For the past nine months, Lindy Kanan has been going for hour-long walks during her lunch breaks.
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On weekends her walks are longer and recently turned into five to six-hour hikes as she gets ready to trek Kokoda in Papua New Guinea to raise money for Femili PNG.
Femili PNG is a non-profit organisation based in Papua New Guinea that runs a case management centre to assist survivors of family and sexual violence.
"I'm doing this for a few reasons," Ms Kanan, who works as the development manager for Femili PNG, said.
"Because I work for Femili PNG and I know that this is an aid project that actually works - I know the centre really makes a difference to the people we help because there's no other service like it in Papua New Guinea."
She said Papua New Guinea was also special to her because her grandfather served there during World War II.
"I've requested for my grandfather's service records and hope to visit where he went while I'm over there."
Ms Kanan will be one of nine Australians heading to Papua New Guinea next month.
The team of nine include two Papua New Guineans based in Port Moresby, as well as seven Australians, four of Papua New Guinean heritage coming from Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne. The other Canberrans include public servant Roa Slater and learning support officer at Queanbeyan Public School Mary Kanawi Vracar.
The three Canberrans have been training on local mountains, including Mount Majura, Mount Ainslie, Black Mountain, Mount Taylor, Mount Tennent and Gibraltar Peak.
"We’ve been sent a training guide from the travel company which basically involves walking six days a week," Ms Kanan said.
"On weekdays we walk for one hour a day but then on weekends we go out and do a big one and then gradually increasing that as we’ve gotten closer to the departure date.
"The first walk I did was very tough but last weekend I did a five-hour walk and it was fine."
The team will cover the 96-kilometre trek across eight days, then head to Lae, the second largest city in Papua New Guinea, to meet Femili PNG staff and visit the Femili PNG case management centre which supports survivors of family and sexual violence.
The group has so far raised more than $27,000 and their goal is $30,000.
Ms Kanan leaves for the trek on September 3.
