By Mikayla van Loon
In the Yarra Ranges, another industrious year 11 student is set to embark on a trek of the Kokoda Trail after being granted the Cowey-Selman Kokoda Award.
Mount Evelyn Christian School student Zeph Kunst was named as the scholarship winner on Sunday 30 July, with one of last year’s applicants and trail walker, Rhylie, handing over the reins.
As one of many students interested in applying for the award from his school, Zeph was able to go the whole way and said it was a great opportunity.
“I just really liked the idea of it, it’s something you don’t think of as being able to do in your teenage years and if you can go for it, why not,” he said.
Receiving the award at an event hosted by the Lilydale RSL, Zeph was able to hear from Rhylie about his experience walking the trail in April.
Although not the winner of the award, Rhylie’s friends, family and the Cire Community School helped fundraise money to get him over to Papua New Guinea to join the inaugural Cowey-Selman Award winner, Cammy Lilagan, on her trek.
In a Q&A format, Rhylie shared the highlights and mental barriers he had to break through along the Kokoda trail, as well as the incredible friendships he made with the locals who accompanied him.
“I was fit enough to track obviously you can always be more fit but I think the part for me that I probably should have really worked on better prior to that was the whole mental side of it,” he said.
“That was the part that got me. So the second day was my hardest day because I was thinking ‘I can’t do this, I’ve got another eight days of this walking uphill but I’ve only hit the first day of walking uphill’.”
Pulling through and embodying the courage of Australia’s soldiers, Rhylie said he pushed through and mentally came out stronger on the other side.
Immersing himself in nature throughout the day, walking through thick jungle, swamp lands and chest high rivers, Rhylie said back at camp they would usually sleep in small huts with just a roof over them.
The conditions on the track itself changed a lot throughout the whole trek. One minute you could be in swampland, walking through mud that if you step in the wrong spot you could be ankle deep
“The next minute you’re walking up a vertical hill and they’re digging steps into it, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to walk up. The terrain changes in minutes and the weather, it was humid and nearly four o’clock on the dot nearly every day it rained without fail.”
Building relationships with the locals, not only those who accompanied the group on the track but also in the villages, Rhylie said was a highlight.
“Some villages we would stay in there’d be young kids and we’d give them a ball or a frisbee.
“There was one village where we stopped for lunch and we just stopped there and it was great because there were these two little kids and I stood there for about half an hour throwing this ball to the kids.”
Overall Rhylie said he would recommend doing the Kokoda Trail to anyone who is willing to take on the challenge and said it has inspired him to see and do more.
“Coming back after experiencing that is something that is going to stay with me forever and it gives me that motivation to actually get up and want to do stuff,” he said.
“There’s other places, Papua New Guinea is amazing but it’s one little island in the entire world so it’s given me more motivation to actually go out and do some extreme stuff in my life.”
Commending Rhylie and Cammy on their willingness to take on the Trail, Lilydale RSL president Bill Dobson congratulated the pair on their efforts.
“To Cammy and Rhylie who walked the track this year, well done. It’s extremely challenging and I doubt you’ll ever forget doing the Kokoda Trek,” he said.
“Today Australians walk Kokoda to pay their respects to the bravery and suffering of those veterans that stopped the enemy at our front door.”
Although still yet to be decided, Zeph will most likely head off next year in April to follow in Rhylie and Cammy’s footsteps.
