Leaving Tokyo

At the end of July, right after Steve came back from his trip up Fuji-san and the girls survived a guide camp and Rachel did a school camp, we packed up our little house and got ready for the next part of our trip. It was pretty crazy to be saying goodbye to the place we had come to love. It was also crazy to see how much stuff we had accumulated in four months. 

It had always been my plan to send stuff back to Australia at the point we left Tokyo, because we wouldn't need any of the big winter gear we had brought with us, or Steve's BJJ gi, or hiking stuff anymore. But there was also school things from the girls, and books I had collected for teaching materials. Not to mention the kimono.... Even after boxing up 60kgs of stuff to send off on a ship (sea mail is much cheeper than air mail!), our suitcases were still heavy. 

There wasn't much we could do about it though, so we just strapped everything in as best we could and were thankful for the wheels on the suitcases. 

It was exhaustingly hot almost every time we stepped out of the house at this point of the summer, so I switched up and did some night walks around the neighbourhood instead. So thankful for the beautiful place we had managed to find ourselves in and all the great memories we had made. 

There was again a three week run down of all our food supplies, trying to use up everything we could. Big flash backs to leaving Brisbane in March, though on a much smaller scale. Amazing to look back at those photos of us getting here. Only four months, but Steve might need a haircut now, and both girls are taller than ever. The photo above was the last time Sophie wore those overalls. She's managed to grow out of every pair of shorts she brought with her.

We rolled all the luggage to the station, things a bit more complicated by Steve's still broken hand, but not forgetting anything in the end. I was thankful we didn't pre-book our shinkansen tickets so we didn't have to stress about making the train. They come every fifteen minutes anyway, so easy to catch! 

And suddenly we are off to a new part of Japan and a new adventure. Steve is taking this next two and a bit weeks off so we can have a proper holiday before we settle in a new place for the last stint. Time continues to play tricks on us; fast one moment, slow the next. Will try to get the updates out faster so I can catch up to real time, but no promises!