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This morning I met up with trek 532 when they set foot in Kokoda after arriving on a Tropic Air charter – yes, the airstrip has been re-opened to charter only flights as from the 18th August!
It was such a relief for us as it would have meant quite a journey landing in Popondetta and travelling by road to Kokoda and they probably would not have arrived until mid to late afternoon.
As it was the flight landed around 9:30am. Trekkers include :
Doug Ferris; Heather and daughter Alexandra Bull and family friend Edward Stubing; Marissa Moore and Neil Walton.
Not long after they arrived in Kokoda I took the following photographs:
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IMGP0574.jpgMeeting their personal porters. As trekkers were to stay at Orohaven for the night some of the porters had not reached Kokoda so are not included in these photographs. Only Ramsey, Wayne and Cyprian were at the airstrip and I have included their photographs below:
As the majority of our guides and porters are one way or the other connected with the Eroro family, it was hard to come up with some names of people who could walk on this trek.
In the first photograph is Wayne Urina who hails from Kumusi. He is also renowned as the second fastest man to ever cross the Kokoda Track in 18 hours 34 minutes. Wayne is a guide in his own right but this time round will walk as a porter.
In the second photograph is another guide acting as a personal porter by the name of Cyprian Haera who lives in the Kokoda Station area. When he heard I was in Kokoda he came forward and put his name down for this trek. A couple of years back we were asked to put in a team of five in a charity event to raise money for the hospital. I asked Russell to send in five runners. Cyprian was one of the five and he flew around the 5km course coming home in 15th position overall out of thousands who took part. When the last of the five past the post in 22 minutes, I overhead Cyprian say to him….what took you so LONG!! The boys won the team event and received as their prize a box of wine. Not used to wine I heard they were drunk for days on returning home.
The other guy pictured below is Ramsey Idau who is one of the nicest porters on our books who comes from the village of Saga close to the Kokoda airstrip. One trekker once described him as someone who could carry a backpack under water with marbles in his mouth and still sing and play his uke'ule.
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IMGP0573.jpgToday was a really hot day in Kokoda so the plan was for them to relax at Orohaven before walking up to the Kokoda Station mid afternoon after it had cooled down a little.
At Orohaven no doubt they would have been given something to eat whilst they sat around and got to know their porters.
Heather and daughter Alexandra it was decided would share one of the huts and the other trekkers would sleep in another hut.
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Orohaven_Guesthouse_1.jpgGail and the new members of the Kokoda trekking family
Great to see everything up and running again really is.
I am sure that all those on this trek will bring back many wonderful memories.Have a good one Fellas
BrianHi Gail. Great to see that Kokoda Air strip is open again. I bet the trekkers were excited about their trek. Wonder how they will feel after the first day. hehe
Russell phoned up from Kokoda today to say that trekkers got away as planned this morning from Orohaven Kokoda Retreat.
No-one has phoned us as yet here in Port Moresby but as per usual they should have reached Isurava Village where they will spend the night.
Picture_038__Small_.jpgUpdate 21st August: Heard from the track twice today. The first message came through not long after they had all left the Isurava Memorial area and were heading towards Alola Village.
Last night as planned they spent the night at Isurava Village and this morning were up bright and early with the destination being Eora Creek.
Eddie had a tough day yesterday and arrived at Isurava Village around 6pm. Wayne also came on the phone today and said its his toughest assignment yet but that he would do his best to try and get Eddie to Owers' Corner. Wayne is renowned as a practical joker and the way he described it was that he has turned into a tow truck driver pulling Eddie by the hand up the hills. The way he spoke he really wants his trekker to finish his trek and will do anything it takes to get him home. I personally selected Wayne as Eddie's personal porter so fingers crossed Eddie realises his dream of walking the Kokoda Trail.
Later in the morning I received a phone call from Kingsley Boropi the guide on this trek saying he was at Alola Village waiting for Eddie and Wayne and that the other trekkers had moved off to Eora Creek where they will spend the night.
He worried about Eddie that he might get into Eora Creek late tonight at the rate he was walking and informed me he would give me a call if he wanted to call it quits on reaching Alola. I did not receive any phone call so know Eddie is not ready to give up just yet and is hanging in there. This trek is already reminding me of the time Brian walked who often posts on this website. Similar up dates from the trek with the same kind of worry. In Brian's case, he walked off the trek and is still talking about it so lets all pull for Eddie.
