Day 3

Day 3 started with a 6.30 am breakfast of fried rice, noodles, soup, egg, some sort of sausage and some very interesting looking chicken - Interesting start to the morning !

We then all piled into a mini bus to make our way to the start of our Day 1 of trekking.

For those of us here who have also done Kokoda, we all realised that as challenging as that was it was definitely still walking. What we experienced for just over 7 hours today was definitely trekking.

We were literally making our way through the jungle behind two guides who were armed with large machetes. We stopped and started as they cleared the jungle growth that constantly takes over the Track.

There were lots of steep climbs and descents and many times we literally had to crawl through small tunnels that the boys cleared for us. The jungle is so dense. It was extremely hot and humid and there were lots of scrapes and falls.

About an hour before we finished we were walking along a section full of tree roots, leaves, sticks, rocks and as I moved my left leg to take the next step, the ground from under me gave way. I slid down a little and then the ground just opened up into a massive well-like hole. I had completely disappeared except for my hand waving around. I had luckily landed on some sort of shelf in the hole as otherwise I would have dropped even further. It really scared me as I had no idea how far I was falling and how I would stop. Lachlan and Simon quickly jumped into action and with the help of Jerome pulled me to safety. I was absolutely covered in mud and dirt but thankfully nothing broken or hurt !  Crises averted we moved on !

When we finally came out of the jungle and into a clearing, Jerome gave us all a high five and congratulated us on the day. He also told us tomorrow will be longer and harder !

We stopped for a drink and all gathered for a minutes silence and some lovely words to remember Rhiannon's dad, Tim who passed away 3 years ago today.

After this Jerome took us all to the river. It was such an awesome feeling as we all just threw our sweaty, muddy bodies into the cool river. While we were in there we all washed our clothes out as well.

After arriving back at our accommodation, showers were had and everyone made their way to the local drinking and dinner spot where lots of laughs and memories of the days events are gone over and over and everyone wonders what tomorrow will bring!

What a great bunch we have doing this Trek. We are all looking after each other and getting on so well. Today turned out to be a lot harder than a lot expected but everyone came through it with a big smile on their face.  It is so hard to believe the conditions that the POW's had to trek through this jungle in - it definitely puts things into perspective.

Off to have dinner now and get a good nights sleep.

Donna

P.S.   We miss you Uncle Ron xxx