We left early from Denmark this morning after a chilly night camping out.
Bayarkhuu meets a passerby who was interested in our activities.
The road out of Denmark is extremely picturesque.
Bayarkhuu (Mongolia) got into stride very quickly. He has been one of our main runners, covering over 20km per day.
Our boys team arrived early for our reception at the ‘Tree Top Walk’ in the Valley of the Giants.
This area gets it name from the huge Kari and Tingle trees which have been protected here from logging.
Some of them are over 70 metres tall and up to 400 years old.
The ‘Tree Walk’ is a huge cat-walk structure that spans 450 metres in length and reaches a height of 50 metres.
It is really quite breathtaking walking through the trees at such a height ...
... especially when looking down.
We were greeted by the Assistant Business Manager, Daniel Webb, and staff members Charmaine and Julie.
Daniel has been working at the facility since the year 2000 and has met thousands of tourists coming to view these natural wonders.
Every year over 140,000 tourists visit this spectacle.
While waiting for the girls team to arrive from their running stint, we took the opportunity to present Daniel with an Appreciation Certificate, have a few photos with the staff and do a quick traverse of the walk.
Later when the girls team arrived we were treated to a sumptuous morning tea carefully prepared to be healthy and appetising.
Before we departed, the team presented Daniel with the Peace Run Torch-Bearer Award for his dedicated work with the community at the Tree Top Walk and through his favourite passtime project the “Black Dog Ride” which raises funds to help people with depression.
Arriving in Walpole brought back memories of the 2013 Peace Run when we also stopped off at Pioneer Park at the Peace Plaque.
At that time Councillor David Tapley received a Torch-Bearer award ...
... along with Dianne Pickersgill, who helps orphans in Nepal.
Both were present again to meet the runalong with friends and fellow servers in the community ...
... Monty Sanders (86 years old) ...
... Luna Korchinski (this is her art installation in the Peace Garden) ...
... Gloria Jackson ...
... and many others.
We sang the Peace Run Song beside the plaque dedicating Walpole as a Sri Chinmoy Peace Town.
Councillor David then spoke about the contribution Mike Filby has made to the Shire of Manjimup, the cleaning of over 100km of road side rubbish. He does this every fortnight! He helps David with many projects around town, particularly the park which they have been continuously improving. Mike was very humble in receiving his Torch-Bearer award, naming all the people present as playing as big a part as himself.
Following the formalities we went over to the shelter and found an incredible array of food waiting for us.
Dave and Monty got the billy boiling and made traditional Aussie tea.
We found ourselves chatting and eating with this lovely community for an hour but had more miles to run.
They cheered off the departing runner as we set off for the afternoon's run to the Northcliffe turn-off.
This whole day's running has been through some of most beautiful roads of Australia.
The tall trees were lining the road as we made our way through the undulating countryside towards the west.
Our girls team are staying tonight at Jenny's Lake Farmstay ...
... hosted by Jenny and Jerry.
Other guests here include Claire and 93-year-old Enzo.
After completing our mileage, our boys team drove back to Walpole Wilderness Resort, owned by Rhonda who also sponsored the Peace Run team in 2013.
Rhonda's friends, Brett and Sandy hold the Peace Torch.
Rhonda's newest family member was shown to the team, a rejected twin joey called Lady Daisy. We were offered the same chalet to stay in as we had in 2013. It overlooks a beautiful valley, home to many kangaroos. The spa was most welcome after completing our biggest day of mileage so far.
