokoda Valley and get to see the finish line of Kokoda in the distance. It was a bit of a tease really as it was still 4 hours away!

After morning tea we continued on to the most beautiful little village of Hoy, another 2 hours down the track. Hoy is set by a small creek with the freshest water running. In we all hopped for a swim, sitting in the rapids enjoying the cold water as it has been much extremely muggy today. The tender parts of the body are felt in the cold water.  We all could have stayed there all day!

After lunch we had a 2 hour walk to get to the finish line. There was a spring in our step that is for sure! 

As we got closer to Kokoda the Track become more populated with more children lining it in sections. Oh my god, the kids are so adorable that you would love to pop one into your backpack and bring them home.

Aaron decided the easiest way to hand out his CQ wrist bands would be to throw them in the air as there wasn't enough to go around.....little did he know that one of the kids (about 5 years of age) was carrying a machete and ran past a 2 year old child and just about sliced him with the machete. Many of us held our breath!

The straight access road into Kokoda feels like it goes forever! The feeling when you turn a bend and can see the finish line arches is a feeling that can't be easily put into words! Many tears were shared as we all crossed the line......all 13 of us had made it......all 13 of us have all walked the Kokoda Track!

Once we made our way into camp, the sun is shining so there is great opportunity to put our wet mattresses and sleeping bags out to dry before we have our last night in the cosy one man tents. 

After our last supper prepared by the Porters, each of us shared the overall highs and lows of the entire experience. As hard as the trip is physically, we all shared very few lows but could have talked about the highs all night. The rainbow from this mornings' service was the icing on the cake for us all!

Everyone is looking forward to sharing with you the amazing experience they have had here on the Kokoda Track. We have awesome photos to share! 

The Trekkers cannot thank you enough for all of your support of us coming here. We can't wait to see you!

Ali xx

Day 7

Day 7

It rained all night last night, not the best when certain people (like Ali) have to get up to go to the toilet at least 4 times a night! Most had a great night sleep and only woke up when Greg tapped on the tents at 5am.

As we left Euro Creek we crossed the very full rapids which was possibly the most nerve racking creek crossing of the trek, particularly when it is first thing in the morning when the legs are still warming up. 

On the way to Isurava we made a detour to Conns Rock where the locals place flowers regularly to respect the significance of the location. It was on Conns Rock that many, many operations took place during the war. Unbelievable to think that a piece of nature, reasonably square rock of about 2 m x 2 m at hip height, could be used to operate on the soldiers. The operations meant life or death.

We then walked onto Isurava which is the place of the Battle of Isurava and now where the Australian Government have erected a monument to signify the battle ground. It is here where the headstones of Endurance, Courage, Mateship and Sacrifice sit. Considered the most photographed section of the Kokoda Track. 

We held a very moving memorial service to commemorate the soldiers who showed such amazing courage to fight for our Country. Following some words from Greg, Troy read a poem about the free land the soldiers created for us and we then sang our National anthem. Donna then read a poem.

The special part of the service was the fact that we stood shoulder to shoulder next to the Porters. They sang 3 songs, including their National anthem led by Reuben on guitar. We then walked past every person in the group and shook hands, all 42 of us. Every hand shake was meant; you could feel the connection as we acknowledged each other.

If the singing of the Trekkers was rated against that of the Porters, the Porters would win hands down. The way they harmonise is unbelievable. 

After lunch of hot chips and donuts (yes you read that right), we walked on for another 1.5 hours to Isurava Village. The children of the village were very excited as some of the Trekkers handed out some gifts to the children. Emma gave some Waratah West Uniforms to the kids and they loved wearing the hats.

Shay gave one of the mothers a bag of clothes to the kids and as the mum pulled out each piece of clothing she picked which one of the 12 kids around her would be best suited to the piece and dressed them in it. Very special to watch!  Jo was surrounded by the kids as she handed out jelly beans. We didn't think she was going to make it out of there! 

One of the funnies for the day was when Lou asked Wacko for 2 Voltaran tablets. He handed her 2 water purifying tablets instead as he thought she was also filling up her water bottle. Lou thought they were the Voltaran so swallowed them and it wasn't until later when Wacko said to Lou, "I need to give you those 2 tablets", did they realise the mix up. Well Lou's insides will be well purified! 

Double Cheekers for the day go to Greg and Ali. Conversation of the day as we trekked goes to Grace and Jo for creating a profile of Jo's ideal man in a way that sounded like the board game Guess Who! 

The most courageous woman ever, Donna, is still nursing her injured hand in a sling. Donna's Porter John is exceptional in the way he is looking after her in slippery downhill slopes and steep inclines. Thank God for John! Donna now has a cold as well the poor thing.

