Lakes of the week

It's a good habit, getting up early. I did it in Japan, too. Problem was, my ability to get anywhere before the first trains started running at 5:30 or 6:00 AM made it impossible for me to catch the sunrise any time except the dead of winter.

Japan lies so far towards the eastern edge of its time zone that the sun comes up at around 4:15 AM during the summer. Even in the dead of winter, I had barely enough time to get on the train to Izu Kogen station and then race down the path to the Jyogasaki Coast before the sun rose over the island of Izu Oshima.

Living in Tokyo I never wanted or needed my own car. Getting almost anywhere in the city is convenient, safe, and not too expensive if you are willing to use the trains and do a little walking. And getting a driver's license is a hassle for Americans. Brits and Kiwis and license-holders of other favored nations that have a national permit system can apply and automatically receive a Japanese license. But because licenses in the USA are obtained within the State of residence, I guess a such reciprocity cannot be arranged, therefore US citizens must take a written and vehicular drivers test to get their Japanese license. And you can't use the so-called "International Drivers Licens" you get at triple-A if you are a resident of Japan.

So I never bothered with a car, or the time and expense of getting a Japanese driver's license.

But down the coast in Ito, a car would have made sense and would have given me a lot more flexibility to explore - especially around the edge of the light where a landscape photographer take advantage of the changing contrast and color around sunrise and sunset.

Landscape Photography's Biggest Secret

I figure the biggest secret of "daylight" landscape photography is this: If you are not in place 30 minutes before sunrise or 30 minutes before sunset, you lose. Sure, there are exceptions. But in the great majority of places, the element that really makes the scene extraordinary is the light.

Take Saturday morning, for example. Here's a shot taken at 8:08 AM at Dream Lake:

8:08 AM: Dream Lake after sunrise.

A pleasant scene. But here is a shot from about the same place, exactly one-and-a-half hours earlier:

6:38 AM: Dream Lake as the rising sun strikes the mountain backdrop.

The orange peaks against the blue sky, the reflection in the dark surface of the lake, and the deep sloping shadows framing the scene make for a much more interesting and dramatic view. All thanks to the light.

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More from the same morning

5:30 AM: Crescent moon - more like "sliver moon" actually.

6:26 AM: Mountain stream. Leaving the shutter open for a quarter of a second gives the flowing water a misty dreamlike quality.

6:46 AM: The sun appears.

Deadwood along the margin of Emerald Lake in black-and-white.

Well, just because you missed sunrise or sunset doesn't mean all is lost: there is still a lot you can shoot any time of day. On my morning hikes, I try to get the expansive landscape shots around the "magic hour" around sunrise, then do closer-in shots after the sun is up. Macro photography especially benefits from plenty of light.

Wildflowers and downed wood.

Stream, wildflowers, and peaks.

Trees reflected. Despite the harsh sunlight at the top of the image, there is lots of deep color in the reflections in the water.

Mountain mornings.

OK, so what if I don't have my good camera gear? These beautiful summer mornings cannot be wasted. And even if I can't get a shot worth printing and hanging on the wall, I can still get the feel of the light around here, and scope out some places to go back to with the SLR and a couple of good lenses. And enjoy the peace and quiet, the beautiful light, and the delicious air.

Left the hotel at what my old friend Jerry would call "o-dark-thirty" again - about 3:15 AM I think - and got out of the car at around 4:30 and started climbing.

The trail switchbacked quite a bit. Climbing to the east, I had a chance to watch the progress of the sunrise:

4:28 AM: Climbing towards the sunrise.

Turning back west, a look at the mountains, with the tail lights of a few other early risers on the road in the valley bottom:

4:34 AM: Climbing towards the mountains.

Even though it is nearly pitch black and I am using a head lamp, the camera can see subtle differences on the light that my eyes cannot - if I give it a chance by using long exposure times - these are shot with the shutter open for 15 seconds.

After about an hour of climbing, I reached the crest of the hill. Too late for any pre-dawn shots - making a note to get there a half-hour earlier next time - but in time to circumambulate to the east side to catch the sun hitting the mountains over the lake:

5:36 AM: The mountains are painted red by the warm early morning light.

After that, taking my time to complete a lap around the lake, enjoying the air, the light, and the solitude.

5:45 AM: An old stump on the lake shore.

6:10 AM: Light spreads over the lake.

6:25 AM: Alpine Fireweed, Epilobium latifolium.

6:35 AM: A Leafy-Bracted Aster, Symphyotrichum foliaceum, hides among the grass.

