- This topic has 32,603 voices and 116 replies.
- Posts
Hey Galen,
The 'builders gaiters' are really lightweight short boot protectors that you see on most chippy's, lot of our friends are chippy's and they swear by them, recon that after you get used to them, you don't even know they are there, besides sticks, they stop little nasties from finding their way in to your shoes. I also thought that having the plugs in my ear would annoy me, but I also find that music dulls the pain, so am going with that theory! finally got some thermals, now only have to try and find some cheap sandals to wear at the river crossings and at night, that's proving a mission in itself! 6 sleeps, emotions are starting to creep in, and finding it hard to sleep – don't worry about snakes up there, they are more scared of you than you are of them, just make sure you keep your tent zipped at all times, and don't go anywhere without a torch at night. ( I used to keep snakes up there) Hopefully you will get to see the carpet snakes & pythons that are up there, they are huge, we had one that was over 19 foot long and thicker than the top of a man's arm, just beautiful!
nettienow youve got me worried nettie, didnt think at all about the snakes !! my worst nightmares !! Mmmm just another challenge i shall have to conquor. Bloody hell, all this at once, dont know if i can handle it.
galen, my trek commences on October 8 and finishes on Oct 21 so i will be gone and back before you leave, that means i can tell you how hard and gruelling it was !!
Yes nettie, you got me thinking about taking my ipod, and yes i do own one, only found out about a month ago what an ipod was !! modern technology is just to crazy for me. My kids bought me one for my birthday and i have been busy downloading or uploading or whatever loading the songs into this tiny little "record player". So i might actually take mine for some easy listening at night perhaps.
I still believe the hardest thing about this trek for me is the climate, im not that good in high humidity, so im hoping that with ALL my training, i am over fit to compensate for the humidity factor.
Will lose ALOT of weight im thinking, so i must fatten up a little or there will be nothing left of me on my return.
hope all are well and i am eagerly anticipating my turn to walk the track.
Good luck nettie as you leave for your trip next week, be in touch and let us know how you went
austin
Hi everyone, just read through all your comments and glad to see you are taking this quite seriously. With relation to a porter versus no porter. Quite frankly, after you have paid for your trek….your ticket…backpack etc etc…..do you really only want to get two days into your trek then have to be airlifted out…..
This week I had to airlift a trekker out and heard today that there is another person from another company in the same spot with the same problem…dehydration…from vomiting and not being able to keep anything down.
I was with the doctor when she gave him the results of his tests. I asked what she thought causes this problem as he is not the first and he certainly will not be the last. She replied, probably stress related.
Meaning, the first real hill is a test in itself….put a 15-20kg pack on including your water and if you are not used to pushing your body like you have to in order to reach the top….then some trekkers start to vomit.
We had one young girl carrying and she walked 10 yards…vomited…and then walked a bit further finally hiring a porter. In her case she was able to hang on and made it all the way back to Owers' Corner but most who suffer this problem are air lifted off the track. One guy starting from this end at Owers' Corner today suffered the same problem last year. He walked with his mate. Two days in he had to turn back as he was suffering with the same problems vomiting and dehydration. This time round he has hired a porter; trained harder and is determined to FINISH.
Hence what you have to really consider is whether you are enough, ie have done the hard yards in training walking up similar terrain for hours at a time, if not hire a porter…..my personal recommendation is if you can afford a porter – hire one! worth every cent and you give back to the community and have a friend along for the journey!
And….more importantly you complete your trek! now isnt this the most important aspect? If you want to carry to see how it feels your newly hired porter will walk behind you and see how you go. The other plus factor is when you get crook and give up….who is going to stay with you as you have hired no-one! What then happens is a food porter or the guide has to stay with you forcing the others to move on without their full team. Then if bad weather sets in, he could have two days to make up to catch his trek when the chopper finally picks you up.
Re tent: unless you have heaps of cash keep it cheap but make sure you do the hose test and make sure it does not leak. If it does, get hold of some waterproof spray and treat it before your trek.
Its also good to have a flap as you can put your backpack under there out of the rain and close by in case you wish to retrieve something during the night.Re Bill James Book on Kokoda: for anyone who chooses to trek with Kokoda Trekking they receive this book for free as part of our info packs.
Re chocolates/sweets: if you trek with us you get a chocolate bar and sweets every day as part of our ration packs: http://www.trekon.com.au
Re Boots: make sure you wear them on the plane as we have had two guys now turn up in PNG without their backpacks that have come up the following day. Fortunately for our trekker today his feet were the same size as a pair of boots in our house so we loaned them to him to start his trek. We then met the flight this afternoon and have sent a runner out to meet their first campsite to handover his pack. Luckily he was starting from Owers' Corner and not the Kokoda side as its impossible to hold up the plane as they have timetables they have to stick to. Wear them in…purchase good quality thick socks and you will be ok. Make sure you try not to walk in wet socks otherwise you could end up with footrot….just ask Kotchie!
have I forgotten anything? ? ? by the way are you guys trekking with us? Kokoda Trekking ? if not, no worries we welcome trekkers from all companies to contribute to our forum.
Thanks for the writeup Gail. After reading it last week I made a point of upping my Fitness regime towards the brutal end of the scale and have sought out some pretty difficult inclines in my area to train on.
I estimate that my pack will weigh approx 12 kilos when on the trak. I weighed it the other day (training weight) and realised that I had been carting around 17 kilos rather than the 12 I had thought I had. Bonus really – I will stick with that weight for training.
