Well what an experience. On this whirlwind six day Kokoda adventure I got to accompany six supremely fit and finely tuned athletes across the Owen Stanley Range. The thing I had most in common with this group was that it was my first attempt at a “Fast Kokoda”. Now that it’s over another thing that I have in common with them is that it was my last “Fast Kokoda”. I have to admit, the old Australian Guide had his physical struggles on this trek. But even so we had an amazing and fantastic time.
Our group consisted of three brothers from Sydney, Steven, Andrew and Thomas, two mates, Richard from Melbourne and Simon who calls Sydney home and last but by no means least Tayissa from Melbourne. Early impressions of the group turned out to be spot on. They were going to be easy to get along with, they were going to test the Guide’s knowledge and they were certainly going to challenge him physically.
During the first night dinner and briefing Andy, emerged as the inquisitive one but only marginally ahead of his siblings. Steve has spent a lot of time in PNG so he was very comfortable and had plenty of stories to share. Richard is no stranger to PNG or the whole world for that matter so he felt right at home. The others, Tay, Simon, Andy and Tom were new to PNG but not fussed at all by the feel of the place.
Our group consisted of three brothers from Sydney, Steven, Andrew and Thomas, two mates, Richard from Melbourne and Simon who calls Sydney home and last but by no means least Tayissa from Melbourne. Early impressions of the group turned out to be spot on. They were going to be easy to get along with, they were going to test the Guide’s knowledge and they were certainly going to challenge him physically.
During the first night dinner and briefing Andy, emerged as the inquisitive one but only marginally ahead of his siblings. Steve has spent a lot of time in PNG so he was very comfortable and had plenty of stories to share. Richard is no stranger to PNG or the whole world for that matter so he felt right at home. The others, Tay, Simon, Andy and Tom were new to PNG but not fussed at all by the feel of the place.
Kokoda - Isurava Village.
Trekking day one kicked off in the usual manner with the flight to Popendetta and truck ride to Kokoda. Both went very smoothly. The flight was unusually close to being on time and our truck driver from Popendetta to Kokoda knew his craft. The sum total of all that was that we arrived early in Kokoda and were looking good to make it all the way to Isurava Village for the first night. After a bite to eat, a visit to Kokoda Battlefield and Museum and an intro to our team of Local Guides, off we went. And I mean off we went. These people took off like they had secret plans of bowling this over in three days. Our local guide was Simon Euki and at Hoi he and I had a little giggle and felt the group would begin to slow a fair bit as we started to climb up to Deniki. How wrong we were. All of them tore off up the hill leaving me in their wake. When I finally caught up at Deniki they were chomping at the bit to press on to Isurava. I noticed Andy was trotting around checking out the place while everyone else sat down for a breather. I gestured to our Lead Guide Jack Aoda to slow the pace but either something got lost in the translation or Tay breathing down his neck was hurrying him along. By now we’d discovered she is an excessively fit elite level netballer. Mind you, the other trekkers were having little trouble keeping up.
We weren’t far out of Deniki when the thunder began and of course the rain eventually arrived. It was quite late when we got into Isurava Village. In fact it as dark when I arrived. The rain got heavier as we set up camp. The guides were able to set up all but one of the tents under cover and out of the weather. Steve volunteered to take the tent which was pitched outside and taking the brunt of the weather. Nothing bothers Steve and he didn’t care at all about having his tent out in the rain. He is the bushman type and very useful around the campsite, As it turned out, everyone was wishing Richard had taken the lone isolated tent instead of Steve. I didn’t hear a thing but apparently he’s rather good at snoring. Another thing Richard is good at is life. He constantly enthralled us with his helicopter pilot and outback adventure stories. I’m coming back in my next life as Richard. It was an early night for everyone. In bed by 7.00 and this was to be a sign of things to come.