Then back down the hill, and into town for a bit of breakfast!

7:15 AM: Back down the hill.

Same planet, different world.

Relocation

In the last 5 weeks, I have:

• Moved out of my apartment of 6 years in Ito
• Left Japan after 10 years, two-and-a-half months of residence
• Shared goodbye meals with some good friends with the hope that it won't be too long before I see them again
• Been living out of a suitcase, a hotel, and a rental car

During my residence in Japan, I had the chance to visit the USA at least a couple times a year, and during my years working with the Reno Air Races, I usually spent about two weeks in September immersed in American culture.

While in Japan, those visits to America always seemed like a dream, and while in America, Japan seemed like a dream. Maybe that's because I have so few friends who have straddled both worlds.

But I have always felt like both places had their special strengths and weaknesses, their unique attractions and flavors. And as I reached the decision during the early months of this year to leave Japan and return to the US, I began to focus more on those things that were hard to do in Japan, but easy to do in the USA:

• Take photos before sunrise: Japan lies at the eastern edge of its time zone, and the sun rises during mid-summer before 4:30 AM. And because I never owned a car, and always used public transport in Japan, it was impossible to be where I wanted to be at sunrise. So, I missed half of the magic hours that photographers cherish, only being able to shoot sunsets, but no sunrises. And since I lived on the east coast of the Izu Peninsula, with a tall range of mountains to the West, shooting sunsets required some travel. In the USA, I can drive to where I want to be whenever I want.
• Play music: we'll see how this goes. But my apartment in Ito was electronically very noisy. My building being one of the tallest in town, there were a lot of antennas on the roof, and I suspect they were the source of all of the hums and buzzes that I could never get rid of whenever I tried to do some recording in my apartment. I am hopeful that this won't be a problem when I move into a place here. And I also expect I can find some opportunities to play out in town - there were very few live music venues in Ito, and moving equipment was always a problem - it's hard to lug a guitar, much less an amp or anything else, on the bus or train.
• I can express myself: even after 10 years in Japan, I don't feel like I have the cultural context to express myself the way I can in American English. Not surprising, but still it is a pleasure to be able to speak with shades of meaning, and be playful with my native language, where I may have been only slightly better than, "See Spot run. Run, Spot, run!" when speaking Japanese.

Do I miss Japan? Every day.

Will I go back? I certainly plan to.

But in the meantime, there is lots to do here to get settled again. I feel lucky to be where I am in Colorado - from here in Boulder west across the Rockies into the Four Corners and down into Arizona is an area that contains some of my favorite territory in North America. I am lucky to be able to live here.

Exploration

I have already had some great hikes, and although my best camera gear is in storage awaiting delivery when I am able to receive it, I have been able to scout some places that I want to return to again.

This morning, I left my hotel at midnight, and drove an hour to the trailhead leading up to Long's Peak - one of Colorado's 53 so-called "14-ers" - mountains whose summits exceed 14,000 feet above see level.

I met up with two new friends from Denver [thanks, Glenn and Marble!], and we climbed through the darkness starting at 2:00 AM. By 3:00, we had climbed from about 9,400 to 11,000 feet and were above the tree line.

We were not alone: the parking lot was nearly full and there were lots of other hikers on the trail, getting an early start for the summit. I took this photo at 3:04 AM - the light traces from the headlamps of climbers bobbing in the darkness like giant fireflies.

3:04 AM: Headlamps of hikers appear like giant fireflies as they pass a stela marking the route to the summit of Long's Peak. Orion's Belt (three equally-spaced stars in a vertical line) floats above the horizon at right.

By 4:00, we had reached 11,500 feet elevation, and the point where the trail to Chasm Lake, our destination, separates from the route to the summit. And by 4:30, we were approaching the Lake, and I turned around to shoot this image of the approaching sunrise.

4:34 AM: About a quarter mile from Chasm Lake, looking east, and back from whence we came, towards sunrise.

I had just enough time to climb the last 500 feet or so over a hump of slickrock to race around to the east side of Chasm Lake to be in position to shoot this panorama as the sun hit the face of the Longs Peak range.

5:15 AM: The rising sun hits "The Diamond" - the east face of Longs Peak - in the distance at right, reflected in Chasm Lake.

After so much climbing in the dark, it was nice to have the sun, and I shot a few more photos during the descent back to the trailhead, arriving there at about 9:30 AM. From there, it was an hour's drive back to Boulder and a nice nap!

5:50 AM: Columbine in bloom at about 11,700 feet, on the descent from Chasm Lake.

