2 Days Until We Trek The Kokoda Trail!
Well, it’s only 2 days until we put our bodies through the infamous Kokoda Trail…
Kokoda has been a bucket list item for our entire group making this event a little more special to us.
If you’re unsure what the Kokoda Trail is, it’s a gruelling 96km jungle trail in the middle of Papua New Guinea.
It’s quite known as the infamous war trail that the Aussie troops pursued back in WW2.
Usually the Kokoda Trail is a 10–15 day adventure but because of limited time, we’re doing the Fast Kokoda which is a 6 day trek…
We’re used to doing 100km ultramarathons now making the 96km distance over the 6 days shouldn’t be too much for us but it’s the conditions that make the trek a little tougher than any other trail.
We’ll be dealing with the following:
- A very arduous course with muddy and steep terrain
- Mosquitos with Malaria
- Flesh-eating bugs
- 80–95% humidity
- Stuck in the jungle with no power — actually excited for this one haha
- Carrying all our clothes and supplies
And to make this adventure a little more fun and exciting, we’ve got 2 other mates joining us — Coden Sutherland and Michael Giannaras.
Tofes (Chris) has known Coden since primary school and we met Mikey at our first event this year back in January.
Mikey did the GC Kokoda Challenge with a group of 4 a couple months back so it will be interesting to see how the challenge compares to actual trek.
His team finished it in 20 hours but the conditions aren’t anything compared to one we’ll be undergoing in a few days.
We’ve all agreed to be a team for next year’s Kokoda Challenge and just smash it out seeing how fast quick we can knock out the 96km.
Whereas the Kokoda challenge is usually done with a Camelbak, we will trekking actual Kokoda with a massive backpack carrying close to 20kg a day.
The training leading up to it has been quite fun hiking out to the Nerang State Forest and Polly’s doing multiple day and even night treks with heavy backpacks getting accustomed to the extra weight.
Click here to watch one of our previous vlogs from Kokoda Training.
So are we nervous for the Kokoda Trail? Not really. Physically and mentally, we’re fine. We’re in it to have some fun and experience what the troops went through several decades ago.
We don’t have to carry guns or run for our lives from bullets but to do the exact track from Ower’s Corner to Kokoda is really what it’s about.
To us, it’s just another training session… we have a 100mile (160km) ultramarathon the weekend after we return making Kokoda adequate training leading up to the miler.
Because PNG is a high Malaria area, we’ve had to load our body up with a handful of vaccinations to ensure we don’t catch anything deadly while we’re over there.
Various injections, vials, and tablets have been taken in the last month so we’re free from Tetanus, Hepatitis A & B, Typhoid, Cholera, and Malaria. These alone costed a nifty $400 but wouldn’t you rather pay that much than contract any of those deadly diseases…
Despite all the precautionary mandatory jargon, we can’t wait to tackle this beast!
Leave a comment if you have you trekked the Kokoda Trail or know of anyone who has!
We won’t have power for all of next week which means we won’t be on social media nor posting any blogs but we will be blogging and vlogging on our return!
Enjoy.
Tofes (Chris) & Ant — The Wounded Pelicans
We’re Hosting an Event! The Wounded Pelicans December Beach Fun Run — 5km & 10km:
IT’S OFFICIAL, WE’RE HOSTING OUR FIRST RACE!
We’ve had this in the works for a while now and have got it approved. Its a beach fun race down at North Burleigh to Broadbeach and back on Sunday Dec 4th 2016.
Purchase tickets here: https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/Register.aspx?E=22746
We have both 5km and 10km races and the top 3 finishes of both races win prizes.
And to make things better, it’ll be held on the first weekend of Summer!
We’re hosting this race because it will help with a portion of the funds with Mt Everest next year and our other mammoth events we will be running. And a percentage of ticket sales will go toward our $20k fundraiser for cancer research.
Here’s a link to the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1081146128641429/
Our Radio Interview with BBC World Radio London:
Last week we got a call from BBC World Radio London as they heard out about our 24hr treadmill challenge! Click here to listen to the radio interview we had with them.
Follow The Wounded Pelicans’ Journey:
Remember to subscribe and follow us on social media and refer your friends & family. We are trying to grow our following to be as big as possible for what we are doing for cancer awareness and our vision for 2017. It would also mean a lot if you can donate any small amounts to our $20,000 fundraiser as we still have a long way to go… all donations over $2 are tax deductible.
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