Team A

During breakfast back at our campsite, we were visited by Ken Millard, a Kakadu National Park Ranger, who gave us an introduction to the management and practices of this vast and most significant World Heritage-listed Park.

We then ran just 1 km down the highway to the entry gates to the Kakadu National Park for a welcoming ceremony by the Bolmo, Matjaba and Wurkbarbar clans, the traditional owners of the land.

Awaiting us at the gates was Lazarus Ford, a clan elder, who conducted a special smoking ceremony to invoke blessings and protection for the runners from the spirits of the land, as we tread across this sacred earth. We were graciously invited to fill our eyes with nature's beauty and to take with us the spirit of the land on our continuing journey: a most touching and special experience for us all.

Also present at the ceremony were many of the Kakadu Park Rangers, as well as Nathan from the Mary River Roadhouse who provided our accommodation for the evening. They were all delighted to hear of the diverse range of countries the team represents. To close proceedings, all posed for a group photo at the Kakadu National Park Gates.

The joy and blessings we received from the morning stayed with us all day as we ran along the Kakadu Highway towards Jabiru. Along the way we spied some termite mounds towering over 3 metres.

Nearing the end of our run we met with Brian and Wendy O'Neil from Geraldton.

– Veerja Uppal (Australia)

Team B

Our run today started at the crossing of the South Alligator River (wrongly named, as there are no alligators in Australia!) Dare we mention crocodiles again? Nataliya Lehonkova from Ukraine saw one on the river bed while she was running. We were advised to only swim in the swimming pool in Jabiru – we heeded the advice.

We are now in the Kakadu National Park. Ken Millard of the Park staff kindly took time to stop while we were running to welcome us on behalf of the traditional owners and of the government staff who work closely together to look after the Park. They encouraged us to move freely through the Park and take away the beautifully spiritual qualities of this area.

New German friends for our own German runners, Elke Lindner and Angela Muhs – Soren and Susi are travelling around Australia in a very colourful van.

We joined Team C for a visit to the Jabiru Area School at the end of the school day. This school has 300 students from pre-school to Year 12. The older students study by correspondence.

As we entered the open air hall with the Torch, all the assembled children and staff gave us a thunderous applause.

Four of the senior students were clearly well informed about the message of the World Harmony Run and what we had been doing around Australia as they took turns to introduce the team. Thank you for summing up the Run so well!

After each of our team members introduced themselves and we sang the World-Harmony-Run Song, the students and staff all sang We are the World which we of course had to join in with for the chorus.

The CEO for the West Arnhem Shire Council, Mark Griffioen, joined us for the assembly. Both he and the Principal, Peter Swan, were presented with a Certificate of Appreciation from the World Harmony Run.

A highlight for us was the students holding the World Harmony Torch – the many happy, sincere faces joining other children from around the world to be part of the World Harmony Run. I hope you all enjoy seeing your photos on this site!

When I said to the children that I was from New Zealand I was surprised at the extra volume of cheering from the audience. I found out later it mainly came from Hira who is not only a fellow New Zealander but all the way from my home town, Christchurch. She was one of 6 New Zealand teachers at the school. Kiwis do get around!

We are often moved by the children more than anything else and since there has been a winter holiday for the schools for the last couple of weeks we have not had any school ceremonies, so we delighted today to reconnect with this source of tremendous inspiration. The most amazing aspect of going to the schools is passing the Torch amongst the kids. Something magical seems to happen when they take hold of the Torch which is expressed so beautifully and profoundly in their faces and especially their eyes. Seeing this happen is the one aspect for us runners that makes the World Harmony Run itself truly, truly wonderful and fulfilling.

Sometimes the Torch itself is reflected in the eyes as they look up to the flame.

– Nishima Knowsley (New Zealand)

Team C

We made slower progress than usual today. Not because of the weather – some cloud cover and cross-breezes lessened the intensity of the solar blaze – and not due to our schedule of meetings. Our progress was slowed by the sheer frequency of well-wishers along the road.

Sometimes two or three vehicles would be pulled over at the roadside, their occupants chatting with, photographing, or being photographed by our runner. Most of the traffic here in Kakadu being tourists from all around Australia and the world, we met many wonderful and fascinating people today while doing what we do – carrying a flaming Torch of Harmony along the road of life.

Twice the size of Ireland (22,000 square kilometres), Kakadu National Park is one of only a few places to be listed as a World Heritage Area for both its natural and cultural heritage.

A brief side-trip to the area around Nourlangie offered glimpses of both natural and cultural wonders. These amazing rock formations have formed a central part of the lives of local people for many thousands of years, evidenced by an astonishing abundance of rock art. The Anbangbang Gallery features paintings created over the space of about 20,000 years, still in their original settings. An adjacent look-out affords views right across the surrounding woodlands to the distant, imposing Arnhem Escarpment.

Our running route took us to the Bowali Visitor Centre where we were met by Ken Millard, the Park's Tourism and Business Service Manager who had greeted our other teams earlier in the day. From here, we joined with Team B for an exchange of inspiration and joy at the Jabiru Area School (see Team B report, above).

Our running and meetings over for the day, it was recommended to view the sunset over the Nadab wetlands from the escarpment at Ubirr, about 40 km north of our accommodation tonight at Jabiru.

In the wet season these wetlands are a vast sea, teeming with fish and birdlife. On the climb we passed some more extraordinary rock art sites, including an image of a Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), thought to have been painted over 20,000 years ago – around the time the Thylacine became extinct on the mainland of Australia, following the introduction of the dingo.

A sunset is never an ending, always a beginning, an awakening to new beauty, awareness and sensibility. Humans have enjoyed millions of sunset views from this vantage point, for at least 40,000 years, as have the ancient rocks themselves, for many millennia before that.

This evening was our turn to sit in as witnesses to another in this endless series of ever-new beginnings.

– Prachar Stegemann (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.

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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!

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