Day 5 - Sunday 22 April, Templeton's 2 - Naduri - Bra Down Bra Down, Harold the Man Eating Hookworm, Defectors, Sharapova

My diary is unreadable from today on so apologies if I muck anything up.

This morning I get up, get dressed and start to pack up my gear.  I head over to the hut to collect my bra and undies I left by the fire last night.  My undies are there, no bra.  I look on the ground, I look in the hut, I can't find it anywhere. Holy cow this is embarrassing.  So I start asking around.  Good grief I'll have to ask the boys, they were the last in the hut last night as far as I know and their clothes were hanging there also.  This was getting worse by the minute. During breakfast I asked Joey, Blake, Brad and Appo if they had seen my bra. Small, black.  Blake said last he saw it it was hanging in the hut. Joey said last he saw it Blake was wearing it on his head. I wish someone took a picture of my face. The boys were cacking themselves laughing.

I never found it, I have no idea what happened to it.  Apparently bras are hard to come by in PNG but I can't imagine a local taking it, wouldn't fit any of them. Oh and there's another point for the black book by the way.

Alyssa, bottom right, she is training to reach the
summit of Mt Everest in 2014

It seems some defectors from Team 1 have joined our team today.  Kat and her dad Mark have decided to trek with us.   That's awesome because they are great people. I sat next to Mark on the plane to Moresby, he is a lovely guy, a school teacher. I met Kat on the walk in Brisbane, we get on really well. Mark is my buddy today. 


We have Alyssa trekking with us today as well. She is the daughter of Glenn the trek leader for Team 1.  Alyssa is 15, she did Kokoda for the first time when she was 8 years old, Everest Base Camp when she was 10 and Mt Kilimanjaro last year. She is one inspirational young woman, so driven and determined.  She is currently training to conquer the summit of Mt Everest in 2014. If she does she will be the youngest Australian and the youngest woman in the world to do so.  She is looking for help with sponsorship.  This is a link to her website, will be amazing to follow her journey and it's a great place to get some inspiration. http://www.alyssaazar.com.au/

This morning we trek to the highest point on the track, Mount Bellamy, at 2250 metres.  A few are freaking out about it, but hey, we are already at maybe 1,200 metres, so I figure in half a day that's really not terrible to go another 1,000 metres in elevation.  This walk is definitely 70% mental. Sure you have to be fit but as soon as you start thinking, this is hard, wow that's high, it really will get tough, much tougher.  I can't imagine the freak out some will have in a couple of days when we get to Imata Ridge. They mustn't know about it yet.

One of the millions of beautiful creeks

I tried to look around whenever
we stopped, always finding something
awesome like these little guys

So the one thing I have noticed is that on arriving in camp at night we usually have a steep descent just prior as we are normally near some type of water source. Obviously that means when we leave the next day we have a steep ascent.  These I found were the steepest parts of the track, getting out of the creeks and rivers.  The first 500 metres of the day for all of us was usually pretty hard.

This mornings steep ascent out of Templeton's 2 was no different. It almost seemed vertical.

I tell you what it is sooooo good having long legs.  Sometimes I felt like a mountain goat climbing a mountain. Then I'd look at someone shorter than me, they would be using their hands and poles to climb, I would just step.  I managed to get up the hills fairly quickly, I was probably slower going down. I also realised that if you stayed at the front of the pack you got to rest for longer when you had to stop and wait for everyone else to catch up. It was pretty steep. 

It was around this section of the track that Whiteleg (Mark, not my buddy another one) was given the nickname Sharapova (she's the grunting Russian tennis player if you don't know).  If you could not see him you only had to listen to find out where he was. Poor guy was really doing it pretty tough. Every step, which sounded like a heavy clydesdale hoof hitting the ground, was met with a groan.  So Whiteleg became known as Sharapova. Even his wife Sue was calling him Sharapova.  All we could do for Whiteleg was to encourage him.


I also started hugging trees today, not because I'm a hippy, it's an energy thing one of my old karate instructors taught me. You wrap your arms around a tree (I rest my face on it also) you can actually feel the energy of the tree, and use it. Joey tried as well and understood almost immediately, so did Kerri. Appo will never know because he wouldn't even try it. He's missing out. I did this whenever I felt a bit tired, usually before food stops.

During our first break Greg reminded us to watch our step.  We have a Team 3, who we have not met, they are walking the track in the opposite direction.  We are meeting them on Anzac Day. Anyway one of the girls slipped on the very first day and broke her wrist, both bones, and had to be evacuated.  This is no easy thing to organise.  She still had to walk to the next village because there is just nowhere else for a chopper to land.

