The winter weather so far in Australia has been perfect for the Harmony Run. Although much-needed rain is yet to fall in country NSW, many of the locals have expressed the attitude, ‘if it’s not going to rain, this is the type of weather we want’.

After spending the night at Wagga Wagga, we made our way to Gundagai Primary School. Councillor Wendy Chomley took time out of her busy day to welcome the Harmony Runners into Gundagai and presented us with a fascinating book on the town. We discovered within its pages that Gundagai was almost totally washed away in a flood in 1852 and then rebuilt. Thanks Wendy for the kind gift.

Gundagai Primary students listened attentively to our talk on world harmony and confirmed that they would work towards harmony in their school grounds. They expressed the spirit of harmony and oneness as they shared the torch amongst themselves during our run around the school oval.

We left the school and ran on to one of the town’s famous icons the Dog on the Tucker Box, a monument to a famous Australian bush ballad of the same name.

A generous portion of the day's kilometres were covered by our good friend Carl (above left, in front of the Dog). An ultra-distance specialist, he is on his way to Europe to compete in an Iron Man event in France. Carl was inspired by the ideals of the Harmony Run, and couldn’t wait to hit the road. I am sure he will do Australia proud in Europe as he dug out a hard 30km run today. It was the day of ultra-runners on the Harmony Run as ultra-runner Rathin Boulton also carried the torch for many kilometres along our journey today.

The run stopped in at Jugiong Public School, where we were formerly greeted by Councillor Pat O’Connor and his wife Rita. This was one of the smallest schools we have visited so far, but the children and teachers made up for size with their warm greetings. The children held the torch and made some great wishes for world harmony. The principal, Russell Peck then told us about some of the local history of the town and school over hot drinks. It was revealed to us that the great Richie Benaud grew up in the area and attended the school. He even donated the funds for the school cricket nets. Thanks for the tea and biscuits guys.

The children led us on an energetic lap of their cross-country course around the playground.

The second team got off to an early start and attended a ceremony in Yass, greeted by Cathy Campbell from the local council. The runners took part in a reconciliation walk with students gathered from three different schools, in celebration of Reconciliation Week. Local elders Greg and Eric gave a talk on the importance of indigenous understanding and living together in harmony.

Sarah completed a marathon out on the road. covering most of the kilometres for the team. Congratulations Sarah! - Stuart

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