Team A

Today we left the comforts of Carnarvon, headed north along Highway 1 and back into the vastness of Australia...

While running out of Carnarvon Misha Kulagin, our Russian representative, befriended a small dog who was all eagerness to jump into the van and join the team.

Soon after, two carloads of Taiwanese students pulled up on the highway and then joined us for a short run along the road. They were all smiles and very excitedly ran with the Torch.

We completed our first section of 74 km just before 11.30 am and, with the mercury steadily rising, drove on to Coral Bay for some beach joy.

Coral Bay is a small but very popular destination for holiday-makers. The waters are a beautiful clear blue and offer the perfect experience for diving and snorkelling on the nearby coral reef. In fact, Ningaloo Reef is the largest fringing reef in Australia (a fringing reef is one that comes all the way into shore). Sadly, we were not equipped with the photographic equipment to bring you the magic of this underwater wonderland...

Naturally we could not resist taking a refreshing dip, followed by a spot of beach soccer.

As heat began to dissipate from the sun, we were back on the road again to complete our 100 km of allocated running, passing many amazing termite nests, constructed out of compacted sand, often standing over 2 metres tall.

– Veeraja Uppal (Australia)

Team B

In order to include a side-trip to Coral Bay, today became the second-longest leg of our journey so far, with a total of 316 km between our 3 teams.

Today being the first day of school holidays in Western Australia, the roads were crowded with holiday-makers heading north in 4WDs, motor homes and cars with caravans or boats in tow.

This merry mobile community welcomed the novelty of an international team carrying a Torch along their highways, with numerous families and groups stopping to offer their admiration and goodwill.

Not far before Coral Bay we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, heralding some extraordinary changes in vegetation and scenery.

Across large areas, the domes of enormous termite nests dominated the landscape. Most of them are old, but so solid is their construction, they remain in place for hundreds of years after their habitation.

Given they are built by insects the size of ants, these massive towers are far mightier in relative size than the pyramids or the world's tallest skyscrapers...

Having spent so long at Coral Bay and with so many kilometres to run, daylight slipped quietly away as the Torch forged forward.

Running through spinifex-covered red sand dunes with the expanse of desert glowing pink to the east, the contrapuntal cadence of breathing, footfalls and the pulsing roar of the Torch all cradled by the great silence of a sky now releasing its daytime azure in preference for its soothing star-studded night-gown – in these moments beyond time and space as one reaches for the all-pervading beauty and purity, one glimpses the unfathomable privilege of Being.

After dinner on this new-moon night, while some lost themselves in wonder at the lavish opulence of stars, others were drawn to the community and wonder of the camp fire.

– Prachar Stegemann (Australia)

Team C

It was an early start for the girls' team, aiming to run as much in the cool of the day as we could, as we were covering 109 km today.

We left Carnarvon which is an oasis of market gardens and banana plantations.

It didn’t take long before we were running out into the desert again near barren riverbeds, dry until the next rain.

One of our first stops for a photo shoot was to investigate one of the numerous termite colonies inland from Coral Bay. We were all fascinated at how they were constructed.

One amazing thing that can’t be captured on camera is the vastness of the area. You can look around for 360 degrees and it is entirely flat without one hill – totally breath-taking.

As the temperatures rose we headed to Coral Bay to take a swim with the huge variety of marine life. Coral Bay is protected by a reef and is a great playground for visitors.

Our second stretch of running started taking us inland. Nataliya Lehonkova from Ukraine and Iva Nemcova from the Czech Republic often run in tandem with others from our team, so Iva ran close to a marathon by the time she finished the day and Nataliya ran a marathon.

One of our highlights for the day was meeting two groups of international tourists at a wayside stop and sharing with them our experiences of the run. Here are Stephanie, Celine, Nick, Hein and Maggy.

As the day was coming to a close we ran toward the Giralia Homestead, our campsite for the night.

We’re even mastering putting up our tents in the dark!

– Nishima Knowsley (New Zealand)

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Team Members:
Prabuddha Nicol (Australia), Kritartha Brada (Czech Republic), Nishima Knowsley (New Zealand), Edi Serban (Romania), Runar Gigja (Iceland), Iva Nemcova (Czech Republic), Prabhakar Street (Canada), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Prachar Stegemann (Australia), Misha Kulagin (Russia), Dima Lehonkov (Ukraine), Angela Muhs (Germany), Veeraja Uppal (Australia), Miro Pospisek (Czech Republic), Elke Lindner (Germany), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic)

Harmonemail:
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Gallery: See more images!

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