Hi. Here’s the blog for our NRE Trek – October 9 to 19, 2107. It’s a long blog but it was a large group and a big trek. So too bad.
Now this large group consisted of 22 Trekkers, 51 Porters and myself. 20 of the trekkers had personal porters. The entire group of trekkers are from Tassie and like everyone I’ve ever met from Tassie, they are real footy tragics. My kind of people.
We had Simon Euki and Clemment Deia managing our team of porters. Gai Joseph was the lead man and Frank Ilua and Scott Bruno were our Master Chefs. We also had a fantastic bunch of very attentive personal porters.
Andrew Jones, with more that a little help from Andy Lyden, was the driving force behind this trek. Having crossed the track together some years back, they are passionate about honouring the memory of our soldiers and sharing the experience with others. I have to own up to feeling a little daunted by their knowledge and expectations but I think, or at least hope, that it all worked out well in the end.
For me, this expedition became real when I visited Hobart on 26 and 27 August and joined most of our trekkers on a leisurely gallop up Mt Wellington, snow and all. That get together was important and it was great to meet everyone and see they were in good nick.
We had a couple of little hiccups on the eve of heading to Moresby. Andrew’s very comfortable well broken in hiking boots malfunctioned and he had to start the trek in a brand new pair. Not ideal. And don’t worry Alan, I promise not to tell that you somehow managed to lose your air mattress before getting out of Australia. At least we managed to find a replacement. Alan (Jones) is our 75 years young inspirational trekker.
Once we arrived in Moresby things settled down and we had a quiet afternoon at the Holiday Inn. It was then that the significance of some aspects of this trek dawned on me. It was a 75th Kokoda Anniversary trek and Alan was born in 1942. We had the three generations of the one family on the trek, Alan, his daughter Lee-Anne and her sons Zack and Alex. We also had Stephen (Booth) and his sons James, Jared and Michael and well as Craig Rogers and son Ben. Lee-Anne and Andy were our husband – wife combination. I was wondering how our two ladies Lee-Anne and Louise were going to handle some many alpha males but they did it easily.
We had a very smooth flight to Popondetta which we shared with Shane Chisolm and his group of trekkers. Lee-Anne seemed a little anxious about the flight but I’m sure she would now agree that the ATR is a fantastic plane and Airlines PNG is one of the world’s great airlines.
Mary greeted us a Popondetta with three matching blue PMV’s. (People Movement Vehicle’s) Three fun packed hours later we arrived in Kokoda, just ahead of the rain. Just!!!! We had a dry visit to the Battlefield and Museum but weren’t so fortunate once we started walking. It rained on us from Kokoda all the way to Deniki and kept on raining into the night and all of the next day, including our visit to the Isurava Memorial. We managed a short service in the misty rain and Alan recited the Ode for us. Our night at Deniki wasn’t entirely uneventful. Iain “Burbs” Burbury became homeless when Andrew was unable to tolerate a tiny little bit of gentle snoring. Anyway, Burbs got the boot from the Jones tent.
Between Con’s Rock and Alola Village we encountered a major landslide which had happened only that morning and had taken out part of the track. Our frantic porters were certain that a further collapse was imminent and did a fantastic job getting everyone across quickly and safely. Although, not without some very nervous moments. Funny thing was that earlier in the day porter Phillip Aoda had said to me that ground was rumbling and he thought there was going to be a landslide. This caused me to look around, trip and face plant. Phillip was right and I was leading the best fall award.
Low and behold, just as we approached Alola there was a kid in a Tassie Hawks AFL Footy Jumper. I thought Andrew, our Hawk Fanatic had set it up but he assures me he didn’t. While on the footy theme, Craig “Rog” Rogers had brought along an umpires whistle which he sporadically blew. That was followed by a large chant of “BALL” by trekkers and porters alike. Very funny.
