Deception - 6. Dec Chapter 6

“Well I do long distance cross country running at school, I’m also the second best 400 metre and 200-metre runner at school for my year” Tom said proudly, and we continued with our fast walk for a full hour, before I suggested that we stop and rest. After a ten-minute break, we set off again, this time at a faster pace, and we kept at this pace for half an hour, till I slowed down to a normal walking pace for the remaining 45 minutes of walking.

When we arrived back at the train at 9.45, we only had half an hour before the train leaves, and we boarded and the boys went to have showers and change, while I called Sam Yeoman to get an update on Angela’s condition, which had not changed. When I neared the cabins, I could hear laughter, I was pleased that Ethan was here to help Tom through this difficult time, they were playing cards in Tom’s cabin, so I kept going to my cabin and had a shower.

The train was on the move again as I stepped out of the shower, and once I had changed I went to find the boys, who had gone off somewhere on the train. I found them in the dining car, stuffing their faces with ice-cream sundaes, and the chief porter was standing nearby watching them. On seeing me he gave me a nod and smile, I gave a small smile and walked back to the lounge car to do some reading. Not long after the boys appeared complaining of tummy aches, and I laughed a little before telling them they had eaten too much ice-cream, and suggested they go and lie down for a while to let their stomachs settle a bit.

When lunch time arrived, the boys didn’t eat very much, and I let them leave once they had eaten enough, “Ethan pack your gear and move into Tom’s cabin, so Tom is not on his own” I said as they stood up to leave, Ethan smiled, and they dashed off back towards the cabins. When I had finished my lunch, I found Ethan and Tom in their cabin playing cards, and I was pleased to see that Tom was looking a lot happier at the moment, as I made my way to my cabin to do some reading and a short rest.

Woke up as I felt the train slowing down again, and I guessed that we were approaching Broken Hill, so I changed into my running gear, and went to find the boys, who were in their cabin putting on the sandshoes, ready for their walk. The train stops for only 1 ½ hours, so we had to make it a short one hour walk for this stop, and with Broken Hill being not very big, we walked around the outskirts of the whole town in that time. Once on board again, we had showers and changed again, meeting back at the lounge car for dinner at 7pm.

With just one night remaining on the train, we would be arriving in Sydney at 11am, and from there we had to catch a taxi to airport right away, as our flight to Cairns leaves at 1pm. I had managed to get another ticket for Tom on the same flight, I decided to have the boys sit together, and I would sit in business class, which were the only seats available.

I suggested to the boys to returned to their cabin and to go to bed early, and I did the same, as I was planning for us to do an extra-long walk once we had arrived and settled into our hotel in Cairns, were the temperature will be a lot more humid than we are use too.

With all the traffic in Sydney, the taxi took 45 minutes to reach the airport from the train station, and by the time we checked our luggage in and made our way to the departure lounge, it was almost time to board the plane. Tom announced that he had never been on a big plane before and that he was a bit nervous, Ethan explained that it was just a lot of noise and a sudden lifting into the air, then it is real smooth after that.

When we finally arrived in Cairns, we caught a taxi to the hotel that we had been booked into, and we were able to get a room with a double and two single beds in it. When I looked at Tom’s suitcase, I suddenly realised that Tom wasn’t kitted out ready for the trek, we opened his suitcase and I took a quick look, before announcing that we had some shopping to do, and we dashed out of the hotel to find some hiking shops. When we arrived back at the hotel two hours later, Tom had a backpack, proper hiking boots, thick socks, long shorts and trousers, more shirts, a sleeping bag, and like Ethan and I a hiking pole.

We put all of Tom’s new clothes and the clothes he had worn for the past three days into the wash, as did Ethan and I, and while that was being washed, we changed into our walking gear, and with Tom’s new hiking boots, and we set off on a one-hour hike. When we returned, we put the washing into the dryers, while we took turns to, have a shower and change into fresh clothes, with me going first so I could sort the clothes when the dryer had finished.

When I returned to the hotel room with an arm full of dried clothes, I dumped them onto my bed and began folding them, with the sound of laughter coming from the bathroom, I smiled, glad that Tom was not being too upset about his mother. I had three piles of neatly folded clothes on my bed, Tom walked out of the bathroom with just a towel around his waist, “Uncle Gres, how come Ethan’s willy is different to mine” he asked me as he dropped his towel and grabbing a pair of underwear he slid them on, just as Ethan walked in also with just a towel around him, and I looked at him and Ethan just shrugged his shoulders, before he too dropped his towel and put some underwear on.

I spent the next twenty minutes giving the boys a brief birds and bees talk to them both, and answering a number of questions for them, which I found very embarrassing. Once this was over, I helped Tom to pack his backpack with all the clothes and gear that he would need for the trek, and when completed, we went for a short walk along the beach, as the sun was beginning to set.

On the way back, we found a nice steakhouse restaurant, where we had dinner, before returning to the hotel to go to bed early. I had arranged for our excess luggage, that we were not taking to PNG, to be stored at the hotel, until we returned, that included all the train souvenirs, and all paperwork and tickets used so far, so we just had our passports, flight tickets to and from PNG, and tickets for the trek. The next morning, we were all up at 5am and with a light breakfast, we stored out excess luggage, checked out of the hotel and caught a taxi to the Cairns airport, arriving 40 minutes before our plane was due to leave.

