Abel Tasman, 7km first day, after a boat ride

John 16kg, Damian 12kg, Sally 10kg, Ally 8kg, Lynda 13kg......until we start eating

Good to be back in the south island with Sally, Damian, Ally and John. Marahau Beach Camp is busy with kayaks, water taxis, campervans and walkers. Just reorganized my pack again to get rid of more unneeded bits and bobs. Every gram counts

Before WW2 Osaka was the largest city in Japan and the 6th largest in the world. It also was the place that made all the Japanese armaments. I never knew it was bombed by the US to such an extent that left most of the city in ruins, each bomb splitting as it dropped and causing a major amount of secondary damage with timber homes burning easily....more horror at the Peace Museum

Black and White architectural contrasts. From Tado Ando to Frederick Hunderwasser

We went to find the Tado Ando Jun building...it was abandoned, next to giant IKEA amoung a pile of weeds. Built before the Earthquake, it survived, but seems the neighborhood has died , it's on an Artificial Island on the way to Kobe Airport. Would make a cool office...I checked, it's not for sale!

The Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake Museum was traumatic, and I haven't been in an Earthquake, only seen the effects of the Christchurch one, and most of that from the comfort of TV in Auckland. It was bad, very bad, but unbelievable how fast some of the infrastructure was back in place. But like Christchurch, some suffered afterwards, dodgy builders, extra mortgages, communities split, temp accommodation for too long, some rebuilds not working compared with the old, urbanizm too controlled

Of course we found some modern building as well in Nara. Free visit to the top of the local council building across the road from the deer park. And a local engineering firm had created a tourist rest area. While showcasing their tunnel boring machines and earthquake base isolating technology

You could say Nara is all about the deer, they are pretty hard to miss. We weren't game enough to try and feed them, we are wise enough to know it ends with being chased by a mob as you throw the deer biscuits away in the other direction

Every half hour the water is released at the entry to Sayameike Museum, it's to celebrate a dam and Reservoir, building by famous architect Tado Ando....again. it's hard to stop taking pictures here