Kokoda Trail, Papua New Guinea - September 2006

I'm going to try and do a reasonably coherent post about walking the Kokoda Trail in New Guinea with Skip and Janty. I say reasonably coherent because quite frankly I've forgotten a lot of the details, so if anyone picks up any errors, particularly with the photos, let me know and I'll try and fix them up.

Kokoda airport.

After spending a night in Brisbane we caught our Air New Guinea flight up to Port Moresby, I was expecting a lush jungle, but as we came into land I could see that the country side was more dry savannah than lush jungle. After grabbing our packs we quickly met our guide and were transported through the busy streets of Port Moresby to our hotel, the Holiday Inn. Before we got to reception the van had to pass through two razor wire fences with armed check points, I don't think were in Kansas any more Toto! That afternoon we had a pre trip briefing by the pool and then kicked back for a while in the hotel, definitely no walking around outside the hotel on our own.

Kicking back in the grounds of Kokoda hospital.

Next day we were back to the airport for our flight to Kakoda, after a few hours of false alarms we were eventually able to board the twin prop plane for the trip into the jungle. A short flight later the little plane was banking between the towering jungle clad mountains making for the grassy airstrip at Kakoda, touching down we were quickly deposited onto the grass with our packs. We regrouped and then set off up to the town were we had a relaxing lunch break under a tree in the hospital grounds. The guide wanting to start a bit later to avoid the heat of the day. We were keen to get going and it felt a bit weird to be sitting on our bums when we could be walking, but eventually we set off. The first few kilometres of the track is in fairly low country, we passed a couple of villages that lived by subsistence farming, we also passed through a couple of small rubber tree plantations. Stopping at Hoi in the mid afternoon the guide gave us the option of staying here or pushing on to the next camp, we took a vote (there was 7 of us on the trip) and decided to keep going. From Hoi the track bared its teeth, there was a relentless climb to our camp at Deniki, Skip and I were carrying our packs (everybody else had porters) and we gradually slipped to the back of the line. Arriving at Deniki we got our first looks at our tents, hmm....  On cue it pissed down and it was soon obvious that our tents were better suited to collecting water inside than repelling water. For the rest of the trip we generally stayed in huts, I risked the tent only twice.

A rubber tree, day 1.

Luckily the mosquitoes weren't to bad in the shelter so we had a reasonable sleep. First up today we continued climbing up to Isurava Memorial, this is the spot you see on telly whenever the pollies or celebrities tackle the Kokoda Trail. After being left on our own for a while to pay our own respects and checking out the small museaum we headed off in the early afternoon to our next camp at Aloha. Arriving in mid afternoon we had a chance for a cold shower, we also became acquainted with the pit toilet, I said a silent prayer every time I walked onto the flimsy floor over the cess pit, praying that it would hold my weight. I risked the leaky tent that night and was rewarded by no rain.

Sunrise Day 2 at Deniki.

Isurava Memorial.

We were now well and truly in the jungle, the path was steep and muddy and the trekking poles were coming in very handy. What was coming very apparent was that there was no actual Kokoda Trail, the trail consists of a myriad of routes through the jungle, this is my excuse for not knowing where we stopped that night, I do remember it being in a small village and that we had access to a stream to have a swim in.

Janty and Skip crossing one of the many make shift bridges.

I'm still fairly clean, it must be early on.

The next day we headed for Naduri which is where our guide came from, we stayed in a guest house with a bamboo floor and cows grazed underneath us. I remember a long slippery descent to the village in the rain and when we arrived I remember our guides brother feeding us and generally being a very good host. Naduri was also the home to the last fuzzy wuzzy angel and we met him the next morning before continuing on.

Guest house living, with central heating.

From Naduri we made the short hop over to Efogi 1, stopping to buy a coke from the locals at Efogi 2 on the way ( 5 kina please ).  It was a short day today so we had plenty of time for swimming in the water hole in Elome Creek. We spent the afternoon checking out the village and playing against the porters in a game of touch footy. That night we slept in an old house that actually had rooms.

