Last night a few of the team members enjoyed an evening of Indian classical music in Fremantle. This beautiful blend of Indian classical ragas was performed by sitarist Samuel Dass accompanied by Bal Singh on Sarangi and Vicky Ramakrishnan on tabla. It was an amazing performance of both technical brilliance and heartfelt melodies and rhythms.

After the show we had the opportunity to meet the musicians and to tell them about the World Harmony Run. They were very gracious and were delighted to gather for a photo holding the Torch. Even family members gathered round for a photo. It was the perfect ending to a night of great music.

As this is my final report on the Australian World Harmony Run, I would just like to convey my gratitude to all the team for making this a truly unforgettable journey. This team is truly amazing! They provided me with endless hours of laughter, joy and enthusiasm. Countless times they had me laughing until I cried. If you have a chance to meet them as they travel onwards, don’t hesitate, you won’t regret it!

Australia has been an amazing experience: the indescribable landscapes, the incredible vastness, everyday open-hearted people and hundreds of smiling children. What a joy it is to spread joy, thank you Australia!

– Colm Magee (Ireland)

Colm made his final run with the team, a sprint to the finish! Always cheerful and smiling, Colm's good nature will be missed by the whole team.

Is this the end of the road for Colm, or a turn and another new beginning?

Running from the Scarborough clock tower along the beach-front bike path was glorious.

Perth had outdone itself in weather and scenery for our last day in this beautiful city. The sun shone with splendour and the rain clouds temporarily disappeared to reveal the bright blue sky for which Perth is renowned. The Indian Ocean was shimmering a deep royal blue on our left and pretty beachside houses lined up in a row on our right. A perfect running day with low miles to share between our teams, meaning our group of inspired runners could all run together for 47 km in groups.

Shortly after leaving our starting point at the Scarborough clock tower we were met by Craig and Alice – two Sunday runners who were running towards us along the bike path.

Their faces lit up to see such a big group of 7 runners with the World Harmony Run Torch approaching. We called out “It’s the World Harmony Run!” to answer their unasked question and both runners immediately stopped to hold the Torch, did a U-Turn and began running with us, smiling. Craig said, “You saved me about 1 km of running.”

Alice explained further, "We only started running this year. This 10 km is Craig's longest run yet. We were supposed to turn around at the clock tower but this way we are all happy!"

As we stopped for a breather after 7 km at the van, we offered brochures to Craig and Alice. Craig immediately asked about the founder, Sri Chinmoy and noticed he had passed away recently. I confirmed that we were running the whole distance around our continent as a tribute to the Run's founder – Sri Chinmoy.

Craig noticed the sheet music for our song and told us that Alice is an accomplished musician and they both began sight reading and singing the music, so we all joined in! Thanks for so eagerly and spontaneously becoming World Harmony Runners, Craig and Alice. Keep running and smiling – it’s what it’s all about.

After experiencing this great feeling of joy in today’s superb group-run, we arrived at Yanchep National Park and were greeted by Senior Ranger John Wheeler, his granddaughter and park staff member Sharon.

They held the Torch and we sang the World Harmony Run Song for them and also a song about Australia that the Run's founder, Sri Chinmoy had composed in 1976 when he first visited: “O Fauna, O Flora of Australia."

In fact, Yanchep National Park was where Sri Chinmoy visited on his first visit to Australia in March 1976, and where he first saw some of Australia’s native fauna up close.

As a remembrance we gathered in that same peaceful spot by the waterside with Vidagdha and Sipra, both of whom were in attendance on that day.

We took some time there to have our own quiet picnic lunch in the beautiful park.

Sharon spoke with us about the many activities in the park and invited us to go on any of the guided tours. We narrowly missed the Caves Tour but went to the very interesting Koala talk at this enclosure.

We spotted 8 out of 9 koalas and then another 5 in the next area. Keira, our guide, told us many interesting facts about the koala – which stems from an Aboriginal word meaning ‘no drink’. (The koalas get their liquid content from munching the eucalyptus leaves.)

We observed the koalas doing what they do for most of their time:

eating ...

sleeping …

and acting territorial!

We learnt that koalas are usually found along the east coast and South Australia – they were actually introduced to Perth in Western Australia. So our newly arrived international runners were very pleased to see them here, as they will be scarce for the rest of our journey. Thank you to staff and rangers at Yanchep National Park for this opportunity today.

Thank you also to Baileys Hotel Motel who have most generously accommodated half of our girls' team for the past four nights. Manager Anthony Royan held the Torch and we offer our gratitude for this stay, as we leave Perth in the morning to head up North!

And a very grateful thanks to James Cochrann from the Red Castle Motel for hosting the entire boys' team the four nights we were in Perth.

So, as we welcome new runners to the crew:

Nishima Knowsley from New Zealand,

Iva Nemcova from the Czech Republic,

and Miro Pospisek (left), also from the Czech Republic, we say goodbye to other members leaving, as the growing family of the World Harmony Run team proceeds towards the completion of this epic and unforgettable journey around a nation we all now call Home.

"A fountain-heart, a mountain-soul,

O great Australia of mine!

For me, for all

Your zenith-goal.

Success-march, progress-dive divine."

– Sri Chinmoy

– Kylie Williams (Australia)

Team Members:
Uddyogini Hall (Australia), Vidagdha Bennett (Australia), Jacqui Uppal (Australia), Kylie Williams (Australia), Friederike Makowka (Switzerland), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Angela Muhs (Germany), Elke Lindner (Germany), Prashanta Cunningham (Australia), Sushmitam Rouse (Australia), Sipra Lloyd (Australia), Kasia Wheeler (Australia), Nishima Knowsley (New Zealand), Iva Nemcova (Czech Republic), Prabuddha Nicol (Australia), Kishore Cunningham (Australia), Noivedya Juddery (Australia), Pushpendra Uppal (Australia), Miro Pospisek (Czech Republic), Misha Kulagin (Russia), Dima Lehonkov (Ukraine), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic), Edi Serban (Romania), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Runar Gigja (Iceland), Prabhakar Street (Canada), Colm Magee (Ireland), Veeraja Uppal (Australia), Prachar Stegemann (Australia)

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