6:00 AM: Wildflowers and a mountain stream just below Chasm Lake.

Yellow-bellied marmot.

7:20 AM: Still above the tree line, descending through 10,800 feet. Wildflowers and a route marker.

8:00 AM: Back in the shade of the forest. Still an hour and a half to reach the trailhead.

Thanks to everyone who asked about me.

Just a quick post to say thanks to everyone who asked if I was OK over the last few days.

I have been in the USA on a business trip since 7 Mar and therefore was not in Japan when the quakes and tsunamis struck. Most of the friends to whom I reached out via email have replied that they are OK. I expect to hear from the rest as they get to work - as I write this it is Monday morning in Japan.

As far as I can tell, there was no serious damage where I live southwest of Tokyo, and I still plan to return to Japan later this week, barring any travel delays or other problems.

My thoughts are with the Japanese people, who have always been kind and hospitable to me in my 10 years of living in their country. Working in their favor is their intelligence, their hard-working nature, their ability to organize and cooperate, and their strong sense of honor and respect towards others.

Please consider doing what you can to support the relief efforts and assistance being provided to Japan by various governmental and non-governmental organizations.

And thanks again for all who asked about me.

Blossoming Cherry Trees at Kawazu

I posted some photos I have taken during a few trips to Kawazu to see the cherry trees there, which are among the first to blossom each year on Japan's main island of Honshu.

I have been living in Izu for 4 years now, and this is the first time I have been able to see these trees in bloom. Every year up to now, I have been traveling during their peak season. Last year, I was determined to go see them, but the one weekend I had in Izu between business trips and work in Tokyo, the weather was truly awful with typhoon-like winds and heavy rain.

So I was really happy this year to be around and to have some good weather that made for good viewing and photography.

Above: Looking upriver towards the Amagi Mountains,
with blossoming cherry trees lining both sides.

Above: Cherry blossoms in the early morning sunshine.

More photos of the Kawazu cherry trees may be found here.

Spring is really just around the corner. I have a few weeks of travel outside Japan ahead of me, but by the time I get back, the weather will be getting warmer and it will be my favorite time of year.

Trip from h3ll

Surprise! Instead of leaving at 4:25 PM, we might not go at all - check back at 4:00 PM.

Snow accumulates on the windows - and on the wings - while passengers board.

A snow-covered 747 - going nowhere tonight.

Timeline so far:

12 noon: walk to train station, bag in tow

12:15 PM: arrive station

12:24 PM: train to Atami

12:47 PM: arrive Atami

1:01 PM: board Shinkansen bullet train for Tokyo

1:45 PM: arrive Shinagawa Station, walk across to the Yamanote loop line

1:55 PM: catch a train to Hamamatsucho

2:05 PM: jump on the Monorail to Haneda Airport

2:20 PM: arrive Haneda

2:30 PM: get to check-in counter. Can't check in. Flight delayed due to threat of volcanic ash entity's from thus morning's fresh eruption of Shinmoedake in Kyushu. Asked to check back at 4:00 PM.

4:00 PM: new info says flight will operate but departure time changed to 9:50 PM. (At this point, the Cathay Pacific Web site advises that all traffic between HK and Tokyo is being affected, and they provide a special form on the site to check flight status. Remarkably, this special function still shows this flight departing on time at 4:25 PM.

4:30 PM: checked in. Head for lounge.

9:15 PM: head to departure gate. It is snowing. Hard.

10:10 PM: board aircraft with 365 passengers.

11:20 PM: Captain announces that snow is accumulating on the wings faster than they can de-ice them, so we're going to just sit here until the snow abates. He assures us this is no problem, since "the crew is legal to fly even if we sit here for hours!" Good to know, thanks.

12 midnight: they give up on waiting for the snow to let up and we deplane to the transit lounge.

1:10 AM: still waiting for customs to come back on duty so we can be admitted back into the country, collect our luggage, and be bused to a hotel in Maihama.

New departure time: tomorrow noon.

Update 3:00 AM: just got on the bus. By the time we get to Maihama and get checked in, there won't be much time before the bus comes back at noon to drag us back to the airport - departure now scheduled for 3 PM.

Last update for this entry: arrived hotel 4 AM. Back at airport at 12:30. Canceled my trip. Got back home 27 hours after leaving.

