Reading this makes your legs grow weary as if you had just climbed the 'Golden Stairs' or the nine false peaks of the Maguli Range. You feel the mud between your toes and imagine the taste of acrid cordite atop Butchers Hill or in the dark, dank, dripping depths of Eora Creek. Combining the best Kokoda writers with personal pictures of the track,…[Read more]

A little about the publisher – Bob McDonaldBob spent 41 years living at McDonald?s Corner at the Moresby end of the Kokoda Trail.The corner is named after his father P.J. who in 1941 had acquired some virgin jungle called Ilolo where he started planting rubber trees. There was no ?corner? in 1942, it was just a road-head where the walking track to…[Read more]

Trekking Guide Diary – Cost – A$ 25.00 including Postage and handling in Australiaall other countries, price on application by emailing: gail@pngbd.comIf you are interested in this diary, you can Order Online by Credit CardAnother sample of contents of inside the Diary:Infantry.gif

Items of Interest inside the Diary:The Battle of the Coral SeaInfantry Losses Various MapsThe Pacific – WW2Events on the Kokoda Trail 1942Level of command and unit structureThe Fuzzy Wuzzy AngelsKokoda Trail Mail Service RouteMcDonalds Corner Information & lots lots moreKokoda to Port Moresby Map: Owen_Stanley_Map.jpg

Author of the Diary is Bob McDonald long time resident of Papua New Guinea. Bob spent 41 years living at McDonald?s Corner at the Moresby end of the Kokoda Trail.The corner is named after his father P.J. who in 1941 had acquired some virgin jungle called Ilolo where he started planting rubber trees. There was no ?corner? in 1942, it was just a…[Read more]

Sample of material written inside the diary:The Kokoda Trail is an ancient ninety six-kilometre native track that crosses over Papua New Guinea's spinal Owen Stanley Range and is a concertinaed jumble of razor edged peaks, with unbelievably steep ascents totalling 5,500m and descents of a similar figure. This rugged terrain is made up of abrupt…[Read more]

The Kokoda Trail Papua New Guinea: Walking Times only approximate and vary depending which way the Trail is walked.W-Water – 1350 – Elevations above sea levelThis walk has been described as 'the ultimate military obstacle course', and is a demanding A Grade trek, so to enjoy it ensure you are fit. One recent walker registered 28,000 paces on his…[Read more]

The Kokoda Trail Papua New Guinea: Walking Times only approximate and vary depending which way the Trail is walked.W-Water – 1350 – Elevations above sea levelThis walk has been described as 'the ultimate military obstacle course', and is a demanding A Grade trek, so to enjoy it ensure you are fit. One recent walker registered 28,000 paces on his…[Read more]

The Kokoda Trail Papua New Guinea – including map and villages.Wall Hanging No. 7 – State when ordering:Pic7.jpg

Padre Begbie of the 2/27th Battalion holding a deep and moving service for those who had fallen at Gona. One soldier said later that he felt 'embarrassed to be alive'.When you go home, tell them of us, and say, 'For your tomorrow we gave our today'.Sir William Slim – Bomana 1953 Wall Hanging No. 6 – State when ordering:THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR…[Read more]

The Kokoda Trail, Papua The 'Golden Stairs' up Imita Ridge, just the first of the climbs, but no way the steepest, longest or highest.Some 3,200 steps were cut into the mountain. A brush cross section was lashed to two stakes driven into the ground. The stairs became permanently sodden and slippery because of the daily rain that saturated the…[Read more]

Battle of the Coral Sea US Lexington: American Losses:

• 1 Carrier Sunk – Lexington
• 1 Carrier Damaged – yorktown
• 1 Destroyer Sunk – Simms
• 1 Oiler Sunk – Neosho
• 66 Planes Lost
• 543 Men Lost or were Killed

Japanese Losses:

• 1 Carrier Sunk – Shoho
• 1 Carrier damaged – Shokaku
• 1 Destroyer Sunk – Kikuzuki
• 3 Small Naval Vessels Sunk
• 77 Planes Lost
• 1074 Men Lost or were…

[Read more]

The Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels: With improvised stretchers one or two blankets lashed with native string to two long poles spread by stout traveerse bars as many as eight or ten native bearers would carry day after day. To watch them descend steep slippery spurs into a mountain stream, along the bed and up the steep ascent, was an object lesson in…[Read more]

From the 21st September the Japanese came under artillery fire for the first time since landing at Buna on 21st July. It was sweet music for the Australians, who had been subjected to constant harassment from the enemy's mountain guns, (with no reply) to hear their own shells whistle overhead followed by a resounding crump on loribaiwa.Three 25…[Read more]

Kokoda Trail – McDonald's Corner Album – Cost – A$ 515.00 including Postage and handling in Australia all other countries, price on application by emailing: gail@pngbd.comIf you are interested in this beautiful album, you can Order Online by Credit CardJapanese_Occupied.jpg

Dedicated to the memory of his late father P.J. McDonald who showed that dreams can come true.To his son Nathan, who prompted, encouraged and provoked him into putting together the compilation.Quote from the album:The Kokoda Trail is an ancient ninety six kilometre native track that crosses over Papua New Guinea's spinal Owen Stanley Range and is…[Read more]

A detailed overview, this compilation identifies specific battalion movements during gruelling engagements, revises military decisions, diseases contracted on the track, the fuzzy wuzzy angels and describes the trail through the eyes of someone who has trekked what has become known as, 'the ultimate military obstacle course'. In your album there…[Read more]

Reading this makes your legs grow weary as if you had just climbed the 'Golden Stairs' or the nine false peaks of the Maguli Range. You feel the mud between your toes and imagine the taste of acrid cordite atop Butchers Hill or in the the dark, dank, dripping depths of Eora Creek. Combining the best Kokoda writers with personal pictures of the…[Read more]

A little about the publisher – Bob McDonaldBob spent 41 years living at McDonald?s Corner at the Moresby end of the Kokoda Trail.The corner is named after his father P.J. who in 1941 had acquired some virgin jungle called Ilolo where he started planting rubber trees. There was no ?corner? in 1942, it was just a road-head where the walking track to…[Read more]

Trekking Guide Diary – Cost – A$ 26.00 including Postage and handling in Australiaall other countries, price on application by emailing: gail@pngbd.comIf you are interested in this diary, you can Order Online by Credit CardAnother sample of contents of inside the Diary:Infantry.gif