Looking out the window this morning, everything is covered in ice and frost. Strange. It seems like just yesterday we were running through such oppressive heat in the Outback!
Purevdorj notices me taking a photo of the morning and invites me to take my shoes off and walk on the frosty grass for good health. I was sure he was joking ...
... though Drishalu did not have to be asked twice.
Nothing surprises me anymore.
We have to arrange breakfast for ourselves this morning. I decided to shout the boys breakfast at a café in town. The smiles of absolute contentment gave me added warmth. Still had my running shoes on, though!
By now, our girls team had departed, to run the last 10km back into Gloucester ...
... it was a crisp bright morning, perfect for running.
It was great to be able to see Gloucester by daylight as we had arrived in late last night ...
... we now could appreciate the 'Gloucester Buckets' which dominate the skyline of Gloucester.
Our first port of call today was to meet representatives of the town of Gloucester at their Civic Centre.
We were met by Mayor John Rosenbaum and his wife Dianna. Also present was Aunty Norma Fisher and Lucy, a very active volunteer in the community.
One of those greeting us was a Worimi Elder. Her name was Aunty Norma Fisher and she greeted us by saying, ”Welcome you all to Worimi Country, we pray to all our elders past and present as you journey through Worimi Country from the mountain to the sea. The spirits of our elders will share your walk with you as they went walk about on this land. Cherish our country and time together and leave peace in your hearts.”
This greeting was very moving.
Mayor Rosenbaum then welcomed us. He and his wife had actually seen us running with the Peace Torch in Tumut on the very first day of our journey after we left Canberra back in late April! – so it was great to meet up with him and Diana again as we near the end of this epic.
The Mayor was proud to tell us about the many volunteer projects which have sprung up in Gloucester and we were able to find many parallels between the spirit of service required to be involved in volunteer work and our own Peace Run. These things don’t just happen by themselves. They need heart-power, energy and the will to proceed. We congratulate and honour the volunteers of Gloucester and beyond!
Lucy is one of the active volunteers in the Gloucester community.
We were then invited in to have some juice and fruit that the council had provided. What a great way to start your day!
All too soon we had to leave and start running to Krambach where we were to meet students from Krambach Public School ...
Odgiiv bolted out of the stables first ...
... shortly followed by Purevdorj. Those Mongolians don’t hold back!
Could you really afford this 400 acres of land and a veteran Peace Runner thrown in as well?
The sign says it all ...
... here our team was greeted at the gate by cheering students, one of whom then lead the team into the school.
Over the last week the students had been studying about the Peace Run and had been thinking about ways in which they could make the world a better place, looking at the small things they can change in their own lives, with the realisation that small things do make a big difference to the world.
The students had prepared Peace Doves for us with Peace Pledges on them. Each of the students read out their pledges to us.
At the end of the ceremony the two school captains, Jakey and Emily, came up the receive the Certificate of Appreciation, and thanked us on behalf of the school for coming to visit them.
As our team was saying goodbye to the students, one of them came up to one of the Peace Runners and said, "Peace be with you out there, take care out there."
There was a treat in store for the runners as well: the teachers had baked some sweets for us! We were all invited into the staff room to have a cuppa and little snack before we continued on our journey ...
The teams then split the kms to the next school ...
Our girls team was fortunate enough to run the last 10km into Forster.
John and Lynne stopped in their car, as they were curious about what we were doing. It really is a striking sight to see a runner carrying the burning flame aloft through a country and it touches people in many different ways. John told me that they themselves were on a mission of peace that day and that our meeting was particularly poignant. The Run’s impact is more far-reaching than we can know. Some people tell us their stories and some people are affected in more private ways, but the influence is there all the same.
We left one runner out on the road as the rest of the team went on to Forster Public School. This was a beautiful 4km run through the streets of Tuncurry to Coolongolook River and up and over the bridge into Forster to arrive at the school.
When we arrived at Forster Public School, 600 students were eagerly awaiting our arrival ...
... a sea of bright young faces greeted us and powerfully vocalised their good will.
This time, the Circle of Peace was so big that we needed to use three torches to give the opportunity to make a wish for peace to each child before home time! Every one of those wishes is now on its way to our destination.
We spoke for a while with the Assistant Principal, Francoise Dupen, about the importance of spiritual nourishment in the education of children today. She noted that we spend a lot of time developing the mind and the body at school, yet the inner life is a little neglected. She felt this was of particular importance at her school where some of the kids had had a difficult background. She thanked us profusely for coming with our simple message and she believed that our visit had been a valuable lesson for her pupils.
Thank you Forster Public School!
It was then a quick 700m run to Holy Name School.
Here Karla and Jack met the runners at the school entrance and led us ...
... onto the stage where we met about 350 students.
They were all fantastic at guessing the countries we were from ...
... and seemed to really understand the concept of Peace.
We were short on time before the end of school bell so the team ran out to the vans to light a few more torches so that each of the students had the opportunity to make their wish or prayer for peace.
At the end of the ceremony, Mark the Principal commented to us all saying that they had only just been talking about wanting a school the children create, saying we either do something about Peace, or we don't. He spoke of the Peace Run running all the way around Australia, about simply offering that message to people and knowing it is right. He admired everyone for what we are doing, and asked all the students to honour the Peace Run by thinking about its message.
We slowly made our way out of the school talking to different students (including Ella) on the way ...
... when you get touched by a school like this one, you notice the Peace Runners are dragging their feet a little as we depart.
This was the end of our running for our girls team today and with all the excitement of meeting the three different schools and the Mayor we had all completely forgotten to each lunch!
So with time to spare we made our way back to the beach front and enjoyed a picnic, before travelling to our accommodation for the evening ...
Meanwhile, our first boys team ran a further 14 kilometres to where their finishing point should have been ...
Drishalu is either standing still, sitting still or running fast over the last 3½ months. I can’t remember him doing anything else ...
Our last runner completed his last 4km but he can’t find the marker which is supposed to mark the finishing point ...
... so he kept running until we realised that we may have missed the mark. It turns out that the other boys team who were to have set the marker as their starting point arrived late because they had been down by the lake – another example of the many small challenges which we encounter en route ...
Maybe we should stop worrying about those extra kms we just ran and enjoy a late lunch on the beach?
A message to any Mongolians watching from space ...
... and had the other team indeed been "wasting time down by the lake?"
Well, maybe, just a little ...
... but when we saw the other team's van drive past, we knew we had better get back to the road and start running, lest they overshoot the marker we hadn't yet left out! (oops) ...
We happily polished off the remaining kms for the day ...
Jaival brought us to our accommodation venue ...
Tonight we are staying in the Pacific Palms Caravan Park in Elizabeth Beach.
We were made to feel very welcome by John, Helen and Sophia Morley and these tired runners were able to sleep soundly, ready for another day ...
The location is truly stunning and is a stone’s throw away from ...
... Elizabeth Beach, affectionately known simply as "Lizzie."
