Team A

With bright sunlight warming the chilly morning air and a somewhat milder breeze than yesterday, we began our run out of Norseman. Heading in a southerly direction, the road was noticeably quieter with only the occasional car or truck passing by.

There was a lot of stretching done by each runner today, our legs a bit stiff from the plenitude of running over the last week. However after two or three kilometres on the road the muscles warm up and it’s happy running.

Today we passed a really, really long train – 128 carriages long in fact. It was over a kilometre long and took over two minutes to pass us.

We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch after the four of us each ran at least 17 km, clocking up a total of 75 km.

As we made our way to Esperance, dark clouds approached, promising heavy showers. Sandro Zincarini from Italy and myself were the lucky ones to get a soaking as we ran into Esperance Primary School, where all the children welcomed us with cheers and gasps of awe at the sight of the Torch.

The children were full of energy and they thoroughly enjoyed learning the World-Harmony-Run Song and its actions. It’s a great sight to see hundreds of feet running on the spot and hundreds of hands lifting into the air as we sing!

We played some fun games that had everyone bursting with excitement and then there was silence, as all cherished a moment of inner harmony. And finally came the passing of the Torch.

Before departing, we asked some of the students of Esperance Primary School to share their views on harmony.

From the school we made our way to Esperance Yacht Club on the foreshore where we were warmly received by local councillors.

We introduced the team and had a pleasant informal meeting, telling stories of our experiences on the Run so far. We were extremely well looked after. The Council had prepared an exquisite buffet of fruit, sandwiches and cakes for us which we thoroughly enjoyed after our day's running!

Esperance Shire Deputy President Cr. Beverly Stewart had extremely kind words to say about the Run and she received the Torch and Certificate of Appreciation with a beaming smile. Coming from a farming background, she apologised for not being sorry for the rain, explaining that it was truly welcome!

– Colm Magee (Ireland)

Team B

Some days on the road are busy busy busy with meetings and ceremonies. Other days bring long long long miles of hard toil. Today was like a fine tea – a soothing, fragrant blend of eucalypt forest, open farmland, salt lakes, sunshine, showers, helpful winds, enigmatic clouds, gentle running, waving motorists, a rainbow ... and a small country school.

Salmon Gums is a small settlement nearly 100 km south of Norseman, presumably named after the colour of the predominant gum trees of the area, the bark of which perfectly matches the salmon-hued soil.

The school is the daytime home to 17 students, all of whom we got to know by name in the course of our informal chat about our purpose and what we can all do to try and make our world a better place.

School Principal Anne Thomson was most gracious in accommodating our team at late notice.

Every child held the World Harmony Run Torch, which the elder ones then carried around a lap of the school oval, teachers and members of our team in tow.

The remainder of our day was a serene contemplation of the beauty and bounty of our surroundings, and our immense good fortune to be participants in this journey.

Esperance is commonly known as one of the friendliest towns in Australia, and tonight we have seen why. Our team is being hosted by several motels in Esperance, all of whom have shown us boundless kindness.

Pauline of Best Western Hospitality Inn on the Esplanade is graciously putting up most of our team in 2 spacious units;

Rod and Pam (with their two lovely children) of The Jetty Resort are generously hosting our late-night web report team;

Greg Hosking of the Captain Huon Motel has offered a deluxe room for half of our girls' team; while the remainder of the girls are enjoying the hospitality of Paul Kelly of the Bayview Motel (photo coming tomorrow).

– Prachar Stegemann (Australia)

Team C

After staying at our beautiful accommodation in Norseman, we ran down the road to meet everyone at ...

This is THE school to attend in Norseman, with classes catering for children from kindy through to primary and high school. They even have a few mature-age students! What versatility.

We were met at the entrance by Lourdes Has who is the Office Registrar. She kindly brought us drinks and held the Torch, chatting with us whilst waiting for the children to assemble. Lourdes remarked: “It is a privilege for me to hold the Torch." Thanks for the sweet welcome Lourdes.

Principal Ray Denholm came out to welcome us and set us up at the end of a path to run into the outdoor assembly area for our grand entrance, where the children all clapped and cheered.

We played a lengthy guessing game for our countries of origin and spoke about the 2008 World Harmony Run. Everyone joined in singing and doing the actions for our song, and shouted the cheer: “Harmony begins with me!”

A quiet moment was shared ...

Next we all linked hands in the sunshine and began passing the Torch around.

Running with the Torch came naturally to these children as they took off at top speed, dodging bushes and play equipment with ease. We did a lap of the play area, then reassembled for the presentation of our Certificate of Appreciation. The children had many questions to ask which the runners answered together.

Lynn Herbert, the Secondary Principal, said on closing to the team, “You brightened everyone’s spirits today.” Thank you Lynn, it always makes us feel brighter sharing the light of the Torch with school children as well.

Running towards Esperance, we noticed the scenery changing a lot; from beautiful trees with shiny golden red trunks, to small lakes with serene ducks floating by, to expansive salt lakes and clouds forming and reforming. After some welcome rain we were blessed with another rainbow peeking above the trees.

Nataliya Lehonkova from Ukraine was running at dusk in the rain when a father with two children in a car pulled up beside her and chatted as she ran. He announced that our team is visiting his children’s school tomorrow. As he drove alongside her on this temporarily empty road into town, he called out, “How many kilometres are you now running?” Nataliya replied cheerfully, “10 km,” and on she went, picking up the pace.

Our final runner for the evening, Friederike Makowka from Switzerland, was also running ahead in the rain when someone called out to her. A family were making the most of this shower and working together in their garden. They said earlier today they saw runners go past and took the opportunity now to investigate. The lady shook Friederike's hand, exclaiming: “Nice to meet you. Welcome to Esperance!” and asked many questions.

We are all very happy to be here in Esperance and look forward to seeing it in the morning light!

– Kylie Williams (Australia)

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Team Members:
Kylie Williams (Australia), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Angela Muhs (Germany), Friederike Makowka (Switzerland), Elke Lindner (Germany), Prabhakar Street (Canada), Colm Magee (Ireland), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic), Runar Gigja (Iceland), Misha Kulagin (Russia), Dima Lehonkov (Ukraine), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Shapathanal Daly (New Zealand), Veeraja Uppal (Australia), Prachar Stegemann (Australia), Edi Serban (Romania)

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

Gallery: See more images!

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