Day 7 Tuesday 24 April, Brigade Hill to Menari - I had a hissy fit

Today we have a really short day. Its the 24th April, tomorrow is Anzac Day. We are having a Dawn Service at a village called Menari.  We are also meeting Team 3 today for the first time, they are travelling from the other direction.

I loved this place, Brigade Hill, I'll be sad to leave. The kids in the village were singing at 3 am. It was great. This whole country sings, and does it well.  The kids get me every time, their happiness, their shyness and contentedness. They remind me of my own children, who's faces at the moment I can't even seem to remember clearly.  Weird I  know.  

I forgot to mention in the last post, my thongs (and I mean flip flops and not undies for any yanks reading this) broke last night. This is a real bummer, it's not like I have heaps of spare shoes here. I never normally wear shoes but you need them to wear around camp protect your feet from hookworms.

We leave Brigade Hill early and have a steep two hour descent then a one hour climb into Menari.  

I am partnered with Brad today, we get on pretty well. I had a pee stop this morning, sprinted off into the bush, came back out to faithfully waiting Brad, packed up and kept walking. About 3 minutes later I realised I left my walking pole behind at the tree I had peed near. So I sprinted back, ran off into the bush again and found it. On the way back to the track I got attacked by some type of man eating vine (yes attacked, there's no way I walked into it) and slashed the back of my leg.  Blood the lot, but not bad. Will definitely scar a little.  So I got a point against my name in the book for being forgetful and so did Brad for not looking after me. Woops. I have racked up a few now.

One of the butterflies I saw by the creek,
 there were so many of them

On the climb up to Menarie we find another beautiful creek. Team one are still there having a break.

Bath time again.  I grab my wilderness wash, which is unscented and suddenly have a girly moment and want to smell something nice.  Unbelievably, Kerri has lavender oil!  So I put a few drops in my wash. Nice. I head to the water.

Team 1 are now leaving and getting out, I'm getting in.  And there before me is a disturbing sight. On the top of a rock in the middle of a pristine creek is an empty (and fresh) muesli bar wrapper.  So, me being the rubbish queen that I am, calmly asks everyone who left it there?  No takers, no one owns up. Im getting angry. I don't care who it is as long as they pick it up and take it with them. I ask again.  No answers. 

Anyway (it's rumoured) this is about the time I have what can be described as a small hissy fit. Doesn't happen very often but it did, in front of my whole team.  Joey the Sheriff was so good about it, I mean nobody had spat the dummy like that yet and he didn't even give me the dummy award.  

Me and the best bath on the planet. Obviously Whiteleg to my right hadn't yet realised my level of nakedness, he left shortly after.  Absolutely hilarious. I love Tanya and Sue's faces in this pic. Tanya reckons I was enjoying it a little too much.

I got rid of the rubbish. Then took a wash.  This bath was awesome, I even smelt nice after and not like a rank wet cat like I had been.  I am pretty sure that Whiteleg almost went blind, I decided to take half my clothes off, when he realised what I was doing he quickly moved himself.  Tanya and Sue were cracking up laughing, Tanya trying to shield me with a very small Australian flag, lucky I'm little. It was sooooo funny, I still laugh thinking back.

After a wash and something to eat we finished the walk to Menari just before lunch.  It was still a bit of a climb and I was almost dry by the time we got there.

Coming in

There is an airstrip at Menari. If you can call it that. About half an hour after we arrived a plane landed.  Holy cow this was perhaps one of the scariest things I have ever seen.  A small plane coming down the side of a mountain and hurtling down a tiny grass airstrip. At the end of the airstrip was a bunch of kids sitting right in the path of the plane.  I was standing next the the Adventure Professionals boss Glenn watching all of this unfold. 

Landing, note the kids at the end of the runway

Glenn is a 42 time Kokoda veteran so he's seen it all before. Me, no. As the plane landed and was charging towards the kids, I may have let the F word fly rather loudly.  Glenn was in hysterics. I was running to save the kids or do something. Everything was fine obviously I was just getting a bit maternal. The take off was almost as bad.

The plane was carrying ration packs (yeehaaaaaa), Andrew the bugler and Piper Joe the bagpiper for the service tomorrow.

The rest of the day we had free, it was almost like a holiday.  Kerri and I walked to market up the hill and bought fresh fruit, I also bought a bilam and carried all the produce back on my head just like a local. I love this place. Joey and Blake went hunting with a couple of the porters.  They didn't catch anything despite the porters efforts at tree lopping to find bird of paradise eggs. Joey stopped them thank goodness.  

