Team A

As we head closer to the coast, the Outback heat was replaced today by a cool, breezy morning. Though the scenery remained much the same, this change in weather was a clue that we were heading into new environs.

The brisk morning air (whoever thought that northern Queensland could be so nippy?), gave us a pleasant and energising run.

Indeed, everyone on the team was so keen to run bright and early this morning that today’s team captain, Sandro Zincarini, resolved the issue by having us start in alphabetical order. (In his case, this was a truly selfless decision.)

We ran much of the distance to Richmond (109 km), then enjoyed a (very) quick dip in Richmond’s Lake Fred Tritton and took a tour of the Kronosaurus Korner Fossil Centre (which the other teams had visited earlier in the day). Hearing about the kronosaurus, a fearsome underwater reptile "that would have eaten T-Rex for breakfast," reminded us that, even 100 million years ago, Australia’s native fauna was utterly fascinating.

– Noivedya Juddery (Australia)

Team B

Our day began with a 149 km drive to Richmond. We arrived at the visitors' centre at same time as Team C, who were running in with the Torch. The visitors' centre is also known as Kronosaurus Korner,

named after the large aquatic dinosaur whose fossils have made the area famous. A huge fibreglass kronosaurus leers menacingly from a pool in front of the entrance, its gaping, crocodile-like maw bristling with monstrous teeth.

There we met Deputy Mayor Cr Robert Ievers, and Shire CEO Michelle Clarke, with her son Daniel.

We were ushered inside for a generously proportioned morning tea.

Robert was presented with a World Harmony Run Torch-Bearer Award for his outstanding service to the community.

He then took us on a tour of what is probably the best dinosaur museum on Earth.

Every fossil on display is real, and sits in open pits of sand you can walk around, close enough to touch. No glass cases or metal cages here.

Robert is a grazier and on his property, he and his brother have discovered some of the most exciting and complete dinosaur remains yet found.

Their first find, a pliosaur, is almost entirely complete, and on display in Richmond, despite its obvious attractiveness to museums around the world.

Another specimen, an anklyosaur, is not only an almost complete specimen, its skin has been preserved too.

Robert's enthusiasm for the dinosaur fossils is the reason this museum exists. At his insistence, the facilities for cleaning and preparing fossils for display are here, too, behind windows for all to see. If you're visiting the area, you should definitely come and see this museum!

All that was left for us to do then was run our 80 km for the day. I started out with 10 km, my biggest single run since I joined the team in Darwin.

I ran down a road as straight as an arrow, bordered by dry golden grassland. On the left, marched a row of concrete power poles. On the right, was a railway line. A slight breeze made for quite a pleasant run. Eventually I saw the van in the distance. It didn't look too far away. I counted the seconds it took for a Greyhound bus to pass the van and reach me. More than a minute. Further than it looked. In another ten minutes I was there.

Nigel Webber completed his longest run in two years, covering 16 km in one stint. Prabhakar Street ran nearly 13 km, and that was his longest single session yet on this World Harmony Run.

The day got hotter, it seemed, as the afternoon wore on. We made it to Hughenden around 5.30 pm. At 6.30 pm we met with the Mayor Brendan McNamara and his wife for dinner, at the Diggers Entertainment Centre.

We were treated to a lavish feast, the enjoyment of which was enhanced by coming immediately after a hot afternoon of running.

Along with the other beverages on offer, we sampled the local water, which is pumped up from bores sunk into the Great Artesian Basin, an underground reservoir two-thirds the size of Queensland.

The water was crystal clear, not what I'd expect from bore water, and tasted as if it was full of all kinds of minerals that you would pay good money for in a health food shop.

Back in Richmond, pumps are not required as, once a bore has been sunk, the water comes to the surface under its own pressure. On Marathon Station, I am told, the artesian water comes up "hot enough to make your coffee with!”

– Rathin Boulton (Australia)

Team C

Our team headed out at 6 am this morning and drove to our starting point, 40 km west of Richmond. We ran into the town along mostly flat and straight road. It was delightfully cool compared to recent days and some of us ran 10 km at a time.

At 10 am, Team B joined us and we all met with the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Robert Ievers, who enthusiastically welcomed us to the Richmond Shire.

Councillor Ievers said of the World Harmony Run: “I’d like to congratulate each and every one of you. To run around Australia, that’s an incredibly long way. What you are doing is amazing!”

The Deputy Mayor is a grazier who runs cattle and sheep on five cattle stations. Back in the ‘80s, he and his brother discovered numerous world-class dinosaur fossils on their property, much to their surprise. These and many other fossils from the area are now on display at Kronosaurus Korner, a fantastic fossil museum in the Centre of Richmond. Dinosaur fossils continue to be found every week. Councillor Ievers was instrumental in setting up the museum and continues to devote his time to it in many ways, including working as a volunteer guide on Sundays.

We were also privileged to have Robert as our museum guide and as the excellent tour came to a close, we were all sad that we could not stay longer.

The museum’s fossils continue to attract the attention of countless international palaeontologists.

We even got to hold a large piece of fossilised vertebra, and it was a lot heavier than it looked.

Michelle Clarke, assisting Councillor Ievers, then took us to an impressively large lake just around the corner from the museum. It was the first body of water we’d seen in ages. There were people swimming, boating and fishing in this oasis. A beautiful bush foods garden was planted there late last year.

We then finished our running for the day along a 36 km stretch of the Flinders Highway before reaching Hughenden.

– Bernice Matthews (Australia)

Team RV

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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)

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Gallery: See more images!

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