Our team awoke well rested and grateful for the comfortable beds of the Park Drive Motel where we had stayed for the night in Kempsey.
We were also able to enjoy a report in the Daily Examiner, published this morning, of our visit on Tuesday to Clarence Valley Anglican School in Grafton.
The day began with the 2 “old girls” of the team – Niribili and Constance, running from the motel through the main mall of Kempsey, with two of the motel staff running with us. The ladies were incredibly curious and asked many questions about the run. The younger team members were inspired by the willingness of Niribili and Constance to give their best.
The students of Kempsey West school gave some profound answers as to why they were important in spreading the message of peace, including: “So we can remind our parents not to forget to be peaceful”.
The mayor of Kempsey, Liz Campbell then addressed the school and spoke very insightfully and from the heart.
The school visit ended with the planting of a Lilly Pilly Peace Tree.
Chantaya and Carlin helped plant the tree and proudly held the Peace Torch aloft with the Mayor.
This meeting was promptly reported in The Macleay Argus, which had an online report published almost before the team was out of town!
Both teams then headed out towards Port Macquarie. Part of this route unavoidably took the boys team along some beautiful country roads amongst the forest.
The absence of significant volumes of traffic on these roads offered the opportunity for some recreational pursuits while we awaited the arrival of our team runner.
The peace of the dirt roads couldn't last forever, as we recalled our task to find peace even amidst the hustle and bustle of our frantic world.
We ended this section of our run ...
... at Gaol Point ...
... where we were met by an enthusiastic reception ...
... including the Acting Mayor of the Port Macquarie Hastings Council, Lisa Intemann.
This meeting was both reported on and videoed by Matthew Attard of Port Macquarie News, whose story and video of Lisa Intemann's wonderful speech, was online this afternoon.
The meeting place was spectacular. The reception was on a lookout with the backdrop of a sparkling and amazingly beautiful Pacific Ocean.
You can also read about this meeting on enginenews.com, which is updating the latest news on the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run regularly.
Time to "hit the road" again!
The girls team then knuckled down to cover the distance of a full afternoon of running, with all 6 team members once again taking turns.
We caught up with the boys team as they were being interviewed by Cameron for the local community radio station 104.7FM. Nurari then spoke from the girls team's perspective.
We are staying tonight at three locations, for which we are extremely grateful: the Dawson River Tourist Park ...
... the Caravilla Motel in Taree ...
... and the Comfort Inn Marco Polo, where we have been reading about our first school visit for tomorrow morning in the Manning River Times.
