SW students all set to tackle Kokoda Trail

A group of Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School students fly out for Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea tonight on a once in a lifetime trip to walk the Kokoda Trail.

The Year 10 and Year 11 students will be joined by six students from Perth’s Scotch College – the only other school in WA selected to take part in the journey.

Forming part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award and funded by the Flight Centre Foundation, the students will spend 10 days walking up to 10 hours a day learning more about the Australian and Kokoda history.

Year 11 student Brendan Peacock has a personal connection to the journey, with his mother having been born in Port Moresby and his grandfather doing voluntary work in Salamo on Fergusson Island, PNG.

“I want to experience a similar area as to where they were,” he said. “As well as push myself and test myself.”

Fellow Year 11 student Lily Roberts said it would be interesting to see, visit and experience what they had studied in class.

“I think we’ve all looked at the war in class, so it’s going to be good to get more of a connection and see the trail in real life and in our own way,” she said.

The students and staff accompanying them have faced months of physical and organisational preparation while keeping in contact with the Scotch College group.

“We’ve been consistently training with backpacks on – these guys walking through Maidens Reserve and I’ve been going around the Yallingup hills, so we’ve been doing a lot of kilometres,” BCGS Duke of Edinburgh coordinator Leon Magg said.

He said on top of the physical training, the group had been studying, researching and talking with one another about what was to come to ensure they were fully aware of what they would be facing.

“It’s got to the point now where, it’s time probably just to get there and start the trip,” Mr Magg said.