At the top of Mt Bellamy

Deb was also doing it a bit tough today, after lunch when we got our new ration packs, which are quite heavy, I offered to carry hers for her, she said it made a difference so that was good. I definitely noticed but didn't mind at all.

Anyway so we walked and walked and walked and eventually reached the top of Mount Bellamy. It was a pretty special place. Shrouded in heavy mist, everything covered in moss, creepy vines. This was another Avatar moment. It was amazing. It changed all the time, one second you could not see anything, then the mist would move and something amazing would just appear before your eyes.

Team Kick Ass having
a breather

Now it was time for the steep descent into Naduri Village, where we are staying tonight. Really feeling it in the knees on the down hill today.  You have to be pretty careful and not put all of your weight on your downward foot. In fact I'm concentrating so hard with every step it's hard to think about anything else.

On arriving in Naduri after an 8 hour day we dropped our packs and immediately started our workout.  We had to pair up I paired up with Kat. She had to do 10 pushups while I planked. So, I'm planking, slightly uphill.  I was just hanging around sucking my tummy in waiting for Kat to finish when I noticed it. There was something on the top of my boot. It was white, fine, about 5 cm long and wiggly. Oh freaking hell HOOK WORM!!  

Coolest cubby house ever

Just before Naduri, I think
this is where I picked up
Harold the Hookworm

I have only moved that fast once before in my life (the time i grabbed a turtle on the head when i was surfing). I jumped up, maybe said a couple of bad words, Kat jumped up. It was mayhem. Appo was saying that a hookworm is a terrible excuse to get out of a workout. He was laughing also.  I struggled to find a stick to get the thing off, I wasn't touching it. Finally got it off. You know how I was talking about vermin earlier in my blog, THIS is what I was talking about. Animals including vermin are attracted to me like explosive checks are attracted to me.

Walking down to Naduri to meet Ovuru Ndiki.  The get rid of all the grass
so they don't' have to keep mowing it, with a machete

Later in the afternoon we head down to Naduri village. We are meeting Ovuru Ndiki, who is one of the last surviving Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels. He is 108 years old, we think, he looks it.  He is now wheelchair bound but otherwise looks pretty good for someone his age.  During the war across the track in 1942 Ovuru and many other Papua New Guineans carried our injured  soldiers to safety. They were known as the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels.

Nice way to end the day. Oh and I had something meaty for dinner after two nights of vegetarian curry stuff. I was a happy camper.

Just casually hanging your machetes up

Ovuru Ndiki and myself, he is holding a medal he
received from the Australian Government only a 
couple of years ago

Some Naduri Village kids

Day 4 - Saturday 21 April, Isurava - Templeton's 2, I Think I'm in Avatar

Cute Isurava village kid

Blake had to give the thought of the day this morning.  He did a nice little spiel, and ended with 'keep smiling'. It was a phrase that was used repeatedly throughout the rest of the trip.

I'm feeling really good this morning, despite the person in next tent who snored so loudly I actually thought someone had come in to my tent and started snoring right in my ear.  My first task of the morning was a quick reconnoissance mission to discover who the snorer was.  Culprit identified, I'll be sleeping on the opposite side of the camp ground tonight. No wet tent last night. I never normally wake up through the night but I have been here.  We are pretty much sleeping on the ground. I go to sleep OK and then wake up later with my body aching where I am lying on it.  There are a lot of times during the night I wished I had some body fat. They have given us an inflatable pillow but I'm not feeling the love.  I ended up using my dry bag with clothes in it for a pillow.

Today we have a huge day.  We are walking to Isurava Memorial and will have a short service there. Then we need to push on and make up the hours we have lost. It will be a late one today.

We said goodbye to some of the kids in the village. They're pretty cute. Kerri is my buddy again today.

Avatar flowers

I cannot tell you how beautiful the walk to Isurava Memorial was. Through mountains covered in choko vines, crystal clear streams and misty valleys. It was this stretch of the track I had my 'I think I'm In Avatar' moment. I actually had to check I didn't have superpowers and look at myself to see if I had turned blue. If I had not of stepped on a flower on the ground I never would have looked up at this tree. I have never seen a flower like this, they were massive, beautiful and smelt gorgeous.  If this track was difficult I had not noticed because I was enjoying myself so much.

The team is starting to get on really well. There's lots of laughing and joking, it's really great having this much camaraderie so early on. Kerri and I get on really well also which is great.

