“We think of them with sorrow and with pride but there should be a third feeling stronger than grief, greater than pride. A sense of fullness and of achievement. To us, their lives may seem to have been severely shortened, yet in truth they were full lives. It is not how many years a man lives that matters but what he does with the years-many or few-that are granted to him. And those who sleep here did much with theirs”.
Lt Col Phil Roden, OC 2/14th Battalion AIF
Being an Australian Guide across the Kokoda Track is a privilege, an honour. Having flown in to PNG on 14 Apr 19, I was joined the next day by eleven clients; some filled with nerves, others uncertainty as to what to expect, all eleven excited to embrace the adventure that was about to take place. For all of us, arrival in country was the culmination of many months of hard training, gear analysis, packing and re-packing. Finally, the day had arrived! Kokoda!
Lt Col Phil Roden, OC 2/14th Battalion AIF
Being an Australian Guide across the Kokoda Track is a privilege, an honour. Having flown in to PNG on 14 Apr 19, I was joined the next day by eleven clients; some filled with nerves, others uncertainty as to what to expect, all eleven excited to embrace the adventure that was about to take place. For all of us, arrival in country was the culmination of many months of hard training, gear analysis, packing and re-packing. Finally, the day had arrived! Kokoda!
Pre-Trek briefing
After early morning flights from Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, our intrepid trekkers Sally, Rob, Steph, Lauren, Susan, Deb, Chris, Dean, Dale, Jorgen and Adrian gathered in the Holiday Inn Boardroom for our briefing. A collection of friendship groups, plus a mother/daughter combination. A few days later, deep in the hot and humid jungle, we would look back and laugh at the comment that the overly efficient air con had frozen us throughout the briefing! Some a/c in the tent at night would have been nice……
On the Track
After a 0400 wake up and final gulp of air con, we were off to the airport for the short flight to Popondetta, followed by a PMV ride to Kokoda, lunch and meeting our PNG Guides, before the first call of ‘packs on’.
Highlights
Expedition Guide
No Roads Expeditions
andrewf@noroads.com.au
After early morning flights from Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, our intrepid trekkers Sally, Rob, Steph, Lauren, Susan, Deb, Chris, Dean, Dale, Jorgen and Adrian gathered in the Holiday Inn Boardroom for our briefing. A collection of friendship groups, plus a mother/daughter combination. A few days later, deep in the hot and humid jungle, we would look back and laugh at the comment that the overly efficient air con had frozen us throughout the briefing! Some a/c in the tent at night would have been nice……
On the Track
After a 0400 wake up and final gulp of air con, we were off to the airport for the short flight to Popondetta, followed by a PMV ride to Kokoda, lunch and meeting our PNG Guides, before the first call of ‘packs on’.
Highlights
- Formal services at Kokoda, Isurava, Con’s Rock, Eora Creek, Brigade Hill and the culminating Dawn Service at Bomana on Anzac Day are always emotional experiences. Being welcomed into the village by the wonderful people of Kagi resulted in many tears, as did our tribute to Havala beside his final resting place.
- With only eleven in the group, we were able to weave through the usual Anzac traffic. No Roads’ commitment to small, personal groups not only meant that we made good time and trekked safely, but there was an obvious contrast to other companies with their groups of 40+. Sitting in the jungle for upwards of an hour waiting for your entire group to arrive is not the No Roads way of operating.
- A dry track meant that we were able to arrive in camp at around 1500 each day, optimising recovery time. A dry track also means a hard track….the post-trek, scream-inducing massage at the Holiday Inn was not much fun.
- Our PNG Guides never fail to amaze me; their tenderness, devotion to duty, strength and care are quite remarkable. As I said on the last night in the jungle, their singing will forever echo in our hearts, and we have so much to learn from them.
- Clients make a trip what it is………as I said to them at the Holiday Inn post-trek, they have now joined a select group of people, Australians, who have trekked the Kokoda Track. Their investment in making Australia the great country that it is cannot be measured. Lots of laughs, plenty of banter, a capacity to fall and bounce right up again, the willingness to engage in the story and allow themselves to be vulnerable, emotional. Responding to my somewhat puzzling description: ‘we will be climbing for most of the day on flat ground’ with a raised middle finger mid-climb was the perfect Australian response…….but climb they did!
- The obvious emotion at Owers was an appropriate punctuation mark on the trek….each of us will return home changed for the better, with a challenge to honour the legacy of those brave men who fought, and died, on the Track. Having walked in the footsteps of the brave, their stories are now our stories.
Expedition Guide
No Roads Expeditions
andrewf@noroads.com.au