Coming down from the mountains to drink with the town's folk...

Back in kagoshima after almost a week of hiking, bush camping, onsens and expensive buses.. The kind folks at the green hostel (which we have frequented over the last 2 weeks) cleared the private room and we managed to stay in this sweet city for an extra day. the cost of this was sacrificing and scuttling out plans to go to Shikoku and the hidden valley of iya..!

This is something we do regret, as planning the next week over a 'quarter slab' (12$$ of quality asahi) last night we realised that it would take us about 12 hrs on the local trains (as we are too stingy to fork out for the faster options) just to get to Beppu from whence we catch the ferry and then another day of trains to iyaguchi! this would have limited our time in the Iya valley to just 2 days, which we decided would be sacrilegious to such a sacred place (although i hear there is a lot of roads and cement and power-lines and all the other hallmarks of modern　society today..). So, figuring we would need at least a week to see and hike around Iya, we decided it would be best to stay in Kyushu and take in more of this amazing island. As hiking in the mountains is the ticket of the day, the only obvious choice is to go to Aso, reputed as the highest peak in Kyushu (as far as we can tell), and a mighty sacred place where one can get out into the bush. But thats the future when we should really be describing the past...

A cheesy view of Saigyo, the reluctant leader of the satsuma rebellion, otherwise known as the seinan war (Meiji period)

'your drunk and taking photos again, *sigh*'

The foreboding view of mt miyanoura-dake from sea level

Our good friends who made yakushima special for us.. and offered us lifts!

The first of many sets of stairs to come......

a　small yakusugi (yaku cedar, endemic to the island of yakushima)

some signs of past travelers (this turns out to be a popular trail)

3.5 kms of train tracks.... yay. 

back to our roots.. (renee's words..)..

'secondary succession'... a disputed theory

this is where it starts to get cold.. 1300m is not very high, but the snow is thick and hasn't started to thaw.

Our hut for the night at 1500m.. its gets to 2 degrees in the hut but we are kept warm by the body heat of 5 other people and the sweet snoring of old japanese hiking dude (who managed to beat us up the mountain on each day..)

I go a little crazy after a 5am start as renee calmly records the situation.

So inviting but so cold..

A taste of the good weather we received on yakushima.. apparently quite rare

Camping on a bamboo grass field which turns out to be above a swamp, next to the cheap onsen.

I go crazy again in the local A-co-op but luckily I have my safety helmet.

Last morning on yakushinma as we prepare a breakfast feast on the beach

And back to the lava fields of sakurajima

Yakushima

View Kyushi travels 31-3 in a larger map

Where we have been so far...

View Kyushi travels 18-3 in a larger map

Kagoshima`s castle is it`s people

We are now writing from Kagoshima, from the shadow of ashy (and slightly scary) Sakurajima.

We took the long trip leaving our great friends Tatsu and Yudai via every form of public transport possible, including cute little orange train and misty bay crossings.

From Kagoshima, we heading over to a small town on the other side of the bay from Kagoshima called Shibushi.  On the way over, Sakurajima showed its true colours and erupted then and there.  Noone else was surprised, and when we asked our host she told us it happens every day now.  They will only be worried when it stops...

Shibushi was such an interesting place.  An obvious site of a lot of development in the real estate boom of the 80s, its popularity slumped and now a large number of buildings are abandoned.  Huge beachside hotels in the most beautiful spots, all the fittings and furniture left inside.  Cassie, our couch surfing host, made this place so special for us and we had a great time wandering around town, discovering castle ruins and tumble-down houses, then setting off fireworks and driving to the beach.

So today we are preparing for the misty mountains of Yakushima, the highest peak in Kyushu that pops out of the ocean, surrounded by reefs and white sand beaches, and reaching up into the clouds where the moisture keeps the oldest trees in Japan wrapped in blankets of moss.  Though we hear there is snow, so lets hope we have enough warm clothes for the 4 day hike...