Team A

As the saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for.” We had been hoping for a cool breeze to ease our running in the hot outback sun. Very early this morning, the cool breeze presented itself as a strong wind, shaking our tents until they seemed perilously close to collapsing. Later in the morning, the winds were against us, as we pressed forward in our run.

Tennant Creek School would be our last school visit for a few days (before we enter the fabled outback land of wide open plains, remote stations and School of the Air), so it was great to 'finish' with such an enthusiastic group of children.

Tennant Creek (population 3,000) is a town where half the population is Indigenous. All the children greeted the runners with cheers, inspired by the message of “Harmony begins with me.” Later, many were very keen to shake hands with the runners and introduce themselves. We enjoyed ourselves so much at the school that we stayed much longer than planned.

After the visit to Tennant Creek, our team was fortunate enough to drive an hour south to visit the Devils Marbles, surely one of the world’s most incredible rock formations. It is somewhat fitting that they are named after a children’s toy. These piles of boulders, some of them almost perfectly formed balls of granite, seem to have been used as play-things by some godlike giant, placed in neat patterns and configurations as a precocious child would do with his collection of building blocks. Many seem balanced precariously on each other, ready to fall over with any sudden gust of wind. How could they stay there for so long, without gravity doing its work? Somehow, they have remained that way for millions of years.

In fact, the Marbles have a scientific explanation. Some 1.7 billion years ago, they were one large rock, not unlike Uluru. Cracked, weathered and eroded over the aeons, the rock went from the one to the many: from one land mass to hundreds of huge boulders, still perched on top or around each other, in a state that is wonderfully harmonious.

We stayed for a few hours, exploring, climbing and filming the Marbles, which should be listed along with Uluru and Kakadu as one of the greatest natural wonders of Australia – or indeed, the world.

As we explored, we met with Shirley Higham, a New Zealand woman who, upon turning 65, received a government pension. Wanting to earn this pension (and with free time on her hands), she embarked on a two-month, 2,000 km, solo walk around New Zealand. We were so inspired by her achievement that we presented her with the World Harmony Run Torch-Bearer Award.

We stayed to see the sunset over the Devils Marbles as the rocks turned a deep golden-red – one of the most beautiful sights of our journey.

– Noivedya Juddery (Australia)

Team B

Last night we enjoyed a most delicious meal at the Renner Springs Desert Inn, where we camped for the night…

Anastasia in her two sleeping bags

We are most grateful to Judy, the proprietor, for her kind and generous support during our overnight stopover.

Our team headed out at 8 am and ran a total of 40 km in a southerly direction along the Stuart Highway between Renner Springs and Tennant Creek. A strong, cold head wind made the running very challenging. The landscape was dominated by termite mounds, the burnt remains of small bushes, and straw coloured grasses. Tall trees were a rarity.

At one point we spotted a flock of brilliantly coloured bright green birds, which reminded me of budgerigars. Actually, they looked more like a school of fish than birds as they hovered above the road. They would fly one way, then seemed to pause and float, and then flew another way, appearing to change colour as they changed direction.

At midday we attended a World Harmony Run ceremony at Peko Park in Tennant Creek. We were surprised to be greeted by a very pleasant mid-20s temperature and a cool breeze. The ceremony was well-attended by the Warramunga people, as well as representatives of the Barkly Shire Council – Randall Gould and Jeff Sowiak. We presented Randall with the Torch and a Certificate of Appreciation. He explained that the Barkly Shire covers an impressive 320,000 square kilometres, which is 20% larger than the State of Victoria and also larger than Great Britain.

The town experienced the last Gold Rush in Australian history – in the 1930s. Randall applauded the World Harmony Run team’s efforts, stating that the Run is an excellent example of what a group of people can achieve when they work together. We also spoke to Jeff who is the CEO of the Shire Council. He impressed us with his obvious deep respect and affection for the traditional owners of the land, as well as the many cultures that make up the shire.

In the afternoon we had some time for sightseeing and visited the Battery Hill Mining Centre on Randall Gould’s recommendation. We took a fascinating guided tour lead by an enthusiastic guide – Bob – who has worked in many mines and whose father and grandfather were also miners.

Bob showed us through a mine that was built to train miners in explosives and we got to see how many different types of equipment were used...

For safety reasons, miners now use a simple tag system to indicate when they are inside or outside a mine

We got a real feel for the hardships and personal risk that miners face in order to earn a livelihood. While we were there, we presented the Centre Manager, Roddy Calvert, with a Certificate of Appreciation.

– Bernice Matthews (Australia)

Team C

After a brief play with a Frisbee, we left a pleasant and peaceful Renner Springs holiday camp en route to Threeways with an easy 47 km of harmony running on a beautiful clear day and a welcome cool light breeze.

As has been typical of the Northern Territory we saw about 60% holiday and tourists on the road, 35% heavy truck road trains with three trailers and occasionally four trailers, leaving just 5% local business traffic.

With a side trip to the Devils Pebbles (a more humble version of the Devils Marbles, see below) and several games of '20 questions', the trip passed quickly and we finished the run at Threeways.

A short drive to tonight's accommodation at Tennant Creek holiday camp and a trip to the supermarket saw an end to organised activities, until we discovered that we were invited to visit a demonstration gold mine.

A very nice and knowledgeable guide, Bob, showed us through the workings at Battery Hill and entertained us for about an hour and a half with his demonstrations of still useable light machinery. No gold was found, sadly.

Thanks to Bernice Matthews for spontaneously organising this enthralling visit.

– Nick File (New Zealand)

One more person needs to be welcomed to our team. Noivedya Juddery, our Northern Territory co-ordinator from Canberra is with us till the last step into Brisbane. His writing skills and insights are a great asset to the team.

– Prabhakar Street (Canada)

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:
Amalendu Edelsten (Australia), Anastasia Aleksejeva (Latvia), Nigel Webber (Australia), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Prabhakar Street (Canada), Edi Serban (Romania), Dima Lehonkov (Ukraine), Bernice Matthews (Australia), Nick File (New Zealand), Noivedya Juddery (Australia), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic), Prabuddha Nicol (Australia), Runar Gigja (Iceland), Elke Lindner (Germany), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Angela Muhs (Germany), Rathin Boulton (Australia), Misha Kulagin (Russia)

Harmonemail:
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Gallery: See more images!

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