Blog 332 – John Hankin, Walking the Kokoda Track in 2025, Part 2 – 1 October 2025
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Camping at Deniki on Sunday the 3rd of August 2025; photo by Chonny Sharp.
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Dawn at Deniki on Monday 4 August 2025.; photo by Chonny Sharp.
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The Kokoda Track as we left Deniki on Monday morning. The upright pipe with water flowing out of the end was the whole of the “shower” facilities at Deniki.
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When I reached our camp at Deniki, I was worn out from what had not been a particularly difficult day of walking on the Track – at least not difficult when compared to the days that were to come. Unlike me, the porters had carried weight on their backs as they walked from Kokoda to Deniki. The porters carried the food we were to eat along the way, the tents we needed for sleep, plus all of the other supplies needed to feed a party of 20 trekkers and 20 porters.
The porters also cooked the food we ate shortly after we arrived at Deniki.
When the 39th Battalion had walked from McDonald Corner across the Owen Stanley Ranges to Kokoda, they had defended Kokoda airstrip from the invading Japanese army. Although vastly outnumbered, they successfully opposed the Japanese until they were forced to withdraw to Deniki on 29 July 1942. After arriving in Deniki, the 39th Battalion successfully retook Kokoda airport, but were forced back to Deniki because headquarters provide zero reinforcements. The airstrip at Kokoda is clearly visible from Deniki.
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Our camp on Monday 4 August was at Alola and we had able to visit Isurava on the way to Alola. Vicious battles took place at Isurava and the memorial at Isurava is extremely moving.
We walked out of Deniki shortly after dawn. It was 5.30 am. The mountain climbing began almost immediately. The camping places on the Kokoda track are all located on the shoulders of mountains. Once you leave the camp, the mountain must be climbed.
The jungle through which the Kokoda track makes its way between Denki and Isurava. Photo by Chonny Sharp 4 August 2025.
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The 39th Battalion were greatly outnumbered but they fought heroically to prevent the Japanese from conquering Isurava. The 39th was eventually forced to withdraw from Isurava.
The 30th Battalion withdrawing from Isurava. Take note of the thick mud that the 39th had to slog their way through. Except on day 7, our trek was rain free; August is part of the dry season in Papua New Guinea.
Despite the relatively dry nature of the Track for most of my walk, I fell three times while walking from Deniki to Alola. My porter Tony could not have been more helpful; and protective but he could not completely prevent me from slipping and falling; even in dry season, the track is extremely slippery. I was lucky on that day; all of my falls took me face first to the track itself and I sustained no significant injuries. I did not fall down any of the mountains I was climbing.
We had lunch at Isurava and paid our respects at the Isurava Memorial and then continued walking to Alola.
Once again, I was the last trekker to arrive at our camp site on that second day of walking the Kokoda track. The walk that day had taken me about 8 hours to complete. Apart from the brief stop for lunch at Isurava, the 8 hours had consisted of unrelenting, very hard walking up extremely steep mountains and then even harder walking down the other side of the mountains that I had just climbed. The process of walking up a mountain went like this:
Spot a foothold and place the foot in it;
Make sure the foot in the foothold was secure enough to bear the body weight;
Lift the other leg high into the air and place the other foot in the next foothold – usually about 2 feet vertically up from the existing foothold;
Place the foot in the next foothold;
Make the foot secure in the new foothold and not likely to slip, while bringing the whole body up to the new foothold.
At all times be aware that a foot placed in the wrong place was likely to lead to a slip down the mountain and probable severe injury
Above all, I learned it was essential to keep moving and not to look very closely at the dizzying slopes of the mountains. I quickly learned not to try and look ahead at where I had to get to. Looking ahead was too dismaying.
I kept my eyes firmly fixed on the ground immediately in front of me. Losing concentration was likely to be very dangerous.
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To be continued …
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