Team A

Our women's team had a whole morning of free-time! We relaxed, had an extended breakfast and went for a refreshing swim in the big pool at the caravan park. By being around the campground longer than usual we were able to talk to a lot more campers who were interested in the World Harmony Run – a welcome break, we all appreciated.

Sue and her husband Gary Blaney are the managers of the Big 4 Katherine Caravan Park. We are so grateful to them for accommodating us all last night. This camp is in a fabulous park-like setting with excellent facilities.

Judith is just one of the many friendly staff members of the caravan park

.

Phyllis and her husband Noel love travelling Australia on motorbikes. This holiday they are combining the best of both worlds: their bikes are winched on the back of their truck and they also tow a caravan. They are looking forward to many more adventures travelling the world both on and off their bikes.

Dianne was a teacher so was especially interested in the World Harmony Run's program for schools.

When we were about to run into a ceremony at Katherine Town Council, we met Michael from Sydney.

We were warmly welcomed into Katherine Town Council by the Mayor Anne Shepherd (pictured above), the council CEO Geoff Brooks and their friendly staff.

After discussing the World Harmony Run, over lunch we shared many stories of our adventures on the road and a few local stories about crocodiles! ... one of our favourite topics on the road in these parts.

Katherine sounds like a very special place to explore at any time, whether it be in the rainy season when everything is washed clean from dust, the milder climate as we are witnessing now or the hot, humid season. Here they are proud of their wilderness areas and we are very glad that there are people here fighting to maintain the purity and beauty of the land.

Today’s running was so much fun!

After our little wellness-program in the morning, running was so easy, although it was quite hot and humid for us. For the locals, 32 degrees Celsius is a perfect day!

This was a highlight of the day for one of our runners, Elke Lindner from Germany.

“It’s so exciting because I was here when I travelled half of Australia twenty years ago.

From Katherine I will remember what I’ve seen before. I am curious to see how much the places have changed over time.”

On our way to Edith Falls there were several fires right alongside the road, as part of a controlled burning program conducted during the 'cool' season to reduce the chance of larger fires in the warmer months ahead.

– Nishima Knowsley (New Zealand)

Team B

Some days the running is not as exciting as you would expect it to be. In those days the scenery looks less appealing, the cars passing by never tweet at you and your shoelaces just cannot keep themselves laced. Today was one of those days ... and do you know who helped us to make it again a brighter than the brightest day?

The Pine Creek Primary School!

How did they did that?

Let me show you...

First of all they welcomed us on the main road through Pine Creek and then they ran with us...

some of them were barefoot!

As the school was a couple of kilometres away, we had to run for a while...

Finally we reached the school and we all had a drink...

Then we spent some time together talking about the World Harmony Run...

And when we asked them to guess all our countries of origin they all did an excellent job, teachers included! In the meanwhile the Torch was passing along...

As a gift, the kids and the music teacher sang us three beautiful songs...

After their performances, our rendering of the World-Harmony-Run Song wasn't so impressive!

We discovered later that in Pine Creek Primary School the children create a new song each week!

Here's how they do it:

• they choose a subject

• they write down all the words related to the subject

• they compose the words into lyrics, with the help of the teacher

• the teacher arranges a tune for them

• and finally they record it on a computer!

The teachers presented us with a CD containing a compilation of these songs, which we have been happily playing in our vans!

You can hear one of their songs accompanying this video...

...and finally we could appreciate the fabulous refreshment they had prepared for us!

The teachers then took us for a small tour of the school. It was a glad surprise to see such an organised facility in a relatively small township.

We really treasured the chance of visiting a modern and up-to-date school, where the kids can grow in a family-like environment, where you can have a warm and fun feeling from the teachers and from the school itself.

To the Pine Creek Primary School ... a big THANK YOU!

And the last surprise for the day was this enchanting place hidden in the rocks...

– Sandro Zincarini (Italy)

Team C

We began our day with tour of the largest classroom in the world, Katherine School of the Air. The school services 220 students from 4 to 14 years-old, across 800,000 square kilometres of the Northern Territory, an area 3 times the size of the whole United Kingdom.

Each student communicates with their teacher in Katherine via an interactive broadband satellite communication program that delivers television quality reception directly to outback communities across the Top End.

Each student’s house is equipped with a satellite dish, computer, printer/scanner and modem that allows them to receive up to an hour a day of lessons. The school sends out regular work modules and equipment and has several gatherings a year where all the students get to interact with each other through sports, music and the arts.

Fiona Grimmer, one of the 17 teachers, showed us around the school for a most fascinating insight into the daily life of children who live on the outback cattle stations and communities.

Upon leaving the school we headed directly to Nitmiluk (also known as Katherine Gorge), just 25 km up the road, and another helicopter ride for 3 lucky team members.

The scene from above was beautiful and vast.

The gorge cuts the dry plains delivering life-sustaining water to the region.

Nitmiluk is comprised of 13 minor gorges all linked along the Katherine River. It is said that during the wet season there is enough water flowing through the gorge to fill Sydney Harbour in just one day.

After the flight we hiked along the gorge a short way to enjoy the view from ground level.

After a quick dip in the cool, crocodile-free waters of the gorge, we headed out for our run, which took us from the township of Pine Greek to the Mary River Roadhouse.

As the sun slowly set, our last runner ran to the roadhouse accompanied by the glow of the Torch and the distant shining stars.

– Veeraja Uppal (Australia)

If you would like to place a link or a write a story about the World Harmony Run on your website, click here to Link to Us. We'll be happy to place a reciprocal link and list you on our Friends Online page.

---

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

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

Gallery: See more images!

< Australia 20 July

Australia 22 July >