Our girls’ team's journey for today began with a short run in ...
... to Bayulu Remote Community School on the GoGo Station, not far from Fitzroy River ...
... Bayulu is the oldest remote community school in the Kimberley, with classes being held in a cave until 1962 ...
... most of the students at the school are Aboriginal, living in the outback, and some travel over 100km on the school bus to come to school each day ...
... Principal Ken Molyneux explained a lot to us about the nature of the schooling in this more remote area. The children’s first language is a creole, known as Kriol. A creole happens when a pidgin English developed by adults for use as a second language becomes the native and primary language of their children. The teachers at Bayulu have developed a special ‘scaffolding’ system to help the kids integrate Australian English into their learning with the goal of matching the national curriculum ...
... we could see that the dedication of these wonderful teachers was reflected in the bright and eager students of the school ...
... it seemed that the children's favourite thing was to learn the Peace Run song and do the actions ...
... they were such quick learners and great dancers!
... sports captains Junior and Siahn accepted the Certificate of Appreciation on behalf of the school ...
... we then took the Peace Torch outside and the children showed their natural athleticism as they tore up and down the grassy area ...
... we just can’t get over the beautiful smiling faces of the kids at Bayulu ...
... thank you all at Bayulu for such a fun time at your school and for giving us a great start to our long day of running!
GoGo Station – an encouraging place to start out from!
Meanwhile, our boys teams had had an even earlier start, with a frugal breakfast, as at 6.30 we had to drive to the starting point ...
... our team had a lovely morning run – we managed to finish our distance for today before the Sun came into his full power ...
... the huge cloud shadows served us as a fresh shelter ...
... finally the humidity is gone and the team can enjoy to a greater extent the running ...
... our journey today took us deeper into the Kimberley region ...
... famous for its unique and imposing rock formations ...
... although it was one of the first inhabited areas of Australia, it remains very sparsely populated, at least by humans ...
... yet the insects are alive and well – in particular, the termites – and we have come to realise that they have complete authority over vast areas of Australia ...
... we are grateful that they have allowed us reasonably safe passage so far.
Today we had quite a surprise out on the road – we met with two amazing people running around Australia in the opposite direction to us. Janette Murray-Wakelin and Alan Murray are raw vegan endurance athletes who are running a marathon a day for 365 days. They are almost half way around. They were not surprised to see us as they knew about the Peace Run and were expecting to cross paths today. Hailing from Melbourne, they have competed in Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team Races there. For them the 15,500km journey is the next step in a lifetime of adventure and promotion of vibrant health. Read their incredible and inspiring story here ...
On completing our running, both boys teams converged for a marvellous meeting at the Warlawurru Catholic School ...
... our audience consisted of about 40 mostly indigenous children and their teachers: Dean, the head-master, Katherine from Ireland, Anansa and Gary, the indigenous teachers from Kimberley region ...
... the kids, all from primary and pre-primary, were fascinated by and wanted to touch our bright coloured shoes. As English is not their mother tongue, it was a good practice for them to name the colours and to read from the banner we were holding. They also were surprised by the scope of the Peace Run, visiting so many countries around the world, as highlighted in the short presentation DVD ...
... the teaching of the World Harmony Run song was particularly entertaining. The kids enjoyed so much the catchy melody that they practically gave me no room to further show the actions after they saw them once ...
... this enthusiasm then manifested even stronger in running with the Torch and talking with the runners ...
... Walter, Della and Kylie proudly received the Certificate of Appreciation presented by the Peace Run ...
... afterwards we were invited to stay for their school assembly ...
... there were nominations in different categories, such as reliability, attendance, enthusiastic writing etc. The whole event was conducted by two students, who overcame their shyness and were nice presenters ...
... the nominees were awarded special certificates ...
... and those who attended 5 consecutive days at the school were rewarded with a free pool pass!
... but what have our girls team been up to all this time? We haven't heard from them since early this morning ...
... Well, we’d enjoyed being at Bayulu so much that it was already past time to start getting our miles done ...
... luckily we met lots of wonderful people out on the road who gave us the energy to continue powering on!
First was Flurian Gadola from Switzerland, who is cycling solo around Australia – in the opposite direction to us! This epic journey is the fulfilment of a 28-year dream when he first visited Australia. We were delighted to find out that Flurian had done some of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team’s 24-hour running races in Basle! Keep up the good work Flurian!
Our next meeting was with Duky and Gerard, who have been travelling in Australia for 8 years ...
... currently on their way to Cairns to meet with relatives, Duky was just overflowing with joy and even gave us all a hug despite our post-run condition! We were so happy to meet them both and hold the Peace Torch together ...
... travelling with them was Merv Chapple, who is paraplegic and drives a specially modified truck he can control with his hands. Merv was so much at one with the spirit of the Peace Run that he wanted one of our T-shirts to wear! We were so happy to give him one and wish him and Duky and Gerard well on their travels ...
Not far down the road was Frank Concilia from Wesley College in Melbourne. Wesley College has a special partnership with the Fitzroy Valley community and students are involved with programs at Yiramalay-Wesley Studio School – some of whose teachers our boys team had met with on the road yesterday – experiencing Aboriginal culture ...
... Frank was travelling home with Chloe ...
... and Olive, a mentor in the program and a traditional owner of the Gooniyandi land ...
...the three of them joined the Peace Run for a little while! It was so great to meet you all ...
After our miles were over it was time for a long drive over the distance the boys had done earlier in the day, into Halls Creek ...
... in search of a supermarket due to a serious shortage of chocolate, we were delighted to discover a local football game in progress. We took the Peace Torch down to the spectators and made so many beautiful and enthusiastic new friends ...
... including Roberta ...
... and Shannon.
By this time the boys had checked in to our accommodation for tonight ...
... the owners and managers of the Halls Creek Caravan Park, Jackie and Roland from Argentina, were happy to support our efforts with accommodation. They enjoy supporting charity events and they feel what we are doing is very worthwhile. On hearing that we are an international team, Roland told us about his joy of travelling, and that he visited 62 countries so far (many of them for many times) ...
... our dedicated team working late at night at our campsite to bring you, our dear dedicated readers, this daily report. Thank you so much for your kind support in following our journey!