A moment of reflection of Isurava Memorial

Isurava was the site of some of the most intense fighting in the Kokoda campaign.  The Isurava Memorial was built by the Australian Government in 2002 in remembrance of the Australians and Papua New Guineans who fought and died in the Kokoda Campaign.  The memorial is made up of four pillars made from black granite from South Australia and masoned in Melbourne. The pillars were then then flown to Port Moresby and choppered to the memorial site.  They are simply engraved with the words Courage, Endurance, Mateship, Sacrifice, words the Australian Army has built its foundations on.

Joey, Appo and Blake having a boys moment as
Isurava Memorial

The memorial is immediately adjacent  to the site where Private Bruce Kingsbury performed and act of valour for which he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

This really is an amazing place for a memorial, high up in the mountains above the clouds.

Glenn, Greg, Rob (Appo),
Jason and Brad

We had a moving service at Isurava.  Greg our trek leader, and Glenn trek leader for team one, gave a talk on some of the history of the the battles here.   He also filled us in on how brigades, platoons etc worked which helped a lot.

Unbelievably Glenn had brought an iPod and afterward played John Williamson's True Blue while we had some reflection time.  We all lost it about then obviously, if we hadn't already done so.

Right after the service a butterfly landed on my hand and stayed with me for quite some time, until we left the memorial, weird.  I was worried about what vermin I would encounter on this trip, so far I was fairly happy with a butterfly I have to say.

After another shout by Timmy we were off again. 

Not far from Isurava Memorial was Cons rock.  This rock was used by soldier Con Vapp as a makeshift operating table. I couldn't begin to imagine the suffering that went on here.

Con's Rock

Soon after leaving Isurava we had our first casualty, Kat from Team 1 went head over in a creek, cutting her eye on a rock and leaving a massive bump.  She was OK, and in typical Kat fashion dusted herself off and kept going. She must have taken one of Appo's harden up pills earlier in the day.

The rest of the day was long and very hard for some.  Greg told us when we arrived at Templeton's 2 camp that this was the longest day they had ever had on the track.  We left at about 0600 and arrived at about 1800. You can't just stop anywhere along the track to sleep, there are not really that many places to sleep, so you just have to keep going.   There's a creek here, big, fast flowing, clear and absolutely freezing.  We tried to wash here, it was so cold I got my breath back sometime the next morning. And I will add here that you can't take your clothes off when you wash for cultural reasons. Hard to wash yourself while your dressed.

Creek crossing, our trek leader Greg was very close to falling in here

What Joey at for lunch every day
Dry two minute noodles and
tuna. Feral.

We did no workout today :(.  After dinner we had another team meeting. It was funny. It was also shocking for me and nobody else.  Joey gave us the damage from his little black book.  Apparently I have 13 points. I don't get it. I have at least 11 more points than anyone else. I haven't said anything negative, didn't double cheek (falling over on both butt cheeks), I didn't even ask the time. The only thing I definitely did was look when Blake said 'there's a Koala'.  I'm thinking about asking Glenn if I can borrow the sat phone to call the bank to get an increase on my credit card limit.  I'm not going to fare well in this competition converting my points to Kina at the end of the track if I keep whatever it is I'm doing up. I think Joey just wants to have a big night at the end. To this day he still hasn't explained to me what I did!

The clothes I washed yesterday are still soaking, so tonight I decide to hang them up on the side of the main shelter by the fire.  This is the first time I've had to do this and it's kind of embarrassing hanging your undies and bra up in front of almost complete strangers. At least they have stuff hanging there as well.

Rest time

I went to sleep that night pondering my only disappointment of today, picking up other peoples rubbish they have left behind on the track.  There's not a lot but this place is pristine, it makes me wild. People are so lazy I hate it. It wasn't from our crew but obviously someone's pack was so heavy they couldn't handle carrying a little bit of plastic. From hereon in I did this every day.  The other team members also started doing it and I carried it.

Cool fungi, you see heaps of great stuff when you stop
and have a poke around

Day 3 - Friday 20 April Kokoda to Isurava

After eventually getting kind of dry, changed and opening the tent, the beauty of Kokoda Village snapped me out of  my rain infested misery immediately. It was a really beautiful day, still misty and foggy but lifting. My negative thoughts from earlier this morning disappeared completely after that.


After breakfast we took a short walk to the memorial located in Kokoda Village.  There is also a small museum here. 


In the museum I experienced my first Kokoda emotional 'thing'. Brad one of the guys in my team lives about 40 minutes away from me. I had only met him once before on the training trek in Brisbane.  We get on really well and I guess we became friends over the first couple of days. Brad spotted a picture on the wall, the man on the stretcher was Brad's great uncle.  The picture didn't upset me but Brads reaction to seeing it did. Unprepared for that one.

