Yarram Secondary College students Sam Clarke and Koupah Guenther were given a rare opportunity to walk the Kokoda Trail in July this year.
They both applied for the Charlie McCallum Scholarship and were selected out of seventy other students who applied, with only four chosen to walk the trail. To apply for this opportunity, they submitted a 400-word essay on why they believe the trek would be beneficial for themselves and why they wanted to walk it.
The boys travelled to Papua New Guinea and hiked 138km in nine days. On Sam and Koupah’s journey to walk the trail, there was a total of 16 trekkers and over 50 porters. These porters have walked the trail numerous times before and helped guide the trekkers throughout the walk. Sam and Koupah both found the trail very physically demanding for some parts of the hike, but also found some parts easier. They carried packs with their food and water in them while their porters helped carry some of their items. Sam and Koupah’s packs weighed around 7-10kgs which they carried for the entirety of the trail.
Prior to their journey, they both took part in training sessions to help condition themselves for the walk. They hiked Mount Taylor, located in Bairnsdale, every Sunday they could, for nine weeks before they travelled to Papua New Guinea.
Sam and Koupah found the Kokoda trail harder mentally rather than physically. They always had to be focused and had times when they wished they could give up, but found it in themselves to keep on going. Every trekker carried a photo of a soldier who fought on the trail. Sam’s soldier was Charlie McCallum and, once they finished the trail, they visited the graves of the soldiers who they carried along with them. Visiting the graveyard and seeing over 3,000 unmarked graves of soldiers who had fought and died on the trail, but were never identified, was a very surreal experience for both Sam and Koupah.
Walking the Kokoda trail has been a memorable experience that Sam and Koupah will always remember and they were very grateful for the opportunity.
Written by Ruby Marazzato
