Recollections

Following on from my daily posts which are essentially the notes as I wrote down at the end of each day, these are my thoughts and reflections on the trip. I started jotting these down just after I got back and over the next few weeks. I really should have posted this earlier, but back to reality, and back to work

So more on the overall journey and other observations in this post. After reading my daily journal to create the posts I realised that there was so much I missed.

The total walking time (including rest & lunch stops) was 55.25 hours (7.5, 10.0, 8.0, 9.5, 6.5, 8.25, 5.5) which is a little over the anticipated time to complete the trek which is estimated at about 50.5 hours total walking time, so I think that we did very well considering our total includes rest breaks.

As I stated at the outset walking the Kokoda Track was something that I had always wanted to do. To understand the history and walk where our soldiers who volunteered (and that is loosely used as the inital forces were Militia) to protect Australia and our lifestyle and had sacrificed so much, which for many was the ultimate sacrifice - their life at such a young age. This I achieved and it has made a huge impact on me knowing as close to first hand as I can, how difficult their task was to delay the Japanese, and then push them back over the Owen Stanley Ranges, all the way to the northern beaches of PNG.

There are about 6,ooo trekkers (probably 99.9% Aussie) who walked the track last year, and this is increasing. So if you are thinking of walking Kokoda, do it sooner rather than later.

The walk I found much harder than I had anticipated, I had been told by others that it was tough, and that it was more mental - how correct this proved to be. It is probably a good thing that I did not know how bad my knees (this was a recurring theme) would be throughout the trek, as I may have considered not attempting it.

However once I had commenced, I was determined to complete the Kokoda Track from beginning to end.

The first day, was such perfect weather flying into Kokoda airfield, and the early walking was not too strenuous at all. This continued up to our lunch break. The true Kokoda kicked in after that, with the track becoming steep with difficult footing. And of course the rain which was on and off for 3 days.

All of the villages we went thru were very pretty and you could see that the local villagers were very "village proud".

Long walking days became the norm, and comments such as "well only three hours until we reach tonight's campsite" were accepted as if we were walking down to the corner shop. Having said that it was always a relief to reach the campsite and get out of my boots and walking clothes. But of course, not such a relief to put back on wet clothes, socks and boots in the morning this only lasted a coule of minutes as we were getting warm by packing sleeping bags etc into the backpacks. My backpack was about 13Kgs, and I was very pleased that I had a ported to carry this. I am positive that I would not have been able to carry the backpack myself for a day, let alone the seven.

I remember at the end of day three when writing up my daily log, and almost wrote 50% down, I am halfway there. But no we were not halfway. However I felt pretty good after day 4, when I could say to myself more than halfway.

I also remember thinking at the end of day 6, "I am going to do this, I am going to make it", then wiped the little smile and feel good feeling away, as I felt that I was getting ahead of myself and that I needed to just concentrate on the present.

It was such a great experience, and to use an oft used cliche "something that I will always remember for the rest of my life".

I have re-read Bill James "Field Guide to the Kokoda Track" and I now visualise the locations where they fought and the dreadful conditions they endured, after covering almost exactly the same ground that they walked which brings their achievements into focus.

What an experience