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Last night we met up with our first group of trekkers for 2007, a group of five women from Victoria, their friend from Canada (our first Canadian); two men from South Australia and one guy from Sydney:
- Susan Parfett
- Jennifer Rainbow
- Debra Armstrong
- Denisha Naidoo
- Lynne Dore
- Ellen Cashmore
- Sean McCarthy
- Tim McCarthy
- Andrew Banner
The arrangement was that our porters were to go out first at 5am and wait for our trekkers. Two brothers Sean and Tim McCarthy were picked up from the Ela Beach Hotel at 6:30am and driven to the Gateway Hotel to meet up with the other trekkers in their group.
Shortly after 7am the group were driven to the Bomana War Cemetery. Around 8:30am trekkers were driven up to Ower's Corner. Good News for the day, the road was ok and all trekkers were taken right down to the Ower's Corner Archway.
Group Photograph taken at Bomana War Cemetery 1st April, 2007:
IMGP3330_2.jpgOur guide and porters had arranged an April Fools joke for our female trekkers who hired personal porters. When the group arrived at Ower's Corner no porters were there waiting as they were all in hiding. Their guide Davidson said that last night one of the women must have said something that annoyed the boys as they decided not to wait for the trekkers and had walked off to the first camp and for Davidson to inform them they would have to carry 'their own packs'.
The women were accusing each other wondering who said something last night that may have offended them. After about 10 minutes the boys come out of the bush jumping and yelling and making a lot of fun and informed them they were just playing an April fools joke on them.
Shortly after they had their group photograph taken under the archway.
At this point in time, the female trekkers loaded all the backpacks back into our vehicle and told our porters that they had changed their mind and had decided not to trek after all now that they had seen the hills and had their pic taken. So back in the vehicle they all went along with their backpacks.
It was now the porters turn to be in shock!
Then the women started laughing after about 10 minutes and told them they had PAID THEM BACK !!!
Yes, the group is going to have some fun as before they left Ower's Corner both trekker and porters were enjoying each others company.
As for the men, they were in on the joke as Davidson their guide had informed them in advance that the boys would be hiding trying to play an April fools day joke on the ladies!
Photograph Ower's Corner: this was their very first descent 1st April. This pic was taken last year but it will give you an idea of their first few steps on the Kokoda Track:
Picture_073.jpgPhotograph – the archway at Ower's Corner where they were dropped off 1st April:
Archway_Ower__s_Corner.jpgUpdate 2nd April: It was decided to give our trekkers a short day yesterday so they ended up overnighting at Uberi approximately 2 hours walking time from Ower's Corner. If they had kept walking to Ua'Ule Creek some may have reached there early afternoon but the others would have still been walking after dark. As it is our company policy not to walk trekkers in the night unless it is absolutely necessary, the decision was made and the photograph below shows the campsite area….their first night in a tent.
Uberi Campsite: this photograph was taken on my own trek with one of our guides Kingsley Boropi in the foreground.
Uberi_Campsite.jpgUpdate 3rd April 2007: Have just heard from our guide that all trekkers are going extremely well. They now have their mountain legs and are walking really strong. Last night they spent the night at Ofi Creek. At the time of talking to Davidson, they were walking up Maguli Range.
Photograph: Ofi Creek area:
IMGP0308.jpgTrekkers will pass today through the beautiful village of Nauro and will head down to Menari where they will spend the night.
Photograph: Nauro Village:
IMGP0303.jpgUpdate 4th Apri: Trekkers spent last night in the village of Menari and today will have a short walk to the village of Efogi. Will keep you posted as soon as I hear from our guide Davidson:
Photograph: Menari Village:
Menari_Village.jpgWe heard from our guide today when they stopped for lunch at Brigade Hill that everyone was doing just great and that they would spend the night at Efogi Village.
Efogi Village Guesthouse – commonly referred to as 'five star' accommodation:
Efogi_2_Guesthouse.jpgUpdate 5th April: Davidson called up to say they had left Efogi first thing this morning and at 8:30am were at Kagi River. The plan today is to have morning tea at Efoge River pic below and then to push onto lunch at Myola Junction. They will overnight at Templeton's 1 at the bottom of Mt Bellamy:
Photograph: Efogi River where they will have morning tea:
IMGP0232.jpgUpdate 06/04/07: Trekkers were very fast yesterday and ended up in Alola where they spent the night. Our guide Davidsion radioed in this morning from the Isurava Monument area around 8:30am saying they planned to push through to Hoi Village where they would overnight and walk out into Kokoda tomorrow.
Photograph: Isurava Monument:
Picture_187.jpgJust so you get a feel of what these trekkers will be doing today, they will be walking down what we call test mountain and through wild choko fields:
IMGP0162.jpgCongratulations to Trek 356 who have safely reached Russell (Rusty's) Eroro's family block in Kokoda. As planned trekkers spent last night at Hoi Village and this morning walked down into the township of Kokoda.
Shortly before 10am we received a radio message from Davidson Eroro saying all his trekkers had been and had their wash (although he did not say – assume it was in the creek a short distance away from their block). They do however have a shower block on the property which could have been used if they had been sick of bathing in the creeks.
Photograph – creek that runs through the Eroro Family Block:
Picture_004.jpgAs it is Easter Sunday the sing sing group were at church but they plan to entertain our trekkers later this afternoon.
