VILLAGES: Kokoda, Kovelo, Hoi, Deniki
SITES: Kokoda Memorial Museum
DISTANCE: 7.1km
UPS & DOWNS: 378m + 46m = 424m
ELEVATION CHANGE: 415m to 817m
TREKKING TIME: 1hr 37min
ELAPSED TIME: 2hrs 30min
AVERAGE SPEED: 4.4km/h
Woke up at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep - Half excited and half anxious. Excited because Kokoda was just a few hours away. Anxious because I was wondering how I would shoot the opening scene with the drone and hoping that the weather was fine. At 6am the alarm went off and we were off - frantically preparing and packing to meeting the rest of the group at 7 am at reception. We all checked out by 8 am we were on our way to the airport. Arrived at a small terminal beyond the international terminal belonging to Tropicair the small airline we would take to Kokoda village. We waited until 10am in order for the low cloud and fog to lift at the Kokoda airfield, which has no instrument landing system and relies totally on pilot visuals. The 30 minute flight to Kokoda village was jaw dropping with fantastic mountain ranges on both sides of the aircraft. The Owen Stanley range was sprawled on the left with the mighty Mount Victoria dominating the landscape. On reaching Kokoda village, we circled the grass airfield twice to make sure nothing was on it and took our final approach through the low remaining mist to land on the grassy field, bouncing up and down and from side to side. The whole Kokoda village it seems turned out to greet us with approximately 50 people of all ages smiling and waving as we disembarked and made our way through the man-made hut terminal. From here it was a short walk to the Kokoda memorial museum, which laid out the key moments and key battles of the Kokoda campaign. Outside the museum was a well-manicured green field with three memorials and three flag poles. From here we walked to a small compound with a covered area where we had lunch – basic but filling – noodles, tuna, cheese and spam washed down by hot tea and coffee. From here it was a 10 minute walk to the Kokoda track arches that officially mark the start of the Kokoda track from the northern end. It was 1pm when we set out towards our first destination, seven kilometres away at Deniki village. The first six kilometres were easy being a flat broad four-wheel drive track for the first three kilometres to the town of Kovelo. From here it was jungle on both sides. As we advanced, the day became cloudier with emerging low-level cloud coming in. Humidity was low and the temperature comfortable but this didn't stop excess sweating, especially when we started to ascend from the village of Hoi at 500 metres to 800 metres at our final first night destination. The view from here was to die for. Each person had a porter carrying our tents, sleeping bag, mat, clothes and personal supplier. We were lucky we were a small group because our tents were set up under covered hits with mosquito met only and no fly. Our wooden and straw huts at Deniki overlooked the spectacular Kokoda valley. A nearby water pipe fed by a natural creek provided us with a soothing but cold shower. After off-loading our gear and setting up our sleeping mat and bag, we relaxed to a hot cup of coffee and discussed our adventure on day one. We all agreed that the ascent whilst steep and slippery in some parts was much easier than we all expected or at least were led to believe. Dinner was a simple affair of Spaghetti Bolognese but the view was lobster mornay !!! The hot coffee however was no substitute for a lovely glass of Shiraz. Much to our surprise our trip historian, Gibson led an all-male choir of our porters in two church songs - one in the native Novolo and the other in English, which sent our spirits soaring. The melody being a typical islander gospel music in a wonderful harmony to match the birds and insects around us - a fitting end to a full day. By 7:30 pm we had all bunkered down into our sleeping bags and tents to take in an early sleep for an early rise at 4:30am the next day.
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