Our girls team left nice and early today to run the last 20 km into Ceduna. This meant we were able to start our run with the sunrise.
Our two Mongolian sisters ran these 20 km into Ceduna while the remainder of our team worked on trying to get all our food into the three vans for the trek across the Nullarbor– not a easy task!
We are immensely grateful to have Hastakamala and Harita on our team – restaurant managers with many years experience between them – who oversaw a massive shopping expedition yesterday evening in Ceduna, where we spent over $800 on food supplies. This sounds like a lot, but when there are 15 hungry runners to feed for a whole week in remote areas, it's actually a very good deal!
This morning while our Mongolians were running into town, all the supplies were carefully sorted, categorised and stored in labelled containers and drawers in the various vehicles, for ready access for all the cooks in the coming days.
As we finished our run into Ceduna we had enough time to pick up the rest of the team and make it to Ceduna Area School for our last school ceremony in South Australia.
The last two days in SA are over the Nullarbor and over the weekend, so we all wanted to come and visit the students in Ceduna. A fitting farewell to all the amazing schools we visited in South Australia.
Our team ran in and were greeted by cheers and lots of high fives from all the students at the Junior School.
There are a total of 600 students at this school ranging from Reception to year 12. We meet about 140 of them.
As we arrived some of the students immediately starting asking questions: they had been studying our website and knew we had been to Ceduna once before in 2008! We are fortunate to have one of the team members from 2008 with us today and we pointed him out – after the ceremony he was swamped with requests for his autograph!
As this is the last school we will visit for some time, the whole team (15 of us) came to this school ...
... so they had a lot of countries to guess – some were easy for the students and others did take a little while. Our Romanian team member (who is actually from Moldova) went from being African to Roman to English to Russian until he was eventually guessed as Romanian! We hope he will be able to run in all the countries the students guessed he was from.
The school had made a mural for Harmony Day last year, which they proudly showed us. The mural said "Everybody belongs" over and over again ...
The "Everybody belongs" mural was selected as the backdrop for the students to hold the Torch and make their wishes for peace – here too we got a chance to meet with the students and talk to them more about the Peace Run.
Trudi, the enthusiastic teacher at the school who worked so hard to make our visit a memorable one for all involved.
Never have we had to sign so many autographs!
Then the Torch was flown (sorry, run!) out of the school ...
As we came out of the school, I was drawn to a girl sitting to one side with her friend, and approached her with the Torch. Something about her was familiar. She was very shy at first, then we offered her the Torch to hold. She asked: "Yous going to Yalata?"
In 2008, last time the Peace Run went all the way around Australia (it was called the World Harmony Run then), one of our most remarkable and memorable visits was to the Yalata Anangu school. We will never forget the wonderful children there – their smiles, enthusiasm, their eyes brimful of wonder and affection.
Georgia was there – then aged just 9 – and she too has never forgotten that day. She kept a photo from our online report on a USB stick, which she has since lost. She now lives here in Ceduna. Once the Torch was back in her hand, that same smile returned. Georgia, your special smile will always be carried with the Peace Torch wherever it goes. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will always be a member of our Peace Run team. Please come and say hi whenever you see the Peace Run again …
After the school visit we lingered a while in Ceduna, indulging in the comforts of "civilisation" which we fear might be scarce for the next week or so – a visit to the bakery cafe, shopping for convenience items and comfort foods, a visit to the beach, chatting with the locals.
All the folk we met in Ceduna this morning were so friendly, wishing us well as set out to "cross the paddock," the term they use, in typical Australian understatement, for the vast Nullarbor Plain.
After our school visit, our Boys Team A ran the first 73 km out of Ceduna. It was slightly overcast so we were very comfortable.
Ion, our Moldovan/African/Roman/English/Russian ambassador ...
... whom we now claim as Australian!
Last time we came this way, the landscape was endless brown, so we were surprised today by the lush green everywhere…
For something different, we got out our various country flags to honour the 'finishes' of each of our team members today ... Mongolia ...
Being the only road connecting the east and west coasts of Australia, there is a constant flow of pretty much everything along here ...
What is causing so much interest alongside the road?
What is causing our Mongolian and French guests to dance?
Aha, it is these little critters ...
... yes Adrien, they DO bite!
Boys Team B took over where Boys Team A had finished – in Penong at the Caltex Service Station, where Kahlia was only too happy to hold the Peace Torch.
