Oil Search Pacific Games Relay in Kokoda, Oro Province
The first stop was the beautiful and poignant war memorial at Isurava with its stone plinths celebrating mateship, courage, sacrifice and endurance.
The peaceful surrounds were interrupted briefly by the arrival of the Baton as the Isurava villagers ran the Baton around the memorial singing and chanting and then went back to its usual quietness as the team took the opportunity to simply take in the surrounds and reflect.
The Relay then arrived at Kokoda where a relay was run from the start of the famous Kokoda Track and down through the Kokoda village ending at the schools, who then ran the Baton up the steep hill to the Kokoda memorial and museum.
The Baton was accompanied by sing sing groups dressed in the Oro tapa cloth.
The Relay then took flight across to Buna and attended a formal welcome by the Buna Primary School and the Australia Defence Force Officers who are stationed there.
The Buna villagers proudly spoke of their role in the history of the nation and took the team to re-enact the famous fuzzy wuzzy angel photo from WWII when villager Raphael Olimbari came to the aid of an Australian soldier on the Buna track.
Here in 2015 another villager took the arm of another Australian soldier in a gesture of friendship and unity, along with the Baton.From there the team left for Oro Bay and a relay around the entire bay taking in the PNG ports wharf, the oil tanks of Higaturu Oil Palm and the numerous villages that are spread along the coastline.
The Oil Search Pacific Games relay heads to Tufi and its magical fjords tomorrow.
Image credit: madNESS photography
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