Wayne Wetherall is also the founder and Race Director for the Kokoda Ultra Marathon and the incredibly challenging Kokoda Coast to Coast Challenge.

Wetherall also led Paralympian Legend, Kurt Fearnley as he crawled across Kokoda.

In 2010 Wetherall set up the adventure and life-changing company True Spirit Adventures that is about living your life with passion, purpose and significance.

True Spirit provides specific high level, high impact programs and workshops and life changing adventures for individuals, groups, corporate and sporting teams to achieve and sustain peak performance and live their lives with passion, purpose, resilience and significance.

Kokoda Spirit is Australia and PNG’s most respected and professional company trekking the Kokoda Track.

Kokoda Spirit has been operating in PNG since 2004 and has successfully taken over 7000 trekkers across the track.

His companies specialise in organising and leading defense force groups, school groups, sporting teams, corporate groups and individuals across the famous and iconic Kokoda Track. 

Kokoda Spirit and Wayne Wetherall has helped to organise and lead a host of corporate groups, school groups, defence groups, charities, individual clients and celebrities across the Kokoda Track.

We have worked closely and trekked with Paralympian and Adventurer Michael Milton, Paralympian Kurt Fearnley (Crawling Kokoda), Paralympian, Author and Motivational, speaker Don Elgin, Rugby League Legend, Paul “The Chief” Harragon, NRL Premiership winning players Mark Hughes and Billy Peden, Australian Rugby League representive players David Fairleigh and Brad Godden, Manu Feidel from MKR, Kate Peck model and MTV presenter, Miss Universe Australia Laura Dundovic and Miss World Australia Erin Holland.

Kokoda Spirit was also the chosen trekking company by the Producers of “Kokoda” the Movie. We have also escorted Manu from MKR and Kate Peck from MTV across Kokoda. Kokoda Spirit has also worked and trekked closely with Paralympian and Adventurer Michael Milton, Paralympian Kurt Fearnley (Crawling Kokoda), Rugby League Legend, Paul “The Chief” Harragon.

Our Charity and Foundations have included;

National Breast Cancer Foundation (Kokoda Chicks), Heart Foundation, Coca Cola, Zing, Mission Australia, CottonOn, Victorian RSL, VECCI, Kokoda Challenge Youth Program, Jobs Australia Indigenous program, Centre Stage Management, Qantas, 500 Club, EFM, RSL Life Care, Centcare, Autism Victoria, MASP Mentoring program, PTSD Association Canberra, Soldier On, Humpty Dumpty Foundation, Mark Hughes Fondation, Newcastle Knights and the NSW Young Achievers Rugby League team.

Our School Groups have included;

Haileybury College, Newcastle Grammar, Berne School, Nhulunbuy High School, Rostrevor College, Murray High School, St Ignatius Riverview College, Hale School, Yarrawonga Secondary College, Mackillop College, Sunshine Coast Grammar, Victorian College of Deaf, Knox Grammar, Ravenswood School for Girls,

St Luke’s Anglican Bundaberg, St Hilda’s College (Melbourne Uni) Y Lead, MASP, Ela Murray International School Port Moresby, Mirboo North Secondary College, and Chancellor Park State College.

Our Defence Groups have included;
Australian Defence Force Academy, Victorian RSL, 39^th Battalion, Australia’s Federation Guard, HMAS Newcastle, HMAS Darwin, HMAS Coonawarra, 48^th Battalion, Australian Federal Police, Queensland Police Service, RAAF Townsville, Army Logistic Training Centre and Army HQ 1 Div Joint Deployable Force.

His companies deliver life changing and empowering adventures specialising in leadership and personal development programs.

Just some of Wetherall’s adventure highlights have included over 80 crossings of the Kokoda Track, including the first Kokoda Coast to Coast crossing.

Wetherall has completed a triple Kokoda crossing, a fast two-day crossing and the race distance 2 nights 3 days Kokoda Ultra Marathon.

He has led 12 treks across the infamous Sandakan Death March in Borneo and has summited SE Asia’s highest Mountain, Mt Kinabalu 10 times.

Wetherall has also been pivotal in uncovering the missing links of the Sandakan Death March track, which is described as Australia’s worst Military Tragedy of WW2.

He has summited Mt Kilimanjaro in Africa on 5 occasions and climbed Mt Fuji in Japan.

 He has completed a 1600km bike ride from Brisbane to Townsville in 8 days averaging over 200km per day. He has also caged dived with the Great White sharks of Port Lincoln and thrown himself out of a perfectly good plane skydiving 3 times.

Managing Director Wayne Wetherall was part of the Foundation Committee that assisted in the design and implementation of the trekking companies Code of Conduct. Wayne was also a member of the Kokoda Track Maintenance Advisory Committee and a foundation member of the Kokoda Tour Operators Association.

