It was another beautiful day of running ...
... starting at dawn.
This Sunday was a real sunny day for us. By 7 am, the Sun was already standing sure in his celestial chariot, ready to accomplish his daily duty and help us in our own endeavour to cover the distance of 226 kilometres ...
... the wind was not so generous to us. This week he was constantly facing us, asking more effort from us, perhaps having the idea to make us stronger and more resiliant ...
Not counting us, the road was almost unpopulated ...
... the rare travellers or trucks nevertheless appreciated the runners' effort, and greeted them warmly and friendlily as usual ...
Today we had quite a few kilometres to run across the relative wilderness ...
... there were less road trains out there as we journeyed further away from the mines ...
... thousands of caravans are currently travelling across Australia. The obvious direction is north, away from the cold ...
Steve is revived by some emergency chocolate, and goes on to complete many more kilometres ...
We are still amazed by the diversity of life out here. So many tiny wildflowers and different kinds of green!
Not only diverse plant life, we saw today four kangaroos, many hawks ...
... many types of butterflies, being blown about by the strong winds ...
... and Emily spotted a snake slithering into the bushes.
Out on the road we met Bronte whose car had unfortunately broken down … at least she got to meet the runners and hold the Peace Torch – and we got to meet her!
We’ve found another thing to do while waiting for our runners … play with bubbles!
We made it to Sandfire Roadhouse at noon ...
... to meet Mick Lanagan, who has served the Royal Flying Doctors for over 40 years ...
... well-known throughout the community, Mick received the Peace Run Torch-Bearer Award and explained to us a lot about the Flying Doctors ...
... when the service started in 1942, they used a two-way radio that was powered by pedal! If they needed to make a call, they hopped on the bike and generated their own electricity. Now the RFD has a lot of corporate sponsorship and has many state-of-the-art jets available to provide emergency medical care to people living in extremely remote places in the bush, often more than 300 km from the nearest doctor ...
Thank you Mick, we can’t think of anyone more deserving of the Torch-Bearer Award!
Like Mick, the people we meet in our long way are the real heroes of the Peace Run. We just provide an opportunity for them to come to the fore. Without their daily contribution to the wellbeing of their dear ones, their community, this world would be not such a good place to live in. In this respect, the Peace Run is like a necklace made up of the human-jewels that serve locally their neighbours, making their lives easier and happier ...
Sandfire Roadhouse is also home to lots of peacocks!
Following a long drive in ...
... we reached the homestead of Anna Plains Station. Not finding the owners at home, we followed the advice of fellow campers and set up our tents ...
... on their return we met John the owner, his son Dave and wife Hellen ...
... they proved to be lovely hosts and answered our questions about their million acre property. They run 20,000 cattle and use helicopters to herd them ...
This place has provided many animal encounters, from the friendly dogs, to the corn-eating chickens ...
... on our trip to nearby 80 Mile Beach we saw many wallabies darting in front of us, brahman cows on the road, beautiful horses beside the road, and multitudes of birds. No wonder, the other campers have come here every year for holidays ...
