- This topic has 3,023 voices and 14 replies.
- Posts
We would like to thank the carer's and Management of the Lord Somers Powerhouse Group for inviting four of our guides to attend their camp earlier this year as part of their team.
Wallace Lemeki, Rod Ori, Andrew Yauga and Paulo Talanoa were the lucky ones chosen to attend the camp and they just loved the experience.
Myself, Russell and his 14 year old son Kingsley were also invited to the camp as their guests which was also enjoyed by us. We would also like to thank them for billeting us out in accommodation so we too could share part of the experience.
Photograph: left to right,
Wallace Lemeki, Paulo Talanoa, Andrew Yauga, Rod Ori, Kingsley Eroro, John Prossor
Behind them, Michael Barrand, myself and Russell Eroro taken at the Lord Somers Camp January 2007
Lord_Somers_Camp.gifWe asked our guides to write something for us to pass onto the Lord Somers Management to include in their newsletter.
In their words:
Big Camp 2007
When we left Papua New Guinea to come to Australia we had no idea of what we were in for. No-one really explained to us what it was going to be like. Being from a country where it is warm all year round, the first thing that hit us was the cold.
To the Aussie that's normal for the weather, but to us it was freezing. That wasn't all…being the first time for all of us to Australia, everything was so different.
Play the Game was what we were told. We walked into the Lord Somers Camp with very little knowledge of what the camp was like and what we were expected to do. With the help from some of our ex-trekkers that walked with us on the Kokoda Trail, we settled in and found that in no time we were all part of this little group.
Even though the things that took place at the camp seemed to us as "Crazy", we really enjoyed ourselves. We have learn't a lot of things from this camp that we will take home with us and put to good use.
The skills that we learned from the "Big Camp 2007" helped us with many things like communication, leadership and confidence, and our ability to talk to new people.
To all those who have made this wonderful experience possible for us we would like to sincerely thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.
To Michael Barrand and John Prossor, thanks, the hospitality you've given us went far and beyond what we had expected and is hard for us to express. To all other's we haven't mentioned thank you for showing us an experience of a lifetime!
And to the staff and groupers of the "Big Camp 2007", we thank you all for a great time and hope to see you all again in the near future.
Wallace, Paulo, Rod and Andrew
Along with the camp there were lots of other experiences for our guides when they visited Australia.
After the camp for example the first time in a ferry – car and all…..a comment from Wallace…..can't wait to get back home and tell my family that we were in a boat as big as the Titanic!
Titanic.gifAnother highlight for us all was to visit and pay our respects at the Melbourne War Memorial. Once again our sincere thanks to Michael Barrand and John Prossor for taking time out of their busy schedule to show us around. John also drove us back to the Melbourne airport which was certainly not expected but fully appreciated.
Thanks to the staff at the Memorial for going out of their way to personally escort us around and for making our visit such a memorable experience.
War_Memorial_Melbourne.gifAt Melbourne Airport we said goodbye to Rod Ori and Andrew Yauga who were invited to spend some time in Sydney with the Bollinger group of trekkers.
Matthew and his father Barry welcomed our guides to Sydney and organised for them to move around and spend time with other members of their trek.
With their office and Matthew's home not far from the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Rod and Andrew roamed around by themselves at times loving every minute of it. Barry gave them a mobile phone for their stay in Sydney and they would phone from time to time saying they were having a great time.
On one occasion Rod phoned to say they were on a farm outside of Sydney and were firing off several rounds of ammunition.
They too were taken to Canberra to the Australian War Memorial and so met up with other trekkers outside of the Bollinger group that lived in and around Canberra.
One of Rod's ex trekkers made contact with him in Sydney and flew him to Cairns for the last day or so before he headed back home to PNG.
Photograph – taken inside the terminal at Melbourne airport – left to right, Paula, Kingsley, Andrew, Wallace and Rod:
Airport.gifIn Shepparton where my parents live, there are lots of colourful cows in various parks around the city. With my parents being ex dairy farmers from Tatura now retired in Shep, its something they are quite proud of. As the photograph shows, our guys were all intrigued by this and could not resist to ask for the pic.
It was in Shepparton that Russell found he could hardly walk. Around the same time Kingsley showed us a sore on his ankle which had developed into an ulcer. So off to the doctor we went. Following an XRay it was revealed Russell required an operation to remove some loose pieces of bone from his knee. He was told that one day he may not be able to walk at all if he did not see a specialist and have them removed. Turned out it was caused from his footy days and something he had lived with for some time. Until Shepparton it had never stopped him from walking properly but from then on he was limping badly.