He is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors MAICD.

I have had two Great Uncles that served in PNG during WW2.

I first trekked Kokoda in 2009 and became inspired by the story of Kokoda.

I have walked the track 17 times since then as a guide.

I am passionate and respectful to our Australian History and believe every Australian should have the opportunity to experience first hand the legend of Kokoda.

I pride myself on my knowledge of the history of the track and the battles leading up to and after the Kokoda Campaign.

I have conducted numerous short treks into the heartland of Kokoda researching some of the lesser known stories of the Kokoda campaign.

I have trekked the Northern Beaches and completed some private solo treks where we mapped remote battlefield tracks.

My passion is to continue to research the history of WW2 conflicts that occurred in and around PNG and, continue to lead powerful and life changing treks across Kokoda.

I feel extremely privileged to be in a position where I can not only add value to peoples lives but often share a life changing experience, this is very humbling to me.

Having served in the Australian Army Reserve I have an acute understanding of the military, a passion for war history and will deliver their story to honour the legacy of our brave soldiers.

I am married with two beautiful children who always keep me grounded, when I’m not trekking around P.N.G. you will find me volunteering at my local surf club where my first aid skills have been honed for over 20 years.

While you do not need to be an Olympian or ultra marathon competitor you do need to be in good physical and mental health.

Kokoda is an endurance adventure requiring resilience, strong lungs, heart, calves and quads.

Kokoda is a physical and mental challenge.
The more you train the less challenging Kokoda becomes.
You need to be training on hills, hills and more hills.
If you cannot find hills then you need to climb stairs.
Kokoda is a very uneven track with lots of twists and turns and step ups and downs.

It is important to be mentally prepared for the track, train repeatedly on your hardest hill and or carry extra weight to increase the toughness of your training.

It is important that you prepare yourself mentally for the challenge ahead. The terrain will be hard and it will challenge you, and some of the camping conditions and facilities are basic on the Kokoda Track so prepare yourself mentally and physically for your challenge.

Lunges, taking steps two at a time etc. are great preparation.
You also need to mix in some long 3-4 hour endurance walks at least once a week.
You can also mix up bike riding, swimming or any other exercise that you enjoy.

We can supply you a specific training plan for Kokoda.
Check out our Kokoda Spirit on line Training Program.
If you want to know more about training and preparing for Kokoda give us a call.

http://www.kokodaspirit.com.au/personalised-kokoda-training-program/

With over thirty years teaching experience, I am able to combine classroom and outdoor recreation experience and my detailed knowledge of the Kokoda campaign to lead safe, informative, memorable and moving treks.

Bill is our School and Youth Leadership Specialist and coordinates our humanitarian and immersion projects.

There are many ways to tell the Kokoda story and I have developed resources and activities that both engage, challenge and involve trekkers especially school students.

I have been able to establish links with many of the school communities along the track and appreciate their needs and the logistics involved in delivering assistance.

A positive relationship with porters and KS staff enhances the trekking experience for everyone. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of heroes with trekkers. Many begin concerned about their fitness, food, water, hills, mud, roots, boots, rain!.. I see my role is to allay these concerns so that they can truly experience the Kokoda Track.

Dion has a vast knowledge of the Kokoda Campaign and talks passionately and personally about the men that fought on Kokoda.

Dion is an adventure specialist and guide with Kokoda Spirit that offers elite treks.

Dion has been working with Kokoda Spirit since 2008.

He has successfully crossed Kokoda over 26 times and has worked with a range of clients including the Australian Federation Guard, Australian Defence Force Academy, Jobs Australia Indigenous programs and a vast range of corporate clients.

Dion’s expertise allows us to design specific treks to suit the needs and outcomes for our trekking groups.

One of Dion’s specialties is developing and implementing elite fast treks and challenges that have seen him cross the Kokoda track in 30 hours.

As the grandson of an original ANZAC and the nephew of a 2/22nd Battalion Veteran who fought with Lark Force in the ill-fated defence of Rabaul he has an ingrained respect for our military forces.

A passionate Australian military history enthusiast and researcher he has acquired an extensive library of over 40 books and copies of all battalion diaries associated with the Kokoda and Northern Beaches campaign.

His history briefings include copies war time maps and personal interviews of veterans.

Cam has an open invitation to all his trekkers who need assistance in researching family members who served in the campaign to ensure they gain maximum benefit from their trek.

His research and extensive campaign knowledge led to the Queensland Police commissioning a memorial to honour one of its own who fell on the Sanananda Track north of Kokoda in 1942.

Cam has been walking the track since 2007 and considers every trek as a privilege.

Despite the recent negative publicity trekkers flock to Kokoda to walk in the footsteps of heroes.

