Yakushima

20th May Ian, Kanapu and I set off for our Yakushima trip at 6:40am Saturday morning from Futsukaichi (near Hakata). We got the Shinkansen and Tsubame to Kagoshima and the Toppy Ferry from Kogashima Port to Yakushima. We got a taxi to take us to the start of our climb instead of a bus to give us more daylight hours. Our taxi driver was hilarious. After he agreed to take us, he looked at me and said "Are you from India?" We weren't sure why he asked me that until he said that India was the only country he had been to. He was the Japanese equivalent to driving Miss Daisy (hopefully more than my family understand that expression). He was more interested in talking to us than driving us where we wanted to go. His conversation gave us great amusement for the rest of the hike. The start of the hike was through tourist nature area but it wasn't long before Ian said "Here's the track". Compared to what we had been walking on it was nothing more than a water runway, but off we went. I didn't take many photos during the first part of this hike mainly because I was trying not to die. It was definately one of the few times I have pushed my body to its limit. I wasn't worried about my life flashing before my eyes, I was worried that there would be trees flashing before my eyes as I tumbled back down the mountain. Some of the steps up were huge and I wished at this time that I had inherited height like my brother. Between the three of us we have decided that the best hiking body would be long legs to get up and down the steep steps and a short body so you can get under the trees and branches. One the following photos, that looks like tree roots.... that is actually the track of an easier section. Much to my amazement I made it through the first day and still managed to easily finish the day's hike easily within the time required. The first 3 photos are of us on top of a rock, on top of a mountain, not too far from the first hut. When we stumbled across the hut we were a little surprised. It was like a tool shed, and not like what we had seen on a video on the ferry. Luckily no one was there so we weren't required to put up the tent. Half an hour later we were joined by a Japanese hiker who earned the nickname Chainsaw during the night. Hmmm! Very funny but I would've preferred more sleep. 21st May. We set off hiking at about 6:45am in search of Miyanoura Dake. On this section we saw many more people and were surprised at the amount of Obaachan, and Ojiisan's there were. Obaachan-s and Ojiisan-s are grandparents... so people in their 70s (about). After some very slow hiking on the up-hills from me we made it to the top of Miynoura Dake. This mountain is 1935m high making it the highest mountain in Kyushu. After a well deserved break we made our way down and came across the lodge we firstly intending on staying at but it was only 11am, so we continued past Joomon Sugi, the oldest tree in Japan. It's age is estimated at about 7000 years old! Around this part of the trail there were boards and steps which made the day alot easier to handle. We passed many tourists and I got both a "sugoi" and a "sazaesan". "Sugoi" is "wow!" and I think it was because of my pack, and, "Sazaesan" is a famous Japanese comic stip of a lady who is always rushing because she is running late. We soon met up with a small railway track and walked along that for quite a while. We then broke off from the track and proceeded up another steep hill (root track photo). I was fine for all about 5 minutes and then my body started to give up. I think it was nearly 3/4 up I surrendered and gave the tent poles to Ian. Getting up the rest of the hill was still hard but definately easier. After that there wasn't any more steep hills, luckily for Ian who had bet his Kit-kat on it. The walk down was really difficult but easier than the up hills. On the last day we managed to hike 11.5 hrs. It is supposed to be two 7hr day hikes. Our motivation was a hot bath/shower and a good feed. Our intention was to stay at the campsite but when we got there, we were very disappointed. There was absolutely nothing there... I am not sure if there was even a toilet. We asked the taxi driver if he knew of a place. He took at to this lady's house who was absolutely amazing. She poured us a bath, and whilst we were at dinner she made our beds (futons). Yukushima is a must! I am tempted to return there as there are many beautiful waterfall around the island.