Don Bosco Hill (Pek Pek Mountain) 19th October 2008.

A good sized group showed up this morning to go walking around the local Dame Carol constituent. We drove down to the Badili Police Band Barracks (Taikone) and from here, wandered upwards passed the Old Lighthouse and over to Horse Camp village and the muddy beach where the locals were collecting pipis.

From Horse Camp we then followed around the stony beach to Vabukori Village and after chatting to the locals we then headed up Pek Pek Hill and then (for some reason) back down to Vabukori, for another chat to the local crew. We wandered through the Village and then headed back up passed the Football Field and back up to the old Lighthouse. Here, we then headed skyward in the hot sun with the temperature touching 40C, before sitting on top of “Old Baldy” Hill or Don Bosco Hill as it now appears.

A quick walk around Gabutu and past Konebadu Beach back to Taikone and then back home. A good hot walk in the sun, perhaps it is time to walk the death march again?

Taurama to Pyramid Point. 24.08.08

Yet another great walk by the POM Bushwalkers. A group of only 11 started, 10 only completed unfortunately, and we headed out from Taurama Barracks and bombed straight up and up and up until we reached the World War Two gun emplacements of Pari Village, a prime location for any ship trying to attack Port Moresby via the Basilisk Passage. Fortunately for the people of Moresby, no attack ever eventuated and the guns on top of Pari Village were never fired in anger.

From the dizzy heights of the gun emplacement looking over the late Sir Billy Skate’s old residence we continued towards the village of Taurama and the home of the Surf Club. It was an up and down wander in the sun but with a cool breeze, luckily. From the Surf Club, some of us ventured up to the top of Pyramid Point where we sat for a while, told some stories and just soaked up the view. It was peaceful up on top of this hill.

A flat road walk back saw us finally reach the end of our journey. A good hot, hard walk but full of good views of Moresby, Ela Beach, Bootless Bay and the whole Motuan coastline.

Varirata. 03.08.08

Considering the tough walk to Imita Ridge yesterday, and the fact that I am planning on walking the entire Kokoda Track soon, I decided that today would be a good measure to see how I fared with two decent hit-outs in two days. So, myself and one of my good Sogeri friends did a brisk lap of Varirata.

The overnight rain had made Varirata quite greasy and the odd tree root and rock caused the walking to be cautious in some sections of the track. We firstly walked out to the bottom lookout, and then headed in a anti-clockwise direction, we followed the boundary of the park. Upon reaching the front gate, we then ducked back into the forest and completed the circuit track. This was my first time along the circuit track and it was a great little loop despite the numerous trees which had fallen across its path.

We bombed along and covered the 10kms in 4 hours, reasonably good going considering the slipperiness of some sections where the pace dropped to a crawl. Literally.

My legs were feeling okay after the two big walks over the weekend, where I covered nearly 23kms in around 9 hours. Bring on Kokoda.

Imita Ridge 02.08.08

Some of the local crew decided it was a good time to walk to Imita Ridge and back, the weather had been kind of late and the reports coming in off the track told us that it was dry going. So DN, GF and I headed off with the local crew made up of a bunch of young Papuans and a young Jimi girl to keep GF company amongst what was a bunch of lads.

Arriving at Ower’s Corner, it was a veritable market place with the local Koiari people selling all sorts to the EE crew coming of the track. PNG Treking Adventures were down at Goldie and there were one or two teams just starting, so the grounds at Ower’s were pretty busy. One of our crew had suffered a bit with some Malaria, so he volunteered to look after the gear back at the carpark including our refreshments for our return.

I led the charge down the first steep descent from Ower’s waiting for the young lads to take over, and as soon as there was a gap they were off. You could tell that they were now Moresby Boys as their runners didn’t offer as much grip as they were going arse up on a few occasions. I think our Jimi girl was the only one to stay upright despite busting a thong on the mud of Imita.

We reached Goldie pretty quickly and thankfully I thought as my legs were not enjoying the shaking of descending for so long, give me a climb I cried. At Goldie, we waited for the Victorian Police Crew and their team who looked like they were having a good time although one or two Coppers looked worst for wear, especially the one with the broken bone in her hand. We then crossed the river and started the climb up and over to Uberi Creek.

It was a great day and the track was dry. Until we got to the slopes of the Golden Staircase and Imita Ridge, then it got muddy, slippery, sticky and a whole world of fun. The barefoot toes scraping the Red Clay of Sogeri looked more like the hands of Trekkers had clawed their way up the maddening steep slopes. The young lads in their runners, were continuing to run up each climb whilst us old guys plodded on behind. After 2H 40m, we made it to the top of Imita, we rested a while, chatted to a group of trekkers which we had passed at Uberi, and then we descended back down towards Uberi, and Goldie River.

A brief rest at Uberi, where the lads practiced their latest breakdancing moves and gymnastics, and where we made friends with “Brownie” or “Snoopsie” the Dog who decided to follow us back to Ower’s Corner, we then made our way down to the Goldie River where once the Jimi girl and GF departed for the climb back up to Ower’s, all the lads went “as nating” and had a wash in the cool mountain stream.