A visit to Kochi Prefecture [高知県]

I've lived in Japan for ten years, and am sad to say that I have never been further south and west than Kobe - only about 360 km from Ito - maybe 2.5 hours on the bullet train. Friends from the States often ask me if, since I live in Japan, I have plans to travel around Asia. I always say that there are still so many places I want to see in Japan, and I fly so often for work, I would rather just get on a train or a bus and go somewhere in-country.

So last weekend's visit to Kochi Prefecture, in the Shikoku region was a new distance record to the south for me.

Kame Izumi Sake Brewery

Almost every year, a group from my favorite pub in Tokyo visits the brewery of one of Japan's best makers of "nihonshu" - what most people would just call "sake". We do a tour of the brewery, try some of the results of the brewmasters art, and have a great dinner together before heading back to the big city.

This year, we visited the Kame Izumi ["Turtle Spring"] brewery. After one-hour flight from Tokyo's Haneda airport and another hour on the bus, we arrived at an unassuming cluster of old buildings nestled up against the hills that lie between the town of Tosa and Tosa Bay.

The "toji" or brewmaster, Saibara-san, met us outside and ushered us into the brewery. It was dark and cool inside, and you couldn't tell where one building ended and another began; all a maze of tanks, filters, and hoses among the old wooden beams and trusses. Shafts of afternoon sunlight flowed in through the windows and cracks in the planked walls.

We have to take off our street shoes and put on slippers when stepping across the threshold to the "inside". Nothing big enough for my size 11-and-a-half feet, so the slippers end at the beginning of my heel.

Saibara-san shows us around, explaining all the way. I have been asked to take photos, so I linger a bit behind, and wait for my co-travelers to move ahead in the narrow spaces, so I don't get to hear a lot of the explanation, and some of it would be beyond my poor Japanese language comprehension skills anyway.

Near the end of the tour as we circle back from whence we started, Saibara-san leads us to a dual row of tanks, where the latest vintage is fermenting. Climbing on top of one, he gestures for us to use our hands to direct some of the air wafting out of the tanks and towards our noses. From a tray of small glasses, he taps off some samples and we get a taste of this work-in-progress. Its very fresh and lively, with a tang like new cider.

Then at the end of the tour, we gather round some makeshift tables and sample a dozen or so different sakes. Just a warm-up for the awesome dinner we had together later in the city of Kochi [photo at left].

Kochi Castle

A side benefit for me was a chance to check out Kochi Castle, which is one of the few castles in Japan that is not a post-war replica. The original castle, completed in 1611, burned to the ground in 1727. The current structures were completed in 1748.

I managed to NOT stay out all night drinking, and was able to get up and walk the half-mile or so to the castle grounds, with plenty of time to make a lap around the castle before the sun came up at 7 AM.

It was cold and I had not brought a tripod with me, so I had to do the best I could in the weak morning light, propping the camera against a rock, a tree, or a fence post. Maybe some day I can come back a really do it right, but I was glad I had the chance to see this magnificent castle.

Kochi Castle at sunrise.

The main keep, or donjon, rises in the distance behind Otemon gate.

A view of the massive walls on the west side of the castle,
with the main keep rising on the opposite corner.

A few views of Hong Kong

Back from 10 days in Hong Kong for a photo shoot. The photos won't be on the market until late Summer, but between the fashion shots, while the models were getting their makeup done or their wardrobe changed, I had a moment here and there to "look around" with the camera.

Cyberport is a large modern complex of buildings "around the corner" on the western side of Hong Kong island [Victoria Harbor lies between the north shore of the island and Kowloon which lies on the southern side of the mainland]. It is a government technology inclubator initiative, described as a "creative digital community", with "intelligent" office buildings, a five-star hotel, and a complex of retail and amusement venues.

A rather large panorama from Cyberport, looking south over the waterfront park towards the deluxe residential complex of Blair House. The inset shows the size of the panorama, which would create a print almost 5 feet across at a resolution of 300 pixels/inch.

Over in the New Territories is a place called "Nam Sung Wai". If you work at it, you can take photos that have actual natural objects - grass, trees, water - in the background. But it is a dismal place - trash everywhere, scum on the water, and mostly trampled, crushed, or burned. I felt sorry for the waterbirds - the fish must taste awful.

Nam Sung Wai

Another place, like so many in Asia, that shows the effects of the fast-growing crush of humanity - too many of us, and too little left of anything else.

Tassie NE to SW

Long drive yesterday heading south from Cradle Mountain through the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers area, across the the southern savannas of Tasmania to Hobart.

Another beautiful day.

Stopped for to stretch my legs on some brief bush walks; one at Nelson Falls, and another at Doneghy's Hill.

