The Adventure of a Lifetime

Wow what an unbelievable adventure!   Over the coming weeks I plan to share with you some of stories from my expedition to Papua New Guinea as well as some of the lessons I learned along the way – clearly there were quite a few.  As you know and for those playing along at home, prior to heading out on my trek I had researched every aspect of the trip “six ways to Sunday” or so I had thought…..

I arrived into Melbourne's International airport on Saturday November 5th in the early afternoon and was greeted by my mate – Craig Darrell (see blog 6 – Why Kokoda?)  Our bus back to the Melbourne airport was leaving on Sunday morning at 3:00 am from the local sports ground, so I had little time to acclimatize to the new time-zone (16 hours behind Canada), and after a 28 hour journey was just a tad disoriented with jetlag to say the least.  Our first flight took us from Melbourne to Brisbane (3+ hrs) with a two hour stopover before boarding our Air Niugini flight (PX003) and heading to Port Moresby which was another 3+ hours north of Brisbane.   The Coral Sea was so beautiful as we jetted silently far above the many reefs and turquoise fringed islands far below.   Idyllic thoughts flooded my mind as I sat there contemplating the journey ahead and the paradise and beauty of the Papuan jungle, but I guess the young Australian militiamen also had the same thoughts as they chugged along on their troopships in 1942 on their way north.   As I was soon to find out I was just as naïve as those young soldiers all those years ago.  

We met the final members of our group which had now swelled to 23 trekkers, three guides plus our native porters (“the boys” as they were affectionately known to everyone).   The heat and local smells were an unusual and overpowering; some might say even an intoxicating mix as we deplaned at Jackson’s Field airport with our backpacks and gear mid afternoon.  The plan was to overnight at the Airways hotel which was close proximity to the airport so we could catch our turbo prop over to Kokoda first thing the next morning.  After a swim and a beer (only one mind you J) we had our final briefing from Mick O’Malley (Owner and lead guide for Australian Kokoda Tours and retired Super Featherweight Commonwealth boxing champion).   I can't seem to shake the boxing influence and overtones with this adventure - hear that Horace?!

As I listened along with the others in the group of which I only knew two people, it struck me that there seemed to be an inordinate number of rules that we needed to adhere to but clearly they knew what they were talking about as I was about to find out the very next day.  Not to scare us, but he reiterated that if we didn’t follow along there would be potential health risks and consequences of which the likes we'd never even contemplated - you can do the math on this one.

Early next morning - 4:30 am to be precise (which was to become a habit for the next 10 days) I was awakened to sound of the cohorts stirring and readying themselves for the adventure ahead – one last check of the pack, first aid, malaria tablets, water purification tablets, the list went on and on.   Breakfast was at 5:30 am with the first group heading to the airport shortly thereafter, fortunately I was scheduled on the later flight which gave me another 30 min before we left.  Who knew that this would be my last solid meal for the remainder of the trip?  We got to the airport around 6:30 and so began the weigh in – each of us had to be weighed along with our equipment to ensure we could balance the plane.  

The initial group was the recipients of the first prank of the trip.  Mick told the first two guys in all seriousness that had to be weighed but that they needed their clothes off to do so accurately, I can see them now, going "Jeez if Mick says we need to strip then we had better".   My compatriots began by taking their t-shirts off as quick as a flash and were about to unbuckle their pants before everyone in the terminal began laughing hysterically, I mean everyone…….first point to Mick!   So glad it wasn’t me cos I guarantee I would have done the same thing.



Lethal and Heath at the back of the bus

After our weigh in and lots of waiting about we finally walked out to our plane on the tarmac and boarded – I didn’t realize that there was so much planning into the balancing of a plane, although Mick wanted to load just two more packs - he was like a dog with a bone – and just wouldn’t let up until the pilot finally had had enough and flatly refused to take on any more weight.   Finally the turbo-props roared to life and before you knew it we were lifting off over the dry and dusty city of Port Moresby and headed over the mountains to the lush and very green village of Kokoda and the grass airstrip beyond, just 30 minutes away.  Our pilot was clearly an expert as I don’t think I’ve had a smoother landing…..ever!   


Kokoda airstrip

As soon as I stepped down from the plane the heat hit me like a sledgehammer – shit it was hot!   I could feel the sun prickling my skin and I quickly applied sunscreen and my bush hat to stop the imminent burn.  The advance party was already in the village some 1km away waiting for us so we raised our packs and began the walk to meet them, have a quick lunch and begin our adventure.   No worries I thought, only a kilometer…..I could do that walking on my hands!

Now I thought I was pretty fit; what with all of the hiking around Toronto each weekend for the past three months, the fitness with Horace three times per week, not to mention the mountain training weekend in the mountains outside Vancouver but as it turned out I was unprepared for what I was about to face.   In the first two hundred meters I was already sweating profusely and gulping from my Platypus water bladder, my Achilles was sore and swollen from sitting too long on all the flights over the prior five days so I was limping badly……not a good sign by any standard, and by this time I was trailing the pack by some distance with my unhappy porter trudging along behind me.   I'm sure he was thinking "why me? - the slowest guy.....really?"

As I limped ever so slowly into the village of Kokoda I was truly beginning to doubt both my sanity and my ability to actually do this – it was a very sobering walk/limp to the village and to be honest I was at one of my lowest ebbs for the trip.   To say I was disheartened would have been an understatement of epic proportions, but one thing kept going over and over my mind.  “What would dad have done?”   I realized then and there that if I was going to be get through this then I would have to just suck it up and stop whining and get on with it – get past the pain……or as dad rather eloquently said to the nurse after his five hour brain surgery “I don’t have any pain and that’s all there is to it!”   He mentally had dismissed the pain therefore he didn’t have any – the power of the human mind eh?

Thanks dad – another lesson to you mate!