Isuarva Village - Templeton’s Crossing 2
We were greeted with better weather the next morning as we headed off to the Isurava Memorial. I was getting to know Simon pretty well because we were both struggling for energy and had no appetite so we were spending some time at the back together. Tom was onto us and trying to get us to eat but we just weren’t able to get much down. We had the memorial site to ourselves and after Tom recited the Ode we placed poppies. Of course that was all after we dragged inquisitive Andy from wandering around taking it all in. With plenty of ground stil to cover we headed off to Alola. We could hear helicopters in the distance and arrived to find a large gathering in the village. It was the opening of a new war museum and the who’s who of Oro Province and the Kokoda Track Authority were there. Fortunately, we just missed the speeches (unlikely they were brief) but we did arrive in time for Steve or was it Andy to photo bomb the official group photo. We got to meet the Governor of Oro Province, the Australian High Commissioner and several other dignitaries. We then had the privilege of being the first trekking group to visit the museum and were given a guided tour by David Connelly (Military and Cultural Advisor) who was the architect behind the museum. It’s worth a look. But for us it was on to Eora Creek for lunch and Templeton’s 2 for the night. There was a quick visit to the Aussie ammo dump which I missed. Luckily Steve was there and he has as good a knowledge of WWII weapons as anyone. We had a few river crossings and the brothers who happen to be architects and engineers cast their critical eyes over the various bridges we encountered. They must have given the local constructions the thumbs up because they crossed without hesitation and ample photographic evidence suggest they were happy doing so. Simon and I still lacked appetite but that is in no way a reflection on our wonderful master chef Ben Houla. Those who were eating were very happy with Ben’s culinary prowess. Tom was still showing great concern for the food abstainers. Richard wasn’t too concerned about Simon. He just said, “He has a big ticker, he’ll be right.” It was pretty cold at Templeton’s so we turned in before 7.00.
Trekking day one kicked off in the usual manner with the flight to Popendetta and truck ride to Kokoda. Both went very smoothly. The flight was unusually close to being on time and our truck driver from Popendetta to Kokoda knew his craft. The sum total of all that was that we arrived early in Kokoda and were looking good to make it all the way to Isurava Village for the first night. After a bite to eat, a visit to Kokoda Battlefield and Museum and an intro to our team of Local Guides, off we went. And I mean off we went. These people took off like they had secret plans of bowling this over in three days. Our local guide was Simon Euki and at Hoi he and I had a little giggle and felt the group would begin to slow a fair bit as we started to climb up to Deniki. How wrong we were. All of them tore off up the hill leaving me in their wake. When I finally caught up at Deniki they were chomping at the bit to press on to Isurava. I noticed Andy was trotting around checking out the place while everyone else sat down for a breather. I gestured to our Lead Guide Jack Aoda to slow the pace but either something got lost in the translation or Tay breathing down his neck was hurrying him along. By now we’d discovered she is an excessively fit elite level netballer. Mind you, the other trekkers were having little trouble keeping up.
We weren’t far out of Deniki when the thunder began and of course the rain eventually arrived. It was quite late when we got into Isurava Village. In fact it as dark when I arrived. The rain got heavier as we set up camp. The guides were able to set up all but one of the tents under cover and out of the weather. Steve volunteered to take the tent which was pitched outside and taking the brunt of the weather. Nothing bothers Steve and he didn’t care at all about having his tent out in the rain. He is the bushman type and very useful around the campsite, As it turned out, everyone was wishing Richard had taken the lone isolated tent instead of Steve. I didn’t hear a thing but apparently he’s rather good at snoring. Another thing Richard is good at is life. He constantly enthralled us with his helicopter pilot and outback adventure stories. I’m coming back in my next life as Richard. It was an early night for everyone. In bed by 7.00 and this was to be a sign of things to come.
Isuarva Village - Templeton’s Crossing 2
We were greeted with better weather the next morning as we headed off to the Isurava Memorial. I was getting to know Simon pretty well because we were both struggling for energy and had no appetite so we were spending some time at the back together. Tom was onto us and trying to get us to eat but we just weren’t able to get much down. We had the memorial site to ourselves and after Tom recited the Ode we placed poppies. Of course that was all after we dragged inquisitive Andy from wandering around taking it all in. With plenty of ground stil to cover we headed off to Alola. We could hear helicopters in the distance and arrived to find a large gathering in the village. It was the opening of a new war museum and the who’s who of Oro Province and the Kokoda Track Authority were there. Fortunately, we just missed the speeches (unlikely they were brief) but we did arrive in time for Steve or was it Andy to photo bomb the official group photo. We got to meet the Governor of Oro Province, the Australian High Commissioner and several other dignitaries. We then had the privilege of being the first trekking group to visit the museum and were given a guided tour by David Connelly (Military and Cultural Advisor) who was the architect behind the museum. It’s worth a look. But for us it was on to Eora Creek for lunch and Templeton’s 2 for the night. There was a quick visit to the Aussie ammo dump which I missed. Luckily Steve was there and he has as good a knowledge of WWII weapons as anyone. We had a few river crossings and the brothers who happen to be architects and engineers cast their critical eyes over the various bridges we encountered. They must have given the local constructions the thumbs up because they crossed without hesitation and ample photographic evidence suggest they were happy doing so. Simon and I still lacked appetite but that is in no way a reflection on our wonderful master chef Ben Houla. Those who were eating were very happy with Ben’s culinary prowess. Tom was still showing great concern for the food abstainers. Richard wasn’t too concerned about Simon. He just said, “He has a big ticker, he’ll be right.” It was pretty cold at Templeton’s so we turned in before 7.00.
