This morning we all departed nice and early to make our way from Brisbane down to the Gold Coast, over the section we had run yesterday ...
We arrived a few minutes early at the request of Channel 9 news ...
... as they wanted to film the team and get some interviews before we met with the Mayor.
We then ran to the entrance of the Council building where the Mayor of Gold Coast City, Councillor Tom Tate was waiting to welcome us ...
Mayor Tate received us at the Council Chambers. The Mayor welcomed us to the Gold Coast and spoke of the multicultural nature his city. We were surprised to learn that he had visited most of the countries represented by the team, including Mongolia!
The mayor himself is a shining example of the cultural diversity of the Gold Coast, as he was born in Laos to a Thai mother and Australian father.
Mayor Tate had a letter for the ACT Chief Minister that he asked us to take with us to Canberra and present to her along with letters from all the mayors we have met with along our way.
After the ceremony, the council staff present and also the crew of Channel 9 News all wanted to hold the Peace Torch and offer their own personal wishes for peace ...
Then our girls team went to our start location for the day ...
Here it was an easy 10km run for our whole team ...
... as we only had such a short amount of kms, we opted to wait for each runner as we came in, passing the Torch from one to the next ...
While we waited we went down to the beach front to just sit and look at the ocean and enjoy its beauty.
We were running all along the water front today, at times we ran down on the beach ...
... or on the side walk next to the beach.
The Gold Coast has such a summer holiday feeling that it was hard to believe it was a work day today. Everyone we met was so relaxed and friendly, either on their lunch break or on holiday themselves.
Running with the Pacific Ocean on one side and in stark contrast, these big high rises on the other. In some strange way they seem to fit together just perfectly here ...
Our finish point for today was Mermaid Beach ...
... here we met Voh and Marcus who were visiting the Gold Coast. Marcus had seen us on the road further north. As we left, Voh wished us a beautiful day on this beautiful planet of ours ...
We finished quite early in the day so went back to one of the parks to sit and relax ...
... here some of the team went for a quick swim in the strong ocean before making our way to Palm Beach to meet up with the other teams for a late lunch ...
Meanwhile, afer the meeting with the mayor, our boys teams consulted on the route to be taken for today ...
... team captain Sukhajata, worked his phones ...
... while Ion plotted with the maps ...
We were delighted to learn that our day of running was going to be on the beach down the world famous and absolutely gorgeous Gold Coast. What a treat after pounding the streets of the inner city!
... but first, some running along the beachfront cycle/pedestrian pathways ...
... and then we hit the beach :-)
Maybe it’s because Gold Coast is so sublimely beautiful ...
... or maybe it’s because there were probably a lot of relaxed and happy people on holiday here, but whatever the reason ...
... we found everyone we passed or bumped into to be powerfully positive and supportive of the Peace Run.
We were stopped so many times by curious people who wanted to know our mission ...
... and then of course to participate by holding the Torch, that we were making very slow progress for a while.
... so slow, in fact that we overtook the same walking couple (in the background of this photo) about four times as they passed us again and again while we were sharing the Peace Run with many new found friends!
Heaven!
The vans shadowed us all the way along this famous beachfront ...
Nearing the southern end of the magnificent Gold Coast ...
... our running finished today as we crossed the border into New South Wales ...
... another milestone on this epic journey and another step towards our ultimate goal of World Peace, one step at a time.
Having finished early today, both teams met up in a local park for a late lunch ...
Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to YHA Australia for their outstanding generosity in donating our accommodation for the night. Without this kind of gesture of support, the Peace Run would be very difficult to stage and is another example how by working together, great things can be achieved. We were met by Kit Richards, who gave us a warm welcome. Thank you YHA!
Soon after arriving, and by a lovely coincidence, we saw ourselves on Channel 9's 6 o’clock news. Now there’s a thing, good news on the evening news ... sounds like progress!
