Nauro to Menari

Day 5

Woke up this morning before 6 to the crowing of the 7 roosters in the village.  Was a pretty good wake up call actually, even if one did stand right beside my tent :) Slowly packed things into the bag again, I think I am getting better at it.  The moon was still high in the sky when I came out of my tent and it looked like something out of a movie.  The sleep last night was not the best as I was restless and took a while to go to sleep as I was thinking about home.

After breakfast David told us that we were going to have a short day today and make camp early.  This was for 2 reasons. The first was to give the Green Machine a chance to rest and then 2nd reason was to give us some time in a village.  We also had to tackle "The Wall" today, so it might be a hard climb.

When they call it "The Wall" they are not joking.  It was very steep and just kept going up and up.  We started with a little creek crossing before hitting the wall and we all managed to keep dry.

Everyone made it, but it was pretty hard going.  After that was done the rest of the day was pretty easy.  We made it to camp about 12.  As we arrived at the village the locals had setup little stalls selling things.  They had things like bananas, pineapples, paw paw and even some cans of soft drink.

The rest of the time today we spent around camp.  We went for an amazing swim in the creek where we had a natural massage from the running water and we also managed to wash our clothes again.

We then went for a walk back to the stalls and I bought a coke.  It was an interesting treat to have in the middle of the Kokoda track.  Steve also bought a pineapple to share and it was beautiful!

During the afternoon David showed us some 2 and 3 inch mortars that were on display in the village.  There was also some other little items like a food tin and some grenades. Amazing to think these items are still around after all this time.  While looking at it all, my mind often wonders away to think about the people who it use to belong to and how much of a different time we would be having if I was one of them

After dinner just before bed the sky cleared out and the universe turned on her lights. It was amazing. I have seen stars when camping before, but the milky way was so so clear.  I had never seen anything like it.  I have to be able to share this with my family.  We will have to go some place you can see it together.  So worth it!