Kokoda Spirit Blog

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noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:21:00 +0000

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Captain Sam Templeton Channel 7 Documentary

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:48:00 +0000

In 2009 and January 2010 Kokoda Spirit conducted an investigation into the disapearance of Captain Sam Templeton on the Kokoda Track. This investigation resulted in Kokoda Spirit bringing out from Japan ,Kokichi Nishimura the Bone Man of Kokoda. Nishimura was able to show us the spot that Captain Sam Templeton was buried. On the 25th April 2010, Anzac Day, Channel 7 will show the story of Captain Templeton and Nishimura on their Sunday night program at 6.30 pm. This is a must see event as the remarkable 68 year old mystery of Captain Templetons disapearance is revealed.

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Kokoda's Forgotten Battlefields

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:35:00 +0000

Kokoda’s Forgotten Battlefields
The forgotten battlefields of the Kokoda Trail Campaign have been recently been rediscovered.
Thousands of Australian trekkers now have the opportunity to trek on the recently rediscovered forgotten battlefields of the Kokoda Trail Campaign just a few kilometres north of Kokoda. The opening of these areas will extend the Kokoda Track all the way from Owers Corner to the Kumusi River north of Kokoda.
These forgotten Kokoda battlefields are some of the most crucial and strategically significant sections of the Kokoda Trail Campaign, and have remained overgrown and forgotten for nearly 68 years.
There discovery provides an incredible insight into the 39th Battalions initial conflicts with the Japanese and the subsequent ferocious battles with the Japanese on the Australian’s advance back across the Kokoda Track.
Kokoda Spirit trekking Company Managing Director Wayne Wetherall was assisted in his research and investigation by the traditional landowners in the area, believes the reopening of this section of the Kokoda Track is extremely important to Australia’s history and a fantastic opportunity for the local communities to benefit from the tourism that it will develop.
The villages of Awala, Gorari and Oivi north of Kokoda are the areas that the 39th Battalion led by Captain Sam Templeton first engaged the Japanese, and holds a special place in Australian history.

The 39th Battalion was the first Australian Company to cross the Kokoda Track and Captain Sam Templeton was the first Australian Officer to lead his men into battle at Awala and he was the first Australian Officer to die in battle at Oivi.

The original Kokoda Track that Captain Sam Templeton and members of B Company of the 39th Battalion walked, commenced at McDonalds Corner at Ilolo, continued through Uberi, Iorabaiwa, Nauro, Menari, Efogi, Kagi across Mt Bellamy to Eora Creek Crossing (Templeton’s Crossing) then onto Deniki and Kokoda.

The 39th Battalion spent 5 days in Kokoda before moving forward to the Kumusi then onto Awala. Awala north of the Kumusi River is where the 11th and 12th Platoons from the 39th Battalion first engaged the Japanese in the battle of the Kokoda Track. The 39th Battalion continued to engage and fight the Japanese back from Awala, across the Kumusi, through Gorari and Oivi then onto Kokoda and Deniki.

On the Australians advance back across the track, the Australians occupied Kokoda unopposed before again engaging the Japanese in a massive battle at Oivi and Gorari.

The areas of Oivi, Gorari, Wairopi and Awala are significant and strategically important to the Australians overall success on the Kokoda Track.
Had the 39th Battalion and Templeton’s men in B Company failed in the initial fighting at Awala, Wairopi, Gorari and Oivi, then the course of the Kokoda Trail Campaign and Australia’s history could be very different. They took on the might of the Japanese Army and inflicted physical, logistical and psychological wounds on them that would eventually become terminal to the Japanese.
The "Kokoda Trail" and "Kokoda Track" have been used interchangeably since the Second World War and the former was adopted by the Battles Nomenclature Committee as the official British Commonwealth battle honour in October 1957.
This “Kokoda” battle honour was awarded to ten Australian infantry battalions as well as to the Pacific Island Regiment and includes the Kokoda Track/Trail in its entirety. The Battles Nomenclature Committee understands the Kokoda Trail Campaign Honours, covers the complete Kokoda Trail from Ower's Corner, approximately 40 km north-east of Port Moresby, to the small village of Wairopi, on the northern side of the Owen Stanley Mountain range.
Over the past couple of years thousands of trekkers have been regularly walking from Owers Corner to Kokoda or from Kokoda back to Owers Corner in the mistaken belief that they are covering all the track, trails and battle sites of the Kokoda Trail Campaign. With the opening of these forgotten battlefields north of Kokoda, trekkers will now be able to trek and visit the Kokoda Trail Campaign in its entirety from Owers Corner to Wairopi.
Further on from Wairopi, a crossing point on the Kumusi River, the Kokoda Trail was connected to the settlements of Buna, Gona and Sanananda on the north coast.
Wayne Wetherall commented that it is a great honour to be able to walk on these forgotten sections of the Kokoda Track, where the 39th Battalion first fought the Japanese 68 years ago. You can really feel the spirit of the diggers, it really is sacred ground. It is important to remember and talk about these places. I just hope it will now find its rightful place in Australia’s history.

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Captain Sam Templeton-Nishimura

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:56:00 +0000

By Ilya Gridneff, Papua New Guinea Correspondent
PORT MORESBY, Jan 29 AAP - The remains of a fearless World War II Digger stabbed to death for taunting a Japanese officer may at last be laid to rest with all the reverence he deserves.
The real story behind Captain Sam Templeton's disappearance in the Papua New Guinea almost 70 years ago has finally emerged thanks to the selfless dedication of a frail old former trooper in the Japanese Imperial Army.
Ninety-year-old Kokichi Nishimura, known as the Bone Man of Kokoda, says it was he who buried Captain Templeton in a shallow jungle grave following his brutal summary execution soon after he was captured near the Kokoda Track.
According to official records, Capt Templeton, a World War I veteran, was a company commander with the famed Australian 39th battalion in New Guinea, when he vanished near Oivi village on July 26, 1942.
One report said he had been trying to warn reinforcements of the massive Japanese presence in the area.
Templeton was a soldiers' soldier, dismissive of rank and revered for his courage under fire.
Historians say he was technically too old for front line duty. He was born in 1900 - but lied about his age to qualify for combat.
Templeton's Crossing at Eora Creek on the Kokoda Track is traversed by thousands of Australian trekkers each year and this month Mr Nishimura teamed up with Kokoda Spirit trekking company operator Wayne Weatherall to locate the captain's crude bush grave.
Mr Nishimura says he still remembers where Capt Templeton is buried and the pair recently spent several days digging for clues and think they may have pinpointed the spot, but need to consult with the captain's family about what should be done next.
Mr Nishimura, who has spent the best part of 25 years recovering the remains of fallen Japanese comrades, was a member of the 2nd battalion, 144th Regiment of the Japanese Imperial Army that fought Australian troops in the same area.
Mr Nishimura told reporters in Port Moresby he buried Capt Templeton after an enraged Japanese officer killed the captured Australian.
"It seems Captain Templeton got lost, being pushed back by Japanese soldiers," he said through an interpreter.
Mr Nishimura said Capt Templeton was taken for interrogation and the Japanese commander became enraged when the Australian said there were "80,000 Australian troops waiting for the Japanese in Port Moresby?".
"How many of you will see out the day," Capt Templeton asked mockingly.
Mr Nishimura said that remark infuriated Japanese even more.
"The commander got angry at Templeton's answers and he stabbed him," he said.
"They (Australians) were all very brave soldiers with high spirits, therefore I don't want to leave this mystery open," added Mr Nishimura.
Late last year AAP visited Mr Nishimura at his home on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Humble, reserved and precise, Mr Nishimura recalled the closing stages of the New Guinea campaign.
"At that time (of the Japanese retreat) there was no choice (for the wounded Japanese) but to die, because there was no food or supplies," Mr Nishimura said.
"Those soldiers knew they were being abandoned and they were ready for what was happening to them.
"And knowing all that, they gave a smile rather than tears and crying."
Mr Nishimura promised that he would return one day to recover the bodies of his comrades. And as the only surviving member of the 2nd battalion, some 30 years later he kept his word.
"This is nothing special," he said
"It's my way of life, if I make a promise with somebody I keep it. Whatever it is I just keep my promises," he said.
Armed with a metal detector, a mattock and a shovel, a few language dictionaries and WW II battle plans, maps and official documents he secretly kept despite orders to destroy them, Mr Nishimura set out on a mission.
Over the years he found the remains of hundreds of Japanese soldiers.
Those identifiable were returned to families while the unknown were buried in Japan's official war shrine in Tokyo.
But while upholding the Japanese traditions of loyalty and respect, Mr Nishimura has also been a thorn in the side of a Japanese governments reluctant to acknowledge the past.
Indeed, his obsession often riled authorities on both sides, frequently involving him in controversy.
"I am sure I am a headache to Japanese government - I am sure on the black list as a dangerous man," he said with a laugh.
Mr Nishimura fought on every front line in Japan's Pacific campaign.
After PNG he served in Singapore and Rangoon in Burma then in August 1945 he returned to home with the remnants of the beaten Japanese forces.
On three occasions Mr Nishimura survived being shot, suffered just about every type of malaria and was once so malnourished he weighed around 30 kg.
He said the screams of an Australian soldier he killed in hand-to-hand combat still haunt him.
"My habit it is to avoid risk - I don't try to survive (in combat), I think my body naturally moves in the right direction," he said.
After the war he married and built up a multi-million dollar engineering company. But then, to his family's dismay, on retirement he sold the company, left his wife and two sons with the fortune and returned to PNG.
His only daughter Sachiko went with him and they still live together.
"I left my sons but never explained the reason to them," he said.
"I am sure they have a lot of resentful feeling to me, but still I don't care.
"They are strangers now. I am not interested in meeting them. I have more family in PNG. Not many in Japan."
In January this year Mr Nishimura returned to his adopted home in Oro Province on PNG's northeast coast to locate Capt Templeton's grave.
The Oro connection was established in WW II when a villager, Trofian Iewago, helped some Japanese soldiers, including Mr Nishimura. survive.
Mr Nishimura never forgot and when he returned to PNG to start collecting bones he lived with the Iewagos.
Trofian's son Romney remembers Mr Nishimura well.
"When he first came he would point at the dictionary and we would work out what he wanted," Romney said.
"He and Dad became very close and Dad said, 'I will make you our brother and you become a clansman'.
"We call him 'Ijiba Nishimura' as Ijiba is our clan name and he was initiated and became one of us."
Trofian's daughter Geraldine called her first-born daughter 'Sachiko' in honour of Nishimura's daughter. Journalist Charles Happell while walking the Kokoda Track literally stumbled on a small plaque Mr Nishimura erected in memory of Japan's fallen.
Happell researched and wrote a book: "The Bone Man of Kokoda."
"In piecing together his life story, what has been revealed is an epic tale featuring loyalty, determination and courage on a scale that is difficult to comprehend," Apollo writes.
Before returning to Tokyo Mr Nishimura admitted his most recent trip to PNG would be his last.
With his customary brevity, he dismissed talk about what will happen to his own bones.
"My daughter sometimes mentions that," he said.
"But once you are dead you can't do anything or say anything, so to say, 'I want this after I die,' that kind of thing is the most stupid thing you can do, so I don't have any idea."
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Captain Sam Templeton