Now this large group consisted of 22 Trekkers, 51 Porters and myself. 20 of the trekkers had personal porters. The entire group of trekkers are from Tassie and like everyone I’ve ever met from Tassie, they are real footy tragics. My kind of people.
We had Simon Euki and Clemment Deia managing our team of porters. Gai Joseph was the lead man and Frank Ilua and Scott Bruno were our Master Chefs. We also had a fantastic bunch of very attentive personal porters.
Andrew Jones, with more that a little help from Andy Lyden, was the driving force behind this trek. Having crossed the track together some years back, they are passionate about honouring the memory of our soldiers and sharing the experience with others. I have to own up to feeling a little daunted by their knowledge and expectations but I think, or at least hope, that it all worked out well in the end.
For me, this expedition became real when I visited Hobart on 26 and 27 August and joined most of our trekkers on a leisurely gallop up Mt Wellington, snow and all. That get together was important and it was great to meet everyone and see they were in good nick.
We had a couple of little hiccups on the eve of heading to Moresby. Andrew’s very comfortable well broken in hiking boots malfunctioned and he had to start the trek in a brand new pair. Not ideal. And don’t worry Alan, I promise not to tell that you somehow managed to lose your air mattress before getting out of Australia. At least we managed to find a replacement. Alan (Jones) is our 75 years young inspirational trekker.
Once we arrived in Moresby things settled down and we had a quiet afternoon at the Holiday Inn. It was then that the significance of some aspects of this trek dawned on me. It was a 75th Kokoda Anniversary trek and Alan was born in 1942. We had the three generations of the one family on the trek, Alan, his daughter Lee-Anne and her sons Zack and Alex. We also had Stephen (Booth) and his sons James, Jared and Michael and well as Craig Rogers and son Ben. Lee-Anne and Andy were our husband – wife combination. I was wondering how our two ladies Lee-Anne and Louise were going to handle some many alpha males but they did it easily.
We had a very smooth flight to Popondetta which we shared with Shane Chisolm and his group of trekkers. Lee-Anne seemed a little anxious about the flight but I’m sure she would now agree that the ATR is a fantastic plane and Airlines PNG is one of the world’s great airlines.
Mary greeted us a Popondetta with three matching blue PMV’s. (People Movement Vehicle’s) Three fun packed hours later we arrived in Kokoda, just ahead of the rain. Just!!!! We had a dry visit to the Battlefield and Museum but weren’t so fortunate once we started walking. It rained on us from Kokoda all the way to Deniki and kept on raining into the night and all of the next day, including our visit to the Isurava Memorial. We managed a short service in the misty rain and Alan recited the Ode for us. Our night at Deniki wasn’t entirely uneventful. Iain “Burbs” Burbury became homeless when Andrew was unable to tolerate a tiny little bit of gentle snoring. Anyway, Burbs got the boot from the Jones tent.
Between Con’s Rock and Alola Village we encountered a major landslide which had happened only that morning and had taken out part of the track. Our frantic porters were certain that a further collapse was imminent and did a fantastic job getting everyone across quickly and safely. Although, not without some very nervous moments. Funny thing was that earlier in the day porter Phillip Aoda had said to me that ground was rumbling and he thought there was going to be a landslide. This caused me to look around, trip and face plant. Phillip was right and I was leading the best fall award.
Low and behold, just as we approached Alola there was a kid in a Tassie Hawks AFL Footy Jumper. I thought Andrew, our Hawk Fanatic had set it up but he assures me he didn’t. While on the footy theme, Craig “Rog” Rogers had brought along an umpires whistle which he sporadically blew. That was followed by a large chant of “BALL” by trekkers and porters alike. Very funny.
