Peter Elzer was never comfortable around racist jokes and comments, but for the rugby league tragic, a casual remark made during a gathering was the last straw.
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Peter was at a dinner well over a year ago when a friend of a friend made when a casual, jokey comment about the number of non-Anglo players on the field.
"After that I went home and thought about it, and decided it's time to call this out," which is what the 67-year-old Coffs Harbour resident has been doing ever since.
So much so that it prompted him to embark on a 2023 kilometre walk across three states to raise awareness about racism.
Beginning in Melbourne on December 23, 2022, the walk is scheduled to end in the town of Seventeen Seventy located in the Gladstone region of Queensland on April 24 of this year.
The journey will be spread over 121 days. Peter is planning to walk 20 kilometres a day for 101 days in a solo, unassisted effort. He enjoyed a stopover in Taree on Monday, March 6 and will soon be seen on his way through Kempsey and the Macleay.
Along the way he is seeking to engage with people, to hear their stories and hopefully break down some of the distance that exists between those of different cultural backgrounds.
For someone from a migrant family himself, Peter understands how cultural differences can lead to isolation while a simple remedy is available to everyone.
"People need to talk to each other on the street; if people said hello to a person of a different race they'd be so amazed to find the conversations and even friendships that come from that," Peter said.
"I started doing it and talking to Indigenous people who I normally wouldn't have talked to, and I realised that people are just the same, all we need to do is be nicer to each other."
The walk would be daunting for someone half his age, but Peter attributes his progress so far to the 12 months of planning and training that preceded his departure. Not that it's all been smooth sailing.
"I've had some hairy moments on the way where I've run out of water and found myself in various situations but was able to get myself out due to the planning and training I've done," Peter said.
And once he's made it to Seventeen Seventy, what's next for this road warrior with a cause?
"Achieving it will be a milestone and after that, I don't know, there might be something else on the horizon - while I'm still young."
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