Our Kokoda trekking team consisted of 8 trekkers, ranging from four off, 30ish youngsters (read that as meaning, considerably fitter than I) to four of us, more worldly and wiser (read that as meaning a keg rather than six pack) set of 50ish souls! A better group of people, one would be hard to find! We all seemed to gel pretty much straight off the bat, which was a key ingredient in the mix.
The trip began from different origins, being Melbourne, Brisbane and Cairns and we all decided to fly Air Niugini as the prices were better than both Qantas and Virgin. I flew into Port Moresby from Cairns on-board a Fokker 100 and was lucky enough to snag a business upgrade for AUD150 and the others, although settling for economy on the 767, all agreed the meal, service and comfort on Air Niugini was pretty good regardless. My flight from Cairns arrived a bit earlier than the rest and so I met up with Roy, our track master, who had just arrived into Moresby on a PNG Air flight from Girua in the welcoming Northern Province of Oro (Oro actually translates to welcome).
Once we had all arrived, we caught the courtesy bus to Holiday Inn, in time for a quick relax poolside for happy hour drinks, followed by a meal and socialising as we all got to know each other. The next morning we enjoyed a casual start to the day with breakfast at Holiday Inn and then again made use of the Holiday Inn courtesy bus to head back to the airport for our flight to Girua.
Air Niugini F100 business class had a great seat pitch and even better as I was the only business passenger!
Part of our team – From left to right … Greg, Peter (our youngest and first time porter), Ian (me), Lisa, Debby (front left), Peter (back), Simone (front), Alisha (back), Anna (front) and Roy (Track Master). The remainder of the porters joined us in Buna.
About to climb aboard the PNG Air ATR 72. (I have to say, their tail livery is the best ever)!
After a comfortable flight to Girua, we joined Mick (truck owner Mack’s brother and our driver for today) and his off-sider, for our transfer to Buna via … well, some unusual roads which included a war era airfield runway!
The trip to Buna was so much more than I expected. Our local guides knew every inch of this territory and Roy had decided that just seeing Buna was not enough. He took us to some sites most Kokoda treks probably don’t even know exist. It was a memorable day and in fact quite a moving day.
We heard of the war, and its impact on the locals, from very first hand experiences. I think many of the Australian based trekking companies focus pretty much only on the Aussie experiences, but we got to hear of both and of course, both the PNG and Aussie experiences are very much interwoven.
We were first introduced to this as we wheeled around from a juddering dirt road onto a tarmac! A tarmac that dated back to the war era and is now used as a (fairly deserted) road, but it was in fact an allied airfield to provide all kinds of air coverage for the front line (which was in fact, not too far away).
As we drove down this “road”, a sense of history inexplicably swelled in all of us. Perhaps the ghosts of airmen past!
Shortly after, we were back on the dirt again, and before no time we drew to a halt, to a most unexpected and amazing scene! To our surprise, there, just off this beaten up track were the crashed remains of a plane, remarkably intact for our viewing. At the time, it seemed awesome that such a site existed, but this was just the start of the Buna experience!
Wow … and this is still our first day!
Leaving the wreck, we drove on to yet another surprise Roy had in store for us. The little touched village of Dobuduru. The welcome we received was absolutely wonderful. We were greeted by young men na meris dancing and beckoning us through the village to the gateway of the surprise for us.
We were welcomed with a dance of confrontation and submission. We were aggressively confronted (at the end of a feathered spear), only to be beckoned further in with a show of submission. At a wall of palm fronds forming an entrance, he was replaced by a bevy of young men, attractively clothed in tapa cloth skirts and cloaks, beating lizard skinned Kundu drums whilst dancing and beckoning us further down the track!
At a following curtain, this time of of Kunai grass, our greeting continued with two beautifully attired young meri dancers, who also offered us lei’s and welcomed us to the village!
Following the lei gifting ceremony, we were then bestowed the final welcoming to the village … through yet another Kunai grass curtain, of a full dance by teenage meri’s dressed wonderfully in tapa cloth skirts and cloaks. Truly an impressive welcome!
The village was totally involved, from adults to pikinini’s dressed in the most stunning tapa cloth outfits, headdress, kina shells, beads, face paints and feathers. I was absolutely amazed that this display was just for us … just 8 of us! A whole village done up in the most wonderful traditional dress, just for us! How humbling, how beautiful, how … well, PNG!