Brad standing beside the photo we found of his injured
great uncle

Mowing the grass machete style

Kokoda was basically where fighting against the Japanese began on the track.  The Japanese captured Kokoda on 28th July 1942 and advanced over the Owen Stanely Ranges toward Port Moresby. Australian soldiers delayed and finally halted the enemy at Oribawa Ridge on 26th September 1942.  The 7th division began an offensive which drove the enemy back through Kokoda to the coast around Buna, where Australian and American troops combined to destroy the entire Japanese force by 22 January 1943. 


A lot of people walk the track from the other direction, I'm glad we are doing it this way because it makes is much easier to follow the history of the battles.


After visiting the museum it was time to head off. The bad news was that because of our flight delays we have about 6 hours of trekking to catch up on.  We didn't really have much time to muck around this morning we had to get moving.  There are over twenty of us doing this trek.  We have split into two teams.  Team 1 are to head off first each day, and Team 2, my team, follow 20 minutes behind. The Teams meet briefly at rest stops and camp together each night. Our team leader is Greg and our medic is Rob, who I have known for a while now. Everyone seems to have come with someone, except for Sam and I, he's from NSW. He actually looks kind of familiar. 


Time for some quick photos then Team 1 set off.  We wait twenty minutes and begin our daily routine of stretching while we wait to leave. I knew Greg and Rob would make us do this.  I was so glad we were doing stretches. We are using a buddy system so have to pair up with someone each day and basically look after each other. Greg travels at the front and Rob at the back. Today I am buddied with Kerry.


We finally set off twenty minutes later. This started a pretty funny routine whenever we set off. Timmy one of the porters would shout out 'ARE YOU READY' and then Aussie Aussie Aussie, we would obviously shout Oi Oi Oi.

Team Kick Ass at the start of the track

The sun is out and it is fairly warm. Much like weather in Noosa so no big deal for me I love heat, but possibly a worry for those not used to humidity.  About 500 m into the walk my hips were aching. And I mean aching. Im not soft when it comes to pain but this was ridiculous.  I played around with my pack for ages thinking that I needed to shift the weight slightly. It didn't work.  Shortly after I had an epiphany. I was wearing skins for the first time ever and they were compressing my glutes way too much. The more I worked my muscles the tighter they became and the worse it got.  A quick adjustment and it felt better. I only wore them one more day after this, the same thing happened. They'll be getting lost in my floordrobe now that's for sure.

The Kokoda Valley, we started down the bottom
somewhere in the flat part.

A couple of hours in

Choko vines, this place is spectacular 

A couple of hours in, a couple of the girls were having trouble already.  One was sick before we even started so she was finding it pretty tough. Another of the girls was just finding it difficult, she was carrying a heavy pack and was not acclimatised to the humidity.  Not to worry, Isaac one of the porters, who was already carrying someone else's pack, grabbed her pack and bicep curled it in his arm. He walked like that for the rest of the day. And held her hand the whole time. The porters are amazing! Their strength never ceased to amaze me.

Break and water refill time

We have a break every couple of hours. At lunchtime we get our new ration packs.  Good.  I eat so much and my food is nearly gone.  There's plenty of water around so its easy to drop the weight of your pack and just refill in one of the many creeks, a massive bonus.


Today has been hilly, rocky and absolutely beautiful.  Lots of tree roots and some small creek crossings, less than ankle height.  I think we have walked about 12 km today, I am not really sure. Today we passed a memorial plaque on the track where a trekker died in 2006. So close to the end of the track.  Pretty sad stuff. He was only 32.





We arrived at Isurava Village in the afternoon around 4, I think, not sure I don't wear at watch and definitely don't want one here. We are staying here tonight. We're barely even in the village when Greg tells us to drop our packs we were doing a workout, because we had only been using our legs.  The look on some of the team members' faces was priceless.  I think from memory we did pushups and V sits. Did some more stretching as well. So good.

Afterward we chatted with some of the local kids, some of us had brought some toys, books, pencils etc so we gave some of these to the them.  Later on I had a bit of a personal struggle about giving the kids toys (books and stuff are OK). They appreciated them but it also struck me that their lives were peaceful, happy and simple and did I really need to impose westernised materialistic items on them? They would have been better off with clothes which are more of a necessity and they clearly didn't have enough of, when I go back one day I'm going to take some instead.


