Dee Why Army Cadets:

Hello Everyone! Well it is good to be finally home again after an eventful 2 1/2 weeks away. The KTL Kokoda experience is one I will never forget and I am sure the rest of the group would agree.

I will be forever grateful for the care and consideration displayed to us by our incredible hosts the KTL boys. Nothing was ever a trouble for them and ESP seemed to be an inbuilt trait (no sooner had I thought my water bottle is getting low than one of the boys would appear and race off to disappear up a barely accessible creek line and refill it…Thankyou!).

I know I would have fallen on my head several times if it hadn't been for the steady hand of Freddy Yauga (musician/singer/porter extroadinaire – who also had to put up with my terrible off key singing and made up lyrics). Thankyou for not laughing too loud at Sammy's and my singing…… and yes ACDC, Def Leppard and Bon Jovi and Freddy all sing much better than trek 362B put together.

Our singing left a bit to be desired, but the enthusiasm was contagious and Old Macadonald Farm got more than one workout throughout the week, I will never think of that song in the same light again, especially now that the farm has a snake on it….LOL

Freddy's Kokoda song was (and is) a phenominal song and the KTL song will be stuck on rerun in my head for some time to come also (the cadets at our camp were at little confused about me singing about ukelele's in the bush at Singleton..)

I would like to give a huge thank you to Paul ESIKO and David CLARK EMBO for showing more consideration towards my friend Jim than anyone I have ever known. I have known Jim for about 17 years and those two showed more compassion and provided more help to him after having known him for only a few hours than anyone here could have. I doubt very much if Jim would have gone the whole trek if it wasn't for Paul and David's quiet confidence and encouragement at those points when he needed it most. THANKYOU.

There are so many more moments on the trek I could talk about but I will save those in my memories and talk the ears off of anyone willing to listen here at home.

Thankyou for a wonderful experience and I hope to see you on the next trek!

Kim Duckworth
Trek 362 B
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Dear Gail, It's me again. How are you doing? It's been very busy hasn't it? I sometimes check the website and see lot of imformations and cheers from othe trekkers. I am still excited about what I have done in the country and am grateful to you for having given me such as great opportunity to take. I think I couldn't have enjoyed any more than I did. It was great anyway.

I wanted to say thank you to you there. However, I am still dreaming sometimes that I am still walking on the trail, I am sure the dream would come true again. All of photos I took together were my treasure now. The trail wasn't hard because of the heartfull supports from porters and our physical abillity too. I now want to try short and rainy trekking too. It is very hot and wet in Tokyo this year we have incredibly many typhoons and the sea is very rough. I will probably try a hard trekking in this country soon.

Any other else were fine as well as food. When we got together, we could feel everything we had was delicious. And trekking itself was for sure the best one.

I would like to go to PNG soon to visit friends there. Thank you again for everything and I wish you best!

sincerely yours,

Kosuke, Tokyo Japan

Kosuke
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Hi Gail/Nathan,

Just wanted to drop you guys a note to let you know that we have arrived home safely in Australia and back to the rat race life. We had an awesome time at Kokoda (it was not so great at the time of trekking…grin) and we would like to express our total appreciation to the boys (Harold Hauro, Kingsley Boropi, John and the young boy (pronounced as Killer?). It was an incredible experience and money well spent. What made our experiences so memorable was not just the trekking in itself but the guide team went above and beyond what was required of them and exceeded our expectations. Not sure how much gets passed on to you, so I thought I will provide you with examples of the services they had provided:

• Drying our hiking boots every night,
• Offered to carry some of things
• Saved us from hurting ourselves e.g. catching us prior to slipping over or falling off the edge of the cliff (Mickey and I could have been badly hurt)
• Knowledgeable in the Kokoda Trail's history
• Giving us tips throughout the trekking trip
• Consistently ensuring we were comfortable by asking us if there were anything else they could do for us
• Sharing with us there life stories
• Encouraging us when there were days when the trekking seem like it was never going to end
• There generosity in sharing with us their meals
• Filling up our water bottles when they felt we were too tired to move
• There were camp sites which had reached capacity and it was too late for us to get to the next camp site – Harold's persistency, good negotiation and quick thinking had secured our stay… much to our relief and gratitude (one of the discussion went on for at least 1 hour)
• Another example for me was … I was washing the mud from my feet/shoes and along came John who had fetch some water and proceeded to wash my feet (which I would not allow) but the act in itself had touched me. It was rare to receive such kindness/generosity, what impressed me was that they did not expect anything in return, they felt it was part of their job to look after us… that's going above and beyond the call of duty…. Kokoda Trekking should be proud to have such great employees working them.

I am sure there are more examples the boys could share but all I can say on behalf of the "All Asian trekking team" a huge THANK YOU to Kokoda Trekking Company and the Trekkers i.e. Harold Hauro, Kingsley Boropi, John and the young boy (Killer).

We will never forget the experiences we had at Kokoda and the team for ensuring our safe return.

Warmest regards,

Mickey/Steve – Trek 740
On behalf of The All Asian Trekking Team

PS Please let Harold and his team know that we had an awesome time and thank them for their outstanding service and we wish them all the very best! Jeremy will be coming back (with a bigger Asian group in the coming years) and their services will be called upon.
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