After a deep and refreshing night's sleep, our day began by thanking and farewelling our generous hosts at Fremantle Village.

The team is happy to thank Prabuddha Nicol for his tireless efforts organising the Run through Western Australia, and to welcome him into the daily running team up the west coast and on to Darwin.

Running from where we had left off yesterday, our first official engagement was a mere 300 metres along the road in Kings Square in the middle of town where we were graciously welcomed by Mayor Peter Tagliaferri, on behalf of the City of Fremantle.

Also present was local Australian Rules footballing hero Daniel Gilmore, representing the Fremantle Dockers AFL Team,

and 40 children from the nearby Lance Holt School.

On behalf of the children, Jesse Giblett read a beautiful poem she had composed for the occasion:

I miss you peace

Like the flower misses the nurturing rays of the sun

In the cold wrath of the winter

Peace is the thing that overcomes and conquers the

Commercialism and greed and war in this world

Peace is the feeling you get when you're totally at one

With everyone and everything around you

And you feel as though all the atoms and bits of your being could

Flow into the trees and the air and everything beautiful

And you wouldn't feel any sorrow or pain

All you would feel is a great sensation of contentment and bliss

As though a blanket of rainbows had engulfed

Your entire being

I miss you peace

– Jesse Giblett

After the ceremony, Daniel Gilmore led the runners on their way towards Cottesloe Beach, running alongside the beautiful Indian Ocean and some of Australia's most popular surfing beaches.

Thanks to Ray Truswell, a Perth local, for leading us through the streets of the city and out to the beaches.

The run from Fremantle to Cottesloe was an unusual experience for the World Harmony Run because, strangely enough, we were running ahead of schedule.

But rather than try to understand this momentous event, we took full advantage of our spare time. Leading the run along the beautiful (if overcast) surf coast, WA co-ordinator Prabuddha Nicol made a few detours, leading a small group of us on a mini-sightseeing tour of the nooks and crannies of the beaches along the way.

When we finally arrived at North Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club, we still had time to kill, so we engaged in many useful and significant activities.

We met with the Life Saving Club’s Tegan Maffescioni and Tom Nolan, two of the young people who keep the beach safe.

They invited us to North Cottesloe Beach, the west coast’s answer to Bondi Beach, where we had a sprint race using the flags of different nations. (Dima Lehonkov from Ukraine won, to nobody’s surprise, followed by Shapathanal Myers-Daly from New Zealand.)

After the relay, a few boys joined life-saving champion Tom for a spot of bodysurfing, throwing themselves into the intense surf. The beach isn’t so crowded at this time of year, and – unlike, say, the Gold Coast or Broome – winter is more than apparent in Perth today. But even the winter chill couldn’t dissuade the most ardent beach-goers in the team.

As we arrived at Quintilian Primary School in Mount Claremont the children were cheering from the gate and lining up to form a corridor of colours as we ran through.

High-fives were flying on both sides of this narrow corridor and as we ran in we could hear the children singing a familiar tune: “Run, run, run, run, run, run, World Harmony Run!” Yes, it was our theme song composed by the founder, Sri Chinmoy. What a beautiful welcome!

It was obvious from the very beginning that this group of children had done their research on the World Harmony Run and we were in for a special treat.

The reception and effort put in by these young children was phenomenal and demonstrated they had a clear understanding of and feeling for peace and harmony.

Our girls' and boys' teams acted out some short skits to display examples of working in harmony, demonstrating the importance of working together in harmony throughout the length of this journey around a continent. When we feel harmony within our own selves it is easy to imagine a peaceful and harmonious world in which to live.

It should be mentioned here that two children in this school live next door to Western Australian Co-ordinator Prabuddha Nicol and he has even taken them out for a training run! Today after holding the Torch with mum, they expressed that they would like to jump the fence and come for a personal tour inside our support vans! We will ensure our on-the-road homes are spick and span for this inspection!

Each class gave a heartfelt presentation of the work they had done on harmony and peace. Year 2 Teacher Tania Sims was responsible for organising our incredibly warm reception here and fittingly her 7-year-old students began by reading their own sentiments about peace. Some favourites were:

“Friends and friendship make the flowers bloom.”

“Peace is fun.”

“Peace and Harmony means to be happy.”

and…

“Peace keeps the roses red.”

Tania, one of the teachers, further explained that her children had done a whole term on the concept of peace. What an amazing and positive environment to be learning in at this unique school!

From here we all migrated to the assembly hall to pass the Torch.

Some of the students painted the ying-yang symbol on their cheek to represent the balance of harmony.

Thank you so much for all the personal prose and artwork that was presented to the team to carry with us on our journey. It really uplifts us to see a school like yours fully embrace the message of the World Harmony Run.

After two months on the road, the World Harmony Run arrived today in the city of Perth, the far-flung capital of Western Australia.

As the big band of runners turned the corner onto St Georges Terrace, the Lord Mayor of Perth, Lisa Scaffidi, was on hand to greet the runners personally in front of the council offices.

Lisa is the 17th Lord Mayor of Perth and the first female to be elected to the position. She invited the runners to accompany her to her mayoral chambers on the 11th floor, where she had planned a private reception and afternoon tea for us.

Lisa's offices look out over the beautiful expanse of the Swan River which makes Perth one of the prettiest cities in Australia.

The Lord Mayor was intrigued to learn that Sri Chinmoy (the founder of the World Harmony Run) had visited the same chambers in March 1976 when he was received by the then Lord Mayor Ernest Lee-Steere.

While the runners were served generous refreshments, Lisa asked each one our country of origin and personally welcomed each individual to her State. She also answered many questions about the city and expressed her dynamic vision for the future of Perth.

On bidding the runners farewell, the Lord Mayor said, "To each and every one of you, I offer you all the best, not only in your journey around Australia, but in your life. Because of your spiritual base, you know that what you get is what you give – so keep up the good work!"

On behalf of the World Harmony Run, we wish Lisa all the very best during her term as Lord Mayor. We are sure that she will make a most significant and lasting contribution to this wonderful city.

– Prachar Stegemann, Noivedya Juddery, Kylie Williams and Vidagdha Bennett (Australia)

Team Members:
Uddyogini Hall (Australia), Vidagdha Bennett (Australia), Jacqui Uppal (Australia), Kylie Williams (Australia), Friederike Makowka (Switzerland), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Angela Muhs (Germany), Elke Lindner (Germany), Prabuddha Nicol (Australia), Noivedya Judery (Australia), Pushpendra Uppal (Australia), Shapathanal Myers-Daly (New Zealand), Ray Truswell (Australia), Misha Kulagin (Russia), Dima Lehonkov (Ukraine), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic), Edi Serban (Romania), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Runar Gigja (Iceland), Prabhakar Street (Canada), Colm Magee (Ireland), Veeraja Uppal (Australia), Prachar Stegemann (Australia)

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

Gallery: See more images!