As we settled into our 5pm dinner of pizza, Wacko ruined the fire and we are all in tears from the smoke everywhere. Stick to making sausages Wacko!

We heard great life stories tonight from Kylie and Aaron, our resident Winemaker. Both have done plenty of travel and been fortunate to live abroad. Kylie has so much happy emotion that she is getting to share this amazing experience with her son Adam.

Everyone is on a high as we have had a really great day. We only have 1 day of walking to go, it has gone so quick! 

Ali x

Day 6

Day 6

We left our camp at 1900 at our usual departure time of 6.15 am. Most of us were wide awake by 4.30 am so we were once again on time which made our Trek Master Greg happy, maybe besides the youngest of the crew, Adam who didn't have his boots on as we were about to leave....he loves to leave his pluggers on as much as possible! 

We had another big day of 9 hours of walking ahead of us.

From 1900 we ventured uphill immediately and immediately it was! First thing in the morning straight uphill is not easy and there wasn't too much morning chatter as we all tried to get our legs moving and keep our breathing under control. 

Once we reached the highest peak on the Kokoda Track, Bellamy Hill at 2200m, we walked down to Templetons Crossing 1 for a short break where we purchased passionfruit, chicken Twisties and Coke from the father and son locals.

After morning tea we crossed the gushing river and headed straight up hill again. Having to walk up hill immediately after a break or first up is a killer but like every other time, we don't complain (well not out loud anyway), we just put one foot in front of the other. Templetons Crossing 2 was our destination for lunch and just short of two hours later we made it. We all felt it came about rather quickly as we talk about every possible subject life brings, there is nothing left untouched! 

We enjoyed the best lunch so far of noodles, fritters, pineapple, baked beans and spaghetti. After lunch we headed up yet another hill although, this one wasn't quite as dramatic. We had a 3 hour walk to get to the end of our day. Some of us were struggling with sore knees and headaches so it felt like a long 3 hours. Jo's left knee is the size of an elephant. It's terrible to watch her in pain when we head down hills. 

Wacko must have been walking with his eyes closed as we have been walking through choko vines since we started and he only realised today 'how many choko vines there are'. Donna is having a field day ripping him off!

Before our final decline into Euro Creek we stopped by a pit holding grenades collected from various spots along the Track to show us what the soldiers used to try and fight off the enemies close range. 

The decent into Euro Creek was steep and yes there was more mud and more falls! It's a beautiful camp area and we later learned from Greg that during the war it was an occupied village however, as there were many lives lost here as the wounded were brought to the camp, it became known to the locals as Blood Creek. Nobody lives here now as there was so much death here and they are superstitious that it is not a good place to live. We can see the big hill across the river we will be starting with tomorrow so we will have to stay positive to get the legs moving and the head right. 

The Sheriff for today was Wacko and he decided he wanted us to clap the porters in and out of our stops along the way which we did and got great thrill from it. We also had to think of the things we are missing most from home and I can assure you that family members were very high on everyone's lists as well as beer, beds and baths!

Tonight's life stories were from Grace and Shay and they were both excellent. We really are getting to know so much about each other and you can see friendships being developed just beautifully every step of the way.

As we bunker in for the night it is pouring rain and quite cold so everyone has all of the warm clothes they brought along on and we have once again gone to bed before 8 pm. 

The days are counting down so I look forward to keeping you all posted tomorrow on our last big day before the final day!

Ali x

Day 5

Day 5

We had a heavy night of rain at Brigade Hill (infamously known as Butcher Hill) but it didn't dampen the spirits of the group.

We started our morning with a 4.30 am rise and after packing up and heading off in the dawn sky at 6 am, we stopped and remembered the fallen at the memorial site of Brigade Hill. It has a beautiful, peaceful feeling and really is a special place to remember what our soldiers went through on this rugged track.

As we made our way down towards Efogi 1, Greg stopped us all at a small clearing where we could see the village. At this spot Greg asked us all to sit down and take in the surrounds as he described the way the Japanese attacked the Australians on Brigade Hill, completely catching them off guard. 

There were stories he read of selfless heroism, soldiers putting their lives on the line to attempt to outsmart the Japanese, many of whom were killed. Greg played True Blue by John Williamson as we sat in reflection. Many were in tears as we sat and thought of what the soldiers faced and also of our loved ones at home. Lots of tears were shared for those that have left us and are certainly watching over us as we tackle this grueling track.

Onwards we trekked. The Sheriff for the day was me and I set a challenge of learning 5 new things about your buddy for the day that you didn't know before so that generated a lot of conversation as we all embarked on the 10 hour walking day.

Spirits remained high as we went up, down, up, down and up, up, up to Efogi 2 for morning tea.

