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Hi Galen/Austin
I am sure you'll be fine with your bush poles – maybe you're right I am chick so wussy! But, don't say I didn't warn you 🙂
In terms of footcare and blisters there were two things we did and they were both prior to the trek. We walked for 9 months every 3 out of 4 weekends for 3-4 hours a time, so our boots were well worn in. About 4 weeks before going we brushed our feet in metho. It toughens your feet up. Grab a face washer and soak it in metho and once a day wipe it all over your feet.
At Kokoda the only thing we did was wear sandals/Tevas at camp to dry our feet out and wash and dry properly between our toes (to avoid tinea). Absolutely essential to wear footwear at camp as there is many a tale about ringworm. The only guy on our trek to walk barefoot got worms after the trek. Might be a coincidence though as he is also a school teacher.
We took tinea ointment and blister packs with us on the trek in our personal first aid kit just in case but luckily didn't need either. The only thing I ended up using was some sports tape (the brown stuff) around my little toe where it rubbed. Beware that if there is a slight rub or your socks are rubbing slightly to stop and fix it or you will end up with HUGE problems at the end of the day.
Go the LIONS!!! Still couldn't get tickets in the resale today so watching the game at the pub tomorrow.
Hey Mel,
thanks for those tips on blisters and feet. Ive had my new boots now for a week and have been wearing them every day since and guess what – ive got 2 blisters – ouch !! I am wearing them in so come october there shouldnt be a problem ( i hope)
Never heard of the metho trick – will take your adsvise and try it though – Mmmmmmm advise from a woman and a bloody lions supporter as well !!!
Sad to hear you couldnt get tickets to the game – i guess the best place for you to watch it is at the pub, a place to drown your sorrows after the slaughter we will dish out to your boys tonight !!
goe eagles
A
hey guys,
im due to go in november. can anyone tell me how often (if at all), creeks require crossing without an bridge? and if you need to walk through with your boots on and all or take them off and dry your feet after. To me this seems time-consuming, i have heard different things. Can someone please make any light of this??cheers
jp
QUOTE(austin @ 7 Jul 2007, 09:29 AM) [snapback]4716[/snapback]Hey Mel,thanks for those tips on blisters and feet. Ive had my new boots now for a week and have been wearing them every day since and guess what – ive got 2 blisters – ouch !! I am wearing them in so come october there shouldnt be a problem ( i hope)
Never heard of the metho trick – will take your adsvise and try it though – Mmmmmmm advise from a woman and a bloody lions supporter as well !!!
Sad to hear you couldnt get tickets to the game – i guess the best place for you to watch it is at the pub, a place to drown your sorrows after the slaughter we will dish out to your boys tonight !!
goe eagles
A
Ha Ha Ha – Geez we are ordinary at the moment. Funniest thing – we jumped into second.
Commiserations to the West Coast fans out there. I am going to enjoy giving everyone some stick tomorrow!
Justin I guess every trip is different but on our trip it rained for 2.5 days straight and it was supposedly the dry seaon! Our first afternoon saw us stuck on one side of a swollen river with half of the porters on one side (with all our cooking gear) and us on the other side with a few porters and our food! We were all sitting around while the porters discussed what to do when we heard a loud crash and splash and there was a tree over the flooded river! While the water was waste deep the porters strung up some ropes either side of the river and held them taut then ferried each of us over the tree that they had just cut down! After that, wet feet and shoes didn't bother us!
Having said the next morning we had to cross the river 7 times and for the first few times we were jumping across rocks and trees where possible to stay dry, then had the bright thought that our feet were already wet so why not just walk straight through. At about 3/4pm every day it pours down with rain, so I say if your feet/boots start wet in the morning walk through the creeks/rivers. Otherwise try and keep dry where possible becuase your feet will cope a lot better. One trick we didn't pick up until the end of the trip was drying shoes by the fire each night – I recommend that one!
Bloody eagles – they need a trip to kokoda i think !!! and they can do it barefoot !!
