Happy Hiking Tails 2- Fuji Redux

Part of my new series of goals for 24 is to get out and try to become more physically fit. All that walking down under made me realize how cooped up and suffocating living in the greater Tokyo area is. There’s no space to breathe-at least, that’s how I feel sometimes.

In honor of my birthday, I took the very next off and went hiking with some teachers from my school. The day started out sunny, but we went up to an elevation of about 3000 meters and ended up in the middle of a cloud bank. Needless to say, there were no spectacular views, and some of the climbing was a bit dodgy. Still, it was a nice way to finish the week and break in a new year!

One of the teachers I went with was the rad I-sensei, the guy whom I went skiing with last February.

Back  in August, he helped Sabina and I take on Mt. Fuji. The first time we went, with a larger group of people, was not successful and rather disappointing. Conditions for my third try were completely different. 

To start with, I-sensei drove us in his car. Did you know that there are grooves bored into the road that case your car to be filled with a special “Mt. Fuji Welcome” melody? No? Neither did I, until we passed into the park and car was suddenly its own music maker!

Second, the weather was perfect. It was slightly breezy and was a cloudless night with a full moon. The moon was so bright, in fact, that we barely needed our headlamps.

Somewhere around the 8th station, about an hour left to go!

I-sensei had climbed Fuji several times before, so we set off at a steady pace. The ascent was uneventful because there was no rain, and we made it to the summit in about 5 hours- at roughly 3:30 in the morning. I wanted to sleep so badly, and I was much colder than I had prepared for. I-sensei ended up rousting us and making us walk the circumference of the crater, which turned out to be awesome.

Have you ever seen the shadow of a mountain caused by moonlight? The full moon was so bright there was a perfect, conical rendition of the mountain laying across the sea of clouds beneath us.

Eventually, the sky started to redden and we scrambled to find a place to perch and watch the sunrise.

People who have hiked Fuji often say that it’s the most beautiful sunrise they’ve ever witnessed. I’ve seen some sunrises (yay, night shift!) but they’re right-this one was pretty special. The way the sky changed colors as the sun finally broke through was mesmerizing, even to my tired eyes. 

The descent took a little over 2 hours. The trail consisted of really slippery shale, so I ended up turning sideways and half sliding down the mountain. Boy did my knees hate me for the next few days for that stunt! Hundreds of people descending at the same time caused a lot of dust to get kicked up too, plus the sun was bearing down full force now, so I pulled my hat low down around my ears, tied my bandana around my nose cops-n-robbers style and put my stunner shades on. I’m certain I looked ridiculous, but I didn’t get sunburned or black lung.

And now I can finally say that I’ve conquered the beast. Third time really was the charm!

Channeling Freddie Mercury for epic greatness

Armidale, amirite?

It is my own traveler’s belief that you never really know a place until you see the countryside, even if it’s just for a few hours. Cities cater to tourists and they have their time and place, but real life is in the suburbs or the rural areas.

Enter Armidale. Now, considering Australia has a big, huge, massive empty center, this place wasn’t rural in the exact sense, but it was smaller than Sydney and significantly smaller than the Tokyo/Saitama hyper metropolis. In the end however, this turned out to be a wonderful side adventure.

I landed at the airport, walked off the tiny plane across the tarmac and into a terminal that was roughly the size of my house.

“Oh, so it’s that kind of place,” I thought.

As soon as my friend J walked through the door, with a big  grin plastered on his face, I knew the next few days would be fantastic regardless of how small a town I had put myself in.

My time spent with J and his lovely family (plus adorable dog) was incredible-for so many reasons. It was relaxing, rejuvenating and insightful. J himself is one of those people that I just clicked with when I first met him in Japan. We both have a love for history and share a sarcastic, dry sense of humor; we spent a lot of time nerding out or quoting film and television lines to one another (A noteworthy example: Pretty much every line from the episode of The Simpsons where Bart has to go to Australia to pay a fine. It’s hilarious. Watch it).  We did a lot of reading. We did a lot of napping. We did a lot of chatting. We did a lot of eating (Oh sweet holy Buddha, the Lamington cakes…). We drank copious amounts of tea (Dear heavenly Batman, the peppermint tea...). We did a lot of walking. Nothing clears the head and soothes the heart like walking.

We walked from here...

...to here!

Except for that moment when I thought I lost my camera and all the photos I’d taken in Australia and San Diego. I needn’t have worried though, it was hiding in the dog’s bed and was mailed to me a few weeks later.  

No, J didn’t make me sleep in the dog’s bed! I was just petting and cuddling Bundy after watching a teary film about an Australia dog (“Red Dog”, if you feel like crying) when it fell unnoticed from my pocket and was buried in the sheets.

J and the camera thief, Bundy

What was supposed to be a 3 day stay turned into a week long-hang out. Because of the camera fiasco, I put off driving to the coast for a day and J decided to come with me, which meant cancelling my rental car and saving a ton of money. So I got to stay another day in his house, enjoying his mama’s fine English/Southern hospitality all the while. I saw my first rugby match (and had no idea what was going on aside from grimacing every time someone was tackled or thrown halfway across the field), read some hilarious ANZAC comics, and generally just dossed about.

And every minute of it was beautiful.