Bulldog Track

The Bulldog Track was an important supply line and evacuation route for Australian military forces based at Wau in 1942. Even though there was an operational airfield at Wau, there was an acute shortage of transport aircraft in Papua at that time. Ammunition and food supplies were transported from Port Moresby to Kukipi by coastal vessel, then taken up the Lakekamu River by outboard canoes to Bulldog, an abandoned gold mining camp. From Bulldog, supplies were carried by native porters along a narrow foot track through jungle swamps, up rocky river gorges and over the steep mountain ridges to Winima village near Wau. Sick and wounded soldiers were carried back the other way to Bulldog for eventual evacuation to Port Moresby. Conditions on the Bulldog Track were just as difficult as on the more famous Kokoda Track some 200km to the south east.

In 1943 when Wau was back in Australian hands, army engineers built a vehicular road along the Bulldog-to-Wau route, approaching Wau via Edie Creek instead of Winima. The ravages of flooding and landslides frequently made the road impassable and after the war the Bulldog Road, as the vehicular route was called, was conceded to the jungle and no longer maintained. Many sections of the vehicular road have now been obliterated but the original route from Bulldog to Winima is still used by locals. Trekking along the 1943 vehicular road diversion via Edie Creek is no longer possible because it now passes through a gold mining lease area. The mining company operating there does not permit access to hikers for safety reasons due to blasting, excavation works etc. One of the last trekkers to walk the Edie Creek route before it was closed off was Richard Stanaway who walked west to east with local guides in 2001.

Nowadays it takes about a week to walk the track from Bulldog through to Winima, following the original supply route. Three days out of seven are relatively easy walking along surviving sectors of the 1943 Bulldog Road and the other four days are a more challenging negotiation of narrow foot-tracks through thick jungle and over steep ridges. Rusting road construction equipment and other WW2 relics are encountered as you walk along, especially at the Bulldog end. The first half of the walk going southwest-to-northeast ascends the Eloa River valley for four days as far as Yanina village, mostly following the 1943 vehicular road which is largely intact, although derelict, along this stretch. There are many river crossings over crudely fashioned cane suspension bridges and slippery log bridges which are rebuilt by locals every year after the wet season floods (December to March) wash everything away. The 1943 road bridges are long gone. At Yanina the 1943 vehicular road diverges north to Edie Creek while the original foot-track leaves the Eloa River and traverses a number of steep mountain ridges for two days ridge-hopping (peaking at 2600m) to Kudjeru village. The last day of walking descends over grassy hillsides following the Upper Bulolo River valley down to Winima. From Winima there is an all-weather road connection to Wau.

Walking time for both the Bulldog Track and Kokoda Track is roughly the same at 7 days. However one main difference between the two tracks is that only the Kokoda Track is said to have almost the same degree of walking difficulty in either direction. The Kokoda Track has roughly the same number of climbs and descents whether you walk north to south or south to north. On the other hand the Bulldog Track is definitely easier to trek from northeast to southwest (ie from Winima down to Bulldog) because it is a net descent from 2000 metres at Winima down to 80 metres at Bulldog. Whichever way you walk, the Bulldog Track is just as scenic as the Kokoda Track - more so, perhaps, because you can see all the way to the coast a lot of the time - and features a more varied and visible range of plants, birds and small mammals like bandicoots. Interactions with local village people are also more candid along this route as there are few visitors traversing the Bulldog Track and the people are not numbed by tourism. Along the Bulldog Track villagers still stop, stare and greet occasional visitors with amazement whereas locals along the Kokoda Track no longer bat an eyelid at groups of up to 100 people hiking past their window.

This trek can be done in both directions - if you want a challenge, then South - North is for you. However, if you want a slightly easier, more scenic stroll, then North-South is the way to go.

With this tour, it is designed only for private groups, with no set dates. We need a minumum of 12 people to make it happen. If you don't know 12 people, send us an email and we'll see if we can all agree on a date that suits everyone. The best time to go would be in the drier season of April to October.