The day starts early with a wake up call from our guides and room service at our tent doors! Buenos Dias! Would you like a cup of tea? How do you top that in one of the most beautiful parts of the world? I’ve been awake for a while… the sound of donkeys, roosters and dogs (and the sound of Ian…
It’s a 6.00am start at the hotel in Cusco. I’ve managed to pack my bag with the correct weight (well a tiny bit over..) and filled my day pack with the essentials such as water, snacks, camera, first aid kit, poncho and jacket. We were collected by our guide Paul Enriquez and as usual, we’re standing on the footpath of…
It’s Saturday 10th October 2015 and I’m jumping on a plane in Sydney, but before I get on that plane, I find myself on the receiving end of a lesson in Spanish by the check in attendant. He’s charming the pants off my travel buddy Anne and I (well not literally…) and we’re oblivious to what he’s actually doing with…
So it’s been two years, almost to the day, that I set out on my last fundraising trek for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service. Kokoda was by far, the most challenging yet. Not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually. That was one hell of a ride and you know what? I would do it all again in a heartbeat. It’s…
We awake a little later on our final day on the track. This is it….we’ll be crossing that finish line in a matter of hours. But not before some serious shenanigans happen… It’s still dark when my bladder calls, and for the last time, I forge my way through the camp to the long drop at the top of the…
If you’re considering doing the Kokoda Track, be under no illusion, that you’re ever going to get a good night’s sleep….unless you’re the type to sleep through natural disasters. Just accept the fact, right from the get go, you’re going to have the shittiest sleep for 10 days and get over worrying about it. I read several blogs before coming…
We depart Agulogo at 5.30am expecting to plunge knee deep into a muddy swamp, complete with leeches, mosquitos and whatever else lurks in these parts. We were pleasantly surprised by the low level of water in the swamp, although there was plenty of mud, we managed to move fairly swiftly through the spongy terrain for about an hour until we…
So we get to have a sleep in today, 6.00am wake up call, but alas those darn roosters have other ideas. I’ve estimated it’s about 3.00am, considering that’s about the time I’ve been waking up every day…it just feels like it’s 3.00am. So I bow to my bladder’s command and make my usual early morning toilet trip….then come back to…
So it’s the morning of day 7 and we’re at the half way point on the trek. It’s about now I’m starting to think that finishing this thing is actually possible. Given my knee twisting scare the day before and a little swelling is still evident this morning, I wonder what’s ahead and whether I’ll make it. I can actually…
After a particularly cold evening spent at Templeton’s Crossing, near the highest point on the trek, we awoke again at 4.00am. Most of us putting on wet clothes in the pre-dawn cold, shivered and shook as we stood forlornly around what was left of the previous night’s fire in the hut waiting for breakfast. Well really…it was just a bit…
Faithfull Living 