There was a good show on the ABC – Compass this evening titled Crunella to Kokoda – showed a group of youngens doing the track – looks pretty gruesome but was an excellent insight into what to expect. If you missed it and can get a copy of the show, its worth the watch.
My trek will start at owers and end at kokoda whereas they did it in reverse, commencing at kokoda and ending at owers. It was interesting to see how skilled and seasoned all the porters were, they were all barefoot – tough feet – and very essential to the group. The terential rain they experienced was also great to see – perhaps i WILL take a raincoat of some description !!
Meeting one of the original fuzzy wuzzy angels would certainly have been a moving experience – hope we can meet him too.
Im really pumped about this now and am looking forward to the challenge – mentally more so than physically of completing the trek.
Mel – enjoy the win while it lasts – was at the game and interestingly enough Benny got a standing ovation from the crowd as he walked out on the oval with the coaches – all is forgiven i gather !!
catchya later
Austin
Hi Jafa,
Sorry for the late reply- been flat out like a lizard drinking! Yeah, I'm going with Kokoda trekking. They were pretty slow in acknowledging my deposit so I would not be too concerned about your booking. They will get around to it. When did you book for? We are going in Nov 5.
Hey Mel, thanks for your input. Really appreciate it. Keep it comin! BTW
RE: your "I'm a chick comment" I'm sure wussy is not an adjective to describe you though. 
You guys get right into the footy huh? Funny.
Hope you're all well.
See ya
G
QUOTE(Galen @ 9 Jul 2007, 12:27 PM) [snapback]4734[/snapback]Hi Jafa,Sorry for the late reply- been flat out like a lizard drinking! Yeah, I'm going with Kokoda trekking. They were pretty slow in acknowledging my deposit so I would not be too concerned about your booking. They will get around to it. When did you book for? We are going in Nov 5.
Hey Mel, thanks for your input. Really appreciate it. Keep it comin! BTW
RE: your "I'm a chick comment" I'm sure wussy is not an adjective to describe you though. You guys get right into the footy huh? Funny.
Hope you're all well.
See ya
G
Thanks Galen – really my only concern is that I will have problems with flights if I leave it too late. I`ve booked for early October.
Galen,
footy is almost a religion in our household !! In fact im even thinking of taking a footy with me on the trek!!
Austin
Wahoooo, went training with my new back pack for the first time tonight – found it easy going but didnt venture to far into the bush. Im just getting used to having the pack on my back – so far im really happy with it. Its comfortable and easy to handle. I had about 15 – 18 kg packed in and aim to carry about 25kg in the next weeks. Used my trecking boots as well – and no blisters thus far.
This weekend there is a seminar in my local town about the kokoda track. A man who completed the trek twice within a year is holding it and all proceeds go back to the kokoda foundation, i will fill you all in on what it was like next week as i will be attending. Spoke to the guy and he said that his intentions are not to scare those proposing to go on the trek away, ……. Mmmmm interesting !
So i assume justin that if you are from SA you either go for the crows or port – we (eagles) will be heading back to adelaide this weekend to dispose of the second SA team just as we did the first last week !!
And Galen – dont know where your from so who do you scream for – and dont say bloody collingwood GGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRR
Austin
Hi everyone
I saw the Compass show last night too. I thought it was great and showed a realistic view of what the trek was like. Having said that, hubby and I both commented how dry it was. Austin – we walked Owers to Kokoda also – the finish in the other direction seems much more "spectacular" in terms of walking through the arches at the end, there is nothing like that at Kokoda. Having said that, you walk a logn way and struggle before you get to Isuarva so it is much more meaninful I think. Either way, there are pros and cons.
If you loved the porter walking barefoot wait until you see them wearing one jogger and the other barefoot. A sight to see. Sometimes they even wear one thong and the other foot barefoot. It is amazing to watch them as they stick their big toe into the mud to get a grip!
