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Last night I met up with our two sets of trekkers who headed out today from Owers' Corner at the Gateway Hotel. Turns out the guy who kicked off this trek Stuart McGregor arrived with his friend and sons from Hong Kong as well as another mate from from New Zealand making a total of 5 as follows:
- Stuart McGregor
- Marshell Byres
- Melvin Byres
- Harrinson Byres
- John Judge
Last night we discussed the option of heading out early and popping into Bomana War Cemetery after they returned or going there today on the way to Owers' Corner. It was decided to skip Bomana today.
Therefore based on their decision, it was decided that we would collect them from the hotel at 6:30am for the drive out to the drop off point of Owers' Corner. I think they were still enjoying their breakfast as it was after 7am by the time we loaded up and headed off to Owers'. Perhaps they thought they would enjoy their last full breakfast before they were forced to dine on dry rations for the next fews days until they reach Kokoda.
Before we left the Gateway Hotel, I snapped a pic of the group:
Gateway_Hotel.jpgWhen we reached Sogeri, trekkers got out and walked around stretching their legs and I took the opportunity for another group photograph.
The first one was taken when a couple decided on a second pic so will post both here for you now.
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Sogeri_Monument_Area_2.jpgThe road was kind to us today and we reached Owers' Corner around 8:30am where they met up with their porters who were already there waiting for their arrival. Our staff all looked eager and keen as they met up with trek 550. Their local guide is a young man by the name of Clement Harike who comes from Saga Village situated not far from Kokoda airport.
Clement has walked a couple of times with the legendary Soc Kienzle (son of Bert Kienzle) and according to Soc, he has learnt the history from him and been rewarded with a book on Kokoda. The first time I laid eyes on Clement some years ago, I noticed he had a cute grin and immediately took a liking to him. He has now walked quite often and worked his way up to a very proud guide. His photograph is below along with a group pic of all our porters who will accompany trek 550.
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Meet_The_Boys.jpgClement introduced trekkers to their personal porters and I took a photograph of each set so you can see for yourselves who is taking care of your loved ones.
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My_Porter_5.jpgShortly after meeting their porters, trekkers posed for a photograph under the archway at Owers' Corner:
Archway_1.jpgFood porters moved off first closely followed by personal porters and their trekkers with Clement at the rear.
Archway_2.jpg
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Archway_5.jpgBye bye trek 550, last pics before they headed off towards Goldie River. I asked Clement the plan for today and he informed he they were heading to overnight at Ua'Ule Creek. However, our treks are not set in concrete so it will depend on the progress and fitness levels of trekkers and the guide can make a decision to stop if he feels they need to pull up sooner.
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Bye_Bye_Trek_550.jpgHi all
Great to see the photos and to know that you all have actually made it there! You look as if you are relaxed at this point……..
I will be with you (in front of the video!) every step of the way.
Thanks for the update, Meri
Janet
Update 28th July: My apologies for no updates until now but only heard from the track today as the radio network is down and we have to rely on them contacting us.
Last night they had reached the half way point of Efogi however John Judge has decided to call it quits as he is finding it hard climbing the hills due to a thigh problem.
We tried to get him picked up today by plane but were unable to due to low cloud cover and the people on the ground in Efogi informing us the plane would not be able to land.
Tomorrow morning they are going to try again. In the meantime he will be resting in Landy Noel's Efogi Guesthouse. Hopefully with no more walking he will recover very quickly.
The others in this group had already moved off when we got the message. Later in the day, Clement called to ask if we had managed to pick up John but we had to inform him that the pilot could not fly in until the weather cleared. He said all other trekkers were doing just fine and that they were on their way to Naduri and hoped to reach 1900 or push to Templeton's area to overnight.
Photographs:
Pic 1 & 2 are of Efogi
Pic 3 is the track from Efogi to Naduri. In their case however, they will have walked down not up this mountain.
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D4_MOVING_ALONG__Small_.JPGJohn is back in POM and well recovered. His legs are fine – it was the heat and the humidity, coming from an NZ (cold) winter that did for him. He felt that if he had been able to do the trek over 8 or 9 days, he could have done it. He enjoyed his enforced stay in the village – loved the hospitality and the friendliness of the people. Thought the whole experience was challenging but amazing.
Yes, Janet, I too spoke to John and was pleased when I woke up this morning and realised their was a good chance of getting him out of Efogi today. However, it clouded in for a bit and we had a little bit of rain and I soon got worried again.
However, it cleared up and the pilot said providing Efogi gave the green light he would try his best to pick him up.
I checked with John and he did not want to go to the doctor but seemed to be looking forward to going back home tomorrow but must be obviously disappointed he did not finish.
The rest of the group are trekking ok and should be getting excited about now knowing they are on the home stretch and heading for Kokoda.
Today I had to fly to Kokoda and back and took a photograph from the air of Isurava Memorial area where this trek should be tomorrow. When you walk around the corner from Alola and see this magnificent area, its a fitting tribute to our diggers who fought there.
Isurava_from_the_air.jpgWhilst I have not heard from them today, the photographs below represent where they will be walking tomorrow before they reach the Monument area.
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