On 2 July I had the wonderful opportunity to be a part of one of the most amazing experiences any Australian could have. I trekked the 106km Kokoda Trail with my family and new-found friends. The track is important to us because my dad has been in the Army Reserve for 30 years and my great grandfather (my dad’s grandpa) was in Kokoda during World War II in 1942.
The track was as hard to walk as everyone says. I just feel so sorry for the Australian soldiers who had to walk this track with no training and carrying 26kg or more while fighting for our country. I learnt so much about the challenges they faced, and this helped me understand the work we had been doing during Semester 1 in Humanities where we were studying the two World Wars.
The hardest part of the track, in my mind, was not the actual walking, but the mindset of needing to keep pushing on and on to get to the end of each day so that I could take a load off and lay in the river to cool off. The best part was the experience in itself, to be able to walk in the footsteps of our heroes and share this with my family. I am very grateful to our soldiers and the life they have given us by their sacrifice.
We ate the same food for nine days straight: for breakfast it was cornflakes with hot dehydrated milk, for lunch we had wraps with noodles and tuna fried over a fire and for dinner we had stew and rice. When I finished it was the most satisfying feeling and we were all full of emotion as everyone was starting to cry and hug each other — it was a beautiful moment. If I had the option, I would definitely walk it again.