The locals of the two villages - Efogi 1 and 2 always pray together and spend time together.   If only you could all see the hill from Efogi 1 to Efogi 2, it is huge.

We were all joking that we'd be arguing about whose house we'd be meeting at if we lived here!

Efogi 1 has an airstrip (a very short one at that!) and the locals were all gathered at the airstrip waiting for a supply plane to arrive to drop off food but also to pick up the local crops to sell in Port Moresby. There was too much fog around so the plane had to abort landing and would be coming back later.

As we headed towards our lunch location at Naduri it was pouring rain so we were all freezing as we ate lunch of freshly fried pastries accompanied by the worlds biggest avocado that was purchased for 5 Kina at Efogi 2. It was delicious!

Emotions ran high today for some. Grace broke down at lunch and it was beautiful to see the support she received from her fellow Trekkers. Grace had been looking out for heart shaped rocks along the journey and literally at the moment she was upset, Lou found the most perfect heart shaped rock close by. How amazing !

The rain didn't stop for the rest of the afternoon as we walked on to our next camp for the remaining 4 hours. We were all soaking wet but no one complained, we just got on with it. There were still a few spills with the slippery conditions, poor Grace had a hard fall as did a number of the Porters. Double pluggers and muddy, steep declines are not the best combination!

Our camp for the night is a place called 1900 due to its elevation. A lovely village beside a creek, but with very few residents and a pesky dog that won't leave us alone. Wacko and Aaron went in for a bird bath whereas the rest of us were happy to give it a miss as we were all too cold and couldn't wait to get into our thermals. We all smell, so no one is offended!

Wacko and Donna finished off a great day with their life stories....plenty of special moments shared and plenty of laughs to go with it!

Ali x

Day 4

Day 4

Wow what a challenging day....we left Nauro at 6 am and arrived to our camp for tonight at 5 pm. Over 10 hours of walk time with only a couple of short breaks along the way. We have experienced another very slippery day on the down hills in particular, but also on the up hills as we have had a lot more climbing. Greg prepared us for many declines and inclines with the biggest incline of them all into Brigade Hill to our camp later in the day. 3 hours of up, up and more up!

Following heavy rain during the night, our day started at 4.30 am so that we had a bit of extra time for a few of us to help Donna get ready. Her wrist is not very good at all and she is in a lot of pain. Everyone has been so lovely helping her whether it be to get ready, as she can't use her right arm at all....it is too painful, to helping carry some of her belongings to make her pack lighter. Seriously that woman deserves a medal....every time any of us felt the day was too much all we had to do was look at Donna with one arm in a sling and the other being help by her Porter John as he helped her up and down the challenging terrain with no walking pole.

Our Sheriff for the day was Troy and he set us all a challenge to immerse ourselves into Brown River before we had to cross it. After heading through the swamps for the 30 mins before that, where every step was the difference between the bottom half of your boot filling with mud or mud up to your butt, the dunk into the river was perfect, even though it was freezing! Nice idea Troy Boy!

As we continued to walk for the next 3 hours leading into lunch, the slippery slope of yesterday continued. There wasn't as many falls today, yesterday must have taught us a lesson or two about what to do and what not to do about feet positioning.

Many of us were feeling flat as we headed into Menari for lunch as we had already been going for over 6 hours. The beautiful village of Menari with happy kids excited to see us brightened us up. Jo, Em and I gave the little ones some gifts and they were excited. The lunch of the sweetest pineapple ever also gave us the natural sugar hit we were after.

We knew the afternoon wasn't going to be easy as we had Brigade Hill to conquer. Over 800 m in elevation to climb to our next camp.....and it went on and on and on. Special mention to the courageous climbing spirits of Jo and Lou who stuck together to support each other and had their biggest day of trekking ever.

As we finally saw a clearing at the top of the hill, that grassy noel has never looked so good. Brigade Hill has breathtaking views across the valley and the fog constantly rolls in and out. It is a very special location as during WW2 we lost 52 lives and they have created a special memorial at the top of the hill to signify the loss with 52 timber posts with a poppy on top. 

During our highs and lows session for the evening it just goes to show what a positive bunch of people we have here, as despite the tough day of trekking, everyone talked so favourably about the positive experiences they'd had for the day.

Lou and Ben shared their life stories. What beautiful caring people they both are. Lou is a beautiful soul and Bennie an awesome son who clearly loves his family dearly. 

As we settle into bed at the latest time in 4 days of 8 pm, the rain is coming down again so we will be in for another muddy, slippery day tomorrow....not to mention 10 hours of walking again!

It looks like you will be stuck with me writing the blog as Donna's hand is not getting any better!

Ali x