Up in the cloud forest.

Near Mt Bellamy, the highest section of the track.

The next day the track climbed away from Efogi 1 towards Brigade Hill, we stopped for a while on top as the clouds swirled around, a more evocative scene is hard to imagine. We then continued on the usual pattern for our days walking, a steep slippery descent followed immediately by an equally steep and slippery climb. Arriving at Menari at lunch time we had just got under shelter when it started to hose down, the rain continued for much of the afternoon as we spent the time dozing. Late in the day the rain eased and we were able to check out the village, although it looked like most people were staying in doors.

Climbing away from Efogi 1.

Brigade Hill.

We spent the afternoon snoozing.

Today we set off for Ofi Creek, the day followed the same pattern a reasonably dry morning followed by afternoon rain. We crossed the Brown River this morning and the section of track around the river was the muddiest of the walk.Eventually climbing away from the swampy surrounds of the Brown River we stopped for lunch at Nauro West. From Nauro West we had a steep climb over the Maguli Range until we picked up Engineer's Ridge and followed it down to Ofi Creek. Now the shelter we had been given here jutted out over a ten metre drop and I wasn't to keen on the third world building standards, I had visions of waking with the building on top of me in the ravine. So once again I rolled the dice and used a tent, and once again I was lucky with the weather.

On a particularly muddy section around Brown River.

Lunch at Nauro West.

Getting a bit grubby now, check out the gaitors.

Ofi Creek camp.

On our second last day we continued south, crossing more ridges, the notable one being Imita Ridge, a steep slippery climb from Ua-Ule Creek. We also passed through a few more small subsistence farming villagers. We generally stopped at these villagers and purchased a drink or some food, the farmers would carry in slabs of drinks to sell to the trekkers, submerging them in river water to cool them (definitely no refrigeration up here). That night we made camp early, I think it was at Imata base camp, once again we all slept in a shelter. We were now getting close to civilisation though as a couple of the porters were able to slip away to Owers' Corner, returning to us first thing in the morning.

Our last camp at Imita base camp.

Our porters and guide on the last day.

Skip and I, one day to go.

Our motley crew, Owers' Corner.

It was a short day today and we had the promise of a swim in the Goldie River, the group set a cracking pace and we were at the river mid morning. After crossing and having a final swim we just had the final steep section up to Owers' Corner. Before we could really appreciate it we were taking each others photo's under the monuments and eagerly awaiting our bus, the walk was over. The bus trip back down to Port Moresby was the most terrifying part of the trip, one section had us driving down an insanely steep hill with a sheer drop hundreds of metres just out my window, if you squinted into the abyss you could make out the wrecked vehicles of people that didn't make it! We had one last stop on our way back and that was at the Bomana War Cemetry, where we paid our respects to the 3779 allied service men that sacrificed their lives. I don't think were smart enough as a species to ever learn.

Bomana War Cemetery.

We had a bit of a look around Port Moresby that day, accompanied by our guide, and then went back for a celebratory dinner at the Holiday Inn. The rest of the time was spent cleaning our muddy gear so that we had a hope of getting it through Australian customs. The wake up call came around 3 am and we sped through the deserted streets to the airport. I scored a exit row on the way back to Brisbane so I was very happy, after a quick change over I was home in Melbourne before dark, re living my adventures for a very understanding Sam.

The bus was the scariest part of the trip for me.

A clothing boutique, I reckon it would go down a treat in Melbourne.

The Dirt
We flew Air New Guinea and the tour was also run by them, it was rough as guts and if I was doing it again I'd probably go with a bigger operator, they were cheap though, which is always Skip's priority.
The Kokoda Trail is a series of connecting jungle tracks, as far as I can tell there isn't one route, the tour you take we'll decide which route your on. The track is steep and slippery but not overly difficult if you've done some hard walking else where. If you've never bushwalked on rough ground you'll find it hard. The villagers that you pass through were the highlights of the walk for me, once in the jungle you are just looking at a sea of green, if you are a military history buff you would find plenty of interest though. We had a little rain but nothing to worry about, with Gortex lined boots my feet didn't get wet (except with sweat). Port Moresby is a bit dodgy, you have to be very careful of your personal security.

