Kokoda 1. Grounded Butterflies

The public infinity pool in Cairns

 

 

Adelaide to Cairns Tuesday 7 June 2016

“Hi boys. Just arrived in Cairns. Hopped straight into my shorts. Taken socks off and out of crocs and switched to reggae mode. Looking forward to meeting. Mars” This is the text message I sent on arrival to the three mates I am about to hike Kokoda with.

 

Cairns during my evening stroll

I was well awake before the alarm went off. I am yet to have a goodnight sleep before a flight. Excitement getting the better of the Zzzz’s. Never before have I been to Cairns, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea let alone been on such a unique track with a huge war history. The elderly couple sitting next to me on the flight new about it as they both spent time in the army. They understood the significance of the jungle warfare at Kokoda and that not a lot of people realise that Papua New Guinea at the time was part of Australian Territory.

 

After a seamless flight and transfer, I arrived at the “Dreamtime” backpackers where a Dutch girl behind the counter had only ever been to PNG to go surfing. I gave her a brief history lesson on Kokoda with lots of waving arm gestures. Japanese troops invaded Gona and Buna on the 21st of July 1942. It is estimated around 12,000 Japanese troops landed in Gona in '42 and occupied the North of Papua. Their plan was to take Kokoda airport with their elite, well trained soldiers and surprise the Australians in Port Moresby by sneaking up on the Kokoda track. It is well documented that the crack Japanese invading force were confident to take Port Moresby (POM) and that they would be gunning for Australia next, using the airport of Port Moresby as their base for an all out assault on Australia. I hope your eyes haven't glazed over as badly as the girl behind the counter. Probably all just double Dutch to her.

So, while sitting at the backpackers, checking out a combie van with a psychedelic paint job all over it in the court yard, I look forward to completely immersing myself in this tail of courage and mate-ship. In my little blogging and travel world, the Kokoda story has to be my most significant yet. I want to pay respect to the soldiers and write this story for anyone who will listen, for my partner Julie and for my two boys who are, at this moment, the exact age of the young men that put their lives on the line for Australia.

 

You gotta love the combie

In the quiet of my backpacker room, I re-read the passages I have marked in Peter Fitzsimons “Kokoda” with yellow stickers. The  plan is to carry the book along, read it to the group of hikers at night and hopefully add to the experience. Here is a passage I found striking.

Amid the screaming, explosions of grenade's and chattering of machine guns there was never a bird to be seen, but curiously the bountiful butterflies seemed entirely unaffected. It was not uncommon for soldiers on both sides to be fixing bayonets to fight for their very lives when, at the moment of highest tension, enormous butterflies of the most extraordinary colours and contours are lighted on the helmets of those about to charge. Gods own insects wafted away, of course, at the first serious movement forward, but to the soldiers who saw them at such moments, the butterflies always seemed to project a sense that, whatever the hostilities of the moment between man, they represented timeless nature, have been there long before man entered their domain, and would be there long after he was beneath the sod.

The nature reference in this excerpt is, in my mind, a brilliant touch and I am humbly demanding to see, other than all the war and tragedy, a butterfly or two on the track.

 



A butterfly at Disappointment Rock, Western Australia 

Cairns to ………. Cairns??? Wednesday 8 June 2016

“The world is an exciting, unpredictable place.”

I met Jason, who flew in from Perth overnight, in front of the Dreamtime backpackers and after a short stroll we enjoyed breaky and a good catch up whilst overlooking the "Iron Man Cairns" where preparations are going on in full swing. Sunny, warm, Cairns in my opinion is a beautiful place. It is clean, the surrounding hills are magnificent and especially from the foreshore one can enjoy million dollar views. Life could not get much better. The shuttle bus to the airport was a bit late and the customs officer apologetically confiscated my jar of peanut butter as it weighed 125 grams - 25 grams more than allowed. Putting up with dry crackers on Kokoda does not seem like much of a hardship. Putting up with lost baggage does. We met two fellow hikers, Dee an Jo N, whose bags were inexplicably lost in transit. “Bugger”. Imagine what we are going to smell like after nine days of hiking in the same clothes they said.

My brother-in-law Simon appeared in the departure lounge of Cairns and the coffee and chat that followed were sublime. We met a large group from Sydney at gate 2 and the 11 of us were all laughing and carrying on. We know we are going to conquer that bloody jungle track together or are we????

A sudden business like announcement five minutes before boarding by a pretty blonde, uniformed Qantas staff member, said something about unrest in Port Moresby. What did she say? Flight cancelled? What? Nooo!!!! Yes, no matter how much disbelief or shock we felt, nothing is going to change the fact that QJ191 is officially grounded.



Meanwhile at the Cairns terminal. Do we look worried?



The more technologically advanced among us check out what is really happening in POM by Googling the news broadcasts. I remember Paul M doing a great job getting in touch with Kokoda Spirit and sharing the information with us all. A peaceful anti-government student protest was opened fire on by police. Four students died and 11 were wounded. Qantas cancelled all flights into the Papuan capital. A bit of a setback for us, disastrous for those students and their families.

 

The student protest. Photo courtesy of Fiji One TV

 

 

My phone rings and it is Paul B who is flying from Brisbane. His Qantas flight with a group of eight fellow Kokoda hikers actually took flight to Port Moresby and with 15 minutes to go, the plane mysteriously changed direction. Everyone thought the aircraft was preparing to land when the captain made the unexpected “trouble in Port Moresby” announcement and abruptly turned his plane back to Brisbane. Six hours on a flight to nowhere. I can only imagine the frustration of those passengers.

 

I spoke to a young girl who was going to Papua New Guinea for a funeral of a friend. I hope she made it there in time.

From the announcement onwards, Qantas looked after us very well. We were driven in a comfy shuttle bus back to Cairns and put up in a nice hotel. A $50 voucher pressed in our hands for dinner and breakfast. Have you noticed how people bond a lot faster when bad things happen? We sat and had beers together, some of us went out on the town in Cairns but everyone got along well. The onset of our Kokoda team had begun.

 

One of the tools used during our team building session

Watching the news broadcast in my hotel room was surreal. Our prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, foreign minister and the Papua New Guinean Prime Minister all commenting about the Port Moresby protests and the cancelled flights. A rare occasion in an average human life when you find out the news is related to you.

The room courtesy of Qantas

Grey Bits


If you like to have a look at the combie of love at the Dreamtime backpackers, please go to http://www.dreamtimehostel.com/

I am just as surprised as you that I am not blogging about PNG today.

One good thing that came out of our cancelled flight is that Dee and Jo N were reunited with their lost bags as their luggage had plenty of time to catch up with the travellers.

We found out that three other hikers are already in Port Moresby and we are all hoping that they are safe and well. In total that makes 23 hikers all up if you were doing the maths.