Our Spirit Content - 2025 - News Article

Over more than 30 years on the Kokoda Track, and drawing on our formal qualifications as Exercise Physiologists, we have closely observed the physical, psychological, and metabolic demands placed on trekkers on the kokoda track

There are moments in life that stop you cold, moments so heavy that breathing feels like a betrayal to the one you’ve lost.

For one man, that moment came when his son took his own life.

I’ve come to realise that Kokoda is far more than a trek. It’s a classroom. A mirror. A place that strips away all pretence and reminds us what truly matters.

Morality is not a word we hear often in everyday conversation, yet it shapes everything about the society we live in. It is the silent compass that points us toward fairness, respect, and dignity. For generations, Australians understood morality not as something dictated by politicians, but as something lived out in the everyday actions of ordinary people—neighbours helping neighbours, communities rallying around those in need, and a shared sense of what was “the right thing to do.”

These days, the word leadership gets tossed around like confetti at a wedding.

Do a weekend course, tick the attendance box, collect your certificate – and suddenly, you’re a “leader.”

Join a responsible Kokoda Trek that gives back to the PNG communities who make it possible. Unlike many charity adventures, we reinvest directly into local villages—no middlemen, no foundations. Experience Kokoda with purpose, integrity, and real impact.

It’s hard to ignore in a world where information is everywhere, our inner strength seems to be diminishing. We are more connected than ever, yet more dependent.

In today’s hyper-connected world, parents and teenagers often live side by side but worlds apart.

I’ve seen transformations. Lives redefined. Young men and women rediscover their inner strength. Veterans find healing. Everyday people step into a part of themselves they didn’t know existed.

We’ve normalised a “rite of passage” that too often ends in ambulances, arrests, and anxiety.

What if we changed the tradition?

The Kokoda Track isn’t just a trek—it’s a transformation.

At 17 or 18, our diggers stood shoulder to shoulder to defend our freedom. Now, our youth can walk in their footsteps—not just to honour them, but to find themselves.

Schoolies doesn’t have to mean numbing out. It can mean stepping up.

In an age where comfort is abundant and hardship can feel like a distant memory, it’s more important than ever that young Australians reconnect with the foundations of their freedom.

Australia, like many nations born of colonisation, carries a complex and painful history. And while we cannot rewrite the past, we are left with an uncomfortable question: What do we do with it?

In towns and cities across Australia, a quiet frustration is simmering among our young people. They’ve done everything society asked of them—studied hard, earned their degrees, taken on debt in pursuit of education—only to graduate into a job market that is too often closed to them. The promise of opportunity has been replaced with unpaid internships, insecure contracts, or the slow grind of applications that go nowhere. Many are living back at home, disillusioned, wondering what happened to the

Over the past few weeks, as the Federal election campaigns have ramped up, I’ve had conversations with people from all walks of life—quiet, hardworking Australians who have always believed in doing the right thing. People who once wore their sense of duty like a badge of honour. People who’ve served, contributed, raised families, paid their taxes, built communities. But now? They’re telling me they don’t want to vote.

There was a time when leadership in politics meant something. When those elected to represent us did so with dignity, integrity, and a sense of duty. But today? Many people feel like politicians are nothing more than high-paid lobbyists, careerists looking out for their next big payday rather than the people they swore to serve

Something is deeply wrong with the way we are raising our young men. More and more, I see confusion, frustration, and a quiet desperation in boys and young men trying to find their place in the world

How did we get to a point where “health” seems to mean doctors, prescriptions, and the industries that profit from them? When did we stop talking about prevention?

To us the Kokoda track is sacred, it's a place where many gave their lives for our freedom and as such it is now a pilgrimage to their courage

The Kokoda track is more than just a walk or a trek, its an opportunity to really understand who you are and discover what you are truly capable of. Discover the old you...