Trekker discovers family connection

 CLIFF Caton spent months in training, but nothing could have prepared him for what he would experience on the Kokoda Trail. 

Not only did the Rockhampton man spend days trekking through the jungle in Papua New Guinea, he stumbled on some family history. 

While visiting a cemetery before going on the trail, he discovered a soldier’s headstone with his exact initials and family name. 

“That blew me away,” Cliff said told Central Telegraph. 

Cliff’s now looking to find out if the headstone belongs to his great uncle, or a distant cousin. 

The headstone wasn’t the only surprise during Cliff’s trip, with the terrain on the trail more than he had imagined. 

Cliff and 15 others trained physically for months to take on the harsh conditions of the jungle, that saw Australian soldiers fight the Japanese in 1942. 

After two hard days of uphill climbing, Cliff said he had to use his mental strength to get through. 

“At the end of day five you get to a point where if you hadn’t been training you would’ve struggled,” Cliff said. 

“We kept our spirits up by trading jokes, singing and keeping our momentum up.” 

The nine-day trek saw them hike for eight hours a day, carrying packs weighing 8kgs. 

But Cliff knew that was nothing compared to what the soldiers went through. 

“You have to keep reminding yourself of the soldiers; what we were going through was minimal,” Cliff said. “Soldiers were carrying around 45kg of gear. 

“You don’t realise the solemnness of the place until you’re there,” the 53-year-old said.