We stayed at the bottom camp at Alola which seemed to be away from the roosters. Burbs got a little reprieve. He did have to move into his own tent but he was allowed to share our camp site. Of course the rain continued through the evening and there was a heavier down pour through the night. Many of our weary trekkers had an early night while a few of us including Bob (Barker), Crawf (Craig Crawford), Paul (Johnstone), Tony Usher and young blokes Zach and Alex. I learned the very concerning news that Bob had played footy until the ripe old age of 57 and became worried about his sanity. I was assured that he was okay and it was Paul I needed to worry about. I ultimately spent a lot of time trekking near Paul and I’m happy to vouch for him. He’s fine. Zach decided to entertain us with party tricks which involved a candle and the passing of wind. Need I say more. It was fortunate we had the very wise and mature Pete (Moore) there to keep a lid on things. Andy wasn’t much help. I was chatting with Danny (Johnson) and learned he is ex-military, which is something that always makes me nervous and challenges me. But what a gentleman. He never once picked me up on anything I said and was always incredibly positive. I also got chatting to Crawf who like me is a cop and it turns out I know some of his Tassie colleagues.
We left Alola behind a managed a bit of walking without rain for a change although it was always threatening. We had a quick visit to the ammo dump followed by lunch at Templeton’s 2. Some made it to camp at Templeton’s 1 just as the rain arrived on the dot at 3.30 pm but some including yours truly didn’t manage that. Oh well.
Even though it was early in the trek a couple of candidates had emerged as favourites for the various trek awards. Steve was already unbeatable for the “Sorbent” Award (Most time spent up the lead porter’s backside). While Tony was clubhouse leader in the “DFQ”. Dumb #@%$ Question Award for his very public and serious question:- “Baz, will we be able to get a froffy at Kagi tomorrow?”
The pattern which had emerged was that we had a very fit and fast group of trekkers. Alan dropped back a little on some of the big uphills but never more than a few minutes. He is an absolute marvel. Our girls, Lou and Lee are incredibly strong and could walk anywhere in the conga line that they wanted to. By the time we got to Templeton’s the rain had attacked Lou’s hair and she had a head of fuzzy wuzzy hair that was the envy of all of our porters. Another emerging pattern was the appetite of some of the trekkers for the story of the Kokoda Campaign. Dunc (Duncan Campbell) in particular was like a sponge always wanting to soak up more. Hope I gave you enough Dunc.
We were finally bathed in sunshine as we left Templeton’s and it stayed with us virtually all the way to Kagi. We went out to Myola and were treated to a great view at Kagi Gap. On arrival at Kagi we were fortunate enough to meet up with Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel, Havala before a welcome by the village ladies and kids. We stayed at Gerry’s camp for the two nights including the Sabbath and it was the perfect place to relax and play cards, which often wasn’t quite so relaxing. Poor old Burbs copped it again at Kagi. His tent was pitched among the others on the Friday Night but that only served to have him voted off the island for snoring. While he was at Church on the Sabbath someone, not sure who, arranged for his tent and belongings to be moved as far away from the others as possible. Burbs took it on the chin. Paul doesn’t mind having a bit of a snore too but for some reason he seemed to skate through without attracting any punitive penalties.
Church on Saturday was very interesting. Our trekkers got heavily involved. Zach and Jared did readings from the bible and Andy contributed to the mass by claiming to be Lazarus. I couldn’t quite understand what he was on about myself but thanks anyway Andy. The Sabbath delivered both seasons in the one day. We had a very hot and sunny first half of the day and a very wet afternoon. The evening was okay so we were able to get down into the village and join Shane’s trek and meet the kids. We did the biggest Hokey Pokey of all time and then handed over Education Packs to some of the older kids. Burbs was handing out lollies and got mobbed. Ben brought along a footy which was starting to get more and more use however some little rascal at Kagi decided to make it his own during our fun with the kids.
Kagi was also the scene of intense and hard fought games of Euchre. Ben and Alex were the self- proclaimed Kings of Kagi. As we prepared to bid farewell to Kagi, Ben’s footy miraculously re-appeared however, Rog’s whistle was missing. It suddenly appeared hanging around Simon’s neck. For some reason Simon thought it would be funny to take control of the whistle. While that constitutes theft in some parts of the world, we just went with it and Simon blew it a couple of times during the day.
