DAY 6 - KAGI VILLAGE TO MENARI

Friday 26 September

The trekkers had a great evening last night listening to the children singing. However, it was up early again as they made the short trek past the church out of the village to the airfield for the steepest descent of the trek down to the creek crossing. Here they filled up with some water and then had a 10 minute calf burner to the top followed by a relatively easy hike for 30 minutes out in the sun for a rest and then another 30 minutes into Efogi on the hill for a break. Here the trekkers rested and had morning tea, enjoying the views down to Efogi Village in the valley. Then they trekked 30 minutes down to the village and inspected the museum and market here before hiking out of the village enjoying the beautiful views as they began the slogging ascent of Brigade Hill via Mission Ridge. They stopped briefly at Mission Ridge to chat some more about the campaign and then headed onto Brigade Hill for an emotional ceremony on the summit in honour of the soldiers and in remembrance of their bravery. The crew had lunch at Brigade Hill and then followed the track, with a long descent for 2 hours to the river. Despite a muddy trek due to the overnight rain, the wet weather held off for the day so they had a quick swim here and then made a 45 minute climb up into Menari, this is the site where the brave 39th Battalion were withdrawn from the campaign before the battle at Brigade Hill. Exhausted and on the brink of total collapse the remaining ‘Ragged Bloody Heroes’ struggled back to Port Moresby. They would return to fight at Buna and Gona. Into camp at 5:00pm, the crew are now seeking shelter as the rain has returned and they await dinner and hopefully an early night.