'If you threw Chuck Norris and Indiana Jones into a blender and added a few Anzac badges (not biscuits) for good measure, most likely it would be Charlie who would emerge. He carries a distinct air of confidence, a hard as nails approach but with a hint of larrikin in his eyes. I liked him already'.
Mark Watson
'Walking Among Ghosts'
Australian Geographic
Charlie Lynn, founder of Adventure Kokoda, led 101 treks across the Kokoda Trail from 1991-2023.
During this time he has become a leading advocate for the Trail to achieve its potential as a world-class pilgrimage tourism destination for the economic benefit of the traditional landowners across it.
He has recorded his journey towards this objective in a paper titled ‘The Rise, Fall and Future of Kokoda Tourism’.
In 2015 Charlie was inducted as an Officer of the Logohu by the PNG government in their New Years Honours and Awards list 'for service to the bilateral relations between Papua New Guinea and Australia and especially in the development of the Kokoda Trail and its honoured place in the history of both nations over the past 25 years.'
More recently Charlie was awarded an Order of Australia in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honour’s List ‘for services to the NSW Parliament and the people of New South Wales’.
Whilst Charlie has retired from leading treks across the Trail he continues to mentor our emerging Adventure Kokoda trek leaders and his advocacy for a Military Heritage Master Plan for the benefit of future generations of young Australians.