Templeton’s Crossing - Kagi
As we plotted our course for day three of trekking a couple of options presented. We could head for Efogi via Naduri or we could take the longer trip to Kagi. The trekkers knew the significance of Kagi to our guides and it was unanimous decision to head for Kagi. Nothing else was an option. The interaction between trekkers and guides was as strong as I’ve ever seen. All of our trekkers were very kind to the guides. We had a pretty boggy walk from T2 to 1900 camp but not too much rain. Tay was still pushing Lead Guide Jack along and “the brothers” were right up there. Richard was absolutely flying (pardon the pun). His speed and endurance was amazing. The downside is, it makes him snore a lot. I didn’t manage to escape it on night 2. We had lunch at 1900 and quickly pushed on to Kagi where we were welcomed by a bunch of local kids. Our trekkers showered the kids with gifts. The school teacher in Tay come to the fore and she was right at home organising the kids and dishing out the goods. There was so many gifts you would have thought we had 20 trekkers. Thankfully, we had arrived at camp nice and early. Tom and Tay decided to head off for a walk through the village and of course Andy went exploring with them. We even managed to hang some clothes out to dry. Well, for a while until the rain came. Ben cooked up a storm again and there was plenty to go around because Simon and I still weren’t particularly hungry. Simon and I spent a fair bit of the day together mainly talking footy. I’d decided I would have hated to play on him not just because he’s such a big strong bloke but he does have that big ticker Richard had told us about. Despite feeling sick and having very little energy Simon just pushed on without complaint and at a very fast pace. I was hoping to walk with Tay for a while too but I just couldn’t catch her. When I did see her around camp she looked very happy and incredibly strong. Same goes for Steve, Andy and Tom. You guessed it. We were in bed around 7.00.
Kagi - Agologo
The fourth day of trekking was a huge day. We had nice weather between Kagi and Efogi. Everyone enjoyed some coke and twisties in Efogi including me and Simon. Richard grabbed a nice big Avo to have with lunch. The weather stayed fine as we climbed out Efogi up to Brigade Hill. Of course it did. The only time the sun had showed itself was when we were totally exposed and climbing the tough Mission Ridge switch backs. Well, I found them tough even if the others didn’t. We had an enjoyable pasta and avo saladas lunch and just as we were preparing to leave, down it came. I haven’t seen rain like it. We stood around hoping it would clear but that was never going to happen. Plus, Local Guide Simon was giving me the glare so it was time to go. We descended there in an ankle deep torrent rushing down the track almost all the way to Menari. Plenty of slips, slides and falls and plenty of saves by our Personal Guides. Thanks boys. Anyway, we survived and the weather improved as we passed through Menari. The Australian Guide struggled his way up the Menari Hill but managed to make up a little time on the peloton on the way down to Agologo. Dinner and off to bed by 7.00.
Agologo - Ioriborwa.