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:32:00 +0000

Captain Sam Templeton – Hero of the Kokoda Track
Missing-in-Action for 68 years.The disappearance of Captain Sam Templeton, the Commander of B Company 39th Battalion, has been a great and enduring mystery in Australia, with plenty of speculation as to his disappearance and fate amongst historians and his fellow soldiers. Rumors circulated in Australia and PNG that Templeton may have been captured, interrogated and killed near Oivi or Deniki, or that he was captured and taken back to Rabaul for interrogation and then executed. Despite all the rumors and speculation in Australia the fate of Captain Templeton was known to many Japanese Soldiers and their families.

One Japanese soldier in particular, Kokichi Nishimura, (The Bone Man of Kokoda) (now aged 90) told me recently that Captain Templeton was executed, he had been one of the officers ordered to bury his body and he drew me a map of the burial site. This information was not only exciting to me but believable. Nishimura himself is the subject of a book, ‘The Bone Man of Kokoda’, which describes his 25 years in PNG locating the remains of Japanese soldiers and returning them to their families and homeland.

I believe Nishimura shared this important information with me as he knew that in 2008 I had discovered the complete graves of four Japanese soldiers and ensured they were returned home via the Japanese Ambassador to PNG. He understood my quest to find Captain Templeton so his family too could finally lay him to rest.

Captain Sam Templeton holds a special place in Australian history. He commanded the first Australian Company to cross the Kokoda Track and instilled in his men great confidence and resolve to repel the voracious Japanese tiger heading their way. Had the 39th Battalion and Templeton’s men in B Company failed, then the course of Australian history would be very different. They took on the might of the Japanese Army and inflicted physical, logistical and psychological wounds on them that would eventually become terminal to the Japanese.

My quest to unravel the mystery of what happened to Captain Templeton has involved a great deal of research, luck, fate and assistance from numerous sources in Australia, Japan and Papua New Guinea. I have been aided with entries from the 39th Battalions War Diaries for this period, translated diaries of some of the Japanese Veterans that were there, and interviews with Veterans from Australia, Japan and PNG.

The following pages tell some of the story of Captain Sam Templeton, the 39th Battalion and the Kokoda Campaign. The magnificent job the men of the 39th Battalion did in these early dark days on the Kokoda Track can never be forgotten.

The Australians fought a determined and ferocious enemy in the Japanese, their campaign is also described. My meetings with family members of those Japanese soldiers whose skeletal remains I discovered and returned during my investigation were insightful and rewarding. Meeting Kokichi Nishimura has been instrumental to this investigation.

My determination to locate Captain Templeton burial site has been an incredible journey. In revealing the fate of Captain Sam Templeton, missing-in-action for 68 years, it provides at last, the opportunity for this revered soldier to finally rest in peace. It also reminds us of the horror and futility of war.

Captain Templeton & the 39th Battalion

Captain Samuel Victor Templeton V50190 was born on the 28th January 1901 in Belfast City Northern Ireland. He was one of six children. He had a colourful history, enlisting in the Royal Navy at age 18 and served in WW1. On his discharge from the Navy he served with the Royal Irish Constabulary and was engaged in putting down a rebellion by the IRA. It is also reported that he fought in the Spanish Civil war as a member of the International Brigade, but this is certainly not true.

Captain Templeton arrived in Australia in 1920 and soon after joined the 5th Battalion of the CMF as a Private. He quickly advanced to Corporal then became a Sergeant.
Captain Templeton or Uncle Sam as he became known married his sweetheart Doris in 1925 and they had four children.

Sam tried to enlist in the AIF on several occasions but was rejected because of his age.
Captain Sam Templeton then joined the 2nd/7th training Battalion AMF (Militia) and then enlisted in the 39th Battalion on the 1st July 1940. He then received his commission as an officer to the 39th Battalion and then travelled to Port Moresby on Christmas Day 1941 he was 42 years old.

The 39th Battalion was very fortunate to have Sam. He was a strong, capable soldier and leader and his experience would prove invaluable as during the early days in Port Moresby the 39th Battalion was used mainly as labourers, unloading and loading ships and digging defenses.
Uncle Sam stood 5 ft and 9 1/2 inches tall, well built, strong and into everything. He was a quiet man, well liked but also liked his space. He was as straight as a gun barrel, if it was wrong, he would put it right.

Captain Templeton felt very strongly about the war, and was busting his neck to get into it

It had been a surprise to many of the 39th and 53rd Battalion that they were in PNG at all, as they were Militia, Australia’s home Army or the Reserves; their understanding was they were to be used exclusively for the defence of Australia. What the men in the Militia Battalions soon learned was that New Guinea was mandated territory of Australia and that they were being used to defend Australian territory.

Many of the early Company Commanders of the 39th and 53rd Battalion were older men who struggled with the tropical climate in Port Moresby. A number of these Commanders came down with tropical diseases, including Malaria and were repatriated back to Australia.

Captain Sam Templeton thrived in these conditions and took every opportunity he could to instill good military practice in his men. He paid particular attention to their health, hygiene and nutritional needs. This practice included regular teeth cleaning, regular washing of body and hair and the taking of appropriate Malaria precautions. He also ensured that they continued their physical and self defense training to ensure that they still had a fighting edge despite their use as labourers. These simple but effective practices contributed greatly to B Companies success in crossing the track and fighting the Japanese.