Walking Kokoda is a truly inspiring, empowering, humbling and life changing experience.

Tourism empowers the people allowing them to educate, feed their families seek proper medical care and put clothes on their kids back.

We have an obligation to support our PNG mates and brothers who so bravely served beside our boys back in 1942.

PNG is an awesome place… It truly is one of the world’s last frontiers.

Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com

Since my discharge in late 2004 I have worked in the Fitness Industry as a Personal Trainer and Group Exercise Instructor.

I have been active in sport all my life mainly Rugby League, Rugby Union, Boxing and Touch.

I have led over 20 Kokoda Treks since 2007.

Thanks to this experience, my military background and extensive research I am able to explain to trekkers the finer details of the Kokoda Campaign and the hardships endured by the brave men who fought so gallantly for our freedom.

I am fortunate enough to live with my wife Cheryl in Palmwoods in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. I have two children, two step children (all adults) and two grandsons.

My passion is keeping fit and healthy and I aim to continue to guide trekkers over the Kokoda Track for many years to come and to assist them enjoy a life changing experience.

IT’S Independence Day in Papua New Guinea – very different from the independence days of most former colonies, whose colonisers were mostly far away.

And PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill will today urge the next generation of Australians to rediscover his country, despite its problems. The attack on the trek in Morobe province last week was a terrible event – infinitely more terrible, of course, for the two Papua New Guinean guides who were killed, and for their families, than for the Australian trekkers, who escaped with lacerations and bruises.
To their considerable credit, the trekkers have focused strongly on the murders, and on the far more serious injuries suffered by half a dozen other PNG guides, rather than on their own grave peril.
They spoke at the weekend of raising money to aid the guides’ medical treatment.
The event, and the contrasting responses to it, have been educative.
One of the comments posted beneath an account of the Black Cat attack said how “scary” it was that such a “primitive” place as PNG was so close to Australia.
There are of course “primitive” Australians as well as “primitive” Papua New Guineans, as the family of murdered Irishwoman Jill Meagher would grimly attest.
Papua New Guineans themselves have expressed their especial horror about the killings on the Black Cat track.
This especially tough trail crosses a remote section of Morobe, the same province where the publisher and writer Peter Ryan was wonderfully assisted by local people as he operated behind enemy lines as a youthful coast watcher – about which he wrote his World War II classic Fear Drive My Feet.
Most Australians still know little about the people who are their closest neighbours, but the intensity of the coverage of the “harrowing jungle terror” indicates a degree of closeness.
The asylum-seeker deal carved out between Kevin Rudd and O’Neill – which for a few days disoriented the Coalition and appeared to present Labor with a slim chance of success at the election – also points to a relationship that matters.
For all its developmental failures, with succeeding governments bitterly disappointing their own people, PNG remains a working democracy, and retains a largely independent judiciary and free media. The comparisons on all three counts with Fiji – once the model of good governance in the Pacific – are telling.
PNG is in its sixth successive year of economic growth at around or above 6 per cent.
Former businessman O’Neill – who is in a stronger political position than any leader since independence, and who is something of a student of Australian politics too – will ultimately be assessed by whether he can steer PNG’s growing revenues, especially from gas exports, towards better schools, healthcare and roads, and can help create the jobs still lacking for young people.
By mid-century, PNG will have a bigger population than Australia, whose aid is valuable but no longer invaluable.
O’Neill’s message to Australia should be viewed in this context: “It is timely for us to consider how we can freshen up our relationship with our best friend.”
He said the Abbott government had a policy commitment that provided an excellent way to add dimensions to the people-to-people relationship – the “visionary” New Colombo Plan “under which Australian students will be given government scholarships to study at universities in the Asia Pacific region.”
He said he would ask the Abbott government to include PNG in the program. “We will also discuss with the new government arrangements to allow more Papua New Guineans to study in Australia in a similar way, and we would consider funding ourselves this aspect of the program.”
He noted the policy included internships with business and NGOs, and said: “I believe our major businesses and industries would be keen to participate in the program.”
This new policy, he said, had been developed by incoming foreign minister, Julie Bishop, “who as shadow minister visited PNG a number of times and has taken a special interest in PNG-Australia relations.”
Building such people-to-people relationships is also a key element of the biannual “mateship treks” through which Liberal and Labor politicians Scott Morrison and Jason Clare have brought young people from their constituencies into the region – including, earlier this year, trekking the Black Cat track.
It is timely for the new government to consider establishing a council to foster such people-to-people relations.
The price of failure on this front is an ignorance that feeds fear, and a failure to seize opportunities in a fast growing economy – failures already manifest in Australia’s relationship with Indonesia.

Visit http://www.kokodaspirit.com