Kokoda - Day 1

Kokoda is nowhere near Rabaul but I wanted to post some photos this week taken by Guy, who with his family walked the trail last year. His stunning photos aren’t in chronological order but are posted to basically give you a sense of the place. I have taken information from a number of sources on the web but this one in particular is good for extra information about the history and how to do the trek. This site has a great map and is where the top map came from.

The narrow, jungle-enclosed 96 km Kokoda Track, that crosses the unforgiving Owen Stanley Range, is one of the world’s great trails and is extremely popular with Australian trekkers, many whose grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought along the rugged mountainous trail. The track starts at Owen's Corner in Central Province, 50 kilometres east of Port Moresby, and then crosses rugged and isolated terrain, which is only passable on foot, to the village of Kokoda in Oro Province. It reaches a height of 2,190 metres (7,185 ft) as it passes around the peak of Mount Bellamy. Despite the challenge posed it is a popular hike that takes between five and 12 days (depending on fitness). Locals have been known to hike the route in three days.

It was arguably Australia's most significant campaign of the Second World War. The Australian Diggers were under no illusion of the fate awaiting their families back home if they didn't stop the Japanese on the Kokoda Trail. Regular Australian forces were being rushed back from Europe and the Middle East where they had reinforced their legendary Anzac fighting reputation at Tobruk, El Alamein, Greece, Crete and in the Western Desert. In the meantime the defense of our homeland was left to young inexperienced militia men - some as young as 16 years of age had been hurriedly recruited, given the most basic of training then dispatched to New Guinea to hold the Japanese advance until our regulars from the AIF could reinforce them.

These were the darkest and most desperate days in Australian history.

Rest well - more trekking tomorrow!!!