Qualla: Kokoda Track

Kokoda Track: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. Before it was a battlefield or a pilgrimage, it was a way home. Koiari and Orokaiva people had crossed the Owen Stanley Range on these paths for centuries, moving between villages on the north and south coasts of what Europeans would later call Papua New Guinea. In the late 1800s, gold prospectors used the same tracks to reach the rivers on the northern side. None of these travelers called it "the Kokoda Track" - that name came from war. For four months in 1942, Australian and Japanese soldiers fought each other along roughly 96 kilometers of mud, root, and rain, from a village called Kokoda in the north to a rise called Imita Ridge in the south. Today, more than 4,000 walkers a year make the same crossing - most of them Australian, many of them crying when they reach the memorial at Isurava.

Read more: Kokoda Track on Qualla

Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

Kokoda Track: The Track Is Not One Path

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jontycrane, CC BY-SA 4.0. First-time trekkers often assume there is a single Kokoda Track. There is not. Villagers used different routes through different valleys, and modern trekking follows about two-thirds of what was fought over in 1942. The standard northern starting point is the village of Kokoda it...

Read more: Kokoda Track on Qualla

Image: Jontycrane | CC BY-SA 4.0

Kokoda Track: Walking into 1942

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Luke Brindley, CC BY-SA 4.0. On 21 July 1942, Japanese forces landed at Buna and Gona on the north coast. Their objective was Port Moresby on the south coast - a base that, if captured, would threaten mainland Australia. The way to get there was on foot, across this track. What followed was a rolling fightin...

Read more: Kokoda Track on Qualla

Image: Luke Brindley | CC BY-SA 4.0

Kokoda Track: Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tom Beazley, published by aussiejeff, CC BY 2.0. Australian soldiers coined the phrase "fuzzy wuzzy angels" for the Papuan carriers who moved supplies up to the fighting front and brought wounded men back down on stretchers. The name has stuck in Australian memory - affectionate and grateful, and also, viewed from 2026, a remin...

Read more: Kokoda Track on Qualla

Image: Tom Beazley, published by aussiejeff | CC BY 2.0

Kokoda Track: The Walk Itself

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User:Toksave, CC BY-SA 3.0. For a seasoned hiker, the Kokoda is tough but doable; for most people, it is the hardest thing they have ever done. Groups spend about 60 hours over 6 to 12 days on their feet, climbing and descending steep rooted mud with trekking poles. Good boots and a fresh pair of socks ever...

Read more: Kokoda Track on Qualla

Image: User:Toksave | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kokoda Track: Why People Come

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roger Wheatley/AusAID, CC BY 2.0. ANZAC Day falls on 25 April - a public holiday in Australia and New Zealand that commemorates soldiers lost at Gallipoli in 1915 and, by extension, every war since. It is the busiest time on the track. Walkers arrive for many reasons: some to honor a grandfather who served, some ...

Read more: Kokoda Track on Qualla

Image: Roger Wheatley/AusAID | CC BY 2.0