The Boroko Market, I bought Sam a sarong of these ladies.

Rawlinna to Melbourne - March 1999

I've broken out the scanner again, this time I'm writing up our return trip home from Rawlina. I've already written up our trip over on the Anne Beadell hwy and if this link works you should be able to read about it without trawling through old posts.

Cocklebiddy Cave.

Once we left the comforts of Rawlinna we headed straight for Cocklebiddy to refuel, I'd done well over 1600 kilometres since my last diesel. After filling up we headed west for a few kilometres until we picked up a track heading north off the highway at the back of a rest area, this was the track to Cocklebiddy Cave, definitely no sign posts in those days, not sure about now. Cocklebiddy Cave is basically a big sink hole in the limestone plateau, parking the trucks we were able to scramble down into the cave, I even managed a swim in the underground lake, and cold and rather surreal experience.

Twilight Cove, with the Baxter Cliffs.

Our next destination was Twilight Cove, where the Baxter Cliffs end. We grabbed a mud map from Cocklebiddy Roadhouse and slowly negotiated our way through the mallee scrub, camp that night was made about 15 kilometres short of the beach in the mallee. Next morning we were up early and soon dropped down of the escarpment on a steep corded track. Weaving through the dunes behind the beach I noticed numerous Death Adders stuck in the wheel ruts that we were following, as we drove along they would slither along in front of the truck, I'm glad we didn't make it down here to camp last night.

We've reached the end of the sand at Twilight Cove, now we have to find our way over a headland.

Cresting the last dune the beach at Twilight Cove opened up before us, the scene was magic, there was even a couple of dolphins playing in the surf. We now decided to head east along the beach to see if we could get to the Eyre Bird Observatory, a run of about 50 kilometres with a limestone headland in the middle of it. Twilight Cove was good going on reasonable sand and we soon reached the headland, I was relieved to pick up a set of tracks and figured they could only be heading to one place. The next hour was spent weaving around thick scrub, limestone rocks, and avoiding dead ends before we eventually popped out with Kandel Beach opening out before us. The way now looked straight forward but nothings ever easy, and we found this beach fairly steep with soft sand, it was low range and plenty of revs all the way until we found the exit of the beach to the observatory.

Picking our way across the headland on the way to Kanidal Beach.

Over scones and cream at the Eyre Bird Observatory (I kid you not!) we learnt of another track that passed an abandoned homestead and tracked east, to finally join the Eyre Highway at Madura. It sounded like a plan so after having a look around we headed of with a new mud map. We had a great run across the plain towards Madura, spending the night camped just of the track, we could see the lights of the road trains up on the escarpment.

The Eyre Bird Observatory.

Next morning, after passing through a couple of gates we were soon at Madura. Over coffee we planned the next stage of our trip, we would head along the highway for towards Mundrabilla and then take a track to the south again that should take us to Red Rocks Point. Graham knew the bloke who had a crayfish camp there, an old VFL footballer named Jimmy Jess. So off we went, arriving early afternoon at the camp we learned that Jimmy had headed to Melbourne for a break, we'd missed him by a couple of hours. On to plan B, we now headed to the big smoke, Eucla. Sam and I got ourselves a room and enjoyed our first hot shower in over two weeks, we then met Graham in the restaurant and enjoyed a big steak and a few beers.

The Pilot looks like he needs a wash!

Looking west from a lookout on the Nullarbor Plain out over the Great Australian Bight.

Looking east.

Over the beers last night we decided to keep of the highway as much as we could, so after heading east for around 150 kilometres we picked up a track heading north to Cook, another siding on the Trans Continental Railway Line. Once hitting the railway line we pointed the trucks east a followed the service tracks beside the line. This was slow going as there was a lot of sharp limestone sticking out of the ground, also the service track, unlike the railway line, weaved around like a drunken sailor. We camped that night on the billiard table flat Nullarbor Plain about 100 metres off the tracks. We could see the lights of the trains coming for an hour before they actually got to us, and the stars came down to ground level.

