Well it is back to training for this stargazer, yep I am off to Kokoda again. Just need to get some details and have my leave approved but I am sure that will not be a issue.  Funny I have done it once and yet I am a little nervous, guess some nerves are good for you.

As for the issue at work, well it has got very nasty, I have had a conflict mediation session with the company director, was not a pleasant 5 hours. However I am now officially out of it and I keep my job.  I do think though that the Management now know that the Manager involved has done wrong and they may do something about it.

Well Maggie has been adopted out, she left with her new family on Saturday night. Julie and I have not stopped crying since!   We know it is the best thing for her, our other two dogs and for me and Julie, but we miss her so much.  It was the hardest decision I have had to make, after having Maggie for just over 4 months, she has placed her paw prints in my heart  However we really need to think of Milly, she is our 13 year old and she was stressed having Maggie there.  We want to make sure Milly’s last few years are comfortable and stress free, so it had to be, but it does hurt!

We have a few emails from Maggie’s new family and some pics, she has settled in well and is enjoying have 6 kids to play with, as well as a new boyfriend Frank the pug, who has taken to Maggie.

Well I better get back to work……

***UPDATE*** another Australian has died on the Kokoda Track, a 26 year male from NSW, the cause of death is unknown at this stage, but it sounds like he may have fallen.  As I have said it is a dangerous place and trekkers really need to keep focused when they are in the most dangerous parts of the track, on step wrong and down you go. My thoughts and prayers are with both families of those two people who have lost their lives. 

There was some sad news in the paper yesterday.  A 36 year old Australian woman died on the Kokoda Track, she was only 2 days into the trek.  The report says she died from dehydration, she woke and was felling dizzy and after starting off hiking, she collapsed and died.  Her name was Samantha Killen, married with two kids and she was attempting the Kokoda in memory of her grandfather who fought there.  She was hoping to make it too Isurava for ANZAC Day.

Last year when I did it, on the first day I collapsed after feeling very dizzy, I had to rest for about 20 minutes and the porters carried some of my gear for the rest of that day. I am no doctor but I feel something else must have been wrong with her, I guess we will find out when her body is returned to Australia. A very sad story either way.

I am still hoping to get back there next year and do it again, and I have also applied to be a guide on it. It is a extremely hard and at times dangerous place, but it is also a beautiful place and the natives of the area are very nice people.