Later the afternoon Sam and I decided to do some karate. We found a quiet spot away from everyone (so we thought) near the school, even took our shoes off!! Sam at a 3rd Dan Black Belt is a few belts higher than me so he was boss, even on Kokoda and with no belts in sight.  Sam taught me a kata, which is basically a choreographed series of martial arts movements. The kata we did was a very beautiful one, with lots of breathing, standing on one leg and hands in the air with fingers in exact positions.  It hit me after a few minutes  how amazing it was that Sam and I were performing a Japanese martial art in the very place where our Aussie soldiers had so brutally fought the Japanese.  Another epiphany about acceptance.

I was really embarrassed to see a whole bunch of villagers watching us when we turned around to leave. Anyway, I have practiced it often since I have been home.

After dinner we had a little surprise.  The kids from the local school gave an impromptu performance to raise money for their school. It was so awesome.  Everyone can sing here it's really unbelievable. 

Menarie school kids giving an impromptu performance

Bed time again.  I fell asleep fast and had been asleep for what seemed like forever when I woke up to flashing torchlights and voices.  I think I already said I don't wear a watch. I had no idea what time it was but it was obviously morning with all the racket going on, we were getting up at 4.30 for the dawn service.  So I got up and headed towards the fire where Kat from my team and Paul from Team 3 were sitting.  Paul looks at me perplexed, 'Hey Jen, what are you doing?' me, fully awake, pumped, ready to go told Kat and Paul that, well I was pumped and ready to go.  Paul and Kat nearly fell over laughing, then Paul said, 'Jen, sweetheart, it's 2200 go back to bed'. Oh OK. I did, but I did not sleep very well. It had also started to rain. 

Day 6 Monday 23 April, Naduri to Brigade Hill, Underneath the uniform we are all human

Joey and Kenneth on one of
Kokoda's engineering works'
of excellence. This one is actually really great.

Today I seem to have heaps of pictures and not as much to write. Everyone must be thanking their lucky stars my diary got wet.  Joey (The Sheriff) is my buddy today. Going to have to be on my best behaviour since he is in charge of the black book.


This morning we make the steep descent out of Naduri toward Efogi.  Of course we have to go up again after. And down. And up. The terrain is similar the whole track, but the vegetation and the soil types change quite a bit.  Lots of the track is basically tree roots. PNG is probably held together by tree roots.

I have my skins on again today. Mistake. Hips are aching already and I have to keep adjusting them. Efogi is approximately half way along the track.  Greg has been telling us that at Efogi we have a surprise. I hope its fresh food. Maybe eggs, some chicken some fruit or some veggies.  I've been dreaming about it for days.

Bilams the locals make and sell. You hang she strap over your head and the bag hangs down behind your head, as opposed to carrying over your shoulder. A really sensible idea. But I get weird looks in the shops now.

Oh yeah!!!

We reach Efogi village.  This is not the surprise but its good enough for me. Fresh fruit and some pan fried sweet potato.  So I buy from the villagers some bananas, sweet potato, tamarillo and tomatoes. Quite obviously I am hungry (i'm always hungry, damn hookworms) but I share it with everyone of course. So good. Appo had never had a Tamarillo.  He though it was a bit dodgy so he sucked the insides out and the filled it up with condensed milk. And he thought I was weird hugging trees.

People have been amazed at how much I eat, given my slight size. You need about 7000 calories a day to sustain trekking like this. I wouldn't be surprised if I ate that normally. I seem to be the only one getting through my entire ration pack every day and sometimes other peoples left overs. Brad was saying this morning that he thinks the hook worm has got me and thats why I'm hungry. 

Kat going over in a creek, again

Kat and her Dad Mark

Kerri and Blake doing, um, something with stones

After our break we continue on.  Shortly after we discover that the surprise is a swim.  We have had one swim back at Templetons but it was almost dark then and the water was 6 degrees.  This is about 15 degrees. The day is fairly warm and although it's still morning its a great chance to clean up and relax. During the swim Sam and I figure out where we know each other from. We used to compete at the same karate tournaments, we have even watched each others events it turns out. Small world.

Greg our team leader

Footy before the tears

We moved on to the next village where we stopped for lunch. This village was filled with kids and dogs.  Lot's of dogs.  Joey at one point I'm sure whispered to me 'look at these parasitic animals'. And they were, I felt so sorry for them. You could actually see the fleas crawling on them. You could even see fleas in the grass where the dogs had been.  


Joey and I were keen to move on, neither of us wanted to really sit on the ground, so Joey decided to have a game of footy with the kids. It was all going well until he threw the ball and hit a little boy in the head.  Tears over, they continued playing, Joey threw the ball and hit the same boy in the head again, more tears now.  Poor Joey didn't know what to do.  I gave the little guy a hug and calmed him down. Well, lunch was a flea ridden teary disaster.  
More walking. Going up Mission Ridge was quite scary, at times the side of the track dropped away alarmingly. You really had to concentrate.