Meanwhile, the rest of us were starting the big push up the final climb, and the 3pm rain started to fall. Concern about getting the transport out of Ower’s when the track was wet, meant we had to hurry up a little. Soon, the freshly washed and cleaned lads raced past us and ran up to the carpark. The rest of us made our way step by step. I will admit that the last section in the Kunai grass which is normally unbearable was okay with the misty rain falling. When the sun is out, it is brutal.

What a fantastic day, around 13kms in length and about 5 hours in walking time. Good times… good times.

Mt Diamond. 27.07.08

An easy walk, with a waterhole full of clean crisp clear water and only 20 minutes from Moresby. How cool is that?

There was a two hour walk there and back in Kunai grass and lowland sclerophyll forest but this added to the enjoyment as we negotiated a few stream crossings on route to our destination. And this was despite a few issues regarding land owners and the original track we were planning on following, but a lesson learned for next time.

The young students from the local High School acted as our guides and lead us into temptation before negotiations lead us away from the Lion’s Den and onto a path more prosperous. The amount of trekkers was huge with over 30 of us in total (including guides) trekking to our final destination; the Kiri kati falls. What a gorgeous location so close to town and really should be zoned as a National Park by the powers that be, if only such infrastructure existed…

Those of us with new walking boots for the Kokoda Track were able to test out the waterproofness, those of us with new digital cameras were able to test out their new equipment. Especially with the bird life on route to the waterfall and certainly the butterflies that flew around the falls themselves.

A great, easy day out.

Varirata. In July 2008.

The First Journey.

The POM bushwalkers arrived at Varirata on a pleasant Sunday morning with some cloud cover and cool temperatures. The freshly conceived plan was to circumnavigate the Park in a clockwise direction. We started out all keen as Mustard as we left the Park in order to find the re-entry point to our lap.

It wasn’t long into the walk where it was discovered that footwear was important as was trekking fitness, yet we all supported each other and survived to tell the tale. The first leg of the journey is a comfortable descent to a creek in which we rested up briefly. The dry season was well underway and the track surface was relatively dry.

From the creek, we headed up into the clouds and discovered a bit of rock scaling and a fairly steep technical ascent, before heading ever upwards towards Gare’s Lookout. From here it was decided to break up the group as one team would continue along the Boundary track and the others would descend back down to the team vehicles.

I chose to guide the crew back to the cars and it was here that we would head along the flatter part of the course to head off the rest of the walkers. We rejoined all together again, and returned to the cars.

About 7-8kms in travel meant for a good hit out for all concerned.

The Second Journey

A week later, around lunchtime, it was decided that a small group of Kokoda aspirees would head back to Varirata for a quick lap of the lookouts. Hastily we gathered up everything and headed east into the Sogeri plateau. At Varirata, we motored around the lookouts, firstly heading along the 30minute then left up to Gare’s and then back down to the vehicles.

The track was dry, yet there proliferated many fungi and again the cloud was heavy in the air.

A quick 6km loop of the track was a good tonic for a lazy Sunday arvo.

The Third Journey; Remembrance Day.

Remembrance Day fell on the happiest Wednesday of them all this year, and it was decided to honour the diggers by recreating our own little Kokoda by traversing the mud of the nearby Owen Stanleys and what better place then Varirata.

The Rangers of the Park must have known that a PNG MP was visiting on this day as they left the gatepost abandoned and were busy on brushcutters cleaning up the bottom lookout. They did a good job of it, long overdue but the outcome was decent. Not quite Bomana standard, but who am I to judge.

Anywho, the walk was fantastic, we left the carpark, headed for the bottom lookout, and then followed the track all the way around the boundary back to the Park entrance some 7kms away. We then turned around and retraced our steps making for a 15km total with some seriously technical climbing and descending. The Eastern side of the Park was considerably slipperier and tougher than the usual lookout loop.

After 6 hours of bashing around, a few moments chatting to aforementioned MP, a discovery that another POM bushwalker had been spotted in the park and admiring the longevity of the POM twitchers we left the Park satisfulled of a good decent walk.

And we spotted a few more fungi.

Bomana to Mt Erima. Another Reconnaissance. 6.7.8

Upon return from cooler climes down south, I awoke on a bright sunny warm Moresby winter's day and contacted a friend who I was hoping would get me up the western face of Mt. Erima, as I have previously (with the POM Bushwalkers) walked up the Northern steps and was keen to see if it could be done. At the end of the day, I am sure you can walk up the western face but my guide today decided we would stick to the track and circumnavigate the large rocky outcrop not far from Moresby.

We departed Bomana and straight away, the track went uphill, along a dusty and often ash covered rocky escarpment. Up and down we trekked and slowly got closer to the base of Erima. The ash and dust was sticking to the sweat and sunscreen on our exposed skin, and the sun was in its normal Moresby mood, sending down its bright hot rays. The shade of Mt Erima was a welcome respite.

But then, instead of making our way up the western face as I had hoped, we followed a small track around the base which ended up along the water treatment fenceline where once I have trekked before from PAU. So, we then trudged up the sunbaked track slaloming around the steel posts which lead to the beacon on top of the rock. On the top, we all stopped and rested, before heading back down to the road and then back to the Bomana community.

Only 2.5hours in length, but it could be lengthened to make a decent walk for the POM bushwalkers, or could be used on those days when people need to return to Moresby early???