So by this stage of the story, if you haven’t kept up, you can read Part 1 and Part 2 to catch up. For those that have, I think you get the idea of how the trek actually went.

After the first couple of days, we were woken at 5:20am for the rest of the time to prepare ourselves and pack up our things having breakfast to get under way by 6:30am. We would trek anywhere between 3-4 hours up to 9 hours depending on the distance we needed to cover to get to the next campsite.

Now please note that this map is compressed (of course) but let me tell you that when we were climbing, they did feel that steep! You can find the original map here and if you follow this skitch link, you will be able to read the notations a little clearer. These notations mark the spots where we camped so it gives you an idea of where and how far we trekked each day.

There were places where I wished I never looked up as it would look so daunting… climbing through tree roots, up muddy steps, all twisted and tangled that the top was never in sight and just when you thought you had reached the top, you would come around a bend and then see there was more climbing ahead!

My breathing was very laborious going up and by day 4, the balls of my feet were aching. I never got blisters but I did tape up my feet to avoid getting any. I also used some cushioned padding under them to help and it did a little. I kept wondering how I would go for the rest of the trek. Sore feet seemed to be my only complaint which I was thankful for.

Muddy Boots!

Check out how muddy my boots would get each day! And when they did, they would also weigh a ton or that’s what it felt like.

Our respective porters would collect our boots once we had finished dinner, clean them, put them by the fire which they had going all night, so by morning we would have clean dry boots to put on again just to get them all muddied up again.

If we had wet clothes, they would also take them by the fire as nothing would dry otherwise. They couldn’t dry absolutely everything so this meant that the weight in our packs would also increase day by day which wasn’t a good thing. They managed though. I admire those men so much. Some were barefoot and some wore flip flops. Not all of them had boots. My Armstrong did but they were a couple of sizes too small for him so I left him my boots when I finished.

Sleeping Quarters

I mentioned that on the first night I slept in a tent but for the rest of the time, I opted to sleep in the guest houses along with the rest of our team. We were 7 girls and 5 guys and it was quite funny at times.

You can see in this picture that we all had head torches on. No power in these villages so a head torch was definitely the go!

Aside from a couple of the team who opted for the tents each night, the rest of us would set up our beds in one of these guest houses. Girls and guys all in together so you can imagine us trying to get changed and asking for headlights off or turning in the other direction so we could get dressed and undressed.

Another thing was that the showers (if you can call them that as some of them were just a tap rigged up high enough to stand under) were cold all except for one night which cost us five dollars each to have them boil up some water for a HOT shower. I was grateful for this as it had been 4 days since the last hot one!

So have I got you all excited yet… enough that you would like to go too? I’m just having a little fun. Without a sense of humour, you wouldn’t get through this thing. I’ll let you savour this post and leave the rest for the Grand Finale in a couple of days… promise I won’t stay away as long for the next one. I will also reveal why it has taken me this long to update you on how the trek was for me.

Until next post, keep smiling and have an excellent day!

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

Hello to all ( : Ange left her laptop open so I decided to sneak a post in before she noticed.

My name’s Michaela. I am Ange’s niece, 14 years young. There’s really not much to write, mainly because I don’t really know what my auntie does on here. But I’m going to say this, Ange is the craziest aunt I have. Meaning crazy in a good way. She loves her family and friends and cares deeply about what’s going on around her. For that, I love and admirer her.

I don’t find her on the adventurous scale, and I somehow don’t think The Kakoda Trail was such a good choice of adventure for her, but I know she’ll survive it ( : I think one of the most caring things she has done in the past is ‘FREE HUGS DAY MELBOURNE’.

She has a strong mind and always has her own opinion. If you dislike well trust me, you’re missing out.

I think I’m done on here. Thanks for reading about my auntie Ange ( : Much love to all, especially the one this is about.

xxx

It seems only fitting that my 100th post on Buzzing with Ange is to share with you my greatest personal challenge to date. Seeing as this blog is about personal development, it is important that I let you in on how my journey is progressing and some of the challenges that I take on. I am involved with a fitness group who have organised to trek the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea in June of this year.

For Australians, this is the setting of an extremely difficult time during World War II where we lost the most number of diggers - 6000, in the shortest space of time - 7 months. The Aussie soldiers held the Japanese back from taking Port Moresby by land, retreating many times and firing back to exhaust the Japanese soldiers into re-thinking their strategy which saw them file back to the Northern part of the Island.

The Kokada Trail is a single file footpath that stretches for 96 kilometres (about 60 miles) in a north/south direction, straight across the Owen Stanley ranges in Papua New Guinea. My good Aussie mate Allan and I will be combining our efforts to bring you some history of the Kokoda Trail, along with the training I am undertaking and most importantly, the mindset behind taking on such a feat.

This is not a decision I made lightly and for those that know me on a personal level would know that I am not the kind of girl to get my hands dirty, camping and hiking in the outback is not something I do on a regular basis as I am a creature of comforts and I really, really like hot showers, clean toilets, meals cooked in a clean kitchen and a comfy bed with a cozy doona/comforter to snuggle into. So, do you think I am going to have to have a paradigm shift in order to get through this challenge and change my mindset around creature comforts? I think it will open up new possibilities for me in the way I perceive things, and I will definitely be in need of a Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel on this trip.


Kokoda Memorial 1000 Steps

Saturday just gone was our first official training day as a group and I was whisked off to the Dandenong Ranges here in Melbourne to climb the 1000 steps which are part of the Kokoda memorial. I didn’t count them as I was too busy trying to catch my breath. I have plenty of work to do on my fitness level in preparation for this adventure so stick with me and I will give updates on my progress.

I will leave you with a sample of what I am to expect once we land in Port Moresby… tell me your thoughts and if someone here has already taken this challenge on, please share your experience. There are many expeditions organised on regular basis through various companies.