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