64 Spotlight 13/2019 ADVENTURE
the sissy sticks?” a macho hiker gently
joked to me, but later I noticed that he,
too, had pulled out poles from his pack.
After ten hours of walking, we reached
the camp at Isurava Village and set up our
tents with the aid of headlamps. Chris, our
guide, woke us at 5 a.m. the next morning
and led us down for a dawn service on a
peak overlooking cloud-filled valleys. In
a clearing stood a monument with four
black granite pillars, each inscribed with
a word: “courage”, “endurance”, “sacrifice”
and “mateship”.
In 1942, the Japanese army had swept
ruthlessly through South-East Asia, and
one key objective was Port Moresby on
the south coast of the Papuan Peninsula,
which was then Australian territory. If
they had taken it, they would have had a
base for heavy aircraft to bomb Austral-
ia and isolate it from the United States.
Landing on the north coast, Japanese
were given 11 days of rice rations, which
were expected to be enough to carry them
through to their final position.
Facing the Japanese were several thou-
sand poorly equipped and undertrained
Australians. Over the next four months,
Kokoda became the scene of a bitter fight.
No prisoners were taken by either side, as
the Australians fought a desperate rear-
guard action back along the track before
finally stopping the enemy. They then
pushed the Japanese back up the track
to the north coast. Historian Peter Brunehas called them “ragged bloody heroes”,
and visiting the track has turned into a
pilgrimage.
Isurava, with its beautiful panorama,
was the scene of the first major battle. As
dawn was breaking, Chris told stories of
those who had fought and died here. He
then asked my nephew Jarred to read
aloud a poem. In any other situation,
it would have seemed sentimental and
nationalistic; but with the sun reflect-
ing off the mist-covered mountains, it
matched the mood perfectly, and I was
choked up — I was not the only person in
our group.A typical day
Hiking Kokoda takes between four and 12
days. The fastest recorded time is 16 hours
and 34 minutes by a local who ran it. Our
group did it in eight days, which I thought
was pretty good, until I learned that Kurt
Fearnley, a world champion wheelchair
athlete, had once crawled it in 11.
On Kokoda, a deep sleep is broken only
by a wake-up call at 5 a.m. and a quick
feed. Then you are on the track again by
6 a.m. Half asleep, you would have an im-
pressive view, but from then on, it is a slog,
with tough hills most of the way. There
were days when it felt as if all we did was
walk, drink water and walk some more.
Then we’d cross a creek and find our-
selves on a small grassy area with a col-
lection of rough huts. Collapsing, we’dbloody [(blVdi]
UK, Aus. ifml.
, verflucht, verdammt
choked up: be ~
[tSEUkt (Vp] ifml.
, hier: zu Tränen gerührt
sein
clearing [(klIErIN]
, Lichtung
crawl [krO:l]
, kriechen, robben
creek [kri:k]
N. Am., Aus.
, Bach, Flüsschen
dawn service
[(dO:n )s§:vIs]
, Gottesdienst in der
Morgendämmerung
endurance [In(djUErEns]
, Ausdauer, Durchhalte-
vermögen
inscribed [In(skraIbd]
, mit der Inschrift
mateship [(meItSIp]
Aus. ifml.
, Kameradschaftmist-covered
[(mIst )kVvEd]
, nebelverhangen
pilgrimage [(pIlgrImIdZ]
, Pilgerreise
pillar [(pIlE]
, Säule, Pfeiler
ragged [(rÄgId]
, zerlumpt, abgerissen
rearguard action
[)rIEgA:d (ÄkS&n]
, Nachhutgefecht
rough hut [)rVf (hVt]
, Baracke
ruthlessly [(ru:TlEsli]
, unbarmherzig,
schonungslos
sacrifice [(sÄkrIfaIs]
, Opfer, Verzicht
sissy [(sIsi] ifml.
, für Weichlinge
slog [slQg] ifml.
, Schinderei, Gewalt-
marsch