Kingsley on the other hand gave the doctor his first ever experience with a tropical sore. A swab was taken and we had to wait for a couple of days to find out if the medicine he prescribed was going to work. Word back from the pathology lab in Melbourne was that he needed to be put on another kind of medication and presto it began to heal. Kingsley was soon ok again! as for his father he hobbled around everywhere, some days worse than others. Wallace and Paulo joked that his walking Kokoda days were over and that he was lucky he had a day job!
Photograph: left to right Paulo Talanoa, Wallace Lemeki talking to the cow and Kingsley Eroro:
Shepparton.gifThe next stop after we left Victoria was to visit the Canberra War Memorial as a lot of our trekkers talk about it but none of us had ever visited there.
We arrived the day before Australia Day and found it hard to find somewhere to stay due it the long weekend.
The following day before going to the War Memorial we took a walk through Commonwealth Park where Radio Australia was broadcasting from as well as the Prime Minister being in attendance a short distance away.
Wallace Lemeki and Kingsley Eroro pause for a photograph next to some swans who were happily doing their own thing:
Canberra_Lake.gifOne of the highlights of the day was running into some ex trekkers who walked with us on an Anzac Trek. We were all excited. We had no idea we would run into them as we had not communicated to say we would be there so it was indeed a wonderful surprise.
In fact we remembered them well as they walked with a group of friends from Williamstown. A suit was carried to Isurava so they could pay their respects on Anzac Day and raise the Australian Flag. They also conducted a service at Brigade Hill a couple of days later. I saw a video of this and there was not a dry eye anywhere to be seen. Each trekker and porter read out something that was carried by these trekkers. Trekkers and PNGean's alike choked as they read their individual pieces. For me watching at home some time later by DVD it was emotional as well. Our KTL staff also contributed as they too carried the words of a fuzzy wuzzy poem they read out.
Shortly before that we were approached by a journalist from Canberra wondering who we all were. She took a photograph of us and our ex trekkers which I believe appeared in the local newspaper the following Sunday.
Husband and wife team who walked with us. As it turned out we had some t/shirts with us which we handed out to family members. Within minutes they put on the t/shirts and posed for a photograph. All three daughters say they too would like to walk one day:
Canberra_Trekkers.gifAfter lunch we headed off to the Australian War Memorial. What an awesome experience for our guides and myself. We spent quite a few hours there and naturally headed for the Kokoda area of the Memorial.
In fact the Memorial itself and the long wide street leading there is just awesome and respectful to our fallen diggers. The added bonus is that Canberra is just so easy to drive around.
If you have never visited the Australian War Memorial and you are thinking of walking Kokoda, it is suggested if at all possible that you make the journey to Canberra as you will not be disappointed.
Photograph: left to right, Kingsley Eroro and Wallace Lemeki inside the entrance area of the Australian War Memorial:
War_Memorial_Canberra.gifThe next stop was Sydney as the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge was high on their 'wish / must see list'.
Adding to this was the phone calls from Rod and Andrew, so off to Sydney we went for a quick visit before heading back to the Gold Coast.
On entering the inner area of Sydney, there was lots of sighs when we found ourselves in various tunnels which seem to go on forever!
Everyone was just so excited that we managed to firstly navigate our way through the city and to know we had arrived in Sydney.
Photograph: At night at the Sydney Opera House. The guys couldnt believe how the boats crossed over the harbour and did not run into each other.
Opera_House.gifThe following day we commenced driving back to the Gold Coast via Tamworth where we caught the last night of the Country Music Festival.
To walk down the streets of Tamworth and hear all the buskers outside various shop entrances was in itself truly amazing especially if you are 'into country music'.
All our Kokoda Trekking staff love to sing, it adds another dimension to your trek. So the idea of someone standing there singing and people putting money into their guitar cases appealed to them.
Russell and the other guys thought his brother Davidson Eroro, Andew's brother Fred Yauga and another member Tomstein Koneha could easily busk on these streets and can really sing and write their own music. In fact that was the topic of conversation for the next couple of days.
Lets do it in 2008! Any takers, would some trekkers like to help sponsor these guys?
Due to a set of twins who came to PNG for the funeral of Tim early December and other trekkers contributions who walked with the group, these guys all have brand new equipment, two guitars and a keyboard. Its just accommodation, spending money, airfares, passports and possibly some other equipment they may need like an amplifer and speakers to drown out others on the street. Only joking, all buskers seem to spread out enough to avoid this. Perhaps as time goes by they will have to open up other streets to cater for the demand.
That night we attended an open air concert to see who was going to win the best buskers of the 10 day festival. The subject reared its head again as they all thought their wantoks from Kokoda could give the local talent in Australia a run for their money.
The following day we attended the closing ceremony at the Tamworth Entertainment Centre and were entertained by some of the best country and western singers in Australia. Paulo, was not really into country music but the others loved the music.