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The Bone Man of Kokoda

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:09:00 +0000

The Bone Man of Kokoda

War veteran Kokichi Nishimura
A Japanese soldier fought the Allies, then battled his government to honour not only mates but all the war dead in New Guinea.
As Kokichi Nishimura crept ashore at New Guinea's Salamaua Beach just before 1 am on March 8, 1942, he predicted that Japan was months away from capturing Australia and conquering the South Pacific.
The wiry grenade launcher and his comrades from Japan's 144th regiment had swept through Guam and smothered brief resistance at New Britain. Now they were about to storm Salamaua, allowing Japanese planes to head south unimpeded to Port Moresby and, before long, the vast continent below.
Corporal Nishimura was 21, and in his naivety could scarcely have imagined the torment that lay ahead on the treacherous Kokoda Track. Nor could he have contemplated the possibility that hellish fighting with desperate Australian troops would bind him to that precipitous mountain track for the rest of his life.
It was here in the rainforests of the Owen Stanley Range that he would return, much older, to honour a grim promise that would take him 26 years and 400 million yen in life savings and pension payments to carry out.
"I can never forget that pledge to my comrades," recalled the 88-year-old veteran, whose failing strength has forced him to abandon his one-man mission and return to Tokyo. "It was January 12 [1943], and our food had run out. By then I weighed less than 30 kilograms and, like the other troops, I was eating the flesh of dead enemy soldiers just to stay alive.
"Those who were strong enough were evacuating from the coast, deserting the weak and ordering them to keep the Australians and Americans at bay. So I said to the soldiers left behind: 'No matter what happens, if you die in this land I will come back for you, and I'll return you to Japan to rest with your families. This is my promise to you'."
Such was the old soldier's determination to make good on his word that he walked out on his wife and two sons in 1979 to do so, he did not stop to think about them once in the 2 decades he subsequently devoted to digging up and repatriating the remains of almost 350 Japanese soldiers.
"Why waste thoughts on something like that?" he told the Herald from his home north of Tokyo. "I don't know if they're even alive any more. They didn't approve of what I was doing, and nor did the rest of Japan. But I gave a pledge. How could I sit here in Tokyo while my comrades were lying forgotten beneath the dirt, so far away from the families that grieved for them every day?"
So 37 years after the troops in his battalion became the first members of the Japanese army to reach New Guinea, the 60-year-old retired mechanical engineer made his way back. This time he was armed with a landmine detector, a mattock and a shovel.
His solo quest consumed almost a third of his life - but he says he would still be digging if he had the strength.
With his savings he bought a hectare of land at Kakandetta, between Giruwa on the coast and Kokoda inland, built himself a two-storey house out of local hardwoods, and planted a vegetable plot beside it to supplement his simple diet. Then he set to work.
"I felt like this was my life mission," explained the proud nationalist, who says his family crest links him directly to Japan's imperial family and the Shinto gods who fashioned Japan from the elements.
The Australians and Americans had shown respect for their war dead, he said. Their remains were carefully interred at cemeteries across the countryside. The Japanese government, on the other hand, had "literally left thousands of Japanese soldiers to rot, as if they were an embarrassment that they preferred to forget about. So I took it on as my own duty. No one else would."
Not least among his objectives was a yearning to recover the bodies of close friends from his own platoon, all 55 of whom were killed on the Kokoda Track. Most of these soldiers, from Kochi or Ehime on the island of Shikoku, were killed by Australian machineguns in the Battle of Brigade Hill, on September 8, 1942. Seventeen days later, the Japanese retreated. It was a turning point in the Pacific War.
Despite being shot three times in the shoulder from almost point blank range during the battle, Nishimura survived - even chasing and killing his assailant, an Australian soldier who "looked to me just like a teenager". "Every day for many, many years I could hear the scream he made when I ran my sword through him. It was a horrible thing," he recalls.
On his return, he took his old diary and detailed notes he had smuggled out - against strict military orders - in the evacuation. By using those to supplement his fading memory of the year he spent in tropical hell, he mapped out land he thought most likely to yield the remains of fallen comrades.
First he searched for deviations in the earth that looked like the imprints of old foxholes - small pits dug by soldiers to hide themselves in battle. He would test the ground for mines, then use a stake to gauge how soft the soil was and therefore how likely it was to conceal decomposed human remains, his account of Nishimura's mission, he would go to work with his shovel and garden hoe removing sand and soil that had built up over 40 years.
"The bodies were rarely buried deeper than a metre. Often, soldiers just dropped where they were shot; occasionally they were spread-eagled on top of each other."
At Giruwa beach he found 120 bodies and at Buna and Gona, two small coastal towns not far away, 60 skeletons. At Waju he recovered a further 30 to 35 bodies. After just a few years of digging, his house became an ossuary for the forgotten Japanese soldiers of New Guinea.
As his work took him further afield, Nishimura was saddened to discover that in several places opportunists had assembled Japanese skulls and war effects in morbid displays to attract passing tourists. The Japanese government knew of this but had done nothing to stop it.
A Japanese professor of humanities, Utsumi Aiko, on a recent visit to the Indonesian island of Biak, was equally appalled to discover the amount of unclaimed Japanese remains being shown by small-time entrepreneurs.
Of the 2.4 million Japanese military dead, she wrote, "1,160,000 of them are still not repatriated. With close to half of the dead in overseas battle zones, we greeted the 50th, then the 60th year after the war.
"Even now some 600,000, it is said, are retrievable. Why in the world don't we retrieve them? Why aren't the bereaved families urgently concerned about the bones of their relatives?"
Nishimura was sure the families did care. But he knew most felt helpless to do anything without government assistance. That was where he planned to make a difference.
Occasionally dog tags, dental work and other unusual markers let him identify remains. Bones he could not identify he hoped to one day submit for DNA analysis - a fledgling science in the middle years of his work.
On frequent trips back to Japan, Nishimura would spend days tracking down relatives of soldiers whose effects he had found. "I can't describe the feeling I had at seeing tears of relief. They were finally reunited with the sons who had never come home from war," he said. Among the haul was a lunch box he had inscribed for his training instructor, Lieutenant Yoshiyuki Morimoto, 40 years earlier, which he had dug up in an empty field.
As the maverick crusader's reputation spread in Japan, he received more requests for help from families to recover their loved ones. One man, Kokichi Morimoto, travelled to New Guinea to search for his lost father Toshio and, when excavating a vegetable field, uncovered the remains of more than 100 Japanese soldiers.
"The skeletons appearing from the soil just broke my heart," Morimoto said afterwards. "Just imagine how it must have been to be abandoned for so many years in the middle of nowhere so far away from home."
It was not until 1988 that Nishimura finally returned to Efogi, the site of the Battle of Brigade Hill, where his battalion had been wiped out in some of the fiercest fighting of the Pacific War.
With the help of curious locals, he spent several days digging the sticky, red Kokoda Track battleground.
"Finally I struck black soil and then I found some charred bones nearby. Then I realised what had happened; the Australians had burnt hundreds of bodies to stop the unbearable stench," he says.
"It was devastating. This had been a special mission for me. All I could do was to take some of the ash away in tins. Now it is at the Gokoku Shrine at Kochi, so at least I know my old friends are resting safely back at their home with their families."
In 1994, Japan's ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Tadashi Masui, told Nishimura that while his government appreciated his work, it wanted him to hand over his collection of bones as a symbolic gesture to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the war the next year. Nishimura agreed, only because he felt the ambassador implicitly assured him Japan would make every effort to identify the remains, which amounted to more than 200 bodies. Instead it cremated and interred them at Chidorigafuchi Cemetery in Tokyo.
"Throughout all these years, there were many setbacks," Nishimura said. "But the biggest obstacles were put in my way by Japan, which showed either neglect for the thousands of young men who died in its name, or deceit. It brought tears to my eyes to think that my country could do this."
Eventually, after he became ill and returned to Tokyo in late 2005, the government cremated the rest of the skeletons he had retrieved and sent the ashes to Chidorigafuchi.
As many Australians will still feel the Japanese were a "barbaric enemy, and they were. They had an uncommon bloodlust and their treatment of POWs was appalling. I'm not trying to dress them up as anything else. But, in Nishimura, they may possibly find a Japanese soldier to empathise with. If nothing else, he certainly took the concept of 'mateship' to another level."
The Japanese lost about 13,000 soldiers on the Kokoda Track and the beaches to the north. That was more than three times the number of casualties suffered by the Allies, who lost 3095 Australian and American soldiers between them.
But monuments to the Japanese dead are few and most are in disrepair. So in 1989, Nishimura erected his own at Efogi - to all soldiers killed at New Guinea. The stone, in Japanese kanji characters inscribed by monks from Tokyo's Zenshoan Temple, reads: "To The Loyal War Dead."
Strangely, it was this tribute that prompted the Kochi-New Guinea Association of war veterans to eject Nishimura from its ranks, for acting without authority. As his lifelong friend and fellow New Guinea veteran Sadashige Imanishi said before his death last year: "We don't tolerate unique people very well in Japan."
Nor does Nishimura have much time for Japan: he feels the country that he loved has lost its soul, and is "a country in name only". Foreigners might see a nation with a profound sense of its own distinctive culture, he said, but that impression was "merely a facade".
Young Japanese thought more about Western fashion, phones and iPods than their own history: "Soon I will be gone, and others like me too. Who will be left to remember?"

