- This topic has 2,714 voices and 5 replies.
- Posts
MANY of you probably know Gail Thomas as her pen name 'aussie' the lady behind the success of two of the most popular PNG based websites. Her first website was the Papua New Guinea Tourism & Business Directory- PNGBD – http://www.pngbd.com and more recently her two other Kokoda websites – http://www.kokodatrail.com.au & http://www.kokodatrail.com.pg
All websites deal with tourism in Papua New Guinea and have played a major role in attracting and bringing tourists from overseas to visit our shores.
Gail, had no idea what a success it would be when she first founded PNGBD – http://www.pngbd.com in 2001 and more recently the Kokoda websites in 2003.
Mrs Thomas' work was recognised by Post Courier – when they published an article earlier this year on her success in bringing PNG to the world through the internet. When Gail asks trekkers how they found her, their immediate reply is – we did a ‘Google’ search and yours was on the top of page.
CLICK HERE TO READ MALUM’s ARTICLE:
Gail Thomas, otherwise known as "aussie" …. on both here PNGBD & Kokoda websites – seen here at Russell Eroro's family block in Kokoda where she was presented with a bilum and other Oro Province items such as Tapa Cloth during a visit there in September, 2004:
Gail_Kokoda_Sept04.jpgDuring her 30 years of working as an expatriate in Papua New Guinea, Gail has lived and worked in various locations including a year in Mt Hagen followed by 14 + years in Lae until she went finish in 1986. Two years later she returned to PNG to work in Port Moresby. Years later she was transferred to Goroka where she continued her work with Talair until Dennis Buchanan closed down the airline in 1993. Gail then moved back to Port Moresby to work for Airlines of PNG and has remained in Port Moresby ever since.
After Airlines of PNG, Gail worked for a couple of years with Sir Julius Chan?s company Islands Nationair before moving onto Ernst & Young an accounting firm. Ernst & Young was then taken over in November, 1998 by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu where she remains to this day in the role of Finance & Administration Manager.
Perhaps the thing that struck her most about PNG was its cultural and tropical beauty – and the many friendly faces she happened upon everyday throughout her time spent here. As an Australian she felt the media painted a very bad picture overseas and she commenced a journey to show the world another side of PNG which tourists such as Kokoda Trekkers enjoy today.
"People say very negative things about Papua New Guinea all the time ? many of which are not true says Gail. I have lived and worked in Papua New Guinea for more than 30 years now and have seen more good than bad. I have talked to many tourists who arrive back from the Kokoda trail and they really have a great time out there.
"There are also many good things about PNG but the negatives always seem to outweigh the positive side and the media has a field day. My idea of starting a website was to put something positive back into the market place re tourism & business. Because of my background in business, I started thinking of daily exchange rates, a yellow page listing of companies, stock prices closely followed by tourism. PNGBD now has over 6000 photographs of all over PNG because as they say a picture tells a thousand words.
Her http://www.pngbd.com website has grown steadily with more than four thousand registered users worldwide and over 110, 000 viewers each month.
Last month alone (October) the site received over 3 million hits – the highest ever to be recorded for the website.
It is a success story – and every Papua New Guinean should be proud of what Gail has achieved in showcasing PNG to the world.
Gail and her husband John Thomas who works as a Captain with Airlines Of PNG. John has aided Gail all through her work and both lived and worked in PNG for more than 30 years.
John___Gail500.jpgFrom humble beginnings also came the successful establishment of ‘Extreme Kokoda Trekking Adventure Tours’ and the 100 percent nationally owned Orokaivan company she set up for her joint venture partner, Russell Eroro – Kokoda Trekking Limited.
Gail as the Managing Director of Extreme Kokoda Trekking Adventure Tours brings in and organises treks on behalf of Kokoda Trekking Limited. Gail then sub-contracts the work out to Russell Eroro Managing Director of Kokoda Trekking who employs the boys from Kokoda as porters and guides and being a veteran of over 280 treks himself, makes sure the trekkers are taken care of when they walk the infamous Kokoda Trail.
Since its inception last year both the Extreme Kokoda Adventure Tours and KTL have been responsible for bringing hundreds of tourists into Papua New Guinea. The company has successfully organised many treks this year with a total of 400 + trekkers coming into walk the famous Kokoda trail from March to October when officially the dry season finishes and the wet season kicks in.
October treks finished off the official trekking calendar for 2004 when 17 aussie rugby union footballers and three cyclists came to PNG to trek the Kokoda Track. Since then it has been rather quiet……
But watch out for November as ‘Aussie' is about to embark on something big – perhaps another achievement in her life.
