Ex Trekkers Return For A Week In Kokoda

[Boss Meri]

In April this year we met a large group of trekkers of which half were made up of a family group from Melbourne. Two of these trekkers by the name of Tracey Tobin and Jane Boswell returned recently to spend a week in Kokoda.

Both Tracey and Jane intend to trek again in 2008 and came up with the intentions of seeing what they felt Kokoda needed so they could do some fund raising to help the local community or the Kokoda Primary or Elementary School.

Photograph: Group Photograph at Kokoda Airport shortly before they boarded their flight back to Kokoda. Two other trekkers from another group returned to Kokoda a couple of days after they walked to also spend time with their porters.
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[Boss Meri]

The guy in the black shirt in the photograph above is Freddy Yauga a talented musician from Kokoda and also one of our KTL porters. Freddy acted as Jane's porter on her Kokoda Trek.

On a more recent trek Freddy also walked with a 'Army Cadet' group. At the Gateway Hotel a young girl approached me saying she was going home to do some fund raising to buy a Saxaphone for Freddy so he could further his music career. Just last week I received a phone call from the Captain in charge of this group saying Freddy now has a saxaphone and that he would personally bring it to PNG.

I do not know the magic of Freddy as I have never walked with him but last year he was on another trek in September and once again made an impact on his group. One porter who was on this trek died some 3 weeks later in a car accident by the name of Timias and would you believe aussie twins on this trek returned for his funeral.

They came armed with two guitars, one for Freddy and one for a guy called Tomsteen. Whilst in Port Moresby they purchased a keyboard for our guide Davidson as the three of them play in a band and they needed this equipment as before then they borrowed off family and friends.

Now back to Jane Boswell. In July we sent down to the Gold Coast 11 competitors for the Gold Coast Challenge Race. One of them was Horace Yauga. One of our support crew was Andrew Yauga. When Jane saw the surname she asked me if they were any relation to Freddy. When told they were his brothers, the boys were invited down to Melbourne to be guests of Jane and her family. So once again without even meeting Horace or Andrew, the way Freddy treated Jane and her fellow trekkers in April was what got the two brothers an invitation to Melbourne and the snow.

Photograph: Hevi Lift Airport Terminal, Tracey (left) and Jane (right) shortly after arriving back in from Kokoda. Josh Leemhuis from trek 339 in the background:
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[Boss Meri]

Jane and Tracey are now back in freezing cold Melbourne and have sent me an email as follows:

Dear Gail, Hello from Melbourne where it is freezing cold, I wish I was back in Kokoda where everything was much warmer. I just wanted to send you a short note thanking you so much for all you did to help Jane and I get around P.N.G and Kokoda we really appreciated it. You were so kind taking us out for dinner and making charter arrangements etc that you made our trip alot easier for us.

We had the best time and miss everybody already, we will definately be back and if you need help with any projects please contact us as we would love to help if we can.

Thanks again and Bye for now

Tracy Tobin
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Hi Gail, Well I'm back to the grime, its very hard to focus. It was really hard to say good-bye to everyone & I cant wait to see them all again. Thankyou for all of help in getting Tracy & Myself over to Kokoda, we had a fantastic time, an experience you can only hope to have in your life time.

In the next month we will all put our heads together & come up with a plan for schools etc & get some dates together for trek.

Also when you find out if Freddy is definitely coming over could you let me know, depending when it is I would like him to come & stay with me for a couple of weeks before or after his summer camp & meet my family.

Thanks once again Gail for all you have done ,hope to hear from you soon
regards Jane
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[Boss Meri]

On behalf of Russell and myself at Kokoda Trekking, we would like to say thanks to both of you for caring about your porters and the people of Kokoda to want to make a difference to their lives.

We look forward to helping in anyway we can with whatever you decide to do in Kokoda.

thanks heaps

Gail & the gang at Kokoda Trekking
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