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Coast to Coast Michael Milton

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:44:00 +0000

PNG coast to coast trip
21/10/2009 10:56 PM
Trip report on the Coast to Coast Challenge PNG
Our schedule was always going to make this a tough trip for me but I am always up for a challenge. The plan was to ride from the north coast of PNG at Buna where the Japanese fleet landed, Ride to Kokoda, Walk the track and then get back on the bikes and ride down to Port Moresby. The bikes would be flown from Kokoda to Moresby and then driven up to Owers Corner for the end of the walk. We had 8 days for this schedule which meant that we had only 5 days to walk the Kokoda track. Most of the commercial trips do the walk in 8 or 9 days so we would be walking long hours and pushing the pace.
Day 1 - A magnificent sunrise over the ocean and a night in what is called a guest house saw the start of our trip. The guesthouse is a wooden frame with a thatched roof and some walls. This one had the end of it over the water and was an amazing place to stay. A real mattress and mosquito net meant that I had a good night's sleep. The ride was 80km and about half rough dirt and half potholed bitumen. It was hot and open but a swim in a creek every couple of hours felt good and cooled things down. The highlight of the day was crossing the kimuzi river where the bridge was washed out in a cyclone in 2007. We crossed with all our gear and bikes on tyre tubes with local guys swimming them across. A night in the village of Pisa and another swim and wash was the end of our day.
Day 2 - Early starts are always in order when sleeping in a tent. Pancakes for breakfast and we were off again. Some 25 river crossings for the day with about half of the bridges washed out meant we were in for some fun. A swim in Eora creek meant that we were now in water coming straight off the Owen Stanley ranges and we felt the difference in temperature. 40 km's on dirt and we were in Kokoda. On the way a long drop toilet that collapsed just as I was preparing to do my business was a lowlight for me. We also had a 2 hour stop in Oivi where we went looking for Sam Templeton's remains after some new information was uncovered during an interview in Japan. Lunch in Kokoda and we started the walk. I always knew this would be the hard part for me on crutches but hard is not a bad thing. 2 hours gently climbing and then 1.5 hours steep climbing and we were in camp at Deniki.
Day 3 - Porridge for breakfast by torchlight and we were off with a schedule to reach the village of Eora Creek. Mostly due to some gastro problems we made camp around 4pm in Alola. It was a tough day walking a long day while sick. Not too many highlights for me this day. We did however stop at Isurava where one of the key battles was fought in WWII. You can't help but feel solemn respect and thanks for our soldiers who helped make our country at a place like this. The motto of the track is on 4 large stone pillars at Isurava. Courage, Endurance, Mateship, Sacrifice.
Day 4 - We all woke up feeling better and made a plan to try and get over the top of the range at 2190m and down to camp at 1900. We were trying to travel light and didn't bring sleeping bags so sleeping higher meant that we might have a cold night but we couldn't do anything about that now. We saw a few other groups this day but didn't do more than say hi to them. We walked into camp right on dusk at around 6:15pm after walking for 12 hours with about 1 hour breaks all day. It was long and tiring and finishing for the day felt great. A very cold swim and wash by torchlight was another interesting experience as was sleeping in all my clothes including my rain jacket with hood up.
Day 5 - 1900 to Menari. Another long day with some stomach discomfort for me. Through the village of Efogi and up what I thought last time I walked the track was the toughest climb of the trip. The hills on the track are constant, they are hard and rough and relentless. They are not much easier down as it is slippery and steep. Chocolate donuts at lunch was a great surprise and went down well.
Day 6 - Menari to Iorbaiwa. I was really starting to fatigue and started to have some hand problems this day. Numbness in some parts and bruising in others made walking on them hard. We caught at group this day that had left 2 days before us so that was a boost to the ego. Spring rolls filled with 2 minute noodles and canned vegies actually taste good in this environment. This day also had the longest single hill on the track up the Maguli range. 2 hours constantly up hill rising over 500 vertical metres. They call it the 9 false peaks as there are 9 flats that all look like you are at the top. A huge thunderstorm at Ofi creek meant we only had a quick swim to minimise the risks of being washed away in a flood.
Day 7 - The last day walking. Doesn't it feel good to know that you are going to make it and the hardest part is over. The whole crew was betting on what time I would arrive at Owers corner with the spread of bets from 2:10 till around 3:30 in the afternoon. I wanted to beat the first bet so I tried to keep an even but fast pace for the day. In the first 2 hours we crossed over 20 creeks. Sandals were the order of the day. The final hurdle is a 45 minute climb up from Goldie river to the finish. Last time I was there Goldie was chest deep and murky brown and we crossed hooked onto a rope line. This time it was a beautiful creek about knee deep and clear. You can imagine this place would have been heaven to the diggers coming off the track. The salvo's were there and a nice wash. The atmosphere of this place was great and that combined with knowing you are nearly done made me a happy camper. 2:01 across the finish line and I won the bet too.
The walk wasn't the end of the day though as we got to the top, had some lunch, put the bikes together and got riding. It was nice to be back on the bike for me but some steep hills kept us working hard. Camp at 5 meant that we would have a short next day to the finish. Another thunder storm just after the tents were up gave us a nice sunset, the way the guys got the big tarp set up on poles in about 5 minutes was a very impressive bit of teamwork.
Day 8 - 15km on dirt road before another 45km of sealed road and a swim in the ocean. From the start of the bitumen we had a police escort. Lots of people beside the road supporting us lifted our spirits for the day. The road had some potholes to keep us awake but the trip had lots of fast descents and was lots of fun. A 1 hour stop to look around Bomana cemetery added a solemn touch but then it was off to the finish line. Some games were played on the bikes for KOM points but it was about the challenge and we all crossed the finish line together where some of the guys on borrowed bikes rolled into the sea while we dropped bikes on the bank and jumped in. Beers were had by many and it was then off for a nice shower and an afternoon eating as much as possible and lazing around the hotel pool.
All in all an awesome trip that I would highly recommend to anyone after a challenge. The trip was run by Kokoda Spirt (http://www.kokodaspirit.com/) They are keen to run it again so send Wayne an email if you are interested.

Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Coast to Coast Challenge.

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:39:00 +0000

WALKING AND WHEELING KOKODA
WALKING Kokoda isn't challenging enough?
Australia's fastest skier and legendary Paralympian, Michael Milton, has just returned from Papua New Guinea where he mountain-biked and walked from the north to the south coast, a distance of 293km, in just eight days.
The Kokoda Spirit Coast to Coast adventure included three days on a mountain bike and five days walking the Kokoda Trail, a trek that Milton has done before.
He and friend Wayne Wetherill from trekking company Kokoda Spirit and two others started their journey at Buna Village on the beach, near Poppandetta on the north coast of PNG. From there they travelled for 120km and two days on mountain bikes, crossing 23 creeks and rivers.
"The terrain was fairly flat but the surfaces we were riding on changed all the time - from pot-holed bitumen to boggy sand in a matter of minutes. It was hard and hot riding but frequent rests made it a lot easier.
"Many of the bridges along the route were washed away during the cyclone in 2007 so we did a lot of swimming but we weren't complaining. It was such a refreshing break from riding," said Milton from his home in Canberra where he is recovering.
Arriving at Kokoda Village early in the afternoon on day two, the team wasted no time starting the walk and took just five days to reach the southern end of the Trail at Owers Corner.
"The first time I did Kokoda in 2006 it took eight days. This time we did it in five so it was really hard and also much wetter. The humidity and the rain really takes its toll on my hands and walking with crutches in mud when you're sinking and slipping all the time makes it that much harder.
"At camp the night before we were due to get back on the bikes for the two-day ride to Port Moresby, my right hand was so sore and weak I wondered how I would change gears," explained Milton.
He did manage to get back on the bike to ride the 80km into Port Moresby, complete with police escort.
"I'm not really sure what the police escort was for but it made us feel like rock stars. When we arrived at the yacht club, we rode straight into the sea. It was a great feeling and an enormous relief when it was over and we could finally have a shower and sleep in a real bed," said Milton.
He hasn't come home unscathed though and is still waiting for some nerve damage in his hand to heel. It's a serious injury for a man who walks on crutches. Was it really worth it?
"Absolutely. I had a great time. I love to test my body, probably even moreso since my cancer diagnosis and surgery two years ago. Life is short and I'd much rather die riding my bike or walking Kokoda than sitting in front of the television."
You can read about Michael's eight days in PNG in more detail by checking out his LATEST BLOG.
Photo: Michael leads the pack as they head away from Kokoda towards Port Moresby and the end of their journey from coast to coast.

Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Kurt Fearnley Crawls Kokoda

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:27:00 +0000

Paralympian Champion Kurt Fearnley is to crawl the Kokoda Track with Kokoda Spirit Managing Director Wayne Wetherall and 14 of Kurt's family and friends.
Kurt has just returned this week from winning the New York Marathon. This win completes a perfect racing year for Kurt with wins in London, Perth, Sydney, Chicago and now New York.
Self-belief is what powers this Paralympian.
YOU'VE never known the simple joy of walking. You've never broken into a jog, jumped up and down or even stamped a foot in anger. You're attached to your legs, physically and emotionally, but as a working part of your body, they're redundant.
So, in your late 20s, what do you decide to do? Complete the Kokoda Track, all 96 slippery and steep kilometres of it. How? By crawling.
Meet Kurt Fearnley. Come November, over 12 days, this is what he will be doing. He may be wheelchair-bound, but to call him disabled would be a disservice to his character and strength of will. He has shown he is more than able to take whatever the world has thrown at him.
The Newcastle-based man is one of Australia's best athletes. In the past three Paralympics - in Sydney, Athens and Beijing - he and his racing wheelchair have won three gold medals and six silver and bronze. He has won gold at the world championships.
From 2001 to 2008, he raced in 32 marathons, winning 22 and finishing in a place on the other occasions, including three straight wins in the New York marathon. He has pushed his body to the finishing line in a chair with busted wheels and broken frames. His will to succeed is indomitable.
It has always been so. Growing up in the small town of Carcoar, NSW, west of Bathurst, no sport was beyond him, no obstacle too large, no goal too high. He played rugby league (last line of defence) and competed in the high jump. He believed in himself. This was nurtured by his family, who, from the day he was born with agenesis, believed in him. The agenesis meant his lower spine did not develop in the womb. He has feeling in his legs, but they cannot support him.
Fearnley is the youngest of five children. After his birth, parents Jackie and Glenn were told that he would not live a week. Perhaps, it was suggested, they should not even take him home from hospital. But, Fearnley said this week, "within the family, they said if I'm going to live a week, I'm going to live a week in the family. They took me home."
Twenty-eight years later, he can reflect that "family has been pretty much everything. They are the ones who made me what I am."
Carcoar now has a Kurt Fearnley Park. He is proud of the acknowledgement, linking as it does his roots with his achievements on the world stage. "My grandfather came over from the UK - just after World War I, after he lost his dad - directly to Carcoar to become a farmhand," he says.
"He met my grandmother there and they had 11 kids, and those 11 kids had an average of five or six kids.
"Now there's a little park in the centre of Carcoar called Kurt Fearnley Park. If I was to tell my grandfather when he came out here that in the middle of town a little patch of land would be named after his grandkid, I'm pretty sure he'd be pretty proud."
It was such strength of community that propelled Fearnley on his path. The town raised $10,000 in two weeks to buy his first wheelchair. He has never looked back, except to say thanks. "All of a sudden - it seems all of a sudden but it's 10 years' later - you're winning the Paralympics in Athens."
You are also planning to crawl 96 kilometres. After the stock response of "are you mad?" the athlete gives his reasons for tackling the Kokoda Track. They can be likened to two streams - one of knowing your nation's history and the other of knowing yourself and those around you - that flow into the one river of mateship.
Says Fearnley: "For me, a lot of my job is to race for Australia, but you need to pause and think what it is that makes us who we are. Australia has such a tie with Kokoda.
"The history of the guys who fought there has always intrigued me. It is also a chance for me and my family and friends (12 are travelling with him, and adventure company Kokoda Spirit is involved) to get together to experience something unique and challenging and positive. Kokoda is all about mateship and looking out for each other. Everyone says to me: 'You're mad, what are you thinking?"'
Fearnley puts it into perspective. During World War II, "people were crawling down there with legs missing, with limbs missing, with bullets shooting at them, with dysentery, with malaria, with an army on their heels - so whatever happens to us, no matter how tough we seem to be having it, people have had it far worse".
Fearnley is also tackling Kokoda to raise awareness about men's health issues, in particular depression. In this, the tie is much more personal.
"I lost a family member to depression," he says. "Blokes in the country find it hard to talk to other fellas. If you're in a position to turn to your friend, to turn to your brother, your cousin, you can ask for help. So much more can be accomplished - even the toughest of tasks. Even a guy in a wheelchair can feel confident enough to crawl the Kokoda Trail."
Confidence will, of course, only take you so far in a jungle. Fearnley is training for the physical challenges. "Ninety-six kilometres, that's the daunting thing," he says. "The rivers and the logs, they're just speed bumps. I'm going to rely on the people around me so that I can get that far. I have to trust in the people around me to make sure they can keep me going."
He will have special wrist braces, hand pads, knee pads and shin pads, and he is doing as much crawling now as he can. "I'm crawling through mud, I'm crawling up and down the steepest descents I can find - crawling between 10 and 20 kilometres a week - and then I'm doing as many stairs as I can do, between 50 and 100 flights of stairs a day.
"There's stairs just outside my house. I put the headphones in and I just go up and back, up and back, up and back. I can knock out 60 stairs in half an hour if I put my head down."
He has spoken to as many people as he can who have done the trek and the "one amazing thing is that every story is completely different". He expects the journey to change him. "It will be something that will alter the way you see things. It is about as far away from my comfort zone as I will ever have been."
The wheelchair has transported Fearnley into worlds he dared not dream about as a child. "It's the strangest thing, going from being a kid crawling around the hills of Carcoar to now, and I don't really know which country I'm going to be in week to week."
Syria, for instance. Fearnley is a board member of Australian Volunteers International, based in Melbourne. In February, he visited a refugee camp to speak about life with a disability. He spoke of his family and how important it was to encourage a child to believe.
"If they get their kids to feel confident, anything can happen, they can do absolutely anything on the planet and to see these mums' and dads' eyes open and then start crying, it was incredible."
It was the message his family told him when he was young. It's the message that powers his belief in himself and which he will take to Kokoda. You could call it an inspirational Australian crawl
Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Kurt Fearnley Crawls Kokoda for Movember

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:10:00 +0000

NEWS FLASH
Paralympian Champion Kurt Fearnley to crawl across the Kokoda Track with Kokoda Spirit.
This trek will be shown on the Channel 7 Sunday Program on Sunday November 22, 2009
For regular updates click on http://www.kokodaspirit.com/blog.html or http://www.kokodaspirit.com/kokoda-forum.htm
You can also check out Kurt’s links on
http://kurtfearnley.beinvolved.com.au/
http://au.movember.com/news/view/id/85/category/national
Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Kokoda Track Death

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:12:00 +0000

Kokoda Killing Trekkers
Deaths on the Kokoda Track will continue to happen.
The recent death on the Kokoda Track is a tragic reminder of how precious life is and how vulnerable we are as humans.
The Kokoda Track is stunningly beautiful, but brutal to trek, with mountains and conditions that stretch the body to breaking point. It is not only a physical demanding journey but an emotional and spiritual roller coaster. The Kokoda Track is an adventure like no other, and will continue to fire the spirit of Australians that dream to walk in the footsteps of our heroes.
The recent death will not slow the interest in Australians walking the track but will only heighten their desire to conquer the challenging Kokoda Track.
I have seen many medical emergencies on the track and precautionary evacuations, including the evacuation of a high profile Australian trekking company guide.
No one or no company is perfect, no Doctor can guarantee how long we will live or our future health, no one can guarantee that we will not die, all we can do is ensure that we take every possible precaution.

Preparing and training extensively for the Kokoda trek is an important and essential part of succeeding on Kokoda. The other essential requirement for successfully trekking Kokoda is to ensure you look after your body during the trek and give it the essential requirements it needs to cope .
Unfortunately some of the new smaller trekking companies fail their trekkers by having inadequate management practices, punishing itineraries, long walking days and fail to ensure trekkers have adequate rest breaks, avoid overheating, adequate hydration stops and nourishing and hygienic food. Failure to look after your trekkers on the track can lead to health problems for trekkers.

