Frequently Asked Questions

 Why does Komplete Kokoda trek from north to south i.e. from Kokoda to Ower's Corner and not vice versa?

There are several reasons for taking this direction but the first and most important is that this is the way the battle unfolded. B Company of the 39th Battalion met the first enemy soldiers near Kokoda on the 23rd July 1942. A series of battles then ensued all the way back to Iorabaiwa over the next three months.

Secondly, Komplete Kokoda spends a day at Kokoda on first arrival to go 'gummying' down the Mambare River, to see the old Kienzle plantation, Mamba Estate, to meet the local people and to visit the HT Kienzle Memorial Museum and Memorials at Kokoda Station. If clients had just completed the Trail before doing this, they would be too tired to enjoy these activities.

Thirdly, air transport in Papua New Guinea can be a bit unreliable because of weather and other factors. Trekkers who have just finished the gruelling walk can sometimes be stuck at Kokoda for more than a day. Finishing the trek at Ower's Corner, all that is needed is a truck which can get there under most weather conditons.

Finally, finishing at Ower's Corner and calling in to Bomana Cemetery on the way back to the comfort of your hotel in Moresby becomes a much more emotive and meaningful event having experienced a little of what the diggers went through and seen the terrain and conditions under which they fought and died.

 Why do you call it Trail not Track? 

Several reasons. Most important, Captain Bert Kienzle, Soc Kienzle's father, always called it the Trail and as he blazed a lot of it and spent more time on it during the War than any other white man, out of respect for him we call it Trail. The main reason he had for calling it the Kokoda Trail was that there are a myriad of tracks that you can be on across the route over the Owen Stanley Ranges, but are you on the War Trail? He also once stated that a "trail" is defined as a 'path through the wilderness' and that is indeed what it was for the troops during the Kokoda Campaign. Finally, the PNG Government gazetted it as The Kokoda Trail and after all, it is their country now.

On the other hand, whenever we are in the presence of the actual diggers from the Campaign, out of respect for their wishes we try to remember to call it Track. We do not agree with their belief that Trail was a name given to it by Americans.

"What's in a name' after all!! The Campaign and its importance to Australia is far bigger than any exercise in semantics.

Why is your tour about one day longer than most Companies'?

Our trips are 12 days, 11 nights Brisbane back to Brisbane. We have a night in Moresby at each end of the journey, and a full day at Kokoda. We are the Kokoda Specialists. We give you the Komplete Kokoda - "gummying", plantation visit, village welcome, tour of Museum and Memorials on Kokoda Station. Many other Companies just arrive at Kokoda and head straight up the mountain. Kokoda is where it all began. The actual trek is eight and a half days. The 11 nights are made up of two in Moresby, one at Kokoda and eight on the Trail.

 Why do you put so much emphasis on the history?

Because the history is what the Kokoda experience is all about!  There are lots of challenging walks you can do throughout Australia and the World but nowhere else has such a significance for Australia, its freedom and the way of life we are privileged to enjoy! With our historian Soc Kienzle's unique background, having spent the first 33 years of his life in, around and along the Trail, his ability to speak the local language, Motu, fluently, and the knowledge he gained from his famous father, there is no other Tour Company that can give you the equivalent experience.