Thought I'd share with you the wonderful things that are happening whilst enjoying life in the slow lane.  

Yesterday I reunited with a friend who is reliving the life of a swaggie.  Steve York who I regularly bump into at Northey Street and other Green events in Brisbane is walking home after attending the Sustainable Living Festival in Melbourne.

As we travel further south, there are some gaps in our accommodation planning. Thank you so much to Linda and Arwen and the very cute Kaylan for sharing your home with us at short notice. Today a bowls club rep stopped to tell us he had seen the FootPrints for Peace walkers leaving Port Macquarie - on Channel 7 in Queensland! It seems the item went national! David was excited to catch up with the flag-bearing women walkers. He offered to help with a roof for tonight and with the ready assistance of Brett, manager of Tuncurry Bowls Club, we are now enjoying our motel room. As well as bed and breakfast, we were also given full use of the motel laundry. Brett, Cassie, June and Dawn were photographed outside the bowls club and the story will be sent to the local paper. With the bowls clubs of Australia sponsoring our cause, surely Kevin Rudd will realise how broad our support base has become :)

Peace and strength, Dawn

These symptoms of inner peace were provided to FootPrints for Peace walkers by Pam and Peter Clarke in Kempsey.  We thought this wisdom would be useful to share...

Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions.  This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict and violence in our world.   Here are some signs and symptoms of inner peace:
- a tendency to act and think spontaneously, not on fears based on past experiences
- an unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment
- a loss of interest in judging other people
- a loss of interest in judging self
- a loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others
- a loss of the ability to worry.  (This is a very serious symptom.)
- frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation
- contented feelings of connectedness with others and with nature
- frequent attacks of smiling
- an increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.

After 10 days of walking for peace and a nuclear free and sustainable future, I'm back home in Kempsey.  From Grafton I walked about 200km along country roads, through towns, along the beach and finally along the Pacific Highway.  Five women - Cassie, Dawn, Di, June and Sue - had started the Peace Walk in Brisbane.  Liz and I joined in Grafton and Cath in Toormina.  Many other people walked with the group for shorter distances, more than 150 in total by the time we reached Kempsey.

Our FootPrints for Peace entourage has diverged a little from the direct route to enjoy the hospitality and company of the friendly folks at Bellingen.

A dozen extra walkers paced it out from the old Butter Factory into the town proper. We were welcomed by the Mayor and Uncle Tom, an elder of the Gumbayngirr people, beside the inspiring David Helfgott sculpture. A delicious supper awaited us at the showground pavilion. As the bats flew out to the forests for a night of feasting and pollinating, the walkers took their rest. From the pre-dawn the returning bats reminded me of the schism between the bat lovers and the bat detesters.

As I listened to their chorus I was happy to celebrate their presence and trust that people who appreciate their contribution to the local ecology will be drawn to this lovely town.

Dawn Joyce

Blog by Liz from Woy Woy: On  our footprintsforpeace walk we will cover the distance  from Coramba to Coffs Harbour today. It is a shorter walk of about 16k and we have made arrangements to meet short distance walkers at the outskirts of Coffs at 3pm. This means a SLEEP IN (just for once).

Hi everyone, this is June walking for footprintsforpeace from Grafton where we had a wonderful rest day with Dolores. to Kungala. Its 4 days since that walk and all the days have rolled into one, I do remember that the landscape changed a couple of times during the day, the weather once again was near perfect and we stopped at the service station in Lanitza where we all enjoyed an ice cream or ice block.  

The reason I feel I must write about this day is ……… Dave and Derec from FOE Brisbane drove over 300klms to visit us “before we got too far away” They didn’t leave Brisbane till lunch time and by the time they got to us we were all ready for bed. Never mind they enjoyed a meal, had a chat with everyone , then when the walkers went to bed spent an hour showing me how to send photos for the blog. Then drove home!! Well done guys, I am truly moved by your support and encouragement

Youthful affirmation for FootPrints for Peace walkers from our host Amber in Maclean

If you want the rainbow you have to put up with the rain

these women are walking for peace so they put up with the pain.

Every ounce of sweat, all of the blood , mud and tears

can not compare or measure up to our environmental future fears.

We are here, we are strong and the land will guide us on

arm in arm, day and night, we will struggle to make it right.

You may ignore, turn away or yell, laugh, dismiss and lie as well:

But remember this until living's end

'If you have endured a lot and gained a little

you have done well my friends'.

Amber Johnson

We walked into Grafton on Saturday of the Easter weekend to enjoy the next day as a rest day in this wonderful town. Every street is wide enough to accommodate a bullock dray and every street is lined with the most beautiful trees. The different shades of green, the size of the trunks, the bark exteriors, the leaf shapes - all different and all huge!! The oldest tree I have found is a Fig "Moracae" planted in 1880. I have realy rested in the shade of these trees as  we sat watching this huge river wind around the town. We were entertained by much river activity with speed boatsm house boatsm jet skis and wind surfers. The colors of the water changes as the sun moves across the sky and clouds skudding creat patterns on the water as well. Hmmmmm.... now ready for the next leg onto Coffs Harbour

Well Hello Everyone!

It’s been a while since I have had the chance to blog and I hope you have been enjoying our trip with us thus far. My name is Di and I am going to tell you a bit about where I have arrived at after three weeks on the walk.