By this stage I think you get the drift of how the trek went. The places we camped, the track itself and the challenges it presented. The emotional ups and downs. The fact that hygiene wasn’t all that flash with cold showers and no soap… and the sore feet!

Nevermind that we couldn’t get anything to really dry out fully and we would be putting on damp socks, tops and bottoms every day. It really was an adventure. One that I had never experienced before ever in my life and despite all these things, I really enjoyed the experience and knowing that anything is possible when your head is in the right place.

A couple of the highlights were swimming in the rivers. We would be glad to get our boots off and cool our feet down along with our weary bodies. It really did help for a while until we had to get going again off to our next destination.

Heartbreak on Day 6

WOW! Typing that headline has made all the emotions of that day come rushing back. Just like any other day, we were up early to get ready to take off at 6:30am. This day was a short one - 5 hours - as rather than stopping off for lunch at the usual place near the swamp not far from the village, we chose to keep going so that we arrived at our destination earlier leaving us most of the day to relax and re-coup for the next one and a half days to the finish. We were so close now!

Once again, we had to climb up a steep mountain onto Nauro. It is actually named The Nine False Peaks because we would climb a few hundred metres and then it would be flat for a while. Then there would be another steep climb and flat again. There were nine of these climbs as we headed up to camp at Nauro. That was really hard as it would give the sense of finishing the climb only to find another!

Once there, we had lunch and sat around relaxing, telling jokes and taking it in turns for the shower. It was my turn to head for the shower so I gathered my things and headed off. What happened next I couldn’t have ever imagined happening. Not to me anyway because I was always extra careful with my footing. But even the most careful steps cannot help when the ground is slippery.

My foot went from under me and I put my hand out to break my fall. I heard a snap. I stood up and noticed my right hand was like jelly. I’d broken my wrist. There was no mistake. My immediate thought was a word that sounds like FARK, and how was I going to finish the trek if I couldn’t hold onto my walking pole!!

I quickly rushed back up to the guesthouse and summoned Simone (a nurse) to take a look. She didn’t look happy. I couldn’t believe it. One and a half days to finish and here I was with a broken wrist!!!

David, our tour guide, quickly got onto the satellite phone to Port Moresby and arranged for a helicopter to come in and pick me up. This was around 2:30pm. The clouds roll in early making visibility difficult so he wasn’t taking any chances. It was also the last place on the track itself where a helicopter could land so there was no hesitation to call once he saw what had happened. If it had happened any further along, I would have to have been stretchered to the end as there was no other way out! Talk about an injured digger!

What a trouble maker I was. Everyone was fussing over me and it wasn’t long before my porter Armstrong came over to see for himself. He was just as heartbroken as we had by this stage built a bond and he knew what I was and wasn’t capable of. He had told me early on in the trek that his mother had told him that if he was ever a porter for a lady, that he would have to make doubly sure of helping her through it. He might as well have been attending a funeral the way he looked at me. So sad. The porters see this as an honour and a privilege to help trekkers along the track so it was totally devastating for him too.

Rescue Time

It didn’t take long for the chopper to arrive. I was given some pain killers and Simone wrapped a sling around my arm to hold it in place for the trip. Everyone, including the villagers, came up to the landing to see me off. I was still in shock and couldn’t believe that I was leaving my team behind. How silly I was to have fallen. Why did it have to happen to me. I wanted to finish. All the training I did. All the hours I spent to get fit for this trek. I didn’t want to be rescued off the track and taken to hospital!! It wasn’t fair. Me, me, me. It was all about me!

Don ‘t worry. That didn’t last long. Once up in the chopper and away from everyone, I realised that that was the end of my Kokoda trek.

Not the way I wanted it to happen, but we don’t always get what we want in life and that’s how it is. We make the best of what is dealt our way go with the flow making the very best of every opportunity. Facing the challenges head on and asking “what is great about this?” Just like Kurek Ashley says. This is a whole other post so I won’t go into detail here. Let me finish this story. The adventure is not over yet!

Port Moresby

Once back in Port Moresby, I was whisked off to the hospital. Two words here. TRAVEL INSURANCE! do not leave home without it no matter where you travel to. I was there for hours it seemed. I hadn’t eaten since lunch and by this stage, it was almost dinner time. Not that I was that hungry but the time had passed.

I saw the doctor and she immediately thought I would need surgery. She scribbled a note and told me to go to go and have an x-ray to determine her prognosis. She too was an adventurer and told me about her trekking and scuba diving. A pleasant lady.