Our Kokoda Spirit trekkers are well warned about the dangers and difficulties of walking the track. The track is very difficult and you do need to be prepared both physically and mentally for it, no doubt about it. Kokoda Spirit provides a comprehensive training program and detailed information on health and safety requirements for the Kokoda Track to our trekkers.
Both our trekker and their Doctor are required to understand and acknowledge the following.
The Kokoda Trail is 96 km long and we cover the distance in 9 days. The track is located in a mountainous and remote part of PNG. The track climbs to an altitude of 2190 m and over the complete track we climb more then 6000 m and descend over 6000 m in height. This part of PNG is hot, humid and wet with rough mountain tracks, narrow passes and numerous river and log crossings.
Conditions on the track are challenging, strenuous and physically demanding. High physical stress, dehydration and body overheating is a major concern for your patient.
A large part of the area that we trek in is inaccessible by helicopter or any other emergency service. There is no access to emergency first aid or medical facility on the Kokoda Track.
Please advise your patient that they need to be undertaking a suitable training program and they will need to be of a high level of fitness and in good physical condition. The trek is arduous and physically demanding, with particular demand on the heart, lungs, knees and joints.
Kokoda Spirit requires that each of our trekkers undergo and pass a medical and fitness examination.

I have just completed my 35th crossing of the Kokoda Track and continue to be amazed and inspired by the determination and spirit of the trekkers who set out to trek Kokoda.
These trekkers go out as individuals in groups and have their own reasons and dreams for trekking Kokoda. Most trekkers succeed in achieving their goals, all trekkers that have been on the Kokoda Track are touch by the spirit of the diggers that went before us.
I have seen strong, fit people brought to their knees by Kokoda and I have seen the weak and less fit get stronger.
No matter how many rules, regulations or medical examinations we bring in for trekkers and Kokoda trekking companies , no system or procedure is perfect.
No matter how, fit, prepared or medical examinations we undertake there is no guarantees in life, all we can do is ensure we do our best to prepare for the Journey.
If you are planning on trekking Kokoda ensure you do so with a reputable and professional company, this will minimise the risks of walking the track.

Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Kokoda Condolences

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 08:05:00 +0000

Michelle, Wayne and the staff of Kokoda Spirit would like to offer their condolences, prayers and thoughts to the family, friends and collegues of those adventurous spirits that lost their lives in the tragic plane crash on the Kokoda Track.
Those that walk the Kokoda Trail know how physical, emotional and spiritual the trek across Kokoda is, you truly walk in the footsteps of heroes.
Tragically those that lost their lives in the tuesday plane crash may not had the opporunity to experience walking Kokoda, but they all showed the true Kokoda Spirit in undertaking the journey to honour our heroes that fought and defended the Australian dream.

Kokoda Spirit will continue to trek across Kokoda to honour the memory of all our Australian and PNG brothers.
It is very important that we continue to walk across this icon of Australia the Kokoda Track.
The sacrifices of these heroes should never be forgotten. While we talk about these heroes and continue to walk the Kokoda Track their spirit lives.
Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Australian Spirit

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:56:00 +0000

Australian Spirit Lives on the Kokoda Track.

Not so long ago our national characteristics were clearly identifiable in most Australians and our Diggers. Courage, endurance, mateship, sacrifice, ingenuity, integrity, teamwork, resilience and the like. Clearly these traits didn’t emerge overnight. They were honed by the challenges our forebears faced in surviving in our remarkable country, with its vast distances, harsh terrain and unpredictable climate. Australians in almost every sector overcame obstacles to build our Nation with a practical and pragmatic approach built up over long periods of hardship. The spirit needed to survive and grow was constantly tested. It produced generations of Australians capable of heroic struggles in their daily lives.

The recent tragic deaths on the Kokoda Track are a stark reminder of the enormous physical, mental and spiritual challenge that the Kokoda Track is to those that challenge this Australian and PNG Icon. Their sad loss of these adventurers is felt by the thousands of Australians that have trekked the Kokoda Track and is devastating for their family, friends and associates and a reminder of how precious life is. They undertook the challenge of Kokoda in the true Australian spirit and undertook one of the World’s most challenging and inspiring journeys.

It is unfortunate that during these sad times, that a small number of disgruntled, egotistical and ultimately unsuccessful Kokoda track operators, spread misinformation about the Kokoda trekking industry.

The majority of treks across the track are carried out by the 5 largest trekking companies operating on the track, including Kokoda Spirit which is the largest operator on the track. These trekking companies carry advanced communication systems; have public liability insurance, highly trained staff and a comprehensive risk assessment plan. These experienced companies will continue to grow and prosper on the back of their professionalism and recommendations by ultimately successful and happy trekkers.

It is disappointing to hear some operators make outrageous comments and assumptions recently in the press regarding so called safety breaches by other operators, one spokesman for one “expert” operator described the conditions on the track as bad as the diggers had encountered in 1942, this spokesman has never walked the track nor had any idea of the conditions in 1942! This same outspoken trekking operator was still walking his trekkers at midnight to finish their trek! I would have thought this to be extremely dubious and unsafe practice but still he has the audacity to criticise other operators!

Kokoda Spirit had 9 trekking groups on the track a total of 139 trekkers in two different directions and over two different dates during the Anzac period. All treks were led by experienced and professional guides and where extremely successful. All of Kokoda Spirit’s treks were carried out with full permits from the KTA and within the requirements of the Kokoda Track code of conduct. Our trekkers had numerous reasons for trekking Kokoda and all had passed medical examinations.

While further research and study is required to ensure the future of the Kokoda Track is protected, we should not forget that over 30,000 Australians, Papua New Guineans and Japanese walked and fought their way across the Kokoda Track in 1942 and the track survived that onslaught.

It is also important to remember that the people of PNG also derive great benefits from the Kokoda trekking industry. With the development of the trekking industry it has created greater opportunities for the locals along the track, including wages for guides, porters, cooks and logistical staff. Trekking companies pay directly to the villagers, accommodation fees, donations and make local food purchases. The local airlines, bus companies, supermarkets and travel agents all benefit greatly by the income generated by trekkers. A greater benefit to the local community and ultimately PNG is the new sense of pride and self esteem that the locals have; this is due to the new and exciting opportunities that the trekking industry has created in PNG.

The Kokoda Track continues to grow strongly with a code of conduct now in place and administered by the Kokoda Track Authority. This authority will ensure that all Kokoda Track operators adhere to the regulations.

I was a prominent member of the committee formed in 2008 by the Kokoda Track trekking Operators to formulate a Kokoda Track Code of Conduct. This committee was facilitated by Sandy Hollway on behalf of the Australian Government. This code of conduct clearly lays out the responsibilities of the trekking companies. Rod Hillman CEO of the Kokoda Track Authority has this to say; “My understanding is that the committee setup to write the code of conduct has done its task and is now finished. The review at the end of the season will need to be undertaken but I am unaware of any decision about whom or how this will be undertaken”. Mr Hillman goes onto say; The Management Committee of the KTA wants the issue of carrying capacity/sustainability explored. At this stage there is no regulation as to group size or departures but it would seem logical this is an issue that will be fleshed out as a part of the code of conduct review at the end of the season.

The following is extracts from the Kokoda Track Code of Conduct for 2009

VISION

The Kokoda Track will be a premier tourism destination, catering for the requirements of a niche tourist market to experience the adventure, historical, environmental, cultural and social features of PNG, in a sustainable manner.

TOUR OPERATORS AGREE TO:

Adhere to Kokoda Track Authority (KTA) rules, guidelines and procedures: for the orderly and sustainable conduct of trekking operations on the track, including any limitations on number of trekkers and payment of fees. Ensuring individual trekking parties do not exceed the carrying capacity of the Track at any one time, as determined by the KTA.

When I first walked the Kokoda Track with all its obstacles and challenges you feel the aura and spirit of the young men who defeated an enemy, an enemy who had never been conquered, an enemy that had never tasted defeat, they overcame overwhelming odds and atrocious conditions, outnumbered and out gunned their victory was possible due to their trust and respect for each other, their dependence on each other, their ability to never give up, to hang in there when all seemed lost, self belief and strong leadership.

My original journey was a pilgrimage to understand what the Australian Spirit was all about. The Kokoda Track story is truly a remarkable and incredible story, thousands of Australians will continue to make the pilgrimage, let’s hope they have the opportunity to discover the Australian Spirit, the future prosperity of our country and PNG depends on it.

Let’s stop flogging the Kokoda Trekking companies doing the right thing and focus on the incredible story of Courage, Endurance, Mateship and Sacrifice that reflects the Kokoda Spirit on the Kokoda Track and is the cornerstone of the Australian Spirit.

