DAY 2 TREKKING: KOKODA TO ALOLA

Sunday 24 August

The sun rose at 6am for the first battle cry of the trek, then the packs on call was given, and their first full day of trekking began. They trekked out of Deniki, through the choko vines on their way to the village of Isurava for morning tea, and it was here that the 39th battalion were finally reinforced by the 21st brigade. They played with kids & gave out some presents before a briefing on the history of the campaign here and then continued trekking for the next hour to Isurava Battle site where they held a moving service at the four pillars. (Courage, Endurance, Mateship & Sacrifice)

Here they paid their respects to our returned and fallen soldiers, and listened to some podcasts from soldiers of the campaign who made the incredible and ultimate sacrifice, such men as Corporal John Metson, Charlie McCallum, Lindsay Bear, Bruce Kingsbury and more… They had lunch and a moving service at Isurava, and then trekked a short but tough hike onto the "Surgeons Stone” and listened to some more podcast of stories from Stan Bisset talking of his brother Thomas "Butch Bisset". There was a little rain that went on for 30 minutes, although great conditions overall. The trekkers had a relatively easy 90-minute trek into the campsite of Alola. The trekkers made it into camp at 3:30pm and truly had a great day.