Wayne Wetherall – Founder of Kokoda Spirit & Kokoda Expedition Leader

Short Biography

Wayne Wetherall is the founder of Kokoda Spirit and one of Australia’s most experienced expedition leaders on the Kokoda Track

For more than two decades Wayne has guided Australians across the mountains of Papua New Guinea, sharing the history of the Kokoda campaign and helping trekkers understand the courage, endurance and sacrifice shown by the young soldiers who fought there in 1942.

Having led more than 100 crossings of the Kokoda Track, Wayne has spent much of his life walking the battlefields of the Owen Stanley Range and introducing thousands of trekkers to one of the most important chapters in Australia’s wartime history.

Experience and leadership

Over the years Wayne has guided a wide range of groups across Kokoda including:

• schools and youth groups

• corporate leadership teams

• sporting organisations

• veterans and military groups.

His leadership style focuses on resilience, teamwork and personal growth — lessons drawn directly from the experiences of the soldiers who fought along the Kokoda Track during the Second World War.

Sharing the Kokoda story

For Wayne, Kokoda is more than a physical trek.

It is a place where history, challenge and reflection come together.

Many trekkers arrive unsure of what they are capable of. But step by step through the mud, the climbs and the jungle, they discover a strength they did not know they possessed.

That moment — when ordinary people realise they are capable of extraordinary things — is what makes Kokoda such a powerful journey.

Founder's Reflection

Then place your Founder’s Reflection (the piece we wrote earlier) underneath this section.

That reflection becomes the emotional heart of the page.