Wayne Wetherall

CEO Kokoda SpiritVisit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

KOKODA SPIRIT-ANZAC SPIRIT

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 05:13:00 +0000

KOKODA SPIRIT- ANZAC SPIRIT
Japanese Kokoda Veterans Remains Return Home.
The Full Skeletal remains of Japanese Soldiers found on the Kokoda Track have begun their Journey home.
High in the mountains on the Kokoda Track 66 years ago, a small patrol of Australian Soldiers from the 2/16th Battalion carefully organised their defences and waited in the cold, dark, misty and moss covered jungle for the Japanese as they continued their relentless push across the Kokoda Track towards Port Moresby and Australia. This small band of brothers took the fight to the Japanese ambushing them on the 4th September 1942.
The Australian action killed and mortally wounded many Japanese Soldiers, slowing the Japanese progress and allowing the Australian’s time to set new defensive positions and formulate new strategies as their fighting withdrawal continued across the track. These young Australian men fought in one of the most ferocious campaigns on the Kokoda Track and defeated an enemy, an enemy who had never been conquered, an enemy that had never tasted defeat, they overcame overwhelming odds and atrocious conditions, outnumbered and out gunned their victory was possible due to their trust and respect for each other, their dependence on each other, their ability to never give up, to hang in there when all seemed lost, self belief and strong leadership. The story of our Australian Diggers on the Kokoda Track has become folklore, an Australian Legend. The courage, endurance, mateship and sacrifice shown by our boys have made them and the Kokoda Track and Australian Icon.
But what happened to their enemies….?
In February 2008 Wayne Wetherall from the trekking company Kokoda Spirit was exploring some of the less known battle sites along the track, when he made a startling discovery, the leg and foot bone of a Japanese Soldier protruding from the bank of a small river in the Mt Bellamy area. On closer investigation he discovered the full skeletal remains of 4 Japanese Soldiers, including an Officer complete with compass, watch, ID Tags and personal items. These soldiers were from the 2nd Battalion, 144th Regiment of the Japanese Imperial Army the original force, along with the 41st Regiment that led the Japanese advance over the Kokoda Track. The 144th Regiment was also the same Regiment that Kokichi Nishimura also known as the “Bone Man” was from. Kokichi Nishimura dedicated the later part of his life to fulfill a promise he made to his comrades that one day he would return and bring their remains home to Japan for a proper burial. Mr. Nishimura found hundreds of his fallen comrades buried in shallow graves along the track but always only the bottom legs of the skeletons remained. The recent discovery by Kokoda Spirit was reported to the Japanese Embassy in Port Moresby, who assured Mr. Wetherall that a recovery team would be dispatched to the area. The site was carefully documented with the remains reburied and secured. More then a year has passed since this historical discovery, and finally the remains of these Japanese Warriors have begun their Journey home, back to Japan. A formal request from the Japanese Government has been received by Mr. Wetherall and the Kokoda Spirit team to recover the remains of the Japanese Soldiers. The team has begun the recovery process and will officially handover the remains to Japan’s Ambassador Mr. Hajime Nishiyama in Port Moresby on April 24 2009.
Mr. Wetherall commented on the recovery process.” No matter what your thoughts or feelings are towards the Japanese Soldiers; they were sent to war by their Government and lay buried and forgotten in shallow graves far from home along the Kokoda Track. These Soldiers regardless of race are someone’s son, brother, husband or father. My hope is this will bring closer for some families and highlights the horror and futility of war”
Let us hope and pray that this never happens to any of our Soldiers. Lest We Forget.
While Gallipoli was the birth of the Anzac legend and is seen as the birth of our Nation, then Kokoda was our coming of age....

Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Adventure Trekking Food Packages

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:13:00 +0000

Kokoda Spirit along with adventure food company Taste the Adventure have launched a new light weight and powerful food package to power you across the Kokoda Track. The wonderful thing about our food packages is that it is not dehydrated or reconstituted and it contains or the essential minerals, vitamins and sustenance required and is completely natural and 100% organic! Our food packs are a perfect pre and post Kokoda alternative to the highly processed food that we are used to eating. You will notice the difference, with a substantial increase in your energy levels, loss of weight and a healthy inner glow. Contact us today to find out more about this wonderful food source. www.kokodaspirit.com

NEW TRAINING PROGRAMS

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:09:00 +0000

GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL TRAINING
Kokoda Spirit and one of Melbourne’s leading Personal Training Studios PEP haved joined forces to provide the ultimate Kokoda pre and post trek fitness package. These training programs have been specificall designed to get you successfully across the Kokoda Track. Kokoda Spirit and PEP can offer indivdual and group training programs in the PEP studio or in Melbournes favourite Kokoda training grounds including the 1000 steps, Montrose, Albert Park, St Kilda Beach, Como Park, Prahan Pools and the Botanical Gardens.Visit www.kokodaspirit.com

NEW STAFF JOIN KOKODA SPIRIT

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:02:00 +0000

NEW STAFF JOIN KOKODA SPIRIT
Kokoda Spirit are very excited to announce that Dion Taylor has joined the team at Kokoda Spirit. Dion is a Director of Melbourne based PEP Personal Training Studios, and has just completed a marathon ride from Brisbane to melbourne in 10 days! Dion has a passion for the Kokoda Track and for adventure and is looking forward to training with his Melbourne trekkers as they prepare for the Kokoda Track. Dion is our man on the ground in Melbourne and will coordinate all of our training and trekking requirements in the Victorian area Give Dion a call on 0401036337 to arrange training.

Andrea Turner has also joined our Kokoda Spirit team as our International Business Coordinator. Andrea will be responsible for all our new an exciting international adventure destinations. Andrea will ensure that our trekkers receive the very best flight, insurance and adventure packages. Contact Andrea to coordinate all your travel requirements on 0414596945. Check out our sister company Wild Spirit Adventures Visit www.wildspiritadventures.com

New Wartime Kokoda Tracks discovered.

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:51:00 +0000

OLD WARTIME TRACKS REDISCOVERED AND OPEN FOR TREKKING
The Kokoda Track continues to reveal more of its secrets and during the off season an adventurous team of Kokoda Spirit Trek Masters set about the task of re discovering and reopening the prewar mail route from Kagi over the top of Mt Bellamy across Eora Creek and into Templetons No.2 . This was the walking track used in the late 60’s and early 70’s to traverse Mt Bellamy and for whatever reason fell into disuse. I walked a section of this track late last year and along with what the boys have told me on their latest adventure it is an exciting and tough walk. We will offer this alternative route to certain groups this trekking season. We will also be showing groups the original track leading up to the Golden Stairs towards Imita Ridge that we uncovered last year. We are also hoping to offer our trekkers another original alterative section of the Kokoda Track near Naro later this year. It is important to remember that there were many tracks and trails that ran across to Kokoda. Which ever Kokoda Track you walk on you will be walking on the original war track not a "Eco Track" and truly walking in the footsteps of heroes. Wayne Wetherall Kokoda Spirit

New Adventures for 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:46:00 +0000

We have just returned from researching some very new and exciting and adventurous travel destinations in Vietnam, Cambodia and PNG. We are now able to offer some fabulous mountain bike, kayaking and trekking trips in these exciting destinations. I am also this month trekking in the deep jungles of Borneo and will be offering on my return exclusive adrenalin pumping adventures in this beautiful region for our trekkers. We have also designed some exclusive and beathtaking adventures in Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan check them out at www.wildspiritadventures.com Looking for the ultimate adventure? Then join me on one of my exclusive exploration treks as we discover new and exotic adventures. Wild Spirit Adventures is 100% owned by Wayne and Michelle Wetherall. www.wildspiritadventures.com

SUPER NEW YEAR SPECIALS

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 03:09:00 +0000

SUPER NEW YEAR SPECIALS- KOKODA TRACK LIMITED NUMBERS
Australian led Kokoda treks. $2795 per person
Available Only- 29 March-6 April, 3-11 May and 25 May- 3 June Treks
PNG Local Led Kokoda treks. $2400 per person
Available Only- 3-11 May, 4-13 May, 20-27 May and 1-10 June Treks
Limited Numbers available.
Contact us for group discounts and special inclusions.

Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 02:24:00 +0000

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
To our wonderful past trekkers, future trekkers, associates and supporters,
Michelle, Helen and I in the Australian office along with Joyce, Charles, Helen, Gideon and our wonderful Trek Masters, Porters and staff in PNG would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the very best for the upcoming festive season. May you have a happy, safe and Merry Christmas and a prosperous and successful New Year.