[At left: the view from Doneghy's Hill.]

Crossed a lot of country, from the rugged hills around cradle mountain into the rain forests full of giant ferns, across broad grassy plains bounded by stands of eucalyptus.

More photos will come later, over at my home page. For now, here are a few glimpses.

[Below right: a stand of eucalyptus trees.]

The road was narrow with no shoulder in most places, but in really good condition. And almost no traffic - every few minutes I would pass a vehicle going the other way, and once or twice I passed or allowed to pass another vehicle going my way.

Got into Hobart at about 7:30 PM - turned what would have been a 5-hour drive into a 9-hour trip, but the stops and detours were worth it.

Up early this morning to shoot some photos around the harbor at sunrise.

Cradle Mountain - WOW.

After a few arguments with my co-pilot, I finally got on the right track out of Devonport to Cradle Mountain. After using the directions and mapping features on the iPhone, using a dedicated GPS seems like going back to DOS after using Mac OS X. Maybe it is just this unit, provided as part of my car rental, but what a clumsy user interface.

After programming in my destination, I started getting suspicious while, following the directions of the Aussie-accented female voice of my co-pilot, I passed signs directing me to exit to Cradle Mountain, and she kept telling me to go straight on.

So I pulled off to the side of the road, pulled out the map, and determined that she was taking me on a rather circuitous route along the major highways, when I could be taking a more direct, but zig-zaggy route through the beautiful Tasmanian countryside.

Above: Kentish countryside.

So I turned around and started following the signs, and as she insisted that I turn back to the course she had chosen for me, I finally just put her in map-only mode to stop the whining.

After that it was a pleasant jaunt along the backroads, in and out of tiny towns, farmland, and a bit of rainforest.

Above: Poppies in bloom.

I got to the entrance of the National Park around noon, dropped my bag at the hotel, and proceeded to the Visitor Center, where I asked the recommendation of one of the rangers for a 3- or 4-hour hike. Pointing me at the map, she suggested the climb to Marion's Lookout, with various options from there to loop back or go further up into the range towards Cradle Mountain itself.

Then as I added myself to the line of 20 or so folks waiting for the shuttle bus up into the park, the driver called out that he had a seat for a "party of one", and since everybody else seemed to be part of a group - I got to jump ahead and ride shotgun up front with the driver.

Three hours later, I found myself at Marion's lookout and, inspired by the view, I decided I had enough water and energy head towards Cradle Mountain, take the Face Track, then drop down to Lake Wilks and than all the way down to Dove Lake and make my way back to the shuttle bus stop there.

The Face Track was interesting - a very narrow track along the base of a massive wall of rock, the highest part of which is cradle mountain. But the track was well marked, with a combination of stakes, stacks of rock, and paint flashes on sections of bare rock. And the views were magnificent.

Above: Looking down on Lake Wilks and Dove Lake from the Face Track.

The scramble down off the face to Lake Wilks, and then on to Dove Lake was just as hard on the legs as the climbing getting up there, and by the time I got to down to the elevation of Dove Lake, my legs were starting to complain. And I ran out of water about halfway around Dove Lake, but I made it back to the parking lot just in time to catch the last of the once-every-ten-minutes shuttles before they switched to the once-an-hour evening schedule.

Above: Dove Lake with Cradle Mountain in the background.

All in all, a great walk in beautiful country.

Onboard "Spirit of Tasmania", Melbourne to Devonport

Above: "Spirit of Tasmania II" alongside Melbourne's Station Pier.

"Spirit of Tasmaina I and II" run between the port of Melbourne on the south coast of the Australian mainland, across the Bass Strait, to Devonport, on the north coast of the island of Tasmania. They run every evening all year round, but during the peak Summer months also do day runs several days a week.

Check-in starts at 6:30 AM, and I arrived at Melbourne's Station Pier just before 7:30 to see the ship already taking on cars and passengers. After an inspection for compressed gases, jerry cans of fuel, and other items that might represent a danger on board, the line of cars snake around the pier and climb a ramp towards the bow of the ship, then drop down into its gaping maw to parking belowdecks.

Lock the car, grab my camera bag, and then climb up to the passenger decks to watch the cast-off.

We depart Melbourne on time at 9 AM, and the Captain announces that we'll make Devonport at around 6:40 PM with an average cruising speed of 27 knots. It will be more than 2 hours before we even clear the mouth of Port Phillip, Melbourne's huge harbor. Once we do, 20-25 knot winds are expected for our crossing of Bass Strait, a famously treacherous 240 km-wide and 50-meter deep slot of water between the mainland and Tasmania. The number of ships wrecked along the Strait number in the hundreds and the Strait is said to be twice as rough as the English Channel.