We settle in to the camp and sort our stuff out before dark. I hung my sleeping bag up near the fire to dry and washed some clothes, well sort of anyway.  After dinner (mine is vegetarian tonight I'm spewing) we had a team meeting. Greg made one of the guys, Joey the 'Sheriff'. So Joey has to record any stupid things anyone does in a book and at the end of the trek each point is converted to a PNG kina and put over the bar. Greg also produced a pink dummy on some pretty ribbon, to be worn for an entire day by anyone who has the best dummy spit.  The other thing he wants us to do is take it in turns each morning to have a thought of the day and at night to talk about ourselves. Tonight the infighting and thievery over over condensed milk started. Also a lot of laughing going on. There are a few characters in our team that's for sure.


Anyway so the first day of trekking is done, I feel pretty happy, I didn't find it difficult at all and I'm feeling really strong. Apparently tomorrow is harder, both physically and emotionally. Greg said we have a lot of up uphill tomorrow.

Day 2 Thursday 19 April - The longest 72 km's of my life

So apparently our flight to Popondetta has been delayed. Island time is something you need to get used to immediately in this country. Nothing happens on time or quickly.  

The plan for Friday was to fly to Popondetta in the north of the country and then bus to Kokoda, arrive at about lunchtime and then trek for the rest of the day.  The flight is now not leaving until 1 pm so we have a few hours to spare. A bit of time to get to know the rest of the team, great people! 

The most expensive taxi ride in Port
Moresby, Kerrie, Blake,
Joey & I overlooking the harbour

What else to do in Moresby when you have time to spare, no personal armed guard and you don't do well in a razor wired compound? Find some blokes and go out anyway of course! Kerrie, my room mate from last night, Joey, Blake and I decided to catch a cab into Moresby for a look around (not a walk around). Tip 1. When catching a cab in Moresby don't think you're getting a good deal by staying off the meter. Tip 2. Cab drivers need repeated instructions. Cabbie was insistent on taking us to the Botanical Gardens, we had no time for that but had to repeat this at least 4 times. Then he told us again we were going to the Botanical Gardens. It takes quite a bit for me to get mad, he soon knew that I was.

Port Moresby Harbour is quite beautiful. I even spied a waterslide (that I'm sure had my name on it) going from a jetty into the gorgeous clear blue harbour. There was a bit of a discussion and it was decided I wasn't going anywhere, sensible really, but I'm still disappointed I missed it.

We eventually got back to the hotel then off to the airport.  Interesting. Flights were on island time and so was the security.  Don't know how many times the scanners went off when we walked through with no further checks. Island time, island security. At least I didn't have a pat down. During the flight we flew almost over the Track. Oh. Wow. Those mountains are pretty big. I was worried about my fitness before I left Australia, now I am really concerned.

Popondetta

The bus

After arriving at Popondetta Airport, we loaded onto our bus (truck with troop carrier type seats) and headed into Popondetta to grab some supplies.  Never in my life have I seen so much rubbish. Some people already know that I pick up rubbish all the time, every day where ever I am, and every single time I go to the beach, which is often. Wow. I could have been in this place forever.  And the people.  Have never seen so many people in one place just hanging around for no particular reason. It was a bit intimidating actually. 

Just another river crossing
PNG style

And so began our 72 km drive to Kokoda. Not far no, but long yes, 4 hours long.  Road was dirt almost the entire trip.  All the bridges washed away a couple of months ago. Every creek and river was so much fun.  I'm sure that every person we drove past had something loud but nice to say to us. We even had a flasher, a little kid all of about 6 who did a nude jig in the middle of the road after we drove past him.  A great bus trip and pretty funny. Also a good chance to get to know everyone a little better. Could have done with a few extra kg's of padding on my butt and about half a metre off my legs however.  I eventually realised I could hang off the bars on the top of the truck, even pumped out a few chinups. That  helped the leg stretching situation a bit. 4 hours is a long time for me to sit still.


We arrived in Kokoda well after nightfall. It was pouring with rain but fortunately still warm. Threw our gear in a tent and enjoyed our first dehydrated meal.  Here we experienced the toilets Kokoda Track style for the first time.  I'm not going to go into detail but let's just say trees were a much better option and I'm pretty good at climbing fences.


Off to bed. Really pouring now and was stinking hot in the tent. After tossing and turning for a while and feeling hot and uncomfortable I stripped off to cool off. When I woke up in the morning, there was water through my tent and everything was wet. Including me, sleeping bag, the whole lot. And I was cold. I knew the rain was heavy through the night so the tent leaking probably couldn't be helped, but I laid there for a while cold, wet, naked, hungry, tired and trying to suppress the thought that this could be a really crap trip, and then trying to snap myself out of it.