Dump 66 to Ofi Creek

Day 3

Woke up after a pretty good sleep at around 6am.  Poked my head out the tent to see what was going on and a few people were already up so I thought I better get a move on and all my stuff packed back away.  It was even harder to fit the stuff in this time, maybe I found more stuff while walking.

Just got done when Name Sake headed over to start packing my tent away.  Had a little chat to him about the track.  Very nice guy, very quiet, but very nice.

We had porridge for breakfast cooked with hot water, which the guys have had on boil well before anyone was awake. Also got to have a coffee, which made me feel good about things.  Just before leaving I had to take my first pit stop in the local toilet that the village had provided.  We have been given a tip about the best way to use the.  Still pretty hard work on the legs :D

David told us and showed us on the map where we were headed today.  Looking up I could see the ridge he was talking about and it was a pretty sleep incline.  I could not wait to get stuck into it.

We headed off about 8am and climbed up for about an hour until we reached Imita Ridge.  This was the furthest point the Aussies got push back too during the war.  We had come a long way, but when you are back in Australia, looking at a map, it looks very close to Port Moresby.  David told us about the person in charge had to call up from the previous position and tell them he could not hold it and had to withdraw back to Imita Ridge as it was a better position to hold on from.  They told him he could move back to there, but that was it.  He would hold it or die there.  Pretty blunt way of letting them know.


We headed down the hill again and it was very slippery and hard to keep your footing.  The porters cut us all a walking pole out of the bush and trimmed it up so it was nice on the hand.  This would help to stop slipping over....well attempt to help us.  (It turned out that we kept the sticks for the entire trip, it just felt right walking with it.) The little bit of rain from last night made the roots and rocks very slippery, I started to think about what it would be like after weeks or month of rain and the threat of enemy contact at any moment.

We had to cross the Ua-Ule creek 9 times today so it looked like we would be getting wet feet today.

David had told us that he had not had a group this year go as well and as far sticking together while walking.  He was pretty exited that we were all going to have a great trip together and so was I.

We got to do a little side trek.  We left our bags and walked off the track to see some foxholes and supply pits.  He told us about a story where during the withdrawal on Aussie was left behind in his foxhole and became separated from the rest.  He stayed there from 10am till night fall by himself picking off any enemy that went past. Once it was dark, he headed back to find the troops, 

We stopped by a creek for lunch today and the guys boiled us up some water so we could have some noodles and coffee.  The also cooked us some donuts which were amazing!

After lunch we headed up hill towards Ioribaiwa Ridge which was the actual furthest point the Japanese advanced to.  From the point at Imita Rodge to there they call no mans land.  From this point on we were going to see evidence of the battle that took place.  A little bit further on we reached the camp site for today at Ofi Creek.  David told us a story about Ofi Creek where the Aussie put cans of bully beef in the creek.  They waited for some Japanese soldiers to come down and get the free meal.  They did not pick off the first guy, they waited till they thought it was safe and lots of them came into the water to get the free meal.  Which turned out to be a mistake for them.

The village was in an amazing, beautiful picture perfect spot.  The rain started to fall hard, which made it hard to get sorted, so instead we went for a bath in the creek.  We just walked in fully clothed and washed the clothes and washed ourselves.  It was so cold, but so nice at the same time.

Namesake did a great job setting my tent up again and all my things stayed dry.

The green machine have their own hut which they all sleep in and this is usually where they boil the water and cook food.  The cooked us dinner again.  This time we put all our dehydrated meals in together and they cooked it up.  We like to call this train smash.  We also got some rice which was really nice.

We stayed awake as long as we could talking again.  We managed to make it to 9pm.

Missing everyone a lot.  Would be great if I could send a message.