Today we left the comfortable surrounds of our studio apartments at the Port Hedland Caravan Park with absolutely no complaints ...
... especially after our 'anything you could think of' breakfast and complimentary lunch packs ...
... not surprisingly we were a bit slow rounding up some of the runners for our morning meeting with the Mayor ...
... at Cemetary Beach Park in Port Hedland.
I had been looking forward to this Ceremony for weeks, after regular correspendence with Port Hedland Mayor Kelly Howlett ...
... whose kindness and enthusiasm was abundant from the onset of our communications.
The Council of Port Hedland had chosen six outstanding members of the community to receive the Peace Run Torch-Bearer award for their tireless commitment to developing the community spirit of Port Hedland. Each was introduced in turn by Mayor Howlett.
The recipients were Robyn Middleton (not pictured) for her service through the RSL ...
... Anna Jadzinski, for her service in the St Vincent de Paul organisation in South Hedland ...
... Bob Neville from the Bloodwood Tree Association, for service to the betterment of Aboriginal people ...
... Joanie Foley (pictured later in this report) from the Hedland Community Living Association for her service to those with disabilities; Tony McGrory (pictured) from Red Cross Port Hedland for his long service with the Red Cross and many other organisations in Port Hedland ...
... and Tom Keefe from Finucane Island Sports Club for his fundraising efforts for many community causes ...
... it was a moving experience meeting these wonderful community members who were clearly more than deserving of the Torch-Bearer Award ...
... we then surprised Mayor Kelly Howlett ...
... by presenting her with a Torch-Bearer Award also as she is very clearly more than deserving of this honour ...
... Port Hedland is in the hands of one extremely dedicated, capable, joyful, self-giving mayor!
Reporters from the Northwest Telegraph attended and will publish the story about this community event next Wednesday ...
... the Peace Runners felt embraced by the heart of Port Hedland through all present at the Ceremony and enjoyed chatting with them afterwards immensely, hearing more of their great life stories ...
We made friends with Katie, who has visited the statue of Peace Run founder Sri Chinmoy in Perth.
Three local runners attended the ceremony, ready to run out of town with us. Jackie, Colin and Bruce all proved to be good athletes ...
... carrying the torch for over 10 kilometres ...
... while we just tried to stay in touch ...
... Bruce and Colin are both triathletes as well as runners; Jackie wanted to run with us and then continue some more kilometres as training for her first marathon ...
... our route out of town was a veritable guided tour of the area's scenic spots ...
... its dynamic expansion ...
... and its industries ...
Table salt for a very, very, very large table!
Salt is exported from here by the train and shipload ...
... with both boys' teams and 4 photographers on hand, we made sure we had all of the angles covered for tonight's report ...
Thanks so much to Jackie, Colin and Bruce for giving us such a flying start to our running for the day!
Meanwhile, back in town ...
... after the Ceremony at the Beach Park, our girls team had gone to the community radio station 101.3 FM with Torch-Bearer recipient Joanie Foley (who went on air still wearing her new award). Her work at the community radio station is just one of her “babies”. She said she feels that the radio station is like “two arms that reach out and hug the community” ...
... Joanie interviewed us 'live' about the Peace Run. Her love and support for the Peace Run we all felt deeply ...
... she also very kindly offered us souvenir T-shirts from the radio station which we will all wear happily and proudly ...
Then it was down to the serious business of covering those kms around Australia!
We were running again with our good old friend from the last few days – Mrs. Headwind ☺
As usual, today was a fine and sunny day which we enjoyed very much ...
... (in case you're wondering how far we are from these particular places) ...
It's very nice to watch how the landscape is changing. Every day and every moment is very very new. For example today we have been running next to some impressively big rocks which are dotted around the flat landscape. They evoke in your heart a very special feeling when you are passing them ...
... every moment is different.
During Ion's run we had a short dip in one of the rivers we crossed. We are all amazed that the rivers in this region can be so cold. However we are delighted by how clean the water is, and how revitalised we feel after a quick swim.
Here comes Jan Gardner, who is cycling around Australia ...
... in the opposite direction to us!
Jan explains that she chose the counter-clockwise direction because the wind would be kinder that way. We have to say, based on our experience of the last few days, we would agree!
Jan's husband is accompanying her as her support crew on her journey ...
... and with that, Jan was on her way – and we on ours ...
At first glance the plants seem all the same, but when you look closely you discover many different varieties of flower growing alongside the road ...
... when we find something while running along, we bring it back for the rest of the team to enjoy ...
In this climate, the plants have to be very tough to survive and usually are sharp ...
... or scratchy!
Afterward we met a lot of interesting cows which were probably relatives to camels, because they had a hump on their backs ☺
On completing our running for the day we met Janet at Pardoo Roadhouse, where we thought we were staying. When it turned out we were actually booked in to stay at Pardoo Station which was 46 km away, she offered us free camping at her place! We are very grateful to Janet for saving us an extra 92 km of driving and being so spontaneous to accept the whole team at Pardoo Roadhouse. I spoke by phone with Lisa of Pardoo Station who was very understanding when I explained where we were, and she invited us to come to her place next time ...
After setting up tents at our lovely grassy campground ...
... the boys made a quick excursion to the beach. Fortunately for us ...
... the Park Ranger Steve let us in for free ...
... and was happy to hold the Torch ...
... his pet kangaroo also wanted to hold the torch, but ...
... was a little shy in front of so many cameras.
Steve pointed the way to the beach ...
Down at the beach we discovered the tide was a long way out ...
... which presented an opportunity to study the intertidal ecosystem (all the creatures that live in rock pools) and have a little dip in the larger ones ...
Back at our campground, our 3 Czech boys prepared yet another gourmet feast for the whole hungry but happy team ...
Good night, sleep tight!
