Adventure Kokoda Blog
Protecting our heritage
Kokoda is much more than a trek. It is almost a spiritual journey for those who wish to connect to the historical significance of the Kokoda campaign. It is also an empathetic bridge for Australians and Papua New Guineans to better understand each other.
Our Charity
Our charitable work includes the provision of health support, school supplies, scholarships, and emergency medical assistance to villagers across the Kokoda Trail.
Our Media
National features stories of our treks on all major television networks, newspapers, and magazines.
Our Reviews
Trekker feedback, Trip Advisor reviews, and personal reflections.
Our Treks
Everything you need to know about our treks, our trekkers, training tips, gear selection, and some handy hints.
Our Viewpoint
Charlie has been the leading advocate for the protection of our Kokoda heritage, and the welfare of villagers across the Trail, for 30 years.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Interesting articles relating to our close association with PNG, and our shared wartime heritage.
Latest News
Environment bill for Kokoda – a suicide note for pilgrimage tourism!
This is not a PNG bill – it’s an Australian environment bill being imposed on PNG in a clandestine manner.
There is no record of any consultation with key stakeholders in Kokoda pilgrimage tourism in the drafting process of the bill as required by PNG law.
The bill seeks to extend the influence of foreign aid-funded officials by expanding the gazetted boundaries of the Kokoda Trail to include a large part of the Owen Stanley Ranges and protecting their aid-funded careers with another layer of unnecessary environmental legislation.
The bill fails to acknowledge that the Kokoda Trail is PNGs most popular pilgrimage tourism destination and should therefore be managed on a commercial basis as a tourism enterprise owned by Traditional Resource Custodians (TRCs) for the benefit of their village communities.
Following are comments on each section of the proposed bill along with serious questions that need to be answered by the proponents of the bill before it is considered any further.
The fallacy of a ‘Lost Battlefield’ on Kokoda
The story of Kokoda is second only to Gallipoli in the annals of Australia’s military history – but it’s been a slow awakening!
Since Prime Minister John Howard and PNGs Grand Chief, Sir Michael Somare, opened a solemn memorial at Isurava on the 60th anniversary of the Kokoda campaign in 2002, scores of books have been published, television documentaries produced, and more than 54,000 Australians from all walks of life have trekked across it.
It was inevitable that the pilgrimage, which is a serious physical and emotional challenge, would eventually attract its share of entrepreneurial urgers, and rent-seekers from the government aid-sector.
‘Chanting bogans’ lower the Pilgrimage Values of Kokoda
A trek across the Kokoda Trail should be regarded as a respectful pilgrimage in the footsteps of the brave – through a rugged jungle shrine linked to our Australian military heritage in the ‘land of the unexpected‘!
It should not be degraded as a ‘bucket-list’ item; a ‘Tough Mudder‘ event; or a ‘bogan challenge‘ complete with guitars and cringeworthy ‘Ozzie, Ozzie Ozzie – ‘Oi, ‘Oi, ‘Oi’ chants.
Owers Corner: Neglected Gateway to the Kokoda Trail
For reasons known only to Australian Aid-funded officials Owers Corner doesn’t rate, and the local community doesn’t matter!
Kokoda Trail Bridges: Prefabricated or Traditional?
The challenge we face is informing those who control the purse strings, no matter how well intentioned they are, of the REALITY of the Kokoda experience for the paying customers i.e., trekkers.
Kokoda: The enemy within!
The discovery of a $3 billion gold and copper deposit on the southern slopes of the Trail provided the ‘emergency’ they needed to derail the mining approval, compensate landowners, and offer to ‘manage’ the Trail on their behalf.