Following the battle of Isurava, the Mission Ridge/Brigade Hill battle was the next attempt to halt the Japanese. Brigade Hill is a beautiful mountain ridge. Extending from its north face it is Mission Ridge. At Mission Ridge, men weary (and depleted) from the battle at Isurava were placed along a back line and a fresh battalion was placed at the front. Headquarters were also placed at the back. This effectively created two Australian positions. The Japanese approached Mission Ridge from the north, heavy firing by a Japanese battalion commencing the battle head on.  

Climbing Brigade Hill/Mission Ridge theres about
2 cm between the front of my toes and nothing
much below for quite a while.

Meanwhile another Japanese battalion trekked throughout the night and scaled the steep western slope of Brigade Hill. At dawn the following morning they lodged themselves between the two Australian positions. Many Australians and Japanese were killed. It was a major victory for the Japanese.


We had a short service at Mission Ridge, all of us trying to comprehend the brutality of the conflict. It was so hot, there was no tree cover at all, we soon forgot all about our swim at Efogi. During the Mission Ridge service Glenn played a song written by a musician from Brisbane, Hamish Wyatt.  He did the track with Glenn a few years ago.  This is a link to his song.  Its hard to explain the emotions of Kokoda so maybe this will help for those who have not been. The film clip contains some great footage from renowned journalist at the time Damien Parer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wasceChoMfw

Now we move on to Brigade Hill, a beautiful walk today. I guess we have only done maybe 6 hours of trekking today.  

Tree stump where Kokichi Mishimura hid to escape
the Australian forces

Along the track to Brigade Hill we come across this tree stump.  This for me is a reminder of one the most moving stories from Kokoda I have heard.  Actually not just from Kokoda, ever.  Kokichi Nishimura was a Japanese Soldier who was the only member of his platoon to survive the Kokoda campaign.  For a time he hid in this tree stump to escape the Aussies.  He was eventually evacuated back to Japan, not before making the grim pledge to return and find his comrades to take them home to Japan for a proper burial.

At the age of 60, Kokichi left his wife and two children in Japan and returned to Kokoda. For the next 26 years (and 400 million yen in life savings) he lived alone on the track, searching for the bones of his comrades. He dug up and repatriated the bodies of 350 of his fallen comrades. What a truly unbelievable man. Honour, commitment, fortitude, determination. Incredible. In any battle every soldier on any side has family and friends at home waiting for them.  And that makes me think that whatever the circumstances, underneath the uniform, we are all human.  (There is a book about Kokichi, The Bone Man of Kokoda, by Charles Happell, it's really good).

We arrive at Brigade Hill in the afternoon, we have a little time to spare, so some of the porters make some spears and we try our hand at throwing them. Time for washing clothes and ourselves and then we meet for a solemn service at the Brigade Hill memorial. 

L at brigade Hill, and yes I realise I am not wearing shorts over my skins, I may have got a point in the black book for this
R checking out the damage, one blister right foot, the rest is maintenance

The service was great and we were joined by our Papuan porters also.  The site where we are standing was the burial site of about 67 Australians, until their remains were moved to the Bomana War Cemetery.    The graves are still symbolised by a pole placed in the ground for each one, for the service our porters had tied red ribbon around the tops of the poles.

Camp at Brigade Hill

Brigade Hill

At the end of the service we sang our national anthems.  Ours compared to the Papua New Guinea Anthem seemed embarrassing.  Here is this group of maybe 30 local men, some of whom have never met before and just sang their national anthem in perfect harmony. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. I honestly would have paid money to hear it. It was spine tingling stuff.  Ours sounded like crap, except for Kat who can actually sing. We seriously needed to do more with our anthem when we were  in school.  I was so proud of the PNG boys for being able to sing their anthem like that. 


Unfortunately none of us recorded this, mostly out of respect.  I looked around on you tube and I found a clip that sounds similar from another trek, the image and sound quality are quite poor but you can get the general idea. Then if you imagine hearing that in the misty daylight at the top of Brigade Hill, in amongst the poles with red ribbon, symbolising graves of Aussie soldiers, and our crew and porters, you might kind of get a feel for it. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoVuuA5LZqw

All of us after the Brigade Hill service

This kids loved posing for photos, and then loved
looking at them

Chatting to some local kids, um OK we may have been singing. These little guys were singing at 3am.
I didn't mind, it was great

Possibly one of the cutest kids ever, I really really like this photo

Workout, dinner and and then team meeting time again.  Whiteleg is really racking up the points in the book. This afternoon he sat on the ground exhausted at the end of the day, looked up at me and said 'Jen, don't you ever get tired?'. I was not sure what to say. I told him I do get tired,  but it's just walking, one foot in front of the other and getting your head and attitude in the right space. I hoped it helped him. I would need to use this advice for myself in a couple of days....

Bed time again. It's chilly and a little bit rainy. We go to bed so early, its weird.  We only have a short day tomorrow I'm looking forward to it. Oh and that bit about not having much to write today, I was so wrong!

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