Before we left Tamworth we went to the Slim Dusty Movie to put a closure on the country music scene befored heading off to the Pacific Highway and the Gold Coast.
Photograph: Kingsley Eroro sitting in the back of our car. If you come from PNG its hard to comprehend how you can sit for so long and the roads never seem to run out. This really impressed our staff and the other fact was that there was no holes in our roads to dodge. It also helped to have a DVD player to watch a movie on when you got bored from all the driving.
Another comment often mentioned….if they can build a road here, they can build a road from Port Moresby to Kokoda.
From a trek operators point of view, I am just living for the day when the road is sealed all the way from Ower's Corner to Sogeri, now would'nt that be something!
Kingsley.gifA highlight for all our guides and porters was the drive along the Great Ocean Road and to see one of the great wonders of the world, the 12 Apostles or I should say 11 as one has fallen into the sea.
One minute we were driving along, the next, the WOW factor….what is that? a few more minutes drive along the road we saw the sign post and hundreds of tourists. We parked our car and headed off in the same direction as everyone else.
The WOW factor indeed! an amazing sight…..
On one of our Anzac treks in 2004 we had an 81 year old digger by the name of Walter (aka The Fox) Kelly walk or perhaps I should say 82 as he had only a few more weeks to go before his next birthday. When I accepted the booking his daughter assured me that her father had been a professional bike rider and that he still competed. Walter's plan was to enter the Great Ocean Road Race shortly before his trek….and yes he knew how tough it was going to be walking KOKODA.
Turned out he did not fight on the Kokoda Track but was in a hospital at Sogeri and listened to stories being told by other soldiers. In PNG he told me he wanted to walk to pay his respects before he got too old to do so. (for those of you who are not aware, Sogeri is near Ower's Corner and is where we look forward to a bitumen road)! On the day his Anzac trek headed out it was so wet we could'nt get our vehicles in for the drop off and all trekkers had to walk from Sogeri High School. A short cut but still added an extra 3 hours + to the 96km walk normally undertaken by the majority of our trekkers.
Driving along, all I could do was think of Walter Kelly an 80 year old riding his bike along this road. Walter completed his walk and I believe even at his age, he also finished the race where other much younger competitors gave up. After driving along this road, I can see why. I have even more respect for him now but how could I ever forget our oldest ever trekker Walter (aka The Fox) Kelly. Also the bond between Walter and his porter Tom Hango. From the time they met until the time he left PNG to head back to Australia these two were inseparable. In fact Walter handed his back pack and just about everything else to Tom at the airport before he departed for OZ. I guess he felt his mission had been accomplished and that he would not be back to do it again!
Russell Eroro and his son Kingsley who were both shocked and thrilled by what they saw.
Father_and_Son.gifA couple of hours along the same road we were told was an area where we could walk for approximately an hour and a half to check out some seals. Kingsley really wanted to see them so off we went. Besides, after sitting for so long in a car, the exercise did us good.
It was well worth the walk as it was quite interesting watching them splash around and climb ever so slowly up and down over the rocks.
Photograph: Seals lazing around on the rocks:
Seals.gifIn Melbourne another surprise, due to not knowing my way around I parked the car at the airport and we caught the bus into the city. On the bus a local victorian who had just arrived back from Tasmania noticed the Kokoda Trekking T/Shirt and introduced himself.
He told how his father fought in the 39th and how he would love to walk one day. By the time we arrived at our destination, he insisted on showing us around and going with us to the Melbourne War Memorial.
We found ourselves all having lunch in the Hard Rock Cafe and took time to look at the guitars donated from many different musicians that adorned the walls.
In such a short time this stranger had entered our lives and the conversation was never far away from the Kokoda Track where his father fought.
Perhaps one day we will welcome him to PNG and show him our backyard that Russell and the boys call HOME!
To all Australians reading this, they maybe tourists while on holiday here but back home its you our trekkers who are the tourists. Our KTL guides and porters do everything in their power to get your from one end of the track to the other no matter which direction you trek.
To think some of our ex trekkers were so inspired that they invited them to visit them in Australia shows the kind of dedication shown by our staff.
It is only hoped now that these guides and porters inform our other staff that anything is possible and that dreams can come true. What PNG person does'nt dream of one day setting foot in Australia.
Once again, a big THANK YOU to the Management and Staff and to all the people who attended the Lord Somers Powerhouse Camp for the invitation and hospitality shown to us all. Also to the kind gentleman who put off his train ride to another area of Victoria to hang out with us.
Hard Rock Cafe, Melbourne:
Hard_Rock_Cafe.gifPhotograph: One of the many plaques at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
Lest We Forget
Lest_we_Forget.gif
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.