On the road heading up to Cook.

Sunset, camped on the Trans Continental Railway.

Sam and Graham checking out the sunset.

We camped about 100 metres of the track, burning some old sleepers for firewood.

Next day we continued following the railway east, the highlights of the day being some feral camels and the indigenous settlement of Mount Christie which looked like a set from Mad Max. We also passed a sign marking the longest straight stretch of railway in the world. By the afternoon we started to get into red sand dune country which sped up progress a bit, cresting one dune we came across a reasonably fresh derailment, the freight carriages were empty and it looks like they had been left to decay in the desert, exploring the wreck was a rather unsettling feeling. Late in the afternoon we pulled up at the Tarcoola Pub, after having a beer we decided to back track a bit and camp at the start of Googs Track.

Feral Camels on the Nullarbor.

Many years later we did this trip on the Indian Pacific.

Mount Christie, looking like a set from Mad Max.

The Tarcoola Pub.

After camping just inside the Yellabinna Wilderness Protection Area we only had a short drive to the base of Mt Finke. Leaving the trucks we climbed up through the spinifex to check out the view from the top. Mt Finke may not be that high but it towers over any other hill around here. We were able to see a red sea of sand-hills heading away to the south, that was today's route. Returning to the trucks we spent the rest of the day crossing sand dunes, every now and again we wouldn't make it over and we would have to back up and have another go, overall though it wasn't to bad. We made camp that night on the shore of Lake Goog, a salt lake.

Googs Track.

Heading south on Googs Track.

We decided to do a day trip today out to Lois Rocks, a rocky outcrop that the indigenous and the early settlers had been using to collect water, they had built rock walls to channel any run off to a low point for collection. The track out was very eroded and slow going, requiring a few stops to do a bit of road building. The track was also very overgrown and the paint work copped a bit of a hiding, arriving back at camp we celebrated the early day with a camp oven roast and a couple of drinks while we watched the sun set over Lake Goog.

Still travelling through the Yumbarra Conservation Park.

Ceduna was our aim today, I wanted to drop my oil and get some grease into the troopie, after all that was sorted we headed to the beach for a swim and then headed off into the Gawler Ranges. Tonight we camped at Mount Ive Station, after paying at the homestead we were allowed to check out the massive shearing shed and fire up the wood fuelled donkey so that we could have a hot shower. The advantage of staying on the station was that we were allowed access to the station tracks, so next day armed with a mud map we headed out to Lake Gairdner, a massive salt lake that host speed trails. After doing my own top speed run in the troopie ( measured with a calendar, not a stop watch) we headed back towards Mt Ive, checking out a few more attractions on the way.

The Gawler Ranges.

You could measure our speed run with a calendar!

Lake Gairdner

Sam and I in the Gawler Ranges with Lake Gairdner behind us.

Arriving back at the Eyre Highway at Iron Knob we said our good byes to Graham who was heading back to Melbourne, and then pointed the troopie south towards Port Lincoln. We were now in the biggest town we'd been in since we left Mildura about three weeks ago, we checked into a B+B and proceeded to reacquaint ourselves with civilisation. I even managed to catch the world's unluckiest Salmon, although he did go back in.

The unluckiest fish in the world.

The trip was now virtually over, from Port Lincoln we headed to Burra were we stayed in an old Cornish miners cottage, and from Burra we made the drive to Melbourne in one day, arriving home dirty and tired but happy to be home.

In the dunes near Coffin Bay.

The Dirt.
I believe the track along the Trans Continental Railway line is now a private track. We picked up a mud map for Twilight Cove at Cocklebiddy Roadhouse and we also had inside information for Cocklebiddy Cave, neither of these tracks were sign posted. I believe Mt Ive homestead may now be part of the Gawler Ranges National Park, if that's the case I'm betting some of the access tracks will have closed.
The troopie didn't miss a beat and just needed a grease and oil change when I got home.