A flight has been chartered with Hevi Lift to leave here approximately 8am. Trekkers should be back in Port Moresby at their hotel by midday 9th April.
As this group is our very first trekkers for 2007, I could sense on the two way radio the excitement from the family. Fristly Davidson and then John Derick as they informed me all trekkers were at the family block, ok and in good spirits:
Photograph: A traditional sing sing group from Kokoda who have meet our trekkers on a regular basis for the past three years. The words ORO ORO ORO will be echoed a lot today which equates to WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME.
Sing_Sing_Dancers_Kokoda.jpegUpdate 9th April: Everything went ahead like clockwork today. Our 1300 kg of cargo was loaded onto Hevi Lift's aircraft yesterday along with 18 seats in readiness to bring back into Port Moresby our trekkers and other porters heading out from Ower's Corner next week. The flight got away right on time at 8am and was back here in Port Moresby by 9:30am.
At the present time our driver has collected all trekkers and is taking them for a drive around Port Moresby and then dropping them at the Royal Port Moresby Yacht Club where they were going to have a late lunch. All looked great, the men were sporting beards but the surprise of all, from memory most had put on weight not lost weight….unless the scales were wrong!!!
Davidson Eroro's diary from trek 356:
Day 1: Port Moresby to Uberi: Left Port Moresby at 5am for Ower's Corner to drop of our porters. Then back to Boman War Cemetery to pick up the trekkers. Back to Ower's Corner arriving at 10:26am. After sorting out some of our gear and a briefing for the day, we all started the trek down towards Goldie River. The crossing of Goldie River was easy because there was no rain for a couple of days. AFter crossing the river, on the other side we all had morning tea and headed straight for the campsite arriving at 12:45pm. Had lun ch at Uberi campsite where we arrived at 12:45pm.
Day 2 – Uberi to Ofi Creek: Uberi was a nice place to camp. We had a big fire going on and got all the porters together for the night singing and introducing themselves before going off to bed. The next morning we left for Ofi Creek. We had morning tea at Ua'Ule Creek after climbing up the 'Golden Stairs' and to Ioribaiwa Village for lunch. Went up Ioribaiwa ridge and down to the campsite. The night was good with a lot of stars and the moon shining. The atmosphere was really good!
Day 3 – Ofi Creek to Menari: Ofi Creek to Menari Village was a very long walk. Had breakfast early morning and got all the water bottles filled up and off we went up Maguli Range. Due to the distance and the weather we had an early lunch at Nauro Village at about 11:am stopping for at least an hour. Leaving fro Menari, was a bit hard crossing over brown river and we had to do it using ropes. Experienced rain for the first time as we walked into Menari Village. Spent a night with little children singing and entertianing our trekkers and porters.
Day 4 – Menari to Efogi: We had a good nights rest at Menari waking up around 7am because it was going to be only a 4 hour waslk to Efogi Village. We had breakfast and did not have to worry about our water bottles as we filled up before turning in. We left for Efogi having lunch at the top of Brigade Hill and at the same time had a look around. Trekkers took photographs and were charged K5.00 and down to Efogi for the night. The hospitality was excellent and everyone enjoyed it.
Day 5 – Efogi to Myola Junction (1900): Every morning I had to check every trekker to make sure he/she had enough water for the next walk and making sure everyone was ok. From Efogi to 1900 we walked through Kagi village. Morning tea was had at Kagi Village. We had no lunch tuntil we reached Myola Junction because there was no creeks along the way to boil water for lunch. We had a late lunch at the campsite. In the night we had a very big camp fire with our trekkers telling us scary stories. Everyone enjoyed the dinner and the night was beautiful with starts and moon shining.
Day 6 – Myola Junction (1900) to Alola: That night in 1900 Debra (Debbie) suggested that on Sunday when we arrive we should all to to church because it was a very special day during Easter. We left Eora Creek and pushed through to Alola Village so we could spend a night in Deneki or Hoi so we could arrive in Kokoda early on Sunday to attend the church service. We left Myola after breakfast we climbed up to the top of Mt Bellamy down to Templeton 1 for morning tea. River crossings were done with ropes up and down to Templeton 2 for lunch. We then pushed down to Eora Creek and everyone had a wash and walked to Alola. In the evening everyone had dinner, vegies, fruits etc and went to bed early cause of the long walk.
Day 7 – Alola to Hoi: We had an easy day from Alola to Hoi because it was mostly downhill. We stayed at Isurava Memorial for about an hour letting rhe trekker to look around and take some photographs while the boys put the billy on the boil for morning tea. We then left for Hoi having lunch after Isurava Village. Everytime the trekkers got to the spot where the morning tea or lunch the hot water was always ready before they came in. That really amazed trekkers of 356, our clients. Hoi guesthouse, the river, food were excellent. In the night after dinner, we had a big sing sing along which everyone enjoyed before going to bed happily.
Day 8 – Hoi – Kokoda Block: Everyone were excited to come out to Kokoda. We went straight to the block for morning tea. We all went for the church service and had lunch with all the church goers. We returned back to the block and had a very big welcome by traditional sing sing dancers from Kokoda. At the block everyone enjoyed their stay – real PARADISE!
Airport: We said goodbye to our trekkers from trek 356 when they caught their chartered flight back into Port Moresby this morning 9th April – end of trek 356.
All the best to our trekkers of Trek 356 – Photograph – Davidson Eroro 6th from left back row seen here with porters from another trek:
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