We by-passed Efogi and went up the original Mission Ridge Track. At the top one of our Porter’s, Sove spotted a very very large Carpet Snake high up in a tree. By far the largest I’ve seen and many of the porters said the same. Don’t ask me why but our porters and some trekkers just had to try and get it down. In the end and after trying every trick in the book they had to give up and the snake was left to fight another day. Thank goodness.
We had very good weather on Brigade Hill and performed a little service. Andrew shared a great story with us about the 2/27th Battalion and some of its characters. The descent to Menari was quite comfortable but a dip in the river was still a god send. At Menari we stayed in a large camp at the top end of the village and it ended up being perfect for our needs. There was a large grass area for a bit of kick to kick. Trekkers at one end and Zach and the porters at the other, all trying to take speckies. I’m always on the lookout for footy talent and noticed Mike is a natural on left and right foot. I was very concerned that we may lose Zach and a few porters to injury. Gai was constantly lining up Zach and trying to take marks over him. It was all very competitive and Gai may find himself playing at North Hobart next year. The kick to kick was followed by a very spiteful game of porters touch rugby. How we got through that without any injuries, I’ll never know.
The 15th of October happened to be Tony’s Birthday, as well as mine. I’d arranged with our cooks to have a cake for Tony but didn’t expect one for me too. I didn’t tell the porters it was my birthday but someone blabbed. Anyway it was great fun even though Tony couldn’t get a froffy at Menari either.
The walk from Menari to New Nauro was straight forward and the swamp was very dry. I quizzed Simon about Rog’s whistle but by this time Clemment had stolen it from Simon. Stuart (Woolley) was one of the real quiet achievers on the trek. He, Danny (Johnson), Dunc and Mike (Booth) hardly said boo. Stu became a bit more noticeable as we descended some of the more slippery slopes because he moved like he was on ice skates but had the balance of a cat and managed to stay upright. Jared (Booth) started out quiet but that certainly changed along the way. Euchre hostilities were on again at New Nauro without any real clear winners however Andy and Steve had emerged as expert exponents of the game. Of course the rain arrived again at 3.30 pm.
We had good weather between New Nauro and at Ofi Creek we finally ran into a trek going in the other direction. (Our first for the week and two more followed that day.) They were on day two and already had one bloke who was struggling big time. It was a big hot push up Ioribaiwa Ridge and I think Lee-Anne was very happy to see the end of it. At Ioribaiwa Village we paid tribute to the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels and Pete, another quiet achiever, was kind enough to eloquently recite the Fuzzy Wuzzy Poem. The rain turned up again at 3.30 pm by which time all but about half a dozen of us had made it into camp. It was a wet and quiet night for most of us however the euchre brigade were at it again.
The last day is always fun and full of anticipation. This was no exception. I was still holding the best fall mantle but Crawf was kind enough to take over early on the last day. Fortunately he was okay. Zach, Ben, Mike and Jared were keen to race some of our porters up Imita Ridge. Zach started like he was Usain Bolt and Mike finished like Winx but in the end a couple of the seasoned porters had a bit left in the tank and just pipped them.
It was an early arrival at Ower’s Corner and a satisfying feeling to cross the finish line. Al was still storming along and led the way across the line. We had an enjoyable little lunch there and Tony finally got his froffy. Hooray!!! After lunch it was off to Bomana War Cemetery. Thanks Bob for reading, “What do you say to a dying man” at Bruce Kingsbury’s Grave. You made that extremely emotional.
Thanks everyone for a great trek. You should all be extremely proud of your efforts and I hope each and every one of you enjoyed the experience. Special thanks for the manner in which you treated our porters. It was just at a level I’ve never experienced before and I was so thrilled to be part of it. Thank you also for treating me like a part of the team and a friend. It was a privilege to trek with you and I am still on such a high.