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11:40 AM: We sail beyond the headlands of Point Nepean and Point Lonsdale into Bass Strait. The seas are not rough, but there are some white caps, and the ship is shuddering and rolling a good bit more than in the protected waters of Port Phillip.

1:50 PM: We pass "Spirit of Tasmania I" heading in the opposite direction, back to Melbourne from Devonport, about a mile west of our track. The wind on deck is very stiff, but it is a clear sunny day with scattered clouds.

5:00 PM: We are advised over the ship's intercom that our arrival time in Devonport will be 7:00 PM. I am glad we will still have a couple hours of daylight after we arrive.

6:15 PM: Disembarkation procedures are announced.

7:00 PM: We tie up alongside the pier at Devonport, and after an hour waiting in line to drive off the ship and get through Tasmania's quarantine inspection, I make for the motel, drop my bags and rush "downtown".

At Sharky's restaurant, they were closing the kitchen, but the Mom/waitress out front gets an approving nod from the Dad/chef back in the kitchen - and I'm able to get a late dinner.

Happy New Year from Melbourne!

Melbourne is a really pretty city, with some great gardens, old buildings, bars and restaurants, and more - with the Yarra River flowing through the center. Great fireworks shows tonight. An "early-bird" family episode at 9:15 - about half an hour after sundown, and then the midnight shows for the adults.

Here are a couple of shots from the late show, with fireworks going off from the tops of many of the buildings around town.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!

Oysters and "r" months

above: the skyline of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Where I grew up on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Annapolis, Maryland, I was taught only to eat oysters in months whose name had the letter "r" in it. The reason being that the local oysters were growing in pretty warm water during the "non-r" months - May/June/July/August - and warm-water diseases and spoilage would be more likely to be a problem.

I was thinking that maybe the rule still works here in Australia because there is no "r" in "DEE-SEM-BAH". And that I shouldn't eat oysters because it is the middle of summer here - the highs today are supposed to reach almost 40° C!

However, I still think there is an audible "r" in January - even if it gets pronounced "JAN-YER-REE" around here. So - I gotta wait a couple more days?

But yesterday, as I was trying to decide whether to chow down on a half-dozen here in Melbourne, a little further consideration convinced me that "Chesapeake rules " shouldn't apply here. The temperature of the waters these oysters are coming from is a lot colder - at around 20° C - than the Chesapeake, which hits 30° C in Summer.

And the oysters were from Tasmania anyway - a bit cooler still - only 1600 miles from Antarctica.

So I enjoyed some mid-Summer December oysters along with a glass of "Moo Pale Ale", also from Tasmania, which the brewer calls an "American style Pale Ale" and "a quintessential microbrewery beer". Very nice - just no comparison to the dilute pee that the biggest breweries in America call beer: "We start with pure mountain water - then we take the purity out!"

Know why they spend millions on sponsorships and ad campaigns? Because nobody in their right mind would drink the stuff unless it was hammered into them that it would make them cool.

Thank God for microbreweries everywhere.

Made it to OZ.

Whew. After about 24 hours total travel time including:

• 3 hours of train travel
• about 3 hours hanging around in airport lounges
• approximately 14 hours in the air
• 45 minutes driving on the wrong side of the road

I am in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Beautiful day here - not a cloud in the sky, a nice 22 degrees Celsius.

At right, looking down the Yarra River towards the Southbank promenade.

Below, looking upriver towards the Rod Laver Arena and Olympic Park.

Enroute Australia - Tokyo to Hong Kong

We departed Narita from Runway 34L - heading northwest, and made a right turn-out to the southwest and flew back towards Tokyo, passing to the south of the city.

On the right side where I was sitting there were some great views out the window over Tokyo. The image below - my iPhone doing its best in the dark [1/15th of a second, F/2.8, ISO 1000] - isn't very good, but you can get a sense of the view.

At the center of the photo is Tokyo Tower, and just to the left of the word "Tokyo" you can make out the massive and tall building that is Roppongi Hills. The dark areas just to the right of the word "Tower" are the grounds of the Imperial residence and Chiyoda-ku, the heart of Tokyo. And on the western and northern perimeter, the brightly-lit districts of Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Ikebukuro, connected by the Yamanote line - the train loop that encircles the city.