The surprise I mentioned previously was one of history. I had been told that Roy wanted to take us to a war time hospital that had treated a US President. That perplexed me somewhat, and I had decided that the story had been overtaken by “Chinese Whispers”. I had no knowledge, nor could I find any reports of even Douglas MacArthur being treated at the PNG Northern Beaches, let alone a US President. It was only after I was given a hand written “brochure” from the village chief that the penny dropped.
Written on this brochure, was the following text … “we know the story about a war hero, an Australian soldier namely Mr George Wasington, who was wounded during the war” … Ah, the American President was Mr George Washington, albeit a little removed from his actual period in history! The true story behind this however, was far more interesting.
The person, to which they referred, was Mr George “Dick” Whittington, the blinded soldier who was famously photographed being helped to safety by Raphael Oimbari who was not so much a medical man, but a labourer and “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel” by default. Raphael had stumbled across Dick, who had been blinded in his remaining good eye by a rifle shot (intriguingly, he had been previously blinded in the other eye by a gun shot when he was a child), on a bush track. Raphael had taken it upon himself to help this wounded digger to safety.
George “Dick” Whittington being led safety to the Australian field hospital at Dobuduru by Sauga tribesman Raphael Oimbari (original wartime photo).
After bandaging his eyes, Raphael helped George along the track away from the danger that Buna then posed, when they were photographed by the celebrated war photographer, George Silk, on the way to the Australian field hospital that finally treated him.
That Australian field hospital was the very same field hospital we now viewed as rusting remains! Can you believe that! Arguably, the most celebrated photo of the PNG campaign was leaping to life right before our very eyes! We were actually standing on the very location of the Australian aid post that treated George Whittington!
Amazingly, our future path with Mr Dick Whittington and Raphael Oimbari’s story was destined to cross again!
Kundu drummer and dancer, Dobuduru Village.
We were treated to “afternoon tea” at Dobuduru Village, which included fresh coconut “goblets” and they were full to the brim of the most delicious coconut water.
A Dobuduru house!
After dropping off some educational packs to Dobuduru, we said our goodbyes and moved on to Buna. Our trusty truck transport was brought to a halt by flooded tracks about 5kms out from Buna, but our hosts knew of this problem and had a “Troopy” with us since Girua. The 8 of us piled into the troopy for our next, somewhat unexpected, surprise … a 4WD adventure through the Buna lowlands! An assortment of Buna Boys stayed on with the truck to guard our luggage and then as skilfully as any hotel concierge, delivered it all safely to us later that evening.
Upon arrival in Buna, we were once more greeted with much fanfare, singing and dancing along with the kunai curtains and lei ceremony.
Our first time porter Peter, was also presented with a lei and was treated to some very special attention. Peter has grown up in Port Moresby, but Buna is his ancestral home and in PNG, that is very important. This was his first time to Buna and his first time to trek the Kokoda trail, which was a very special “coming of age” for this young man!
We seemed to be quite the attraction with even the local councilor turning out to greet us!
Another incredible thing for us was the fact the Buna clan actually built a guest haus, just for us! Four bedrooms, plus communal dining area and it was a truly awesome structure. Very well built and we had the pleasant task of opening the new facility along with cutting the ribbon in front of all the assembled dignitaries!
Our beautiful guest house
The following day was our “chill out” day. We had brought educational packs for the school, birthing kits and medical supplies for the haus sik and obviously, we just wanted to experience Buna. What we thought was to be a chill out day, was actually quite busy!
After breakfast, we started with the local school. What an interesting place that was. Mod cons, with satellite TV (no power in the village so I assume also a generator as I didn’t see any solar to speak of) and new(ish) buildings seemed to clash with history with the school yard littered with bomb craters, war era weaponry and even an aircraft engine, presumably left where it dropped as the Japanese held, Buna airfield is fairly close and it obviously sustained considerable attack.
Both of these photos are of the school yard! That rather large hole in the ground (above photo) is a bomb crater.
We did however, have the privilege of meeting the hard working school staff and were able to present the principle and teaching staff with sporting equipment and educational packs that we had brought with us.
