We started our morning with a spectacular visit to the top of Mount Wellington, which looms over the beautiful city of Hobart.
The conditions could not have been more perfect, the 360 degree panorama was simply breathtaking.
We were surprised to see quite a dusting of snow on the surrounding rocks, and even more surprised to discover that this was Steve's first sighting of snow!! He is from Queensland, and has not explored too far afield up until now...
We also recently discovered that our Moldovan representative, Zina, who has seen more than her fair share of snow, only sighted the ocean for the first time 7 years ago!!
Looking out over a seemingly endless montage of bays and hillsides is a real feast for the eyes and soul...
... from such a vast and heavenly perspective, it is so hard to fathom that the small, difficult and complicated aspects of human life could possibly be real.
Drishalu and Rathin almost scaled a death defying peak, but decided to play it safe in the end... Rathin hoped his decision would not be seen to be wimpy, we assured him this was not going to happen!
After breakfast, our first visit of the day was to Fahan Girls School.
Today was the first day back at school after the holidays, so we were very grateful to be accommodated.
Usually our ceremonies are for a younger group, so we were happy to share the message of Peace and Oneness with high school students.
Several of the students were kind enough to give us their own perspectives on Peace.
Thank you so much to the students of Fahan School, and also to Kathy Foster for organising our visit.
Our second ceremony was just down the street at Albuera Street Primary School. We were delighted to find that many of the students remembered our last visit to Tasmania, back in 2010!
The children were very enthusiastic participants, and eagerly contributed many meanings for the word “Peace” in exchange for the chance to hold the torch.
Today we had a special guest team member – Ricardo from Mexico. Ricardo is staying at 'The Pickled Frog', where some of our team spent last night. He spotted us and immediately asked if he could run with us. Of course we were only too happy to have him on the team, and he was right at home in front of the children for the country guessing game...the mention of the word 'sombrero' was a give away!!
Out in the schoolyard, everypne had their chance to hold the Torch and offer their wish for peace.
Ricardo then led us through the streets for all our appointments for the remainder of the day. Thank you so much, Ricardo, for your spontaneous and enthusiastic participation!!
Also a big thank you to Jackman and McRoss Cafe for supplying the team with most delicious hummus, grilled vegetable and salad rolls for lunch, highly recommendable!!
Just by the park where we enjoyed our lunch, a few local citizens joined in the spirit of the Run.
After lunch we ran to our final ceremony of the day...
... in the courtyard at Springfield Gardens Primary School.
Some of the children presented us with their own paper peace torches, which were adorned with pledges for peace. We very gratefully accepted them, and will take them to the next school we visit along the way.
We were also delighted to be entertained by a short play the children had put together about peace.
We reciprocated with our own peace skits, which in no way matched theirs!
The view from the school is exquisite – what a setting to go to each day for learning!
Our visit here was organised by our good friend Bethanie Kearney, who happened to look up the run and make contact with us just before our 2010 visit to Tasmania. Bethanie – herself an Olympian who represented Australia in the 400 metres at the Montreal Games in 1976 – his pictured here with Uddyogini, our tireless Peace Run co-ordinator for the local Hobart area, and our team for the day.
While our girls team took a short break to enjoy the local Hobart cafe culture...
... the boys team said their fond farewell to this charming city and enjoyed the drive back to our starting and finishing point for Tasmania: Launceston.
