T’was the night before Kokoda….

Well I’m off to PNG in the morning for the start of my grand adventure :-)

I’m packed and ready to go. Although walking the Kokoda Track is something that I have always wanted to do, I’ve been feeling really anxious the last few days. I know that it is going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Even my folks today admitted to being a bit nervous for me!

I was not taught about the significance of the battle on the Kokoda Track in High School. Heck, I wasn’t even taught about the “Pacific conflict’ in WWII. I can only conclude that some bright spark in the Education Department in the 1980s decided the Pacific conflict wasn’t important enough to teach. Which is incredibly surprising given that the battles in PNG in WWII – and on the Kokoda Track in particular – were perhaps the most important battles Australians have ever fought. Until then, Australians had only ever been sent overseas to fight for ‘mother England’. This was the first time in our history that Australia had been under direct threat & Australians were sent to defend it. What, I think, makes the achievement of our troops more impressive is the odds they were up against. Initially it was largely the militia that was sent to PNG; these ‘boys’ – and they were mostly boys – had very little (if any) military training. They were under-resourced (and don't get me started on General MacArthur!), and outnumbered by a battle-hardened & well trained Japanese force. Yet our troops managed to slow the progress of the Japanese along the Kokoda track enough so that supply chain problems ultimately led to the Japanese withdrawing – within sight of their goal of Port Moresby. This, of course, is the condensed ‘100-words-or-less’ version of history. If you are interested, read up about it. Although a bookworm, I’ve never been into military history but I have found the story of Kokoda to be absolutely fascinating. And timely – I am sure that some of you would have seen this report during the week.

Anyway enough of the history lesson. I fly to Port Moresby tomorrow (Monday) morning. Then on Tuesday we fly from Port Moresby to the village of Kokoda before making the long trek south. And it is long – we take the original 155km ‘wartime’ trail as opposed to the 96km ‘eco-tourist-slightly-easier’ route. I recently read a description of the track which caused me to raise an eyebrow. It read (words to the effect of ) – imagine the highest building in the city. Walk to the top of the building and then down the other side, trying not to slide in the thick mud. Then cross a major ford – either by walking through the waist-deep water or by walking on two tree trunks suspended above the water & tied together with a vine. And then do it for 7 hours a day. For 8 days. Yikes!

Wish me luck !