Best Regards
Wayne & Michelle Wetherall
Kokoda Spirit
"In the footsteps of heroes"

Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Kokoda Story

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:16:00 +0000

It’s a tale of courage, endurance, mateship and sacrifice which Wayne and Michelle Wetherall want to share with everyone.
Six years ago, the Sippy Downs couple formed Kokoda Spirit – a company which takes treks across the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea.
Since then, Kokoda Spirit has educated thousands of trekkers about the bitter fight between Australian and Japanese soldiers which took place on the track 66 years ago – which Australia eventually won.
“It’s a business that Michelle and I are very passionate about because it’s such a fantastic story of what took place,” Wayne said.
“This year alone we’ve taken over a thousand trekkers ... We do anything from corporate to school groups to individuals or teams.”
While the trail is 96 kilometres long, with 7,500 meters in climbs and another 7,500 meters in descents, Wayne said the key to completing the track is having a good stamina.
“You don’t need to be an Olympian,” he said.
Hard as that may be to believe, the smallest member of the Wetherall family, Erika, 8, was recently the youngest girl to ever walk to track.
“She just smiled and laughed across the whole track ... she had a great mental approach to it,” Wayne said
The oldest child Blake, 14, has finished the trail five times and Elysia, 11, also achieved the goal.
“We were just trying to expose the kids to some different things in life and some challenges ... it’s a remarkable effort,” he said.
As well as strengthening the Wetherall family bond and changing the lives of those who have made the trek, Kokoda Spirit has helped strengthen the Papua New Guinea economy.
“We employ over 300 people in Papua New Guinea. We buy our food locally over there and pay a fee to camp at their villages ... so we’re a major contributor the economy,” Wayne said.
“Its not just some Australian company coming in there and reaping their rewards.”
In a nation where unemployment is running close to 95 per cent, Wayne said providing jobs for the locals give them a sense of purpose.
“The self esteem you see from these guys and how they grow as people is fascinating ... We treat them as our brothers over there ... It’s not just a business for us,” he said.
“These guys earn three times the national income in the space of 90 days of work ... its a great job for them.”
True blue Aussies, it was Wayne and Michelle’s genuine interest in Australian history and their burning desire to learn more which led them into the business.
“I’ve always had an interest in that inner spirit that makes Australians so unique ... It was a quest to go to some of these battlefields and get into the story,” Wayne said.
The heroic story of the Kokoda Track and the rich culture in Papua New Guinea made it a fascinating place for Wayne and Michelle to start.
“You’ve got your physical challenge, your mental challenge and the cultural exchange.
The scenery is absolutely outstanding ... and the people are just fantastic,” he said.
“It certainly has its challenges ... but the positives far outweigh the negatives,” he said.
Wayne’s depth of knowledge about Kokoda and his passion for sharing that with others was evident in his words.
“Sixty-six years ago these blokes battled on, these were just mere boys ... just kids,” he said.
“Under-trained and undermanned the soldiers fought hard and won the battle ... The greatest army in the world, at the time which is the Japanese army, never been defeated before, were pounding down and our boys stopped them.
“It’s an awesome story ... of the true underdog. I was always fascinated by what happened and I walked the track and got really caught up in the emotion of it because ... it’s still living history. You’re still finding grenades and bullets in the weapon pits ... it’s still just as raw as it was when our soldiers were there.”
But that fact that the trail is “still moving and shaking” also makes it a challenge to work there.
“It’s not like working in Australia where everything’s systems in place. It’s expect the unexpected over there,” he said.
The unexpected occurred in February this year when Wayne discovered more than just old bullets. Following a flood, he spotted a human bone and a boot sticking out of the ground.
“I did a little dig ... not to disturb too much and then realised it was a Japanese soldier ... their helmet, diary, watch cigarette box, dog tags, everything, was still all intact,” he said.
With a little more excavation Wayne discovered the full skeletal remains of four Japanese soldiers.
“They’re still there now ... We contacted the Japanese Embassy in Port Moresby ... It doesn’t appear they’re coming to get their boys. They’ve got dog tags, you know who they are ... It’s a bit disappointing,” he said.
For Wayne, and many other Australians who have completed the Kokoda Trail and know the story, it is a life-changing experience.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re a multi-millionaire or a pauper, the track still hurts the same ... it brings everybody together,” he said.
“It empowers people ... people put limitations on themselves ... they realise what they thought was impossible is not.”
Already, Kokoda Spirit is the top trekking company in Papua New Guinea and is still growing.
“We’ll continue to seek new challenges,” Wayne said.
In the future, Wayne and Michelle hope to expand the business and include other tourist activities in Papua New Guinea.
“It’s got so much to offer even if you’re not remotely interested in war ... It’s just the sheer beauty of the place,” Wayne said.
“There are over 2000 different cultures... and over 700 active languages ... we want to let people see that.
“There’s a glimmer of hope there that they can turn things around ... it’s one of the last great frontiers and with the resources they have ... they shouldn’t be poor.”
Under another name – Wild Spirit – the couple has also recently expanded their business into Borneo, Vietnam, Nepal and Africa.
“They’re all adventure related ... with some sort of Australian connection,” Wayne said.
For more information about Kokoda Spirit and treks visit www.kokodaspirit.com
Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Adventure Travel and Back Packers Expo Brisbane

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:21:00 +0000

Adventure Travel and Back packers Expo Brisbane.
Kokoda Spirit along with our sister company Wild Spirit Adventures will be exhibiting at this fantastic travel show. Come down and see us and we can plan your next big adventure across Kokoda or our other great adventure destinations!
22-23 Nov 2008 at the Exhibition and Convention Centre. Talk to over 100 exhibitors at Brisbane's ONLY Adventure Travel Expo!
Come to the expo and enter the draw to win great prizes such as a Return Flight to the UK; and a Return Flight to Asia - including taxes - courtesy of STA Travel
There is no better way to go than talking to the experts before planning the trip of a lifetime. Our exhibitors come from all over the world and are there to give you the low-down on all that's happening out there.
Listen in on the free travel talks; get great deals and specials; enjoy the freebies on offer...its not only a great day out, but so important to do before making that big travel decision!
Times: 10am-4pm (Saturday and Sunday)
Cost: Well, at the door it's $7; but click here for your 2-for-1 voucher!
Travel Talks for the 2008 Brisbane Expo Travel Talks list
Prizes, Discounts and Specials: for some of the prizes and specials.
Get a free copy of FHM Magazine at the expo.

Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Coast to Coast Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:02:00 +0000

Our Coast to Coast Challenge has just been completed by a small group of adventurers. These adventurers included Kokoda Spirit Managing Director Wayne Wetherall his 14 year old son Blake Wetherall, and Mick Turner. This was the very first history making trek by bike and foot from the North Coast of PNG across the Kokoda Track and down to Port Moresby. The trek and ride started at the North Coast, coastal village of Buna on the Solomon Sea. Buna was the scene of bitter fighting with the Japanese during the Kokoda Track campaign. The bike leg from Buna to Kokoda was 120 kms over rough and muddy ground taking over 9hours. They then took just under 4 days to cover the 96km from Kokoda to Owers Corner. Their journey finished on Remembrance Day on the South Coast of PNG at Ela Beach in Port Moresby. The Journey covered over 285 km of the roughest and toughest terrain including the famous Kokoda Track, testing not only their physical capabilities but their mental and spiritual toughness. Normal treks across just the Kokoda Track take 9 days but the team slashed over 5 days of the regular trekking itineraries plus added the extra riding part!
This unique journey was to honour the memory of the gallant men who fought along the Kokoda Track and the battles along the beach heads of PNG, and to bring awareness to the legend of Kokoda and to raise funds for their Spirit Foundation which supports medical and education programs across the entire track. The Coast to Coast challenge will become a regular event on the Kokoda adventure program.

Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Kokoda Trek Operator difference

noreply@blogger.com (Wayne's Kokoda Spirit Blog) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:51:00 +0000

Trekking Kokoda with Kokoda Spirit is an experience not just a holiday. We see things as an explorer that tourist and Military trekking companies cannot. Trekking Kokoda gives you a complete new mental re-set, a bank of memories and bragging rights over your friends. Kokoda is participation in a personal discovery experience you are re living a historic and monumental adventure.
There is some Kokoda trekking Companies, that pump their chests and tell you how good they are, how professional they are and how they are the only ones that have true Military Leaders as guides and the only ones to walk the original Wartime Track. These same companies walk you in 'Platoon' size (33 trekkers plus) to give you the real miltary feel. Multiply these trekker numbers with nearly twice as many porters and you have a huge congo line through the Jungle! They also walk you on occaisions at night, what a dangerous thing to be doing! Not sure how you can take in the ambience and scenery of the Kokoda Track when you cannot see two feet in front. They also charge you a huge price for the privelege!
The Latin theory of 'caveat emptor' (Let the buyer beware) applies here. Make sure you choose the trekking company to suit your needs. Kokoda Spirit can design a package to suit your requirements. Kokoda Spirit trekker numbers per trek are around 12 and our prices are great value for money. Our Australian and PNG Guides are Wilderness First Aid trained and have an absolute passion and knowledge of the battles, history and culture along the Kokoda Track.