Distance today = n/a; Total distance = 21,263.19 km; Location = Pontian – 01 28.672′ N, 103 23.240′ E; Start time = n/a, Finish time = n/a

We are currently in Sydney, preparing for the fourth and final “ocean to ocean” continent of my world run – Australia. While I have also run in Asia, my fifth continent, it is not one of the four compulsory continents that I am required to traverse from coast to coast.

I will be starting my run across Australia from the Indian Ocean in Perth next Monday, June 10. If it all goes to plan, I’ll be finishing around mid September at the Opera House in Sydney.

My legs feel better than they have during any of the breaks I’ve had during the past year and a half. I have no injuries at all – not even a niggle. I’m hoping I’ll finish in the same shape.

We’ll be having various visitors during the course of this trans-Australian run. Our daughter, Grace, will be with us from Perth to Kalgoorlie, and is intending to do quite a bit of running with me. It’s almost a year since her sister, Hannah, accompanied us in the US mid-west.

We are also very pleased that friends, Jeff and Michael, will be with us all the way across the Nullarbor to Adelaide. Jeff, and wife Guen, are presently touring northern Western Australia, towing their caravan. Michael and Annie will be joining them soon. They will then meet us at the end of the month, thereby providing us with a caravan for the long Nullarbor stretch. Guen and Annie will drive our car back to Perth and fly home, after travelling with us for a couple of days.

We really appreciate Jeff and Guen’s generosity, and are looking forward to catching up with all four of them. I’m sure we’ll have a ball out there on Nullarbor. I think the guys might even have a bike with them, so I’ll have company while I’m running.

As keen golfers, Jeff and Michael will be playing the longest golf course in the world, which stretches right across the Nullarbor, with a hole in each of the bigger towns along the way. I’m going to stop running long enough to play each of the eighteen holes too, although my score will be the worst of the three of us, by far. Michael is already a good golfer, and Jeff is rapidly improving, now that he has more time on his hands. In fact, Jeff showed such promise when I saw him in January, I reckon it’s only a matter of time before his handicap is in single figures.

So, it’s all happening. I’m really looking forward to this last leg. Running across Australia may sound like a long way – and it is – but it feels like I’m now approaching the “home straight”.