Jim Kerwin, his daughter Hollie, Eric Uwea our Kokoda Trekking Guide and his cousin seen here at Ower's Corner before they headed down towards Goldie River:Picture_009.jpg

What I absolutely loved about my trek:1. The adventure, I mean I had never done anything like this in my entire life, it was awesome!2. I felt so much for our diggers and I thought about them day in day out. I also thought about my own uncle who I never got to meet as he too died only in Aitape and is buried in the Lae Cemetery.3. I also felt…[Read more]

What I would 'not' do again:1. Wear a watch or any other jewellery I did not want to loose coz I lost my watch somewhere between Iora Creek campsite down to the creek. This watch I wore day in day out for over 10 years + and I really miss it….guess what Santa will bring me for Christmas!2. Wear Gaitors as they gave me rashes from where they…[Read more]

Saw on the news last night that the AFL Hawks made it back home, WELL DONE GUYS you have joined the KOKODA CLUB!!!CLICK HERE to read about their adventures on the Kokoda Trail:

Article in todays Post Courier's 'the drum' – Thursday, December 9, 2004: SO far so good with the AFL Hawthorn Hawks players, doing their much criticised trek along our Kokoda Track. They were warned against doing it and told they'd come to grief doing it in the worst time of the year.But they reportedly made it to "Brigade Hill", along the…[Read more]

A final thank you must go to the 3770 + diggers buried at the Bomana War Cemetery on the outskirts of Port Moresby. As one person who emails uses as his pen signature,If you can read this at all, thank a teacherIf you can read it in English, thank a digger Which pretty much sums it up. After walking the Kokoda Trail, a visit to Bomana puts…[Read more]

A final note of thanks must go to Beverley Howell for joining me on this trek. We caught up on a lot of things as we had not seen each other for many many years. It was just so great to trek with someone I knew and to relate each day the way we were feeling and to have someone to share the experience with.I hope Bev you got as much out of your…[Read more]

Last but not least, a special thank you to Eric Uwea who took the time leading up to our trek to come and walk with me around Port Moresby most afternoons and also one day out at Sogeri.Eric also gave me so much encouragement from day 1 when I first said I would walk the trail. I think in the beginning he like others, may have thought I would not…[Read more]

To Chris thanks for looking after Bev on the Kokoda Trail. To Syprian, for helping me across many a river crossing, much appreciated. For the many meals you cooked and for both your company on our trek which has helped to make it very memorable for both Bev and myself.Chris & Syprian out on the Kokoda Trail:Chris___Syprian_pic46.jpg

Thanks also must go to our ever smiling guide Kingsley who was an inspiration to trek with as he makes it look so easy and has this permanent grin on his face. Often Kingsley would share a joke with us; he would take his turn playing the uke'ule; he did his share of cooking/cleaning and was always the laugh of the party.On one night Chris &…[Read more]

Special thanks must go to my JV Partner Russell Eroro who acted as my personal porter on this trek. On day 9 I slipped and fell going down to Hoi Village and he reprimanded me…..have you not learnt anything in 9 days, come I will help you up….hahaHe then smiled and with an extended hand pulled me up for the 13th time. Actually the truth of…[Read more]

On Wednesday 24th November we returned to Port Moresby happy that we had completed what we set out to do, and that was to walk the Kokoda Trail.Much appreciation has to go to the guys from Kokoda and Eric from Sogeri who accompanied Bev and I. Without their help I am sure we would still be waundering around somewhere out there int he jungle, so…[Read more]

On the Monday the 22nd November, my feet were swollen and my body was aching so the last thing I wanted to do was walk again so I decided on doing nothing all day except resting to get my strength back.As for Bev, she was up and ready to go walking around the station with Chris and some other guys to check out the hospital and meet up with his…[Read more]

The final hours as we head down to Russell Eroro's Family Block:When walking down to Hoi Village we come across yet another group of Army personnel from Townsville who were camping for the night at this location.Several of them mentioned they knew about my kokoda website and they told us that they were the elite squad and were supposed to be…[Read more]

We continued to press on and we came across the choko fields which I immediately could relate to due to the fact that lots of trekkers take photographs on the way up to Hoi and it looked very familiar to me. Not just a few vines here and there but we seemed to be walking for ages before we got out of this area as they were growing wild.We sat for…[Read more]

After leaving Isurava Village, we headed down toward Hoi when we ran into more soldiers and way further down the track, two PNG soldiers way behind the others who were really surprised to run into a woman walking the trail.They begged me to sit with them and have my photograph taken as a keepsake for them.I was then handed their rifle and we sat…[Read more]

A short time later we walked back up the hill and regrouped with our backpacks etc to head down to the village of Isurava where one of our guides Kinglsey Boropi lives with his wife and four children.We woke up Bev and our journey soon began. During the walk Russell was saying how many trekkers complain about the walk up from Hoi Village to…[Read more]

Day 9 – Iora Creek to Kokoda:We woke up at dawn and packed up quickly as the had to make up time and a long walk ahead of us. The boys went straight down the short cut to the creek whereas Russell took me another slightly easier route. When we finally made it to the creek, the guys were already there despite looking like they hadnt even started…[Read more]

During the course of the night at Myola Junction, lots of action was taking place. We had another hot shower compliments of Russell & Chris. Two porters departed to Kagi to pick up some more food supplies that we had left there during a food drop in October. They came back in the morning with all kinds of goodies to keep us going until we…[Read more]

Day 7 – Efogi to Myola Junction:Today we went straight up to Efogi No 2 and then straight down again to a creek crossing and up to Naduri where we met up with Ovuru Ndiki, who at 99 probably the oldest living Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel.We talked in pigdin for ages to both him and his son and looked through the museum. During our stay there we had the most…[Read more]