Survival - 6. Surv Chapter 6

“I guess all of this, has affected me a lot more than I expected, I miss Mum a lot more than I thought I would” I replied. “Ok, well let’s organise a time to give them a call, at 10pm tonight, it will be 7am over there, so they will be just getting up for the day” Uncle Nat said to me, and I smiled at this news. After dinner, I helped with cleaning up, before going to do my homework, and at 10pm, Uncle Nat picked up the phone dialled a number.

“Hey sis, I have a teenager, who is missing his mother a lot more than expected” Uncle Nat said, when the call connected, “…yes he is just finishing doing his homework, how are things in Canada?” he added, and after the reply he was holding the phone out to me, and I spent the next twenty minutes talking to mum, before she had to get ready for work. I was feeling a lot better after the call, and when I went to bed, I fell asleep right away.

When I woke in the morning, I was feeling a lot better, and I decided to try and call Mum about twice a week, so I wasn’t missing her so much. During breakfast, I asked Uncle Nat where we were heading for the Autumn school holidays, and I was very surprised when he announced that during the Autumn holidays, we were going on the ten – day trek on the famous Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea.

“Wow that is awesome, that will mean another peak and hiking trek, to add to my list that I have done, so far, I have reached the summit of 4 Australia’s tallest state peaks, and 2 tallest peaks of two countries, with the mountains of Papua New Guinea, making it three” I replied, which made Uncle Nat chuckle. “Good, we leave the Saturday, straight after the holidays begin, as the trek on the trail begins the next day” uncle Nat informed me.

With four more weeks till the holidays, I started to do a lot more jogging each day, with some of it carrying a backpack, to get my shoulders use to carrying weight again. As the holidays grew closer, Uncle Nat and I spent the weekends, preparing our luggage for the trip, although this time we will be on a guided tour for the trek, which included all food and accommodation, which was one thing we didn’t have to worry about.

I also made sure that no one at school found out about this trip to PNG or the next trip to Africa, even when asked by the other cadets in the school cadet unit, who often asked me when I was going on another adventure. When we arrived in Port Moresby, it was quite humid, and we struggled a little with the humidity, as we settled into our accommodation and had a look around the capital before dark.

Over the next ten days, Uncle Nat and I plus twelve other trekkers, and a group of porters, walked the Kokoda trail, going up and down endless mountain slopes, over lots of creeks and rivers, and seeing some spectacular sights through the clearings of the thick tropical jungles. It was an amazing experience, and I was glad when we finally returned to civilisation back at the city, after completing the trek.

We spent an extra day and a half in Port Moresby, before flying back to Adelaide via Cairns. I spent the last two days of my school holidays washing all my clothes, cleaning the backpack, and preparing for the next term of school, which started as usual with an assembly. During that time, I noticed Miss Hampton looking at me with a slight frown, and when the assembly ended, she indicated for me to stay, as she wished to speak to me.

“Would you care to tell me where your latest adventure has been too?” she asked me when everyone was out of listening range, and I smiled and chuckled, “It is hard to hide things from you ma’am” I responded, and the Deputy Headmaster smiled. “Any problem Miss Hampton” came a call from the back of the chapel, and as I looked around, I saw the school’s head prefect standing in the distance.

“No prefect, just a social chat, you can continue on your way” Miss Hampton replied. “Yes, I have been on a few adventures over the past two holidays, since Mt Cook in New Zealand. After Christmas, Uncle Nathan took me on a climb up to the peak of Mt Kosciuszko, and a 99-kilometre long, 6-day trek in the national park. A few days ago, we arrived back from Papua New Guinea, where we have just completed the ten-day trek of the Kokoda Trail” I replied.

“Well both of those are quite an achievement, I hope to hear some more about it in the future. I hope you have been keeping a travel log or diary of all these trips, plus plenty of photos of course. “Yes Ma’am, I keep a travel diary of every adventure trip I have made since the age of twelve, I may make it into a website or a blog someday” I replied, and I was instructed to head off now, so I wasn’t late for my first class of the day and term.

For the next six weeks I studied hard and kept my fitness levels up, which included play sports at school, and still participating in the School cadets.

When I arrived home at Woodside Army base, Uncle Nat was home early, to announce to me, that all planning for the trip to Queensland to climb the state’s highest peak, have been completed, and that in three weeks’ time, we were on our way.

I have been calling my mum once a week, and we chat for about twenty minutes each time, and I told her all about the amazing trek we did on the Kokoda Trail, even if it was exhausting going up and down steep slopes each day, carrying a heavy backpack, and I told her of the up-coming trip to Queensland to climb Mt Bartle Frere.