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Out on the track is trek 579 who left today from Owers' Corner. They sounded a bit nervous today heading out in the car about what to expect. This trek is made up of a couple of friends from Perth; a 19 year old guy from Melbourne together with a family group made up of a father and son and a nephew.
Trekkers are as follows:
Vanessa Smith; Laura Byrne; Jack Dennard; Luke McFarlane; Gary McFarlane and Nathan Thompson
We made arrangements last night to pick them up at the Gateway Hotel at 6:30am this morning but not before a photograph opportunity presented itself:
IMGP1774__640x480_.JPGA short time later found us at the Bomana War Cemetery where trekkers spent approximately an hour walking around and paying their respects.
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IMGP1777__640x480_.JPGOn the way from Bomana War Cemetery we ran into a group of police who were in training who were walking along the road carrying people on makeshift stretchers. At first we didnt know what was happening but they were all smiling and happy and later tonight they were on TV saying how they were being trained in bush skills.
We drove on and came to Rouna lookout. Trekkers walked up and looked at the waterfall before another photograph opportunity presented itself before we drove off again towards Sogeri.
IMGP1780__640x480_.JPGAt Owers' Corner we met up with all our porters who were then introduced to their trekkers who they would spend the next 7 days with walking them across the Kokoda Track. The words ORO ORO ORO echoed as trekkers disembarked from my vehicle. Oro Oro Oro means 'welcome' in their language.
Does he look happy or what? Yes, our boys just love walking the track, taking care of you all and enjoying their time with each other around a campfire.
The guide on this trek is Wallace Lemeki.
IMGP1802__640x480_.JPGVanessa Smith and Laura Byrne met up with Jennen Barai who is acting as their personal porter on this trek. They were surprised to see him without shoes. With Jennen he is a very experienced personal porter and prefers to walk barefoot.
In fact Jennen almost won our race some years ago until he injured himself at Kovelo. At that point he was at the 18 hour point and almost finished. They looked even harder as he lined up at the archway with a pair of blue thongs on his feet.
Sometime back the second fastest guy Wayne Urina walked with my son on a four day and he too walked in a pair of thongs…and the thongs survived! Will wait to hear how Jennen fairs on this trek but he was all smiles as he walked off without a care in the world.
IMGP1781__640x480_.JPGGary McFarlane then met up with Dudley Bubura his personal porter. Dudley comes from an area close to Kokoda and always phones me after a trek and thanks me for giving him another chance to walk on the track with a trekker.
IMGP1782__640x480_.JPGGroup photographs under the archway were taken as shown below:
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IMGP1786__640x480_.JPGTrekkers watched as our boys sang with such pride their PNG National Anthem and followed up with a rendition of their own aussie anthem.
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IMGP1789__640x480_.JPGAt 9am the trek was ready to move off, which was led off by David Clark Embo one of our local historians.
IMGP1790__640x480_.JPGDavid was closely followed by Gary, Dudley, Vanessa, Lynne and Jenen.
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Jenen__s_feet.jpgThe two cousins were not too far behind with Jack in the background of this photograph. All three young lads are carrying their own packs and planning on toughing it out.
IMGP1794__640x480_.JPGDavidson Eroro and Sione Orosambo are food porters as well as our musicians on this trek. They both have their own gospel bands and perform at church functions and other fund raising occasions. Davidson is also one of our guides.
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IMGP1801__640x480_.JPG15th June: This morning Wallace phoned up to give me an update of the trek so far. The first night as planned they spent the night at Ua'Ule Creek. The second night was spent at Ofi Creek as one of our porters was really sick so a decision was made to give them a short day so he could recover.
Gary worried they may get behind schedule but Wallace said he assured him they know what they are doing and it was good for them all to have a short day.
Last night they spent the night at Manari village and today they are heading to Naduri. Gary apparently came up to Wallace yesterday and said he was now confident they were going along ok
As for Wallace, he said the three young guys are really fit and fast and each day are about an hour ahead of the rest of the trekkers and walking with some of our porters and David Clark our assistant guide.
Around 6pm tonight Wallace called in to say they had reached Naduri Village where they will spend the night.
The aim for tomorrow is to reach Templeton's Crossing II. Everyone is continues to do well. The two cousins are still out front. Gary is now even more confident that he will walk out in Kokoda so is very much in a positive mode.
As for the two women, Laura is finding it the tougher of the two but hey they are doing really well. As for Jack, he is enjoying himself and hanging out with Wallace and the guys as they walk along. Hobert is recovering from his malaria bout and the trekkers are asking when he is going to start again with his jokes.
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