Teenagers from Operation Flinders will walk the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea

A group of once-troubled teenagers, who have overcome significant hurdles to turn their lives around, will follow in the footsteps of Australia’s military heroes on the Kokoda Track.

Tyler and Tanaya are both 18 and have never been on a plane. Mady is 16 and is also yet to experience the thrill of takeoff, the nervousness of turbulence or the comforting screech of rubber touching tarmac upon landing.

This will all change in a few short weeks’ time – but embarking on their first plane flights will only be the start of an adventure the trio could never have imagined a few short years ago.

Because when they finish their journey in the sky, the once-troubled teens will start a much more down-to-earth endeavour – they’ll be following the footsteps of heroes and hiking the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.

Tyler, Tanaya and Mady are three members of an eight-strong team of teenagers selected by SA charity Operation Flinders to embark on the historic hike.

The nine-day walk through the rainforests and mountains of PNG’s Owen Stanley Ranges will be well outside of the comfort zone of the participants, who have all overcome significant hurdles to put their lives back on track.

Operation Flinders Next Step participants Tanaya, Mady and Tyler train for the Kokoda Track. Picture: Supplied

The thought of boarding an international flight was the last thing on Tyler’s mind when he was arrested for trying to break into cars as his life was spiralling out of control just a few short years ago.

“At school, I wasn’t well behaved,” Tyler reflects. “I was always getting suspended and … making bad decisions like drinking and going out.

“I was about 13 or 14, wasn’t thinking … hanging out with the bad kids and whatnot. “I was a bit of a deviant child. I wasn’t going down the right track and didn’t really have any accomplishments or goals in life.”

But Tyler – like Tanaya, Mady and the other soon-to-be Kokoda trekkers – started turning his life around after he was a participant in an Operation Flinders’ eight-day adventure therapy walk in the northern Flinders Ranges.

“Once I did my walk, it completely changed me,” he says. “It was a mind-blowing experience. I realised the limits I can push myself to and the capabilities I have.”

Tyler now holds down two jobs, has moved out of home and is living independently.

Mady had a difficult childhood and her parents separated when she was seven. She admits she rarely attended school and was a D and C-grade student before moving from country Victoria to Adelaide and teachers at her new school, Avenues College, asked if she wanted to do Operation Flinders.

Porter Kipling Jnoto walking the Kokoda track in Papua New Guinea in August 2018 Picture: Brad Fleet

Mady is the first to admit she didn’t love the blisters, prickles and aching limbs that are part and parcel of the eight-day hike on Yankaninna Station.

“But I was eating my muesli bar on top of a mountain and I don’t know what came over me,” she says.

“I was like, from here on I’m going to change my life. I’m going to be more than what my father and mother were, I’m going to prove to everyone that I can be what I want to be.” Since that moment two years ago, she’s been a straight-A student with a part-time job and harbours dreams of becoming a paediatric doctor or a paramedic.

Tanaya is one of 14 siblings and spent her early life in foster care, moving from home to home in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.

She admits she had plenty of anger issues as a young person, was regularly suspended from school and struggled to get along with people.

The Isurava War Memorial on the Kokoda Track. Picture: Brad Fleet

Trekkers pass through the village of Nauro on the Kokoda Track. Picture: Brad Fleet

Then she participated in Operation Flinders and her outlook changed. She started dedicating herself to school (and even achieved her first A grade) and, like all of her Kokoda teammates, signed up for the Operation Flinders Next Step program that offers those who have walked at Yankaninna a chance to further develop their outdoor and leadership skills.

“On my walk (at Yankaninna) we made lots of jokes like ‘Oh, we’ve climbed a mountain, we can do anything’,” Tanaya says.

“And then when I got home I was like, ‘I’ve climbed a mountain, I can write 500 words’. And I was like ‘I actually can, it’s not that bad’.”

Like all of the teens, six girls and two boys, preparing for Kokoda, Tanaya was overflowing with excitement when she discovered she’d been selected for this month’s Kokoda trip - funded by Operation Flinders and the Duke of Edinburgh award. Two Operation Flinders staffers and a volunteer will join them.

More than 600 Australian soldiers were killed and about 1600 wounded in battle against the Japanese along the Kokoda Track during World War II.

The valour of the soldiers in repelling expansionist Japanese forces seemingly on route to Australia has become etched in Australian military folklore.