Off we headed in decent conditions through the swamp and across Brown River. Then it was time to climb the nine false peaks of the Maguli Range in one hit. I thought I was going okay as we approached New Noaro. As usual, Tay was keeping Jack company up the front and out three brothers were right there keeping a close eye on them. I had somehow managed to get in front of Simon for a while and Richard was hanging back chatting to him. As I pushed up the hill feeling very happy with myself, Richard stormed past like I was standing still. Fortunately for me and maybe more fortunately for him, he was out of sight a couple of minutes later. This was Saturday which is the Sabbath. I should have told everyone that it’s frowned upon to walk fast on the Sabbath. We had lunch at the half way down to Ofi Creek before soldiering on. Not only was it the Sabbath but it was also AFL Grand Final Day back home. We got into Ioribowia at a reasonable time and Tay got involved with the local kids throwing balls and having a great old time. Simon must have been getting his energy back because after a very long day of trekking he was out there playing with the kids too. We managed to get the footy scores but they weren’t worth worrying about. The only thing of interest was that Richmond had won the Premiership just as they did in 1942 when the Kokoda Campaign was in full swing. It took until the final night but one of the trekkers who shall remain nameless (Simon) requested that Richard’s tent be positioned away from the rest of the tents. I quietly asked Local Guide Simon to do that and without a word of prompting he said with a smile, “Is that tent for Richard?” It seems everyone had worked out who the snorer was. We were all a bit naughty on our final night on the track and stayed up talking until about 7.15.
Ioribowa - Owens Corner
There was no let up on this fast trek. It was the final day and these trekkers were still bowling along. Tay was in her usual position although every now and then Richard or Tom managed to take over at the pointy end. Steve and Andy were happy trotting along in the middle of the line, Steve chatting and Andy exploring. Our finishing time was never going to be an issue. I’d calculated that we’d cover the distance from Ioribowa to Ower’s in a similar time to what most groups cover Uale Creek to Ower’s. Crazy really. Even with a good break at Goodwater and a lovely swim at the Goldie, (a highlight for us all which we didn’t want to end) we arrived at Owers just after 1.00. The Aussie Guide May have arrived 5 minutes after the others.
The last part of our trek was to visit the Bomana War Cemetery and pay our respects to the young men who fought and gave their lives for our country in the PNG campaign of WWII. A very fitting way to punctuate our Kokoda experience.
Steve, Andy, Tom, Tay, Simon and Richard. It was an absolute pleasure and privilege to walk the Kokoda Track (or a few hundred metres behind) with you. Thanks to each of you for the way you included me and our amazing local guides. Thanks for your support and encouragement. I hope you had a great time and have wonderful memories of our trek and it was everything you thought it would be. You are a great bunch of people and I felt more than a tinge of sadness as I watched you leave the Holiday Inn when our adventure came to an end.
Thanks Steve for the gators you provided for my next trip. They were invaluable. And thanks Tay and Richard for the foot powder which cleared up my poor old feet in a couple of days.
Fond regards,
Barry Jenks
Expedition Guide
No Roads Expeditions
[email protected]
PS. At the Holiday Inn on the final night some of stayed up until 8.30 pm.
As we plotted our course for day three of trekking a couple of options presented. We could head for Efogi via Naduri or we could take the longer trip to Kagi. The trekkers knew the significance of Kagi to our guides and it was unanimous decision to head for Kagi. Nothing else was an option. The interaction between trekkers and guides was as strong as I’ve ever seen. All of our trekkers were very kind to the guides. We had a pretty boggy walk from T2 to 1900 camp but not too much rain. Tay was still pushing Lead Guide Jack along and “the brothers” were right up there. Richard was absolutely flying (pardon the pun). His speed and endurance was amazing. The downside is, it makes him snore a lot. I didn’t manage to escape it on night 2. We had lunch at 1900 and quickly pushed on to Kagi where we were welcomed by a bunch of local kids. Our trekkers showered the kids with gifts. The school teacher in Tay come to the fore and she was right at home organising the kids and dishing out the goods. There was so many gifts you would have thought we had 20 trekkers. Thankfully, we had arrived at camp nice and early. Tom and Tay decided to head off for a walk through the village and of course Andy went exploring with them. We even managed to hang some clothes out to dry. Well, for a while until the rain came. Ben cooked up a storm again and there was plenty to go around because Simon and I still weren’t particularly hungry. Simon and I spent a fair bit of the day together mainly talking footy. I’d decided I would have hated to play on him not just because he’s such a big strong bloke but he does have that big ticker Richard had told us about. Despite feeling sick and having very little energy Simon just pushed on without complaint and at a very fast pace. I was hoping to walk with Tay for a while too but I just couldn’t catch her. When I did see her around camp she looked very happy and incredibly strong. Same goes for Steve, Andy and Tom. You guessed it. We were in bed around 7.00.
