Kokoda Trek- A Journey Never Forgotten
Ask any trekker lucky enough to have embarked on the journey known as Kokoda Trek what it was like, and they will all agree that the trek will forever hold a special place within them.
From the moment you make the wonderful decision to visit one of the most beautiful countries in the world your life will never be the same.
As you stand at the bottom of your first of many mountains, you will question yourself and your capacity to reach the top; this is the beginning of one of the life changing events that Kokoda empowers you with, self-belief. Every trekker will tell you that each day, every step and every mountain is a challenge, a challenge that mentally you begin by telling yourself, that next step is impossible, and as you take every one of those ‘impossible steps’ your self belief begins to grow. Before long you stand beneath arches, 110km from your starting point, asking why you ever questioned your ability in the beginning.
You will pass trekkers who are silently questioning their own self-belief as they take those ‘impossible steps’; no one ever vocalises their concerns or worries, how can we? As we walk in the footsteps of men who faced the same arduous terrain, we are not shot at, nor are we carrying our wounded mates and rifles, every night we eat before we rest in a warm sleeping bag within a tent shielding us from the weather and malaria riddled mosquitoes. Our forefathers were not so lucky to have these medicines and luxuries preventing dysentery and malaria, nor did they carry ‘rehydrating fluids’, these men watched their brothers, fathers and mates die around them from weapon induced injuries or worse, easily prevented illnesses and dehydration.
Throughout our journey we soon learn that our forefathers were not alone, in fact you are likely to be walking beside an ancestor of a ‘Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel’, one that made the same sacrifices to support and help our countrymen, the local porters/helpers will share the experiences that have been taught to them, the same way we have been taught about our forefathers, and as you walk along the Trek you can almost feel the link our countrymen shared in the 1940’s. Before you know it, Kokoda has changed you again, you feel humbled.
Humble for the Papua New Guinean locals and the efforts/sacrifices they also made through WWII, humble for the children that run alongside you wearing clothes given to them by previous trekkers, with no smartphones in their pockets, no idea what a tablet PC is, children that appear to us not to have the ‘simple necessities’ of life, that even so, somehow smile wider than any child I know back home. Children that run to school with such enthusiasm, or sing their national anthem to you with such pride, these children will never know that they have given you more wisdom than you could have ever taught them. Wisdom/realisation that possibly the simpler life is in fact the rich life.
Undoubtedly you will stand knee deep in mud and soaked in torrential rain; realisation is the next empowerment that Kokoda blesses you with, realisation that what these men went through every day in the name of not only our freedom but global freedom, is a sacrifice that every man, woman and child should be eternally grateful for.
The world around you suddenly turns back to the 1940s’ and it is not a place you would wish upon your worst enemy. You ask yourself how did these men make it through each day, and as one of your fellow trekkers extends a rain drenched hand to help lift you from the mud, or even a little banter to motivate you to lift those knees high above the mud and continue on your squelching pilgrimage, you are engulfed by more realisation; for that very small moment you understood what could have helped these men through each day; mateship.
Mateship on the trek, even for the modern day trekker is the key to survival, and for me this mateship has lasted since my journey, to the point that three years on, some of my fellow trekkers, that I met on Kokoda Trek are some of my closest friends today. Together we have since climbed to Everest Base Camp in Nepal and Mt Kinnabalu in Borneo (Kokoda is still my favourite); we have even attended each other’s weddings.
For those who I began my journey with, we now have another story to talk about when we have the chance to meet; three years on it seems to be the story that we revert back to most often. I also have a long distant friendship with a local porter whom I met along the Trek, we still stay in contact and he has since sent me photos of his baby boy born last year, and in return I have sent him some wedding photos of which he replied with a handmade wedding gift. One day I hope to re-trek Kokoda together with Robert and his son.
Step after step you will pass over rolling mountains, with unobstructed views of the jungle ridden horizon, through villages where children run to greet you, pay respects at the places some of Australia’s greatest heroes fell, many places you will wipe sweat from your brow tears from your eyes; all of these moments you will never forget and in times of difficulty when I want to escape reality to a happy place; for me Kokoda is it, in a village where I sat on the grass exhausted as I gazed into the distance, silently thanking my forefathers for my freedom, for the fact that I can enjoy an amazing country on a day like today.
Regardless if you began Kokoda Trek with Bomana War Cemetery you should always finish with it, paying your respects is better understood when you have had a small taste of what these men were faced with, what these men sacrificed for our freedom.
Kokoda has this ability to be one of the, if not the most challenging journeys you will ever embark on, and despite this, as you fly to wherever home might be, you will promise yourself that one day, “I will go back and do it again”.
We soon realise that as we attempt to try and convey the magic of Kokoda to people who are yet to embark on their own journeys, words and photos are really not enough, it has to be experienced by the individual to understand why this place will always have a place inside every trekker’s heart. Kokoda Trek is a place of magic and beauty understood only by those who have been.