All other trekkers it seems are doing quite well with no problems whatsoever at this stage of their trek.
Photographs:
Pic 1 & 2 – Alola Village
Pic 3 – Track from Isurava to Alola Village
Pic 4: Eora Creek
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Alola_to_Eora_Creek__Small_.jpgGail
If you can get this message to Eddie tell him to hang in there the boys will get him through tell him this message came from someone who did it really tough and as those boys who were with me will tell you got quite emotional when he finally made it through.
I well may not have done so without the ever present help of the likes of Brenden, Wallace and Aaron who really helped and also encouraged me all the way, specially after I injured my leg.
BrianHang in there Eddie I am there in spirit with you all the way.
Update 22nd August: Eddie and the others walking with him made it to Eora Creek around 9pm last night. This morning I spoke to Eddie on the phone and he said he is fine, just slow but wants to continue. The other trekkers have no problems whatsoever and continue to do well.
The plan today was to walk to 1900 Myola Junction where they plan to spend the night.
Eddie seemed quite happy when I spoke to him and thanked me for caring about his welfare.
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Campsite__Small_.jpgUpdate 23rd August: Kingsley phoned just now to say they are at Naduri having their morning tea. Eddie still continues to struggle and got into 1900 around 9pm last night. As we were talking on the phone he said Eddie was just arriving at Naduri.
After a short break they will push on down to Efogi to the half way point. I told Kingsley to inform him we would have a plane going into Efogi tomorrow if he thought he could not continue to drop off some ausaid people.
However, it sounds like he will stick it out and although late each day he appears to have his heart set on finishing his trek.
Kingsley said Wayne is sticking with him and encouraging him all the way… If anyone can get him home Wayne can as one of the fittest men on the track and with years of experience to his credit both as a guide and porter.
Sitting here typing this, I can't help thinking of them out there walking the track.
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IMG_0951__Small_.JPGHang in there Eddie I do not know you personally but I sense that you are made of tough stuff and with Wayne there to help you I am betting on you make it through.
I feel for you as I have been there and done it tough myself.
BrianEddie,
I of course do not know you so I am not sure of your identity from the above photo. I am assuming you are the mature age gentleman of perhaps " Baby boomer" vintage like myself.
Like Brian, I wish you all the best for the remainder of your trek. With the help of your wonderful Porters you certainly appear to be calling upon all your reserves of "G & D", a strong characteristic of our Baby Boomer generation.
Hang in there, its not easy but I am sure you will be successful and in years to come will look back upon the experience with imense pride.
Kind regards,
Geoff Hardie
I just remembered that Wayne was also the personal porter I selected to get Ron Barrasi across the track. On that trek Ron had problems with his knees but with sheer guts and the champion he is, off the track he walked.
When I got to speak to Wayne after that particular trek he commented to me:
Gail, I did everything you asked of me. Where Ron went so did I. At one time he said good block Wayne and so on.
This was in response to my orders for him to be glued to Ron as I did not want the press on our tail if something was to happen to someone like Ron Barrasi.
Eddie may not be Ron Barrasi but I am sure he is getting the same respect from Wayne.
Our guide called in by sat phone around 6pm saying he was still with Eddie and would reach Efogi Village around 7:30pm. The other trekkers got in somewhere between 1-3pm with the other guide on this trek Cyprian Haera. In fact as mentioned Wayne is also a guide so there are three on this trek. Kingsley still assured me Eddie would finish his trek as he is ok but just taking it easy.
So well done so far you have all reached the half way point and tomorrow will be heading for home.
Kingsley when he called asked for more rations as it seems with longer hours of walking they are consuming more food and eating more of what we refer to as 'navy' biscuits.
Fortunately for us we have our Cessna heading out to Menari tomorrow so its easy for us to put the extra food requested on this flight which leaves around 7am. All going well it will be in Menari before the trekkers have even commenced walking from Efogi. However, we could not have guessed in advance the extra hours these boys would have to walk so always have a plan 'b'.
Photographs:
Efogi Village
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