Once again, I was able to get a business class ticket for myself, so the boys could sit together, for the 1¾ hour flight to Port Moresby, and when we stepped out of the plane onto the tarmac, the heat and humidity was high, as we headed for the entry into the terminal. Once we had all cleared customs and quarantine, with our backpacks on our backs, we caught a taxi to the hotel, and just as we had checked in, my mobile phone rang, just moments after I had turned it on. “Gres, this is Lucas speaking, I hear you met one of my friends – Sam Yeoman, on the train trip” Lucas said to me cheerfully, “Yes I did, by any chance did he tell you about what happened on the train?” I asked him.

“Yes Gres, I have been fully briefed about Tom, how is he going?” Lucas asked me, “He’s doing very well actually, he and Ethan get along really well, almost like brothers, and Tom calls me Uncle Gres, which I don’t mind, Ethan called me that for the first time this morning” I replied.

There was a bit of silence for a few moments, and I didn’t like the feeling of it, “Gres, we may have a few problems, your great Uncle died the other day, and your uncles and aunts are pointing the finger at you, saying that you arrived in Brisbane the other day and had a huge argument with him, and the next day he was found dead” Lucas said.

I was shocked, firstly that my great uncle had passed away, and secondly that I was being blamed for it, suddenly I remembered something, “Lucas, remember when I had that break in at my place a week before the train trip, and I reported to the police that my trip itinerary was one of the items stolen, well when I packed my gear the day before we left for Perth, I realised that my favorite coffee cup and a comb were also missing, I sent an email to the police detective about it, as I didn’t have time to go in and make a second report.

The original itinerary stated that I would be in Brisbane for a few days, before flying to PNG, I didn’t have a second one made up, as I had changed it all, and luckily, I had all my tickets for the train, and flights and passport in the backpack with me that day. I never went to Brisbane, we flew from Sydney to Cairns yesterday, and flew to Port Moresby early today.

What day did great uncle die?” I stated. “Well, apparently it happened Tuesday night at about 7.30 to 8pm, according to the report by the coroner, and when the blame was put onto you, an all point’s bulletin was put out for your arrest last night, I guess they didn’t think to look for you in Cairns” Lucas said.

“Ok, can you and Sam be at Cairns airport when we get back in two-week’s time, so as to look after Ethan and Tom, I will explain the situation to them on the flight back to Cairns. Our excess luggage is at the hotel in Cairns, can you collect it for me, I will ring them and let them know you will be picking it all up, all our tickets for the train trip and plane from Sydney to Cairns are in my case, take all of it with you for safe keeping” I asked Lucas.

“Understood, I will fly to Cairns in the morning to do that for you, see you in two weeks”. Lucas said and he hung up, the boys had gone to find our hotel room, and I found them inside laying down, with the fan going at a high speed. “Man, it is humid in here” Ethan commented when I walked in, “And you have twelve more days of it to enjoy” I replied with a wide grin, and the two boys groaned, before throwing their pillows in my direction.

Looking at my watch, it was 9.15am, “Come on boys, time to get some exercise, leave your backpacks, let’s just walk around and explore the capital” I said cheerfully, and for the rest of the day we walked all over the city of Port Moresby, stopping at a restaurant for some lunch, and a well-earned rest, before spending the next 3 hours doing more walking.

By the time we arrived back at our hotel, we were all feeling a little tired from the exercise and the humidity, they boys went to have a shower to cool down, while I laid down and did some reading, until it was time to go and have some dinner, and early to bed, even thou we would not be meeting up with the tour group till 1pm the following day.

After a big breakfast, we unpacked and repacked out backpacks, to make sure we knew exactly where everything was, and that it was sealed closed to keep the rain out. We relaxed for the remainder of the morning, and after a light lunch, we were collected by the tour group bus at 12.45pm. Once we had collected the remainder of the tour members from different hotels, we travelled to the Bomana War Cemetery to pay our respect to the fallen soldiers.

We then travel to Sogeti where there is a white stone monument marking the beginning of the Kokoda Trail. Our road journey then took us to McDonald’s Corner and on to Owens’ Corner with an air of excitement and apprehension for the journey ahead. We had some time to relax along the road and take photographs of the spectacular scenery.

On our arrival at Owens’ Corner we made final checks and preparations for the trek ahead and met our personal porters. I had arranged two porters to assist with our back packs, giving the three of us time each without carrying our luggage, which would be helpful.

We started the Kokoda Track at 735 metres, with a steep descent down to the Goldie River. The river was about 25 metres wide and about 1-metre-deep as we wadded across, with the backpacks held over our heads, as the trail crosses the Goldie River and past the abandoned village of Uberi.

The first camp is deep in the jungle, is in an old wartime campsite location of Dump 66 at the foot of Imita Ridge, we made a slow climb of about 50 metres to the campsite from the river, arriving about three hours after the trek began. We were informed that Dump 66 was a major supply/logistic area and also had a medical aid post during the war.

As the porters helped with setting up camp, I checked on Ethan and Tom, both of them seemed cheerful, they had chattered the whole time we had been hiking, and I think that may have helped them pass the time and the strain of start of the trek. Once we had relaxed a little, we were given our first main meal on the Kokoda trail, and I was surprised at how good it tasted. There was a total of 11 in the group plus three tour guides and the porters, and we chatted a little before I saw the boys starting to doze off, so I helped them get ready for bed.

Monday – day 2 and the first full day of the Kokoda Trail walk included the 430 metres climb up Imita Ridge. We were informed that although this is not the steepest or the highest of the mountains along the trail, but it will give us an indication of things to come.