Gold House

Leo McCaughley 9G’s Trek for Type 1

On the 9th of August we departed from Melbourne to Port Moresby airport and along the way we met up with our tour guide from Kokoda Courage and our fellow Type 1 Foundation trekkers. Day 1 we woke up at 3:00 am for an early breakfast before a 6:00 am plane to Popondetta. From there we got on a slow 3-hour bus ride to Kokoda. Although we were sleep deprived, we were super excited to start the track. It was also a massive change in climate from Victorian winter to 29 degrees and 90% humidity. We trekked for a few hours up to our first campsite in Deniki which was a very significant battle site in 1942 with the Australians vs the Japanese. The days consisted of waking up at 5am, getting breakfast that the porters made and getting on the track by 6:00 am, we would stop off for breaks at different battle sites to talk about the war history and what went down in the area we were. We were staying in nice villages and hanging out with the kids kicking the footy or playing soccer, every night the porters sang songs to us and everyone loved it they sing so well and play the ukelele super well too. We are so lucky here in Australia how we have all these luxuries and all the people in the villages don’t have much so they just have to make do with what they’ve got, many of the porters were either doing the track bare foot or with thongs on. All the porters are such inspiring people as they are always spreading love and are so empathetic to everyone. On average we were covering 14 or more Kms each day through rugged jungle and steep uphills and downhills. The Kokoda track is 96km in total and we trekked it in 8 days it was an amazing experience as I turned 15 on it. It doesn’t matter if you’re 15 or 75 anyone would enjoy it as it is an unforgettable experience. 

My Dad and I ended up raising over $6,000 dollars for the Type 1 Foundation. 

Leo McCaughley