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Trek 319: This morning saw our trekkers picked up bright and early and taken down to Tropic Air's terminal for a 7:30am start. They left on time but the pilot ran into bad weather in and around Kokoda and could not land. As a result the following trekkers are all back in Port Moresby. Later this afternoon they will make another attempt to get into Kokoda as they have some other flights to day and cannot try again until after lunch. Trekkers include :
Zorica Glisic; Gary Windon; Brian Windon; Vicki Caravais; Barry Compton; Craig Lawn and Tony Green
At the moment they are being driven around town in our truck so they can see the sights of Port Moresby. They will then go to the Gateway Hotel to await their next flight to Kokoda.
We have heard that the weather has cleared up but the airline had other committments so their return flight will have to wait until Tropic Air are in a position to try again.
Photograph: Group Photograph taken 1st August shortly before they boarded their flight to Kokoda:
Around 2pm trekkers once again flew out to Kokoda and this time round the weather was good and their flight landed at Kokoda Airport.
Until their flight they were kept busy driving around Port Moresby and later relaxing at the Gateway Hotel until we collected them for their flight.
Tonight they are the invited guests of Russell Eroro's family in Kokoda. Their guide is Harold Hauro.
Photograph: Eroro Family block in Kokoda:
IMGP1792__Medium_.JPGUpdate 2nd August: Trekkers headed out from Kokoda early this morning heading towards Isurava Village where they plan to spend the night.
Photograph: similar surroundings as to what they will be walking through today. They will also get their first test today when they climb up to Isurava Village:
IMGP1825__Small_.jpgUpdate 4th August: Sorry could not update until now as our guide had not called in. Harold is an experienced guide and I guess felt there was not problems so did not contact us until today.
He called in from Mt Bellamy and said they were all doing ok. Vicki was a little slower than the others but still doing ok.
They planned on spending tonight at Efogi Village. They are now up higher so he should be able to call in regularly from now on.
Photograph: Efogi Village:
Efogi_2_Guesthouse__Medium_.jpgUpdate 5th August: Vicki has been doing it tough and has decided to call it quits and has stopped at Naduri and is presently waiting for an airlift which was supposed to happen today but due to bad weather will now not happen until tomorrow. Our guide Harold has stayed with Vicki and Tony Kose is now leading the group.
All other trekkers have moved off to Menari where they will spend the night.
Harold will fly into Port Moresby with Vicki and will walk back in from Owers' Corner to catch up with his trekkers.
Photograph: Menari Village:
Air___Menari_Village.jpgUpdate 8th August: This trek pushed onto Nauro whilst we continued to try and get Vicki off the track out of Naduri.
Harold their guide stayed behind with Vicki as she did not have a personal porter and the others moved on under Tony Kose and an upcoming favourite of mine, Clement Harike.
Unfortunately due to Harold staying behind with his sick trekker Vicki, it meant the others in this group did not have a radio so could not call in. They did have however a sat phone for emergencies but as the remaining trekkers were all travelling ok they did not use that to call in to us.
Harold after he came into town with Vicki which was held up due to bad weather and the fixed wing aircraft finding it hard to land there and then went out yesterday to catch up with his trek from this end.
Tonight they all celebrated singing away the night. I dropped off the boys at 5pm and found it hard to drag them apart. We ended up coming home around 9:30pm. The last two songs of the night was when the boys got up and sang their national anthem. This prompted them to ask us aussie to sing ours which we did. I was surprised between the lot of us we managed to get through the song as proud aussies!
Photograph: tonight at the Gateway Hotel – Pic 1:
DSCN0474__Medium_.JPGPhotograph: tonight at the Gateway Hotel – Pic 2:
DSCN0475__Medium_.JPGPhotograph: tonight at the Gateway Hotel – Pic 3 – do you notice something on his head? At Owers' Corner the boys dressed them up and this is proof it has worn the test of time and Craig is still wearing his:
DSCN0477__Medium_.JPGPhotograph: tonight at the Gateway Hotel – Pic 4:
DSCN0478__Medium_.JPGPhotograph: tonight at the Gateway Hotel – Pic 5:
DSCN0479__Medium_.JPGPhotograph: tonight at the Gateway Hotel – Pic 6:
DSCN0480__Medium_.JPGFrom the Management and Staff, thanks for choosing Kokoda Trekking as the boys just LOVED walking with you and were full of fun on the way home joking and laughing about their experiences with you all on the Kokoda Trail.
As we drove out from the Gateway Hotel, Harold Hauro remarked, its really sad leaving them and all the boys echoed his remarks. One guy in the back could be heard commenting….its always the same, we feel so sad when it comes time to say goodbye to our aussie friends!
Photograph: Zorica collecting a certificate for Vicki from Kokoda to Naduri to take home to pass onto her.
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