If anyones interested – I just recieved a DMH Cygnet tent in the mail from discountcamping. Weighs about 1.8 kilos and looks very simple to erect. Single man tent that gets a good review on trampola.com
PS – Go West Coast.
Jafa, I to have been carrying more than what i should be. After a couple of weeks i have decreased the weight in my pack dowm to about 12kg – the weight i anticipate carrying. Dont want to overdo it and perhaps injure myself.
Its at the stage now that im fit enough to do the trek and all i need to do is basically maintain my level. All the hard yards have been done.
Yeah, like the look of your tent jafa, already got mine and pitched it a few times, only takes me 4 mins to complete the tent pitching process !! the pegs are lightweight alloy and if we need to pitch in hard clay IM IN TROUBLE cause i aint taking a hammer !!
Was lucky to get in touch with a fellow trekker who will be in my group and with a bit of luck i will catch up with him before we leave, it will be good to see a semi familiar face on my arrival !!!
only 46 more sleeps !!
and yes jafa – go you eagles, we are gearing up very well for the finals series – SHOULD BE AWESOME
And by the way, Meri, very encouraging post !!!!!
Austin
hey All,
just a quick one to say cheerio, 3 more sleeps for me! are you taking any food from your trek organisers? we are taking 3 kilo's and believe me, it is easy to chalk up the weight! I have got all that I am taking, and my pack is 15 kg, and that is without a tent, so I would advise that you pack EVERYTHING you want to take, and then weigh it. Air Nuigini allow 20kg all up, with 5kg to take on the plane with you.
so will be back on here when I get home. happy trainingNettie
QUOTE(39thdecendant @ 21 Aug 2007, 06:44 PM) [snapback]5221[/snapback]so will be back on here when I get home. happy trainingNettie
Look forward to hearing all about your little adventure when you get back.
Was bored after lunch and set up my tent. Instructions – who needs them. Took maybe 2 minutes. Definately a solo tent.
Wish you luck nettie and hope to hear from you on your return.
Hope you recieved the plaque so you can place it in the appropriate place along the track. How did your last needles go !!
Good luck
I ordered some powerbars and power sachet drinks today, very happy with them as they are packed well and will not require much room at all, tasted a bar today and didnt taste to bad – thats a bonus. They have all the essentials in them to keep energy levels up. As they were developed by the AIS, they must be good !!
Jafa, the world record holder of pitching tents, thats what you need, quick and easy. when ya say "definately a solo tent", does that mean its small ? cause mine is to, its classed as a two man tent but unless your a midget, theres no way two people will be able to fit !! dont know what im gonna do with my pack during the night as i dont want to leave it outside in the rain !! will have to think about it
and whats goin on with kerr, man we are fighting an uphill battle now, but im confident we will pull through and deliver
catchya later all and once again nettie, good luck to you
austin
The tents not very wide – maybe a meter across – but it`s about 2 meters in length – so I could fit the pack at the head or foot end.
I reckon Kerr would play if we made it to the Grannie. The injury is apparently a 6 week one – and the Grannies 5 and a half weeks away. Sucks though.
Galen, My 2 boys then aged 12 and 14 and I did the trek in October last year. We took water purification tablets and used those. The porters however, know exactly where to get your water for you so there is very little risk of getting sick. In the ration packs that we had, there were picnic bars (and they didn't melt), and a few other chocolate treats plus chocolate powder for a hot chocolate at night. We didn't take knives with us but my sons certainly came back with a few as gifts from their porters. They were carried in their back packs (not hand luggage), and went through without problems. I also bought my youngest a machete for his 13th birthday and that came back as well! Have a great time. It is the most amazing and life changing experience. Libby
QUOTE(Boss Meri @ 17 Aug 2007, 05:01 PM) [snapback]5188[/snapback]Re chocolates/sweets: if you trek with us you get a chocolate bar and sweets every day as part of our ration packs: http://www.trekon.com.auHaha, chocolates and sweets are a surefire way to get some people on.
I'm a bit concerned about what you mentioned earlier in your post about trekkers suffering from dehydration and vomiting. I can understand dehydration from not being prepared when it comes to fluids, but what is it that causes the vomiting? Is it mainly the stress from being unused to a heavy load?
Hi Galen. My Log on name was given to me by our KTL boys it means Grandma. At 50yrs I was just over twice the age of my fellow trekkers; 3 of them – each one only 24yrs.
It sounds as though your fittness will be fine. The one thing my very fit 'younger' friends – including my son & his girlfriend – found was that good blister prevention is better than treatment & trekking poles are a must. Some of us already had the conventional commercial ones. My son hadn't bothered with these but was very glad that KTL do present you with very special ones at the briefing. He didn't have a porter & found the trekking pole was invaluable especially for the downhill when your knees take a pounding if you're carrying your own full-size pack. Mind you he did earn the nickname "forget his stick Andy" for his tendency to wander off without it after a break or at the start of the day – luckily our guide kept a good eye on us & our gear.
As you may have guessed each one of us ended up with a nickname & we managed to learn a bit of Pidgin along the way too. I was planning to go back in a year or two, but then the trek 447 Owers-Kokoda-give something back to the community caught my eye so it looks as though I'll be going back Aug 2008.
Trust me once you've exprienced the Track & the genuine warmth & caring nature of the Nationals you can't help but want to return to PNG & in some small way repay them for what they did during WWII & what they continue to do for us Aussies – Keep us safe & make the trek fun at the same time!
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.