The Lae Man

Ofi creek to Imita base camp Distance: 20.7 km Walking time: 4 hours 57 mins Elevation: A sombre start to the day. Not everyone who starts the Kokoda trail finishes it. Aged 35 too. That's young. Day seven started with a degree of exuberance as the group enjoyed the concept of this being the last full day of trekking. Shortly after commencing the seventh day of trekking, we arrived at a clearing atop a small hill. Here, an industrious and entrepreneurial local was making the

Agulogo to Ofi Creek Distance: 17.28 km Walking time: 4 hours 54 mins Elevation: It was a an up and down sort of day. Excuse the pun. Couldn't help myself looking at that elevation profile. Even the most no-fuss husband knows that happy wife equals happy life. Dammo once again attending to Jenna's every need. Strapping her ankles first thing in the morning pre-trek. Ankle taping, knee braces and Italian 400mg iburpofen. The list was lengthening as the trek did. The day starte

Efogi to Agulogo (via Menari) Distance: 19.2 km Walking time: 5 hours 17 mins Elevation: Shortly after the 5 am wake-up call, the lights came on and the group started to get ready for another day of self-flagellation. With a distinct lack of ambient light in the middle of a tropical jungle, the sky seemed very big and the stars very clear. It made you feel very small—a bit like camping in the outback. Another wet night and another night fighting the moisture inside the tent.

Templetons Crossing to Efogi (via lunch at 1900 and afternoon tea at Naduri) Distance : 25.4 km Walking time : 6 hours 47 min Elevation profile: If we thought a 5 am wake up call was a bit rude (albeit for a dawn memorial service) then getting woken at 4.30 am the following day was even ruder. Again, the early start was to ensure the group got into camp at a reasonable hour. As it turned out we should have risen an hour earlier if we were going to give ourselves any chance of

Isurava to Templetons Crossing (via Oro Creek) Distance: 26.6 km Walking time: 5 hours 47 mins Elevation profile: One of the longest days of the trek started with Peta doing the rounds with her boom box at 5 am. We needed the early start for two reasons. Firstly, we had a dawn service to attend. Secondly, given the distance we had to cover that day, if there was any hope that we'd arrive at camp before dark, an early start was needed. By day's end, any remaining false illusio

Hoi to Isurava Distance: 15.1 km Walking time: 4 hours 4 mins Elevation profile: Day 2 started the same way it did every day. Me giving up on pretending I could sleep and arising around 4 am. Quietly packing my gear and ensuring everything was out of the tent before breakfast. At 5 am, Peta would walk the campsite with a small Bluetooth speaker, playing inspirational music in lieu of an alarm clock for those lucky enough to still be asleep. The morning routine was pretty simp

Kokoda to Hoi Distance: 10.01 km Walking time : 2 hours 14 min Elevation profile: As with previous adventures it had been my intention to log each day independently. That all went askew after the first day when I forgot to record my notes from the days' activities. Thereafter I was so exhausted each evening that I only periodically recorded my thoughts. So for those reasons and others, whilst I am still individualising the days, and photo's, my recollections on any such day m

Training for the Kokoda when residing in the UK was always going to be a challenge. It is hard to replicate the heat and humidity of a tropical jungle when your surrounds are suburban London in the middle of winter. At least I would be used to the wet. After all it was the wettest English January on record. STARTING TRAINING FOR A TROPICAL JUNGLE TREK IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ENGLISH WINTER A good friend, Scott.G had done the Kokoda two years ago and was eager to impart his exper

In Australia's military history there are many 'great' theatres of war. There are however two that are enshrined in folklore. The first being the 'Gallipoli' campaign in World War I when an inept British military hierarchy sent thousands of ANZAC (Australia & New Zealand Army Corps) soldiers to their deaths in a failed attempt to take the Turkish coastline. The second, is the Kokoda Track where in World War II, the Japanese suffered their first land defeat of the war, and wer

Scratching from the ride/race was not an easy decision. I had never 'quit' on a physical event before in my life. I had invested over 6...