Well done to James and Danny on carrying your own full packs. That is no mean feat.
I hope I haven’t offended anyone in this blog.
My final observation of our trek. RECORD COKE AND TWISTIES SALES WERE ACHIVED ON THE KOKODA TRACK BETWEEN 10TH AND 18TH OCTOBER, 2017.
Baz
Expedition Guide
No Roads Expeditions
[email protected]
We left Alola behind a managed a bit of walking without rain for a change although it was always threatening. We had a quick visit to the ammo dump followed by lunch at Templeton’s 2. Some made it to camp at Templeton’s 1 just as the rain arrived on the dot at 3.30 pm but some including yours truly didn’t manage that. Oh well.
Even though it was early in the trek a couple of candidates had emerged as favourites for the various trek awards. Steve was already unbeatable for the “Sorbent” Award (Most time spent up the lead porter’s backside). While Tony was clubhouse leader in the “DFQ”. Dumb #@%$ Question Award for his very public and serious question:- “Baz, will we be able to get a froffy at Kagi tomorrow?”
The pattern which had emerged was that we had a very fit and fast group of trekkers. Alan dropped back a little on some of the big uphills but never more than a few minutes. He is an absolute marvel. Our girls, Lou and Lee are incredibly strong and could walk anywhere in the conga line that they wanted to. By the time we got to Templeton’s the rain had attacked Lou’s hair and she had a head of fuzzy wuzzy hair that was the envy of all of our porters. Another emerging pattern was the appetite of some of the trekkers for the story of the Kokoda Campaign. Dunc (Duncan Campbell) in particular was like a sponge always wanting to soak up more. Hope I gave you enough Dunc.
We were finally bathed in sunshine as we left Templeton’s and it stayed with us virtually all the way to Kagi. We went out to Myola and were treated to a great view at Kagi Gap. On arrival at Kagi we were fortunate enough to meet up with Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel, Havala before a welcome by the village ladies and kids. We stayed at Gerry’s camp for the two nights including the Sabbath and it was the perfect place to relax and play cards, which often wasn’t quite so relaxing. Poor old Burbs copped it again at Kagi. His tent was pitched among the others on the Friday Night but that only served to have him voted off the island for snoring. While he was at Church on the Sabbath someone, not sure who, arranged for his tent and belongings to be moved as far away from the others as possible. Burbs took it on the chin. Paul doesn’t mind having a bit of a snore too but for some reason he seemed to skate through without attracting any punitive penalties.
Church on Saturday was very interesting. Our trekkers got heavily involved. Zach and Jared did readings from the bible and Andy contributed to the mass by claiming to be Lazarus. I couldn’t quite understand what he was on about myself but thanks anyway Andy. The Sabbath delivered both seasons in the one day. We had a very hot and sunny first half of the day and a very wet afternoon. The evening was okay so we were able to get down into the village and join Shane’s trek and meet the kids. We did the biggest Hokey Pokey of all time and then handed over Education Packs to some of the older kids. Burbs was handing out lollies and got mobbed. Ben brought along a footy which was starting to get more and more use however some little rascal at Kagi decided to make it his own during our fun with the kids.
Kagi was also the scene of intense and hard fought games of Euchre. Ben and Alex were the self- proclaimed Kings of Kagi. As we prepared to bid farewell to Kagi, Ben’s footy miraculously re-appeared however, Rog’s whistle was missing. It suddenly appeared hanging around Simon’s neck. For some reason Simon thought it would be funny to take control of the whistle. While that constitutes theft in some parts of the world, we just went with it and Simon blew it a couple of times during the day.
We by-passed Efogi and went up the original Mission Ridge Track. At the top one of our Porter’s, Sove spotted a very very large Carpet Snake high up in a tree. By far the largest I’ve seen and many of the porters said the same. Don’t ask me why but our porters and some trekkers just had to try and get it down. In the end and after trying every trick in the book they had to give up and the snake was left to fight another day. Thank goodness.
