Sunday. Our normal routine would be that we would get up everyday at 5am, pack up, have breakfast and head off by 6am. Today we got up at 5am had breakfast then Chad and Matt gave a brief history  about the first attack on Kokoda by the Japanese forces on the 28-29th July 1942. We let the first team head off at 6am. At around 7am we set off. 

I was asked for a quote for the day. 

My quote was “Don’t loose your buddy”

We stopped under the arches and headed off to the first village Deniki. 

Lt Colonel Owen was shot and killed on the 29th. Along the way we stopped at Mission ridge and heard how the Australian forces slowed down the Japanese advances. And then it was on to Isurava where the next main battle was fought out. 
Isurava: up until this point the 39th Battalion (a poorly trained maliti, sometimes called Chocos), were taking the brunt of the Japanese attack.  You can only imagine their relief when at 5pm on the 26th they were joined by troops from the 2/14 and 2/16, these were trained professional soldiers who had fought in North Africa. Here again Chad gave a rundown on the battles fought here and we saw where Pte. Bruce Kingsbury was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross he rushed forward firing his Bren-gun from the hip and managed to clear a path through the enemy for his platoon. He was shot dead by a Japanese snipper but his actions made it possible for the Australian forces to recapture the position. 

The battle for Isurava ensued between 26th – 30th August until due to overwhelming numbers of Japanese, the decision was made to do a tactical defensive withdrawal. 

Below are some pictures from this very moving battlefield. 

We arrived at our camp site Alola at 6.30pm after a massive 11 & 1/2 hour walk. 

We washed eat and went to sleep.