MENTALLY and physically challenging but definitely worth it,  was the description of the Kokoda Trek undertaken by four Year 11 students from Wedderburn College. 
Chantelle Badenhorst, Dakota Martin, Indi Simpson and Tyson Blair all said their experience on the trail was “eye-opening”. 
“You learn about what happened at school but actually being there and hearing the stories is a completely different experience, it gives you such a deeper understanding of it,” said Chantelle. 
The Kokoda Trail is a single-file foot thoroughfare that runs 96km through the Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea. 
The track is renowned as the location of the World War Two battle between Japanese and Australian forces in 1942. The track starts at Owers Corner in Central Province, 50KM east of Port Moresby, and then crosses rugged and isolated terrain, which is only passable on foot, to the village of Kokoda in Oro Province. It reaches a height of 2190 metres as it passes around the peak of Mount Bellamy.
The Wedderburn students flew out to the trail on July 4 and returned 12 days later. After returning home Indi said: “I feel like I’ve grown as a person while on the trail, I feel more confident in myself and my abilities.” 
Each student was given the name of a solider who had died on the trail to carry with them on their journey, once they arrived at Kokoda, they were able to find their soldiers’ memorial in the cemetery. 
“The cemetery was beautifully kept and all the graves had fresh flowers on them, you could tell they had pride in keeping it beautiful,” said Dakota. 
The Wedderburn RSL subbranch provided scholarships to students to allow them to travel to Kokoda and walk the trail. The four students met with subbranch president Roger Paterson to share their experiences last Friday. 
“The RSL is so pleased they were able to assist in giving young people the opportunity to experience the Kokoda Trail, it’s great to hear about their reflections on the journey and what they learnt,” said Roger. The group had a total of 42 porters who assisted them in their journey, Dakota credited the porters with preventing her from sliding down the side of the mountains. 
“I think I would have had a lot more trouble completing the trek without the help of the porters, we all knew that when they all came and walked with us on the track that we were about to head into a slippery part of the hike,” said Tyson. 
During their walk the group had four days of heavy rain, “on day six we walked from lunch to dinner in the rain, by the time we got to camp we had to take the soles out of our shoes and wring them out,” Tyson said.
 “That day definitely gave us a bit of an idea on what it was like for the soldiers in that weather,” Indi said. 
Each stop along the trail stories were shared about those who fought, died or were injured there. “We heard so many amazing stories about how brave and determined the soldiers were,” said Dakota. “Surgeon’s rock was the place that shocked me, hearing about soldiers experiencing amputations with barely any pain relief. “We were told to stop and contemplate our lives there and I think everyone got emotional during that.”
After seeing the pillars at Isurava shrine and hearing how long it took to have them built, Tyson said: “it would be an absolute honour if we could help them build more memorials and pillars along the trail like they want to.”
“It’s up to us now to help spread the stories we were told,” said Indi.
“I’d definitely recommend doing the trek, it helped me develop as a person and is something I will remember forever.”