We had very good weather on Brigade Hill and performed a little service. Andrew shared a great story with us about the 2/27th Battalion and some of its characters. The descent to Menari was quite comfortable but a dip in the river was still a god send. At Menari we stayed in a large camp at the top end of the village and it ended up being perfect for our needs. There was a large grass area for a bit of kick to kick. Trekkers at one end and Zach and the porters at the other, all trying to take speckies. I’m always on the lookout for footy talent and noticed Mike is a natural on left and right foot. I was very concerned that we may lose Zach and a few porters to injury. Gai was constantly lining up Zach and trying to take marks over him. It was all very competitive and Gai may find himself playing at North Hobart next year. The kick to kick was followed by a very spiteful game of porters touch rugby. How we got through that without any injuries, I’ll never know.
The 15th of October happened to be Tony’s Birthday, as well as mine. I’d arranged with our cooks to have a cake for Tony but didn’t expect one for me too. I didn’t tell the porters it was my birthday but someone blabbed. Anyway it was great fun even though Tony couldn’t get a froffy at Menari either.
The walk from Menari to New Nauro was straight forward and the swamp was very dry. I quizzed Simon about Rog’s whistle but by this time Clemment had stolen it from Simon. Stuart (Woolley) was one of the real quiet achievers on the trek. He, Danny (Johnson), Dunc and Mike (Booth) hardly said boo. Stu became a bit more noticeable as we descended some of the more slippery slopes because he moved like he was on ice skates but had the balance of a cat and managed to stay upright. Jared (Booth) started out quiet but that certainly changed along the way. Euchre hostilities were on again at New Nauro without any real clear winners however Andy and Steve had emerged as expert exponents of the game. Of course the rain arrived again at 3.30 pm.
We had good weather between New Nauro and at Ofi Creek we finally ran into a trek going in the other direction. (Our first for the week and two more followed that day.) They were on day two and already had one bloke who was struggling big time. It was a big hot push up Ioribaiwa Ridge and I think Lee-Anne was very happy to see the end of it. At Ioribaiwa Village we paid tribute to the Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels and Pete, another quiet achiever, was kind enough to eloquently recite the Fuzzy Wuzzy Poem. The rain turned up again at 3.30 pm by which time all but about half a dozen of us had made it into camp. It was a wet and quiet night for most of us however the euchre brigade were at it again.
The last day is always fun and full of anticipation. This was no exception. I was still holding the best fall mantle but Crawf was kind enough to take over early on the last day. Fortunately he was okay. Zach, Ben, Mike and Jared were keen to race some of our porters up Imita Ridge. Zach started like he was Usain Bolt and Mike finished like Winx but in the end a couple of the seasoned porters had a bit left in the tank and just pipped them.
It was an early arrival at Ower’s Corner and a satisfying feeling to cross the finish line. Al was still storming along and led the way across the line. We had an enjoyable little lunch there and Tony finally got his froffy. Hooray!!! After lunch it was off to Bomana War Cemetery. Thanks Bob for reading, “What do you say to a dying man” at Bruce Kingsbury’s Grave. You made that extremely emotional.
Thanks everyone for a great trek. You should all be extremely proud of your efforts and I hope each and every one of you enjoyed the experience. Special thanks for the manner in which you treated our porters. It was just at a level I’ve never experienced before and I was so thrilled to be part of it. Thank you also for treating me like a part of the team and a friend. It was a privilege to trek with you and I am still on such a high.
Well done to James and Danny on carrying your own full packs. That is no mean feat.
I hope I haven’t offended anyone in this blog.
My final observation of our trek. RECORD COKE AND TWISTIES SALES WERE ACHIVED ON THE KOKODA TRACK BETWEEN 10TH AND 18TH OCTOBER, 2017.
Baz
Expedition Guide
No Roads Expeditions
[email protected]