Onward towards Hong Kong - flight time 4 hours 50 minutes. I have flown this route many times over the last 3 years, but never this late in the day. So, no chance to see Mt. Fuji, or anything much at all except city lights, until we reach the southern end of the Japanese islands and head out over the ocean towards Taiwan, and Hong Kong beyond.

This route takes us over the city of Hong Kong as we descend towards the new airport on Lantau Isand. The weather was nice enough this evening for a great view - but the cabin lights were amped up too far to even try to get a photo of that beautiful skyline tonight.

Next step - the long flight to Adelaide and then Melbourne.

Enroute Australia - and already running late?!

Notwithstanding the reliable on-time performance of Japan's public transportation systems - especially Japan Railways - the Shinkansen between Atami and Shin-Yokohama was 5 minutes - FIVE MINUTES! - late arriving in Yokohama today.

Doesn't sound like much, but everybody gets so used to the accuracy that when you buy tickets, it's not at all unusual to have razor-thin connection times.

My trip to Narita Airport, for example, typically involves three separate trains- there are other options available, but this way is the fastest and most convenient: the local line up the coast from Ito to Atami, then the Shinkansen from Atami to Shinagawa, and finally the Narita Express from Shinagawa to Narita.

And today my train connection times were: 6 minutes at Atami, and 11 minutes at Shinagawa. But, there was some issue with the train ahead of us between Atami and Shinagawa, so we arrived at Shin-Yokohama, the last stop before my transfer at Shinagawa, 5 minutes late.

That cut my connection time down to 6 minutes - any closer than that and I would have had to hustle a bit.

But one of the reasons I change from the Shinkansen to the Narita Express at Shinagawa is the tracks are really close together - at Tokyo Station, it's a 10-minute cross-station, multilevel trip. Once I get off the Shinkansen, I only need to ride up one level on the escalator, pass through the ticket gate, and go another 30 meters before I reach the escalator that descends to the track for the Narita Express.

So - it wasn't a problem - but it did mean there was no chance for me to swing through Starbucks for a latté. I can find one at the airport.

It is a typical early Winter day in Japan - dry, sunny, and clear. The sun is shining, but days are short, and because we are on the eastern edge of our time zone, the sun goes down by 4:30 PM - so I will be flying in the dark to Hong Kong. And then flying through the night to Australia.

Narita Airport, from whence I am posting this, is moderately busy - I think I am a day or two ahead of the mad rush by many Japanese to get out of the country for a few days over the upcoming New Year holidays.

Next stop - Hong Kong.

Tassie, here I come.

Within a few days - back to mid-summer.

Two flights totalling over 10 thousand kilometers. South. First from Tokyo to just across the Tropic of Cancer to Hong Kong, then the long haul from Hong Kong to Melbourne, crossing the equator around Indonesia's Molucca Sea. Southward, southward, crossing the northern coast of Australia around Darwin.  Down, down, and under with the last third of the eight-and-a-half-hour flight over the Australian outback.

Then, after a few days in Melbourne, a ferry ride to the end of the civilized world - the other end.  The island of Tasmania.

It will be mid-summer there, but I expect some cool weather and maybe even some rain, especially on the western side of the island.

And, I'm hoping for some open roads, some long hikes, some clean air, and some good views.

If I can, I'll post some photos along the way.

Summer is over.

Yes, there will be more warm and sunny days here as Japan slowly slides towards Winter.  We'll have some typhoon action until the moist summer air from the south gives way to more westerly winds from off the Korean peninsula and the drier air improves visibility and comfort.

Here along the coast of the Izu Peninsula, there will still be flowers in bloom and plenty of insect and animal activity into late November, and I am looking forward to some more hikes, and chances to do some more macro photography of small plants and animals.

But today it is cool, breezy, and rainy, so since I am stuck inside anyway, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at some of the images I captured this summer.

You can do so by clicking HERE, or on the link at right to the "Summer is over" photo gallery.  It's just under the "Navigation" label.

On the move . . .

It takes me almost as long to get to the airport, as it does to get from Japan to Hong Kong, but I think it's worth it, living where I do.

And Japan's travel infrastructure is just exceptional - clean and comfortable. And always on time except for the occasional delay for bad weather or a suicide. If your train is not on time, you have to double-check - your watch is probably wrong.

My only complaint is that things are a bit "over-announced" - there is a nearly constant stream of messages confirming the train you're on [even the escalator you are on - "you are now approaching the up-escalator to the platform" - seriously!], or the name and arrival time of the next station, or what they are selling from the cart that comes through the car with sandwiches and beer, snacks, and ice cream.