So, a couple of comments from the past few posts with my "wussy female comments". Imagine taking advice from a woman
[*]Raincoat. Definately take one for at camp 'cause once you have washed and smell like roses you don't want to get wet and go to bed wet. However, I do not recommend you carry something that you intend to walk in. It is 30 degrees and the rain is warm (if that makes sense). We walked for 4 hours in the rain one day and not one of us had a raincoat. We didn't both taking our gortex jackets on the trip but got one of these small fold up Rainbird jackets that you can get in almost any camping store. Weight is your key issue.
[*]We got to meet the old digger Ovuru Indiki and had our photos taken with him. Not sure what other previous trekkers think, but our porters were really not happy with us going into the village where Indiki lives and they were of the belief that he is a fraud. Not going to state my opinion… but there are a couple of thoughts on this. Talk to your porters and find out their opinion. I think it depends what village they come from on what they think.
[*]Galen – I am actually a rugby league fan, but recently coming from Qld I have had to gain a quick interest in the AFL. I will support any Qld team though! We bought a Brisbane Broncos jersey for our porter (hubby and I shared) as a thank you, we figured odds were he would be a fan. Can you believe every porter on the trip loved the Broncos except ours!!!!
[*]Austin – congrats on training with the pack on. As you are increasing your weight may I suggest you fill juice or softdrink bottles with weight as weight. That way if you have put too much in and you are struggling on a training walk you can drain the water out.
[*]We got one of those very very small microfibre towels, cut it in two and overlocked the edges and inserted a button hole. Then each of us had one hooked onto the caribineers on our packs as a sweat cloth (was one of the handiest things we had). Light weight and easily washable. It also served as a cool face cloth at each river crossing -very refreshing. Lots of our fellow trekkers were jealous.
[*]Another hint – your clothes really smell of jungle and each day you put on wet putrid clothing. When returning we were told most people throw away their clothes because of the smell, but I tried someting that really worked!!! No, not Amway I;m not one of those people. Canestan wash. It is in your laundry detergent aisle in your friendly Coles/Woolies but is an antibacterial wash. One wash in the machine and our clothes were like new. I suggest you take some in a plastic container on your trip and wash your clothes in it – will help for sure . There is nothing worse than dry-retching as you put your own smelly clothes on.
So, on that note, there are my pearls of wisdom for the day. When you're next in Perth let me know and perhaps we can arrange to share our pics. Here's one for now.
[attachment=2870:Mel_clim…oribaiwa.jpg]
Mel_climbing_towards_Ioribaiwa.jpgHi All,
I read your posts and thought you may be interested in some of the articles that my dad wrote for the 39th Newsletter, 'The Good Guts', before he died. The web site is
http://www.39battalion.orgDad wrote the first newsletter in 1942 and posted it on a tree at Kokoda, there is a picture of him with the first newsletter there. The Good Guts has been produced ever since, every quarter. The articles I have attached will give you an even further insight of what it must have been like on the track in the War, I grew up listening to stories of the track, but never really appreaciated what they did until I got much older. Read these and when you get to each of the places, it will mean so much more. Dad's job was to evacuate the injured to Kokoda Airport, he is in 'It's a bastard of a place' under W.J. Guest
Hope you enjoy theseNettie
GETTING_OUT_OF_KOKODA.doc
ISURAVA.doc
SANANANDA.doc
Written_at_Heidelberg_Hospital_1943.dochello Nettie,
im wondering if your dad ever spoke of a monseignor cummingham on the track – he was the army chaplain and was a bit of a legand in kokoda. I grew up knowing this man and found out that he served at kokoda and was very well regarded and respected. He recieved a bravery award and also was recognised by the queen for his services. Unfortunately i have been finding it difficult to get infromation on the man and specific details of his time there. I will perservere though and gather as much info as i can before i go.
He was a legand of a man when i knew him – i grew up with him as our parish priest but he was much more than just a priest to us kids – he was my hero. I didnt have any appreciation of his time in the war as i was only a little child and didnt understand much, it wasnt until later that i realised.
So if you come across his name somewhere, let me know. his name was Monseignour Charles Cunningham.
Cheers for that
Austin
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