Kokoda Spirit Trekkers thoughts....

Hi Wayne,

"Nat, I couldn't agree with Kelly & Geoff more... I did the Trek on my own (with Kokoda Spirit of course, but no Family or Friends)... I was packing it, wondering if I'd be fit enough and how I'd get along with people... My Trek Guide was Richard; he was 68years old when we did the Trek in May 2011, an absolute treasure of a man...

My group were all Amazing people, I feel truly blessed to have made the emotional journey with all of them... There was a quote Richard read out to us before we started trekking, I don't remember it word for word, but it basically said that we all start the trek as strangers and finish as Family & Friends... It really couldn't have been more true for my group...

My advice to you, is to take everything in, Talk to anyone and everyone, they all have a story to tell... The PNG people have a beautiful soul... Having met them, I truly understand just how safe and cared for, Our Brave Diggers must have felt...

The trek is tough, but the reward of trekking that beautiful track far out ways everything else... Around every corner is something magical, no matter how many photos you show people and how many stories you tell them when you return, they will never truly understand just what the track is like and the emotional effect it will have on you... You have to witness it first hand...

I look at my photos and videos and I cry every single time, I honestly cannot wait to go back...

I am a very proud Australian who left a piece of my heart on that Sacred Track..."

http://www.kokodaspirit.com/

Schoolies Week Adventures!

Hey Guys, everyone has heard about Schoolies and the great party and celebrations that go with it, after 12 years of school you deserve to celebrate!

But not everyone has heard about Schoolies Week Adventures run by Kokoda Spirit!

Are you looking for more than just a party, do you want to do something really incredible! Visit exotic places, conquer a mountain or walk in the footsteps of heroes with your fellow schoolies?

If so read on.......

Kokoda Spirit has designed 3 incredible life changing and empowering adventures for those school leavers that want to mark the end of their school years with something unique, powerful, and truly memorable.

KOKODA TRACK 20/11/10 - 27/11/10-Trek the Kokoda Track in PNG. Prices start from $3195.00 per person including return international airfares from Brisbane and pre and post trek accommodation in Port Moresby!

BORNEO 27/11/10 - 04/12/10-Trek the infamous Sandakan Track in Borneo, visit the Orang-utan sanctuary, climb (non technical) South East Asia’s highest mountain Mt Kinabalu at 4098m and white water raft down one of Borneo’s incredibly beautiful rivers! Prices start from $3395.00 per person.

MT KILIMANJARO 04/12/10 - 11/12/10-Climb the World’s highest free standing mountain and Africa’s highest the incredible Mt Kilimanjaro along the Machame route. Prices start from $2395.00 per person.

These treks are exclusively for schoolies.

Want more information?

Contact Kokoda Spirit on 07 54452758 or kokodaspirit@bigpond.com

www.kokodaspirit.com

Green Spirit fire Update

We have now distributed and tested 12 of these cooking fire places to the camp sites that we use on the track.

I took more of the Green Spirit Fire places over during the Anzac trek and they were amazingly efficient and effective.

The idea of the fire places is to reduce the amount of fire wood burnt and speeds up the cooking process with a much more controlled fire and temperature.

The fire places are designed to have multiple levels for cooking and can be used for boiling water, baking and frying pans. It also makes a great fire for the boys and trekkers to sit around.

The feedback we have had from our Kokoda Spirit cooks and the local villages about how easy they are to use has been terrific.

The Villages and Landowners also commented that they no longer needed to collect as much wood for the cooking fires.

With the collection of firewood a major chore for the Villages and Landowners the massive reduction in the need for firewood to cook was received with plenty of enthusiasm.

My plan is to get these Green Spirit Fire places manufactured in Kokoda or POM as a small business project for the locals.

The project could also be extended to manufacture fire place accessories, ovens etc.

All we need is some benevolent sponsor to assist then we could put the basic equipment into Kokoda, a hand wound metal roller, guillotine and pneumatic hole punch.

The grand plan would be for every family, camp site and village in PNG to have one.

ANZAC DAY 2012


In 1942 a small band of young Australian Soldiers deep in the Jungle of Papua New Guinea,

fought one of the greatest battles in Australia's history.

Out numbered and out gunned against an overwhelming, voracious and relentless enemy our men held their line. Not for King and empire but for their Country, Mates and families.

Their Courage, Endurance, Mateship and Sacrifice will never be forgotten, their spirit will live forever.

The name Kokoda is etched in blood of young Australians.