The woman who was in charge of taking x-rays took a look at the note and asked if I had written it myself! I said to her, “does it look like I can write?” She said that the doctors note asked for x-rays of my leg - tibia and fibia - just as well I wasn’t going in for an amputation! Imagine!!

So we headed out to the portable in the car park as that is where the ancient x-ray machine was. Once taken, I could see the break and even to the untrained eye, it looked like a bad break. What had I done?

Back into the doctor with the x-rays and she confirmed that I would need surgery. Again, TRAVEL INSURANCE! She took me to the treatment room where I had a couple of shots for the pain and she put a cast on my arm so that I could travel. I had to be airlifted back to Australia as there was no way the travel insurance company would leave me there to have it done and just as well. Looking around that treatment room, their standards were no where near the standards of hospitals back home. I was happy to leave Papua New Guinea.

I spent the night at the hotel and the next morning, a private jet was waiting at the International airport to take me home back to my family. This was My Excellent Kokoda Adventure!

Firstly, let me say what a very humbling experience this was. I’ve had a few days now to process what I have just been through and you know something, we are as soft as Brie cheese that’s been left out in the sun for a few hours. I’m the first to admit that I love all my home comforts and am very fortunate and grateful to have all the mod cons for cooking and cleaning. We live in such a fast paced world and no wonder my head spins with each new day trying to work out what’s hot and where it’s cool to be seen… and that’s just online!!

This is not my first trip overseas to a place where the minimum monthly wage is way below the poverty line at $30.00, but it has been quite some time since I have experienced such a lovely race of people who will never have all the conveniences that we do and not even a fraction at that!

This is taken in the Kokoda Village.

Port Moresby itself is very dirty and all hotels, shops and restaurants are locked up and have razor wire around the boundaries. You DO NOT venture into the streets on your own no matter what! You see, there are many desperate people who wait for such an opportunity and then bring out a knife to take the contents of your bag. Apparently, it is the murder capital of the world and not somewhere you would want to be without security guards by your side.

Once in the villages, it is quite safe to mingle with the natives of the land. After all, their ancestors are the original Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels who helped our Aussie diggers when wounded by the Japanese during WWII.

So upon our arrival, we were briefed and enjoyed a couple of quiet drinks at the hotel in anticipation of what we were to face for the next 8 days!

The next morning we had to have our packs and ourselves down at reception at 6am. Kind of early I thought and in hindsight, we could have slept another 2 hours. Everything moves very slowly in PNG. We were all anxious to get going. That nervous energy filled the space we were in. Pacing, catching a few more winks if we could… eating our snacks out of boredom… and finally at 10:30am we received the news that the fog had cleared and we were ordered to the airport to catch our late flight to Kokoda Village for the start of our trek.

Our tour guide Dave from www.noroads.com.au pointing out some terrain we would cover on the trek.

Once there, we were introduced to our personal porters and others who would join us and off we went with courage and enthusiasm in our steps to discover what is the Kokoda Track and to take in the beauty and history as we went.

All in all, we were that excited to get going that the first day went quite quickly. A steady fairly easy climb until we were just outside our first camp site at Deniki where we experienced the first of many steep climbs. I think shock set in and I remember thinking that I hoped that there weren’t any others as steep as this! Did I say that? Already the psychology and mindset are prevalent.

Stay tuned for the next installment… !

The Deniki Camp site. Day 1

With all this talk about LOVE recently here at Buzzing with Ange, I wanted to bring something to your attention. If you love inspirational books, best selling author Kurek Ashley has just released his long awaited How Would Love Respond on Amazon. My copy is on order and I can’t wait for it to arrive.

I met Kurek a little over 18 months ago and listened as he told his story of how he went from acting the bad guy in Hollywood movies to becoming one of the most sort after speakers around the globe in his role as a Peak Performance Life Success Coach.

My good friend and mentor Sean Rasmussen met with Kurek for an interview where they discuss some very valid points in how to manage your thoughts and change some habits that could be holding you back from achieving your goals.

Here is part 1 of that interview.

Peak Perfomance Motivational Legend

Kurek also holds the record for the longest fire walk which took 4 minutes walking over 81 metres of hot coals! This is not to impress you, but to impress upon you that anything is achievable and I am taking Kurek’s words with me over the next 10 days while I trek the Kokoda Trail. Mindset is what will get me through each day. It’s about Personal Development and where I want to go with my life.

Where do you want to go with your life? Kurek Ashley’s book may be just the thing that helps you decide.