Kagi - Agologo
The fourth day of trekking was a huge day. We had nice weather between Kagi and Efogi. Everyone enjoyed some coke and twisties in Efogi including me and Simon. Richard grabbed a nice big Avo to have with lunch. The weather stayed fine as we climbed out Efogi up to Brigade Hill. Of course it did. The only time the sun had showed itself was when we were totally exposed and climbing the tough Mission Ridge switch backs. Well, I found them tough even if the others didn’t. We had an enjoyable pasta and avo saladas lunch and just as we were preparing to leave, down it came. I haven’t seen rain like it. We stood around hoping it would clear but that was never going to happen. Plus, Local Guide Simon was giving me the glare so it was time to go. We descended there in an ankle deep torrent rushing down the track almost all the way to Menari. Plenty of slips, slides and falls and plenty of saves by our Personal Guides. Thanks boys. Anyway, we survived and the weather improved as we passed through Menari. The Australian Guide struggled his way up the Menari Hill but managed to make up a little time on the peloton on the way down to Agologo. Dinner and off to bed by 7.00.
Agologo - Ioriborwa.
Off we headed in decent conditions through the swamp and across Brown River. Then it was time to climb the nine false peaks of the Maguli Range in one hit. I thought I was going okay as we approached New Noaro. As usual, Tay was keeping Jack company up the front and out three brothers were right there keeping a close eye on them. I had somehow managed to get in front of Simon for a while and Richard was hanging back chatting to him. As I pushed up the hill feeling very happy with myself, Richard stormed past like I was standing still. Fortunately for me and maybe more fortunately for him, he was out of sight a couple of minutes later. This was Saturday which is the Sabbath. I should have told everyone that it’s frowned upon to walk fast on the Sabbath. We had lunch at the half way down to Ofi Creek before soldiering on. Not only was it the Sabbath but it was also AFL Grand Final Day back home. We got into Ioribowia at a reasonable time and Tay got involved with the local kids throwing balls and having a great old time. Simon must have been getting his energy back because after a very long day of trekking he was out there playing with the kids too. We managed to get the footy scores but they weren’t worth worrying about. The only thing of interest was that Richmond had won the Premiership just as they did in 1942 when the Kokoda Campaign was in full swing. It took until the final night but one of the trekkers who shall remain nameless (Simon) requested that Richard’s tent be positioned away from the rest of the tents. I quietly asked Local Guide Simon to do that and without a word of prompting he said with a smile, “Is that tent for Richard?” It seems everyone had worked out who the snorer was. We were all a bit naughty on our final night on the track and stayed up talking until about 7.15.
Ioribowa - Owens Corner
There was no let up on this fast trek. It was the final day and these trekkers were still bowling along. Tay was in her usual position although every now and then Richard or Tom managed to take over at the pointy end. Steve and Andy were happy trotting along in the middle of the line, Steve chatting and Andy exploring. Our finishing time was never going to be an issue. I’d calculated that we’d cover the distance from Ioribowa to Ower’s in a similar time to what most groups cover Uale Creek to Ower’s. Crazy really. Even with a good break at Goodwater and a lovely swim at the Goldie, (a highlight for us all which we didn’t want to end) we arrived at Owers just after 1.00. The Aussie Guide May have arrived 5 minutes after the others.
The last part of our trek was to visit the Bomana War Cemetery and pay our respects to the young men who fought and gave their lives for our country in the PNG campaign of WWII. A very fitting way to punctuate our Kokoda experience.
Steve, Andy, Tom, Tay, Simon and Richard. It was an absolute pleasure and privilege to walk the Kokoda Track (or a few hundred metres behind) with you. Thanks to each of you for the way you included me and our amazing local guides. Thanks for your support and encouragement. I hope you had a great time and have wonderful memories of our trek and it was everything you thought it would be. You are a great bunch of people and I felt more than a tinge of sadness as I watched you leave the Holiday Inn when our adventure came to an end.
Thanks Steve for the gators you provided for my next trip. They were invaluable. And thanks Tay and Richard for the foot powder which cleared up my poor old feet in a couple of days.
Fond regards,
Barry Jenks
Expedition Guide
No Roads Expeditions
[email protected]
PS. At the Holiday Inn on the final night some of stayed up until 8.30 pm.
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