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Kokoda Trail Pilgrimage

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Bushman

Bushman

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Is it time to ban this pilgrimage until the facilities are upgraded to allow safer passage?

I am sure that the heroes who fought and died at Kokoda would not expect future generations to undergo a similar fate.

Given Australian influence and aide to PNG, could money not be set aside for proper infrastructure which would ensure safer passage for Australian pilgrims?

Then again, maybe it is the whole Everest factor where if you take the risk, you suffer the consequences.
 
You take the risk, you suffer the consequences. Nobody is being forced to go there.

Given Australian influence and aide to PNG, could money not be set aside for proper infrastructure which would ensure safer passage for Australian pilgrims?
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And where will it stop? Concrete the whole track because it's been said the current track is a little rough and people have been known to roll an ankle?

Not having been there but have been to many other "out of the way" style places of similar emotion attachment, I would imagine it would lose a lot of it's "romanticism" and cheapen the experience by having a coffee shop plonked at the start of the track next to the fancy new airport and concrete path.

Not only would it lose it's emotion and ambiance not walking through the similar conditions as those remembered, but overweight slobs would soon find a way to be carried on the concrete paths, demanding Starbucks, McDonalds and the like.

I was horrified when I got to the Sphinx in Cairo and found a 7-11 a couple of hundred metres away from it. The atmosphere was gone. Not that the Sphinx is hard to get to, mind...

People will die during adventure. That is part of the allure.
I'd personally prefer to die and end a short life doing what I love than living to 100 wrapped in cotton wool.

A revolution to cease the encouragement of a nanny state is worthy cause to die for. People died valiantly on the track in PNG attempting to stop certain invasion and instant removal of our freedoms.

Allowing a nanny state to take the reigns of the trail is slowly constricting our freedoms and encouraging a slow painful and eventual removal of them.

cheers,




cheers,
 
Bushman said:
I am sure that the heroes who fought and died at Kokoda would not expect future generations to undergo a similar fate.
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I'm sure the diggers would roll over in their grave if ever they were to find out that Australians had become such a bunch of pussies that they couldn't handle a little bit of adventure.

Australia is becoming soft enough as it is...banning adventure would just be pathetic.
 
Firstly, my condolences to those people who lost their lives in the recent plane crash.

However

I do not understand our compulsion to emulate the heroism of the men who originally created the Kokoda Trail legacy. When these men walked the track they did not know where they were going, at any turn they could have been killed by the Japanese, they were poorly fed, poorly clothed, and in incredibly difficult weather, and basically in fear of their lives.

For us to say we are walking the track to honour their bravery, when it is done with guides, good nutrition and usually with a camera crew, and certainly knowing that there are no enemy snipers does nothing to honour them.

Walk the trail by all means, but lets stop our nonsense that we are in same way emulating the bravery of these men. But if the track stays open we should not expect the locals to come to our rescue, nor provide the infrastructure and comforts to do so.

Just my :2twocents
 
I must admit, this pilgrimage nonsense is a bit over the top.

I knew a few of the poor bastards who served in WW2 in New Guinea, and it was a hell.

Let us leave our dead in peace.

gg
 
Why is this celebrated at all? We don't celebrate beating the Aborigines and taking their land...surely when it comes to conquest and victory...it must rate highly
 
People were killing each other....if you can take pride in one war why not another???
And I'm not a peacenik...but:banghead:
 
Lets hope the do-gooders dont get too carried away with this. You know the risk and you should prepare yourself.

Second Aussie dies on Kokoda

October 04, 2009 10:00pm

A SYDNEY man is the second Australian to die within a week while attempting the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.

Phillip Brunskill, 55, died from a suspected heart attack this afternoon after he began having difficulty and agreed he was too unfit to complete the 96km trek.

He was among a group of 20 Australians who set out on the trail this morning with specialised trekking company Adventure Kokoda, a company spokesman said in a press release.

The group was barely an hour into the adventure when Mr Brunskill began experiencing difficulties.

A company trek leader determined Mr Brunskill was not fit enough for the trek and recommended he return to Port Moresby.
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What about the deterioration tourists cause by excessive use of a dirt path? It isn't made for that sort of traffic, and the environment is suffering because of it.

could money not be set aside for proper infrastructure which would ensure safer passage for Australian pilgrim
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This should not be about Aussies. They take the trip, they take the risk. It should be about the damage that these 'pilgrims' are doing to the landscape. This track isn't ours, it belongs to the people of PNG. Perhaps they should decide what is best.
 
Apparently, if you want your 15 minutes of fame die on the Kokoda Trail of natural causes.

Unfortunately most of these idiots are past the breeding age, so it doesn't help the gene pool much.
 
Was trying to get a bit of an idea what it would be like to take the trek. Came across this slideshow presentation from a guy who did it in 07. I quite like the jungle. I suppose the history of it adds to the occassion as well.

 
Calliope said:
Apparently, if you want your 15 minutes of fame die on the Kokoda Trail of natural causes.

Unfortunately most of these idiots are past the breeding age, so it doesn't help the gene pool much.
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it like a trail of issues.. its all about other peoples issues who either dont really care or dont really want to recall it every day for their own sanity

the ones who fought and died, they are over it.

the ones who lived to remember, they probably wouldnt mind forgetting it

the ones crawling over it today are stacked to the brim with issues...
 
I finally read a book that can articulate what I was trying to say. Cats Cradle by Kurt Vunnegut ( he was a POW when Dresden was bombed)

The setting is a memorial service

" And I propose to you that if we are to pray our sincere respects to the hundred lost children of San Lorenzo, that we might best spend the day despising what killed them: which is to say, the stupidity and vicousness of all mankind"

I have always questioned why people take pride in ....

and this guy is asking how best might we spend the day
:2twocents
(disclaimer I only read it last night (i'm drunk) and it reminded me of the kokoda track)
 


Honouring Kokoda's Heroes: Forever in the Hearts of Australians

Owers’ Corner, about 50km from Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, is visited by thousands of Australian pilgrims every year, yet it is not a church. It is forever consecrated in the hearts of Australians, yet it is not Australian soil. It is Australia’s most important military victory, yet it’s relatively unknown.
Our men at Kokoda represented the very best of not just Australian values but the highest values of humanity as well. As you watch the program, you’ll discover that we all walk on a track. And for us, it’s not the Kokoda Track; it’s the track of life. We honour the heroes of the Kokoda Campaign.
 
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