Our Kokoda Trek
Monday 25th April - Sogeri to Tumbarumba
We had an early start, getting up around 3am at the Kokoda Track Motel Sogeri to make the Bomana War Cemetery Anzac Day Service. We left ontime (nearly) and made the trip down Rouna Pass one last time to Port Moresby, this time in the dark.
Our arrival at the Bomana saw us given blue glow sticks to read the order of service. There was a large crowd in attendance. The service was a beautiful tribute to our ANZACS and their mates that fought on the track. As the sun rose over Port Moresby, we all had an opportunity to reflect.
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A chance phone-call as we were leaving Bomana alerted us to the fact that one of the graves had special significance for Keith. He was named after the 'digger'. A quick run across the cemetery located the grave - a special moment for Keith.
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From Bomana we went to the Port Moresby International Airport. We thanked our bus drivers, they had done a good job getting us up and down Rouna Pass. Glen was unable to find his other shoe at the other airport and some more memorabilia was purchased in our down time before the flight to Cairns.
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The plane flight started well with most of us going to sleep. Vanessa decided to ruin everyone’s peacefulness by fainting on the plane about 1 hour out of Cairns. She was well looked after by Cheryl and Dave and was back up and talking after some soft drink and attention. We landed at Cairns airport where we had to go through customs. Vanessa was put through quickly due to her ‘condition’ but Grant, Bruce and Glen were held up for a while as they had the tents. Most things passed inspection with only a few items needing fumigation before being sent home to Tumbarumba.
We then caught the bus into Cairns and had a beautiful lunch at a bistro on the beach. This was with our tour guide Leon Wright who showed us the sights of Cairns before taking us back to the airport for our flight to Sydney.
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Most people were sleeping/ reading on our flight to Sydney and in our downtime between connecting flights to Canberra. The flight to Canberra was short and uneventful with the plane always on an incline or decline for the trip. Bede and Gary Tongs were a surprise greeting party for us. It was nice to catch up with them.
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From Canberra we caught jumped on a bus of the Apple Transport, with John Lorimer as our driver, and set off home. We had a few comfort stops along the way and everyone took up various positions (not always comfortable) on the bus to sleep on our trip home.
We arrived back in Tumbarumba at about 2:15am after a long day of travelling to be greeted by family and friends. The weather was nice and cool, so after picking up our bags it was a farewell to the group and off home.
Thanks must go to Grant and Bruce for organising the trip and helping to make us all fit enough to undertake such an inspiring and challenging adventure.
This finishes the story of an amazing adventure, we thank all who contributed to make this trip possible.