On Saturday 13th of November, Gail Thomas will officially walk the WWII Kokoda Trail starting from Ower's Corner towards Kokoda in 8 days arriving in Kokoda all going well on Saturday 20th. An old friend from Lae days, Beverly (Bev) Howell arrives on Friday to walk the Kokoda Trail with her and to catch up on lots of stories of the good old days when Lae was a sleepy town and you could leave your doors open without a care in the world.
Gail will be accompanied by Russell Eroro (as per personal porter), Chris (Kokoda Guide) as (Bev’s personal porter), and other kokoda trekking guides, Kingsley, Eric, Siprian & Russell’s nephew Paolo as (food porters) & carriers.
Gail had been hard at training as you can see in the photos on the photo gallery trekking up in the Sogeri area and up and down the stairwell at Deloitte Tower where she works on the 12th floor. Some of you may have noticed her walking up Lawes Road with either Russell Eroro or Eric Uwea by her side and back into town trying to get her muscles toned for the hills that await her on the Kokoda Trail.
At one time Pam Christie an expert trekker arrived at the reception desk to inform Gail that her personal trainer had arrived to take her stair training. Pam hires Gail & Russell’s services to take trekkers on the Kokoda Trail. Her comments to Gail….you will enjoy it much more if you put in the hard work before you head out.
On one occasion whilst heading for the stairwell at Deloitte Tower, the Managing Partner of Deloitte enquired as to what she was doing. She replied walking the stairs, would you like to join me. To which he replied….do I look STUPID! Another Partner of the firm remarked one day, I saw you walking from town out to Gordons, have doing the stairs sent you long long (pidgin for crazy)!
However, she has been doing great though she felt a bit sore around the knees during her first stages of training but that seems to have disappeared of late. And that is what Kokoda is all about – for those of us who been through it – it is all pain, strains and tired knees.
According to Russell and Eric, Gail will do just fine and will definitely complete her trek. Watch out for her updates on the website as we will keep you informed right throughout the trek.
The trek has been planned this time of the year due to the following factors:
- It marks the end of our trekking season and a chance to get out on the trail when no other trekkers are around to have to worry about re medevacs etc
- To thank the village guesthouse owners and villagers for looking after our trekkers throughout the year.
- To check along the way that everyone has been happy with our services
- To make sure our guides have done the correct thing and paid properly for guest house overnights
- To thank the people of Kagi & Efogi for looking after our food drops whilst waiting for the trekkers to turn up to complete the rest of their journey.
- To see for herself what the Guides and Porters know as their second home
- To see and feel the pain of walking the trail so she can relate more to her trekkers and give advice when it is requested of her.
- To show that a woman who is in her mid fifties, overweight and who sits at a computer all day can walk the trail….then so can YOU
- To reach Kokoda and celebrate at Russell Eroro's family block and say thank you to the many men she has given wages to all through 2004 for their hard work in carrying in most cases, heavy backpacks up and down the hills of Kokoda with few complaints.
- To finally say to trekkers…..yes I have done it, I have walked the Kokoda Trail
- To take a look around the Buna/Gona/Sananda/Oro Bay area for ways to improve what we already had on offer in 2004
- To thank Russell's family for their contribution to the feast they seem to put on for all our trekkers during 2004 that have had the chance to overnight at their block.
- To thank the children of the Eroro family for the many songs they have sang to the trekkers and for walking them to the creeks for a swim and for entertaining them during their stopovers.
- And anything else I may think up along the way remarked Gail
Gail seen here with a dark blue cowboy hat on, walking the hills of Sogeri with Ilyana & Jessie Garap who both walked the Kokoda Trail earlier this year. Jessie is our radio operator who monitors movements on the trail by two way radio throughout out treks. Her sister Ilyana is now in training for her Mt Wilhelm trek in December this year.
Ilyana__Jessie___Gail_800.jpgSo 'aussie' as everyone on our websites may know her is finally going on something she'd never dreamt of doing or even considered a few short years ago.
It was a question perhaps every trekker that come to PNG had asked her and all they got was I got into this by accident to help the people of PNG and I have never trekked in my life. My love for PNG and its people through fete ended up with me organising Kokoda Trekking Tours.
On June 15th this year (2004) during a seminar at the Gateway Hotel organised by Kokoda Track Authority, Gail silenced us when she stood up after the call for those who never walked the trail but would like to walk was made.
She among several others who stood up at the workshop when Charlie asked a question – stand up whoever would like to walk the kokoda trail.
She has kept her word and is that is about to come true next weekend as Gail takes to the hills of Kokoda in her attempt to walk the whole Kokoda Trail all the way to Kokoda from Ower's Corner.
