Eight secondary students from year 11 and 12 across East Gippsland have been training together at Mt Taylor with Peter Bull and Nick Murray over the past seven weeks, ready to tackle the Kokoda Trail.
Local MP, Tim Bull, has been a prime mover in the Kokoda walks for local youths as part of the Arthur Grassby Scholarship, completing the walk in his younger days, but being unable to train this year or even entertain going as he has a dicky knee.
The group of eight - Owen  Sanderson, Brianna Foster (Bairnsdale Secondary College), Heidi Lawrence, Oscar Millward, Campbell Macalister (Orbost Secondary College), Kelsey Baylis, Chantelle Cooksley (Nagle College) and Olivia Walker (Swifts Creek P-12) - are preparing for their nine-day walk in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
The walk is tough, as its history has demonstrated.

IMAGE: Tim and Peter Bull (right) with Arthur Grassby Scholarship recipients (back) Owen Sanderson, Campbell MacAlister, Kelsey Baylis, Oscar Millward, (front) Brianna Foster, Heidi Lawrence, Chantelle Cooksley and Olivia Walker.