An indication of the long long distances ahead to Norseman, the next substantial town we will reach in a week from now ...
... and some fellow-travellers we might expect to meet along the way.
Today could not have been better scripted for running – cool, overcast, almost entirely flat, and not a breath of wind.
Mmmmmmm … In these conditions, running seems the only natural thing to do, and gratitude flows as though on tap …
... more and more surprising green ...
There are everywhere reminders that this whole area was not so long ago (at least in geological terms) under the sea ...
Antara-Prabhat, from Seattle via New York, our youngest team member at 22, is not only our superb photographer, he is also proving a marvellous addition to our running team with his strength, endurance, speed and above all, constant cheer ...
... finishing our kms for the day ...
Our girls team – who had run the first 20 km into Ceduna early in the morning – was now scheduled to run the last 30 km into Fowlers Bay. We had our somewhat reliable 'Serena' directing us (our GPS), when all of a sudden we were instructed to turn left at what seemed like a dirt road on a farm. No signposts to Fowlers Bay, no sign post of the 'road' we were going on. We tried calling Prachar (the one team member who has ever been to Fowlers Bay) but it seemed the mobile service didn't extend to this exact place. However our trusty internet stick was a little more helpful: we drove a couple of hundred metres till we had service and with the help of google maps we were able to get an image of Fowlers Bay Road, and yes it seemed it was a dirt road with no signs, leading to what seemed like nowhere at all!
Not to be fooled by the GPS or the internet, we found a road 10 metres away that looked a little bit more like a 'main' road into Fowlers Bay and off we blindly ran to a destination we hoped we would find.
If we were now heading in the wrong direction it was OK, the road was great to run on ...
... and the stillness of the country was rejuvenating.
As luck would have it we did take the correct road, we made it into Fowlers Bay 30 km later, greeted by white sand dunes and blue ocean.
One of the locals came and spoke to us when we arrived. He had already seen one of the boys teams on the road and came and asked us about the Peace Run. He has lived in Fowlers Bay for 30 years, with Jaz – his faithful dog.
We then arrived at our accommodation – Fowlers Bay Eco Park – to be met by Darren and Jan the Managers of the Park, as well as a few more of the 20 locals at Fowlers Bay.
Fowlers Bay has lots of history and it was recorded by early explorer Matthew Flinders as a good and safe harbour for ships.
Right outside the settlement of Fowlers Bay there are some truly remarkable – and enormous – sand dunes which provided lots of entertainment for the team.
Our boys team were the first to head for the dunes, starting out with the intention to get some nice shots running across the dunes with the Torch ...
We quickly forgot our tired, stiff legs and amused ourselves by running all over the place for countless photos and video shots.
Then the magic of the sand took over ...
... the frisbee came out ...
... and mayhem ensued ...
... after all, "boys will be boys" ...
Amalendu even demonstrated his long-forgotten standing backflip – captured here by Antara-Prabhat with some help from Mr Photoshop ...
Our team were here 5 years ago, and one of photographer Prabhakar Street's images from this precise spot features as the upper part of the cover of our 2013 Peace Run brochure. Antara-Prabhat is setting out to recreate the scene ...
... oh, we forgot to polish the Torch! ...
Antara-Prabhat lining up the shot ...
Here is Prabhakar's photo from 2008 ...
... and Antara-Prabhat's replica from today
Then the girls team arrived ...
... and we took advantage of this rare opportunity to photograph the whole team together!
Our present team has been together now since Adelaide, one week ago. Several of us have never met each other before. We've crossed the Eyre Peninsula, and have now passed most of the well-inhabited areas of South Australia. With each step towards the unknown, one senses a deeper oneness within the team, drawn together not only by the one flame we carry in the Torch and in our hearts, now also by the great challenge of the Nullabor, looming ever closer. There is a shared sense of adventure, of will and unity of purpose.
... and in action ...
Then for the boys team it was all hands on deck in a rush to erect our evening's 5-star accommodation - Tents.
Our girls team, having already set up their tents, continued running over the massive dunes to the beach on the far side, facing the open ocean ...
The water looked so beautiful we all couldn't resist and dived in. The water was perfect and waves just longing to be caught!
As we wondered back over the dunes we were blessed with a stunning sunset to end yet another perfect day on the Peace Run ...
