A few of the team went to see the sunrise over the dunes this morning, it was cloudy but still the sun gave us a beautiful start to our day.
Others went to the end of the pier ...
... either to swim ...
... or meditate on the sunrise ...
Those fantastic dunes which gave us so much joy yesterday, awakening to a new day ...
We all thought we had an easy day today and, having enjoyed our night of camping, it got off to a sedate start ...
We were off the grid last night (no internet or phone coverage) so writing our schedule for today was done the old fashioned way with a map book and memory of our turns. As we had travelled on what seemed to be an unmapped road yesterday, it was a bit of guess work to figure out where we had ended up on the road. This lead to a little bit of an extension for the girls team running miles today ...
But our girls were up to it!
Not hard to figure out what this fellow was ...
Once we saw that our kms for the day had risen from 58 to 83 we started to do a 'triple leap' to try and get them done as soon as possible.
Because we only had two torches on board, and the triple-leap requires three runners to be on the road at any one time, Baigal came up with the idea to carry our Peace Run brochure as the third Torch.
We weren't sure where the Nullarbor Plain was supposed to start, but this morning we had trees and hills, so it obviously hasn't started yet!
We were keen to run our kms as quickly as possible, as we had lunch on board for the other two teams up ahead... and no phone coverage to let them know what had happened.
To see the vast flat land as far as the eye can see is something most remarkable. We look forward to the rest of our days in this stunning part of Australia ...
A number of hours later, a little after the normal lunch time we pulled up to the other vans and quickly handed out the lunch. They all said it was the most delicious lunch they had ever had. It might be because they were starving, but we took the compliment and started on dinner prep ... Meanwhile, what had the other teams been up to all this time? ...
Without any ceremonies or scheduled meetings today, our two boys teams 'teamed up' and ran our kms in tandem. Our two van captains for the day were Bayarkhuu from Mongolia ('Genghis Khan') and Adrien from France ('Napoleon') ...
Today we tried something a little different: in keeping with the tradition set by Sri Chinmoy, we had a Saturday morning 2-mile race (today being Saturday).
Rather than all the runners setting off at the same time and running the same course together, we each ran our own timed 2-mile (3.2 km) leg with the Torch ...
The results are as follows:
Grahak – 12:11
Adrien ('Napoleon'), leading the way for his van with 11:30, his all-time best time for 2 miles!
Drishalu – 12:42. His time included a stop and a chat with a passing truck driver who even offered him a donation!
'Genghis Khan' Bayarkhuu warming up ...
... and he's off!
... clocking 12:39 at the finish line.
Bystanders offered polite appreciation ...
Antara-Prabhat in his warm-up stretches while the previous runner looms into view ...
Getting into his stride ...
... and finishing with a surging sprint to take the best time of the day and win the 'race' with 11:29!
Full results of our "Self-Transcendence" 2-mile race for Saturday 25 May:
Antara-Prabhat 11:29
Adrien 11:30
Bayarkhuu 12:39
Amalendu 12:11
Grahak 12:11
Drsalu 12:42
Ion 15:27
Salil 16:01
Steve 16:33
Then it was back to a more measured pace for the remainder of the morning ...
Robin & Winki from Perth, travelled as far as the 12 Apostles (Victoria), and are traveling back to Perth to see whether they want to buy a touring van. They've had such a good time, it looks like they will. They were such happy, kindhearted people who've seen us several times along the road. They finally stopped to hold the torch – perhaps attracted by Adrien's socks!
There are many ways to occupy the time while waiting for a runner to arrive. One is to hurl rocks at a chosen tree, and see who can hit said tree the most times ...
Now it is official: we are on the Nullarbor Plain. Can it stop Napoleon's advance?
I've never been to a place this flat, or this wide. In fact, the sky stretches beyond the horizon in either direction, as far as the eye can see.
This world of ours is inconceivably large. Only if we see a photo of the earth from space, we can wrap our head around it.
With plenty of time on our hands, we stopped for a few hours at the Head of Bight Visitor's Centre. Terry & Clare Hardy, who manage the visitor's centre and happily allowed our team free admission for some whale watching, kindly held the torch.
Other visitors joined our team even on the short way to the cliff-tops ...
This section of coastline attracts a regular group of Southern Right Whales each Winter. Whales or no whales, it is a scene of power and grandeur ...
We knew there were whales out there somewhere ...
Look! Over there! ...
We were lucky enough to see six whales, but it's not uncommon to have 40-60 come through in the peak season of late August ...
Some of our international guests are not as familiar with flies as we are: our American photographer and report writer for today went to the trouble of highlighting the mere 12 flies attracted to Grahak's back and hat during the whale watching ...
A magnificent panorama ...
Then it was back to the road for the final few kms to the Nullarbor Roadhouse. The 2 mile race this morning took its toll on our senior runners. We are all tired, but ready to do the remainder ...
The sun is making a beeline towards the horizon as Bayarkhuu arrives at our destination ...
... the Nullarbor Hotel Motel, where we are most grateful to have been offered free camping for the night.
By the time we cross the Nullarbor we'll all be bona fide, certified camping officials!
Preparing our evening meal over the gas cooker ...
... and working on today's photos and report in Suite B16 ...
Our camping next-door neighbour, Marion from Hopetown, WA was delighted to hold the Peace Torch, and said she would have loved to have joined our team.
We have set up camp just in time to enjoy an unforgettable twilight and sunset.
The sun merely vacated the stage for a rising red full moon, bathing our campsite in its soothing light.