Ends…//
Gail taking a break with Jessie Garap her sister Ilyana and Mark during her training up in Sogeri.
Gail_rest.jpgI then started receiving emails from people asking how they could trek the trail so I went one step further and asked the Tourism Promotion Authority to introduce me to a guide who I could set up in his own 100% nationally owned company to walk trekkers over the trail.
It was then that I was introduced to Russell Eroro who was renowned as one of the longest walkers on the trail spanning 11 years who had worked for just about all the operators at one time or other. I arranged for a meeting and set up a company PNG Trekking Ltd and employed Russell during 2003 as the General Manager.
By 2004 when the new trekking season commenced, I was so impressed by his loyalty and ability to organise guides and porters that I set him up in his own company, Kokoda Trekking Ltd and signed a JV partnership with him.
Russell and I have welcomed over 400 trekkers to PNG to walk the Kokoda Trail and I have been thrown into unknown territory where I had never been before. I have however dug deep and tried to learn as much as I possibly could about the Kokoda Trail and given Russell my total support and worked well after midnight on many occasions to answer emails, catch up on bookwork and keep our websites updated as well as continue my full time job.
Alison is right, I was at a Kokoda Workshop organised by Charlie Lynn when he asked a question…. stand up everyone who has walked the whole Kokoda Trail…to which 70% of people stood up. He then asked stand up whoever would like to walk the trail and I stood up.
That was all Russell Eroro & Eric Uwea needed to hear. Following the workshop and whilst driving home the same day, Russell asked if I was serious, to which I replied, if you think I can do it, yes I am very serious! We then started thinking WHEN….the only time to trek was when we had no other treks so we could all trek together and turn it into something special.
As I write this, I have two excited guides, namely Russell & Eric who have been running around making sure nothing has been forgotten in planning for our upcoming trek this coming weekend. Russell also mentioned to me last night that my trek will be special in more ways than one as the guys accompanying us will be trying their hardest to show how they look after our trekkers out on the trail.
He went onto say it will be like they will be competing against each other to show both of us, the 'Bossmeri' and the 'Bossman', what they do for our trekkers and how they manage time after time to get them safely back home.
I am truly looking forward to walking the trail and also to continuing my support for Russell Eroro and all his guides and porters during next years trekking season.
Russell has not been out on the trail since the 'Aussie High Comm' trek in July so feels he too will suffer fatigue this time round as he adds another trek to bring him up to 287 in total spanning close on 12 years.Some people ask me how I keep going with all the workload I have…the answer is simple, the looks on the faces of the boys from Kokoda as 'Mamma Kokoda as they call me' hands them their pay for walking the trail is in itself job satisfaction.
Some of the boys would 'never' have a chance to earn a salary if it was not for you, the trekker, who chooses to come to PNG and walk in their backyard that they call home – the Kokoda Trail. The District Administrator in Kokoda has also thanked us for giving the boys hope and keeping them out of the court system.
Just tonight Russell was saying these boys who work hard to survive back in Kokoda from 6am to 6pm daily working in their gardens, treat it is like a 6 or 9 day holiday. A chance also to earn….a trip into the big city of Port Moresby and a break away from their normal chores. None of these boys train, just living is training in itself as there are no tractors or equipment to handle any tasks, they are all done manually by hand.
On one occasion this year, Chris a guy trekking with us next week made a statement to his trekkers during a break in his ukeule playing. I am 36 years old and I want to thank Russell & Gail as this is only the third time I have earnt a wage in my life. If you want to know what I am going to do with my pay; I plan on giving my son who is 6, his first birthday party.
Comments like this, make me keep burning the midnight hours and we all look forward to each and every booking we receive so that you too may enjoy the Kokoda Trail and hear these boys sing and play their guitars and ukeule's. We hope that you may share with them their culture as well as reflect on what our diggers went through during the war, so that we can enjoy the life we all lead today. And lets not forget all the 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels' who helped our diggers.
All trekkers state on their return that it was our porters who helped get them home. Some go one step further and state they could not have done it without them. Yes, its the 'Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels' of today that keeps me going and their many smiling faces that light up with every trek.
Stay tuned for further updates by two way radio with Alison & Jessie in my office as I commence my own journey from Ower's Corner to Kokoda commencing this Saturday 13th November.
My special thanks to our very first trekkers Daniel (right) & his father Geoff Trott (left) from Melbourne who had faith in me even though I had no runs on the board when they headed out on the trail. Geoff remains a kokoda friend and emails me often and continues to check our websites.
Geoff_Trott_shows_his_father__s_dog_tag_as_son_Daniel_looks_on.jpg
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.