My whole door-to-door trip is in seven parts:

• a 5-minute taxi ride to the train station - I could take the bus, which costs ¥160, but there is really no place for luggage, so I call for a cab a couple hours ahead of time and pay ¥810 instead - about USD $9.00 at today's exchange rate.
• a 20-minute train ride up to Atami on the "Odoriko Super View" express train, which gets up to Atami a bit faster than the 30 minutes it takes the stops-at-every-station train.  The line runs right along the eastern coast of the Izu Peninsula and alternates between really nice views of the rugged coastline and long tunnels that burrow into the folded fingers of rock that jut into the sea.  But today, it is cloudy and gray - not so good for sight-seeing.
• at Atami, I switch trains to the Shinkansen - Japan's famous "bullet train".  Leaving Atami, the train heads a bit inland and we lose sight of the coast, but on a good day glimpses of Mt. Fuji can be had between Odawara and Yokohama.

The Shinkansen arrives at Atami Station from points south - on the way to Tokyo.

• arriving at Shinagawa at the southeast margin of Tokyo after 40 minutes on the Shinkansen, I have just enough time to hit Starbucks for a Soy Venti Latté before changing trains again to the Narita Express.  After diving underground and stopping at Tokyo Station, the Narita Express comes up out of the hole on the eastern side of Tokyo and continues eastward for a little over an hour to the airport, so there is time to read or work without having to jump up and change modes of transportation again.

 Inside the Narita Express.

• out in Chiba Prefecture, approaching the airport there rice paddies and villages with traditional Japanese tiled-roof houses.  The train pulls into Airport Terminal 2 right on time, as usual, and then its check-in, security check, passport control, and the airport lounge until departure time - then the approximately 4-hour flight to Hong Kong.  Four hours and twenty minutes today - the Jet Stream must be pretty strong.  The flight goes right over Mt. Fuji, but I am sitting on the left side of the aircraft today, so I don't see it.

Departure gate, Narita airport.

• after landing at Hong Kong's new international airport, which is out on Lantau Island, getting through immigration, and grabbing my luggage, I catch the Airport Express train into Central Hong Kong - a comfortable 40-minute ride.
• and then race everybody else off the train to the taxi stand to catch a cab to the hotel.  Tonight, there are plenty of cabs and the wait is short.

Door-to-door elapsed time: approximately 10 hours.

The worst part of the trip is flying economy class - being trapped for over four hours with a bunch of total strangers, each of us allotted a space so tiny that it would constitute a human rights violation in any other context.  If I had my way, my commercial airline travel events would be fewer and farther between.

a day to explore the inside - at last

So many things I want to do but have not done.  But today the things at the top of the list are not so much about visiting someplace new, finding new friends, or socializing.  And not about any of the other things that have to be done to maintain a so-called life in the modern world - errands, cleaning, paperwork, bill paying, shopping - none of that stuff.

More about exploring on the inside:

• Working up some of the hundreds of photos I have taken over the last 3 months.
• Fleshing out some of the tunes I have sketched on the guitar and the keyboard but have not really started to define and arrange.
• Exploring some ideas in 3D graphics.

Mostly creative work.

It is hard to do this kind of work when my day is busted up into a million pieces by conference calls, meetings, travel, and managing.  And hard to do when I am sitting in a hotel room thousands of miles from home without my stuff - my gear, my guitars, my books, my tools.

So today has been a pretty good day.  An unbroken stretch of a few hours to "get in the zone", think, practice, try.  There has to be some insulation from the ever-more-intrusive outside world to do this.

It would have been a great day outside, too.  As if the sea and the wind had been watching the calendar, the weather really turned the corner right around the last day of Summer.  Although it is sunny today, there is a cool breeze coming off the ocean.  A submarine anchored just outside the harbor last night and at 7 AM this morning, they got underway.  I guess they are doing sea trials or some sort of training, as they have been cruising around on the surface for the past three hours, doing S-turns, one-eighties, and then stopping and doing nothing.

But today I won't go out to enjoy the Autumn weather.  I did two hikes last week, and today is an inside day.  Play some music, start this blog, look at some photos, and occasionally glance out the window.

And, then tomorrow, off to Hong Kong.  Three trains and three hours to the airport, wait in the lounge for 90 minutes before departure, and then 4 hours flying time.  It makes for a long day, but the trains here are great, and I can get some paperwork done on the laptop and check mail on the iPhone on the way to the airport.

Back home on Friday, and hoping for good weekend weather for my next outside adventure.