70 Years later four of those young 39th Battalion Veterans flew back to Isurava, Bill Bellair, Alan “Kanga” Moore, Jim Stillman and Cec Driscoll return to Papua New Guinea on Anzac Day 2012, some for the first time in 70 years. Their journey back to Isurava is emotional…

The Chief of Army Lieutenant General David Morrison flew into Isurava by Black Hawk helicopter to personally deliver a powerful and passionate speech at the Anzac Day service, acknowledging the great deeds done by these gallant men and their mates.

There to meet them as well is a band of trekkers who have walked the Kokoda Track in their footsteps to pay their respects and give thanks to these brave men.

Proud, passionate and with purpose these men never forget the sacrifice, integrity, initiative, mateship and courage of their mates.

They are a credit to themselves, their mates, family and a grateful nation.

Their Sacrifice and Spirit will never be forgotten.

www.kokodaspirit.com

http://www.kokodaspirit.com/

Green Spirit Fire

Kokoda Spirit has begun distributing its Green Spirit Fire places across the Kokoda Track.

Kokoda Spirit Managing Director Wayne Wetherall and Kokoda Spirit Trek Leader Bill Kelly, designed the innovative fire places to reduce the amount of  fire wood needed to cook meals across the track.

The fire places not only reduce dramatically the amount of fire wood needed to prepare the meals but have also reduced substantially the amount of time it takes to cook meals and boil water.

The fire places are being distributed to camp sites by the Kokoda Spirit teams across the Kokoda Track during the Anzac period.

Wayne Wetherall commented that he hoped to be able to distribute these innovative fire places to all villages and camp sites across the track. 

The reduction in fire wood usage is a great step forward in protecting the enviroment and  integrity of the track.

Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Kokoda Spirit Light up the Kokoda Track.

Kokoda Spirit Light up the Kokoda Track.


Kokoda Spirit is proud to be associated with the Kokoda Track Foundation as a Gold Sponsor.

Kokoda Spirit Managing Director Wayne Wetherall assisted with the Lighting up the Track project by funding lights for this very worthwhile project.

Kokoda Spirit is Lighting Up Iorabaiwa, Naoro 1, Efogi 2, 1900 Crossing, Templeton’s 1 & 2, Hoi, Kovello, Oivi, and Gorari Villages. They are funding the distribution of 255 solar lights to these communities.

The Kokoda Track Foundation, is commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the WWII Kokoda campaign by providing 3500 solar lights to the descendants of the legendary Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels. The KTF aims to give a solar-powered LED light to every villager along the Kokoda Track, an area without access to electricity.

"This project is a game changer. It will dramatically improve people's lives in ways many Australians will find difficult to imagine," KTF chairman, Patrick Lindsay, said today."It will mean villages will no longer have to live by the dull glow of their camp fires after sundown. It will enable school students to read books and do their homework after dark for the first time in their lives. It will allow families to prepare and eat their dinner in safety and comfort."

The KTF has partnered with Brisbane-based social enterprise, FlexiWay Solar, to source the solar lights, which were developed in Australia and Argentina and made in China. The lights are weatherproof, dust-proof and shock-proof and will last for 8 hours on full power and 15 hours on half power on a full day’s solar charge. Individual lights can be clicked together to illuminate larger dwellings, schoolrooms and community halls.

One of the heroes of the Kokoda campaign, Mr Bede Tongs MM, a platoon commander in the 3rd Battalion during the battles in the area 70 years ago, delivered the first solar lights to Koko village, near Kokoda, this week. Mr Tongs also presented graduation certificates to 56 teachers who qualified for an Elementary Teaching Certificate last week by completing a six-week course run by the KTF in Koko village.

"It was an honour to bring some light to the lives of the families of the men who helped us all those years ago," Mr Tongs said. “I was overwhelmed by the welcome I received from both the villagers and the graduates," Mr Tongs added. "I felt I was representing my comrades, especially those who did not return home with us. "I'm sure the new teachers will make a huge difference in improving the prospects of the coming generations of people from the area and the lights will change lives dramatically."

Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Sandakan

Sandakan


It is great news the Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation (DIGO) has undertaken to develop a topographical map of the Telupid to Tampias sector of the Japanese 1945 Sandakan to Ranau track.

This map will be a great tool for all trekkers who want to follow in the footsteps of the Sandakan Death March route.

The correct Sandakan Track route has been under some cloud since Wayne Wetherall and his team walked what they believe to be the correct route based on a map produced and researched by Historian and Author Kevin Smith OAM.

This ongoing research by the Department will allow all trekkers to walk with confidence along the most likely route that the POWs walked.

http://www.sandakandeathmarch.com.au/