A chance to remember those who went before and to commemorate those who fought in World War II; to improve fitness and hike some of the most spectacular terrain in the pacific; to explore the world around us; to discover mateship.

All of these things are calling 19 hikers from Orange who will be trekking across Papua New Guinea in April. 

A month into their four months of training, the 19 of them are loving every minute of it – well, nearly every minute. 

They’ve been hiking daily, in the morning and at night, and last week’s scorching temperatures made life a bit trickier but they forged on through. 

Two of the instigators of the trek were Craig Harvey and Jason Lyne, with most of the trekkers drawn together through their mutual interest and competition in the Eight Day Games. 

The group starts on April 20, meaning their rest day in the middle of the nine-day trek will be Anzac Day, which Mr Harvey said was a special connection for many of the group. 

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“My grandfather served over there and I know Jason’s family served in the war, most of us have had family over there and it’s such a big part of our history,” he said. 

“We all went down and did the dawn service last year and went back and watched some Kokoda documentaries together so it’s been a 12-month process.”

He and Mr Lyne said they were trying to enjoy the training because “the nine days will just fly by”.

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“We’ve still got a lot of work today but a lot better than a month ago,” Mr Lyne said. 

“We’re going out four or five days a week, up Mount Canobolas, Clifton Grove and the Bridle Track, a few of us make it to each one and there’s someone going every day you can join up with.” 

He said it had always been on his bucket list, and doing it with mates was a treat. 

“We’re all friends through the Eight Day Games so we started talking and it evolved, someone said ‘oh I’m going to do Kokoda’ and someone else said ‘I’ll do it with you’ and it went from there,” he said. 

“It’s been a great journey so far and we’ve got plenty more training to go, we’ve all started to get to know each other even more.

“To be over there, we won’t experience what they did but we’ll walk the tracks they did in the ‘40s and to come back will be phenomenal.

My Lyne said sweating it out on 40-degree days hadn’t just been good for the mind. 

“I’ve lost a bit of weight which is good. We want to get fit so we can go a bit further and see those waterfalls or do that little bit extra,” he said. 

The group leaves Orange on April 18.