25 days to go!

It's hard to train when you are sick……lots of companies advocate 3 months prep, but you wouldn't want to get off the couch with 3 months to prepare and lose a week or 2 to sickness. Your training has lots of cross-training (different activities) which is good, plus if you live in the east of Vic u would have some decent hills to climb. For you and I, the humidity will be what hits us most, as we dont get humidity in our usual weather, unlike the northern states.

Your Europe holiday sounds PERFECT, lucky thing! I'm a teacher, my dream is to teach part of the year and work for a trekking company as my main employment. Like I said, I hate camping, but I'm a history nut so my dream job would be walking Kokoda and talking about the various battles, the soldiers involved, men like Charlie McCallum, Bruce Kingsbury, Stan Bisset etc etc, the battlefield tactics, the sacrifice of both the Australian and Japanese soldiers. When I'm struggling for motivation at the gym, I think of the conditions that our boys were thrust into, with little training and insufficient equipment, and generals like Blamey who had no sense of the environment that the men on the ground were facing……I also think of the officers who lead these men so brilliantly, heroes like Ralph Honner and Alan Avery. How can I get off the treadmill and give up after 20 minutes, when these men, heroes one and all, had nowhere to go, faced with overwhelming odds, sick, wounded and fighting for their very survival? In my down times, I think of their courage, their endurance, their sacrifice for their mates, and for us.

I'm trekking with Adventure Kokoda, for 2 reasons. I'm walking Kokoda to Owers, and they have a dawn service at Isurava, which I know will be extremely emotional for me personally. My guide was a Vietnam war soldier, he won a MM, Adventure Kokoda seem to have a very strong military focus and thats what I want most from my trek. I also think this will best enable me to further pursue my dream of leading treks myself. I'm planning on soaking up as much of the military history as I can. My next trek will probably be with Kokoda Trekking, taking my 3 eldest kids.

Most of the weight in my pack is medical. I'm taking a lightweight sleeping bag, Black Wolf lightweight sleeping mat and another sleeping roll (figuring sleep=recovery so 2 rolls is worth the extra weight). 1 pair of skins for undies, 1 pants/1 shirt for during the day, 1 pants/1 shirt for night. 6 pairs of socks, 1 lightweight towel, 1 small towel for the feet. 1 plastic plate, 1 plastic bowl, 1 plastic cup, 1 spork. Theres not a lot of weight in all that, like I said worth paying more for lightweight sleeping bag as it is the heaviest item. Only need 2 sets of clothes! Medical is most of the weight………..energy tablets, salt replacement tablets, various creams and potions to look after the feet. Steripen for water treatment. My 1 luxury item is a blow up cushion to sit on at night! Weight is EVERYTHING when u are carrying your own pack. In the mud, every kg matters <img src='http://www.kokodatrail.com.au/forums/public/style_emoticons//smile.png&#8217; class=’bbc_emoticon’ alt=’:)’ />

Lt Col Phil Roden, referring to those men who died fighting the Japs: "We think of them in sorrow and with pride but there should be a third feeling stronger than grief, greater than pride. A sense of fullness and of achievement. To us, their lives may seem to have been severely shortened, yet in truth they were full lives. It is not how many years a man lives that matters but what he does with the years-many or few- that are granted to him. And those who sleep here did much with theirs.'

I get a lump in my throat whenever I recite these words…….its why we walk the track, paying respect to lives lost for us to enjoy the life that we live today, something that we should never take for granted.

70 days Leanne, not that I am counting!

I started serious training last October, wanting to give myself a full 12 months, given that I am in my mid 40's. Having said that, I was pretty fit to begin with so it was as much about feeding the anticipation as actually building aerobic capacity.

Over the summer I was doing 4 sessions a week outdoors, lots of step climbing with 20kg in the pack, plus hill running. Once winter hit I have moved indoors to the gym, 3 sessions a week……20 minutes on the bike, hill setting, 25 minutes on the step machine, hill setting, and 30 minutes on the treadmill, hill setting. Two minute break between each. Like you, I want to have an excellent fitness base, so that I can not only enjoy the trek, but be of some use to fellow trekkers if needed. I'm also not using a porter, so will be carrying my pack. I've spent a little extra to buy lightweight stuff, so my pack weights in at 10kg, plus 3kg of water.

My concern is that I HATE camping, my idea of camping out is a 4-star motel! So I think this, and lack of sleep, will impact on me. I've tried to balance this by soaking in as much of the history as I can, I've read just about everything there is on Kokoda and have a few DVD's. Last October I got the words 'courage endurance mateship sacrifice' tattooed on my arm…..whenever I'm struggling with my training, I think about these 4 words, and what they mean, and how I can live up to their message in my own small way eg. having the courage to leave my wife and kids for 2 weeks, having never done anything like this before, showing endurance on the damn stepping machine when my legs are burning and my head is making up excuses to stop, showing mateship on my trek by maintaining a positive spirit, appreciating the financial and physical sacrifices that I have made, and my family, to get me on the trek. I also know that I will be an emotional wreck on my trek, I'm a real sook with anything to do with our military history.

So keep on working hard, you'll be rewarded for your efforts by investing in hard work in the months leading up to your trek. Great to read that you are doing this with your daughter. My plan is to trek by myself in October, and then again with 3 of my kids in 2014……..keep us up to date on how you are going! And any questions, don't be afraid to ask, someone on here will know the answer…..I learnt a lot from experienced people on this site!

Welcome mate, I'm sure that you will find lots of useful information/motivation on here…….don't be shy in asking questions.

Best of luck to trekkers, porters and Shane…….enjoy the journey!

Agree…..its gotta be a small group IMO