Hi Steve,
sounds like you and your son are well on the way to being as prepared physically as you can be.

If you are familiar with Toowoomba and the range on the right as you drive up into the city I used that for my training. It had quite a steep slope with a number of false crests and from my start point at the bottom it enabled me to become used to prolonged ascents followed steep descents.

Not sure about Mt Warning or Binna Burra but if they can provide you with terrain that is relentlessly steep for over 2 hours walking and then the same again down and then repeat that around 3-4 times in a day then you have an ideal training environment.

For a training variety may I suggest going to a gym during their off peak periods and getting on the treadmill, setting the speed to a medium to brisk walk pace and then go for about 1-2 hours varying the gradient from the steepest to middle for at last 10-15 min at a time. I found this effective for training the mind and muscles for the relentless strain on the legs that the track will subject you to. Throw some ankle weights on to simulate the weight of muddy boots. Have a Camelback or similar rehydration system to keep the fluids up.

I guess the key to this is not to treat the trek as a race or something that you must push yourself to be the first or fastest each day. For one thing you will miss some awesome scenery and terrain if you are just head down arse up and motoring along. Secondly and most importantly you will burn out and be prone to injury.

I agree with Waza's comment on the first day out of Kokoda, that beautiful gentle sloping two lane track at the start is so deceptive. An hour later and you are scrambling up some pretty steep hills.

As they said on our trip, little steps…little steps.

All the best

Andrew (Trek 101)

Hi there,
I have to agree with Waza on the choice of a tour group over individaul trekking. From your questions I can surmise that you and your friend have never been to PNG before.

One of the dangers of trekking like you are planning, and especially in PNG, is not being part of an organised group in the event of becoming lost, injured, or as happened to the PNG High Commission staff late last year, robbed by raskols at Owers Corner.

To walk from Owers to Sogeri is no real mean feat, just stomping up n down a dusty open road with little or no cover from the sun. However there is no additional experience to this unless you rate having a criminal put a machete to your throat whilst he n his gang takes all your gear.

Having a trek group look after you and have the means to communicate on the track, security and transfers to/from the trek is highly recommended.
Whether you chose KTL or another group is up to you. However KTL are very good and they will certainly make you feel like you are the only trekkers on the track.

Andrew (Trek 101 – 2005)

Hi Michelle,
I recently trekked Kokoda and found that village life goes on regardless. The whole trekking setup is a bonus for the farmers as fresh fruit n vegies are offered at nearly all villages or rest stops as well as warm cans of soft drink. However it is obvious that this is not their entire dependency. Life is so tough up there they need to provide for their families through their own efforts in their gardens, hunting etc.

I guess the biggest impact is the rest houses and the renting of these by trekking companies. It would be a big undertaking by the villagers to construct a rest house large enough to accommodate 12-14 trekkers plus frames for another house for the porters to setup their shelters. The payoff is in the influx of cash to that village, paid to the headman from what I observed. How that money benefits the village is unknown.

Most of the kids get excited to see different people everyday. Lollies handed out by trekkers are a scourge in my opinion as their dental care is not matched to the impact of sweets in their diet.

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Cheers

Andrew