Joelene’s PNG trip triggers desire to go green

ARRERNTE woman Joelene Puntoriero geared her future towards looking after the environment after she conquered the Kokoda Track.

Indigenous youth leader Joelene Puntoriero donates educational materials to an orphanage near the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.

ARRERNTE woman Joelene Puntoriero geared her future towards looking after the environment after she conquered the Kokoda Track.

Ms Puntoriero, 27, said the mental endurance was the most challenging part of the 96km Papua New Guinea trek.

And the self-discovery strengthened her passion for the environment.

“It’s such a personal journey,” she said.

“It’s really a path of self-­discovery.

“You need to have the discipline and the positive mindset to keep encouraging yourself to keep going.”

Ms Puntoriero, based in Darwin, was one of 27 Australian youth leaders to complete the gruelling experience as part of the Jobs Australia Foundation’s Indigenous Youth Leadership Program.

The group donated education materials to an orphanage near Kokoda, and Ms Puntoriero said the wildlife and surroundings on the track fuelled her desire to enter a career that involved collecting flora and fauna samples.

She has applied to enrol in a Bachelor of Environmental Science at Charles Darwin University next semester.

“Papua New Guinea is so much like Darwin,” she said. “I see huge opportunities here.”

THE KOKODA TRACK

THE Battle of Kokoda was a four-month struggle which began with the Japanese landing in Papua in July 1942.

THE Japanese strategy was to take Port Moresby via a 96km track over the Owen Stanley Range.

ALONG this track were fought engagements between the Japanese and the Australians.

5000 Australians now complete the trek every year.