We started the day checking out of our sponsored accommodation at Albany Holiday Park. Much gratitude for your kind welcome!
Big 4 Emu Beach Holiday Park was beautifully appointed with immaculate kitchen facilities and a playground we wished we weren't too big for.
Team B started with a meeting at Kwoorabup Nature School in Denmark. It's the first Nature School in Western Australia. The school left an impression that it is creative, grounded in nature.
The school principal Mell received a certificate of appreciation and a Peace Tree plaque. The school will definitely plant a tree, but it has not yet been decided what kind of tree it will be.
The children welcomed us with a song, playing guitars and ukuleles, while the other children danced.
One more special meeting today we had in the Golden Hill Steiner School - a school with a deep and meaningful mission. We were very impressed by the cozy, friendly and kind atmosphere of the school.
After the Peace Run presentation the children sang us a haunting song in a round of three parts. We were very touched by their pure and soulful voices. Lyrics for ‘Children’s Peace Song’:
What a wondrous thing If the children of the world Could dwell together In peace. When the time came to hold and pass the torch, the children stood in a spiral formation. While the students passed the Peace torch to each other, the music teacher Ashley Schipp started to play guitar and sing a simple, but extremely deep and meditative song. The other teachers and children joined. It was a very special moment for all of us. Thanks to this soulful song, the passing of the torch took on a deeper dimension.
Lyrics: Go now in Peace, go now in Peace. Let the light of love surround you Everywhere, everywhere You may go, go.
Then the gardening teacher Neal Collins lead us to the Peace Tree, which was planted here when the Peace Run team visited the school in 2013. Ms. Elisa Allan, the principal of the school and Neal Collins, the biodynamic gardening teacher with our team by the Peace Tree.
Today was Atulya’s first rain run day. Not bad for having been on the road for almost three weeks. There was blasting wind and even a light hail. All of which made him laugh as he thought about what the cars passing by must be thinking seeing a runner in these conditions with a flaming torch. “Nutter”, he imagines.
The entire team was privileged to stop at the Valley of the Giants, an amazing reserve of old growth forest with a 40 metre high Tree Top Walk that knocked all our socks off.
We all could have stayed there for days. The peace was deeply palpable!
Cheree, our guide, was chock full of interesting facts about both fauna and flora. You could really feel how deeply she loved her job. She also obviously felt the message of the Peace Run right to her core.
We were all offered beautiful commemorative water bottles - a perfect gift for a group of runners. :-)
This was an experience that nary a runner will soon forget!
The team’s last stop of the day was a visit with some old friends in Walpole.
We were blessed to be reunited with Dave Tapley. He is a real community server and was given the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run Torch Bearer’s Award back in 2015.
After our presentation and songs, he offered some words of inspiration and thanks. He then presented the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run Torch Bearer’s Award to another outstanding community servant Jenny Willcox. She is a real dynamo! To give you a feel of her vibe, she exclaimed “Far out!” when she was told the Peace Torch had been to the Mir Space Station. Every local I spoke to couldn’t say enough kind words about her. We were proud to honour her!
We hope to see Jenny again when we are in Darwin as she will be attending a conference for training people to mentor seniors in the tech world. A much needed service!
After receiving the award, Jenny began to pass the torch only to find out that there was another Torch Bearer Award recipient in the group. Michael Filby was also honoured with the award in 2015.
Can you imagine, three recipients all coming together! A special town indeed!
Michael Filby cleans rubbish for miles on the highway using his antique Russian Niva.
Later Cherie Smith gave Atulya a tour of the Community Resource Centre (CRC). Cherie very proudly showed many ways that they serve the community. Namely: key cutting, printing (including large format), internet services and a weekly newspaper, the Walpole Weekly.
After the formalities were over, we all sat down to a wonderful feast of pizza, sandwiches, cakes and other nice desserts, as well as tea and coffee. All of the baked goods were made by the prison work program at the local prison. There are currently 12 prisoners that are being offered numerous ways to develop skills and connect with a community. This a pilot program that is proving to be very successful in preventing repeat offending and turning wayward soul’s lives around.
They advertised we were coming.
Thank you Walpole for your hospitality and friendship! See you next time around. :-)
Thank you to the kind people at Walpole Hotel Motel who are providing us rooms for tonight.
