NZ - Milford Sound

In our first full day in NZ we took Baba and Hannah for one of my favorite trips - the flight over the mountains to Milford South.  We were blessed with magnificent weather and a charming pilot (who seemed slightly hungover and forgot to turn his transpoder on)

We flew in a convoy of other light aircraft.   Our  flight path was up the Greenstone valley flying  below the height of the mountains and climbing enough to pass safely over the pass of the main divide.

Baba was very brave despite her fear of heights.

We all arrived safely at the Milford Sound airport.   Mitre Peak looked magnificent in the background.

Next we boarded a boat for a cruise to the mouth of the sound.

The boat was soon joined by a pod of dolphins

Video:  Dolphins in Milford Sound

And of course magnificent scenery.

Looking west as we head back down the Sound.

The view from the boat terminal.  Looking east to Mitre Peak (1,692m).

And south to the Arthur river and Mt Ada

After a stylish family photo

We boarded our plain again.

We flew out down east down the Sound, following the route we had taken earlier in the boat.

Climbing all the way.  Looking down to the boats in the Sound far below.

Then we turned left circling south and then east.   This is looking east back down Milford Sound

Up over the mountains of Fijordland

Video:  Flight from Milford Sound (pt 1,  to main divide)

And back North East across the main divide.  This is looking North West

Video:  Flight to Queenstown (pt 2).

Crossing the Hollyford Valley, looking North-West.

Then back over the McKellar Saddle (945m),  down the Greenstone valley, and across Lake Wakatipu back to Queenstown.

Magnificent!

NZ - Queenstown

After Hannah's school broke-up we went on holiday to New Zealand with Hannah and Baba.

We flew via Sydney direct to Queenstown.

 

Rika and Baba enjoyed hanging out in Queenstown and recovering from the flight

We hired a car for the drive down to Dunedin.

Happy Holidays

On 16-Dec Yoyogi International School held the annual 'Happy Holidays' event.  Each year took turns to perform seasonal songs for their proud parents.

Hannah is in the middle behind Rin-chan.

Video:  Hannahs class performs 'Jinglebell Rock'.

'Father Holidays' distributing presents

Video:  'Father Holidays' distributing presents

Aftershocks

As in Christchurch, one of the sad consequences of the Great East Japan earthquake was the destruction of beautiful old houses.

With their traditional charm and beautiful gardens the remaining older houses were much loved features of each Tokyo neighborhood.   They were already disappearing steadily as Japan's very high estate death duties forced families to them for redevelopment.  

The quake vastly accelerated this process.  

Although I dont think many buildings in Tokyo had been badly damaged, the quake certainly demonstrated that older construction is less safe than modern.   The quake got everyone thinking about how their home would stand up happen when the 'big one' hits Tokyo directly, and many owners of older buildings clearly didn't want to take the risk.

We quickly saw the impact in the months following the quake, as old houses and the lovely mature trees were torn down.

We saw the process close-up as the old house opposite was replaced by a 4-story apartment block.  It wasn't a particularly nice house but the mature garden was lovely, and certainly much nicer than what replaced it.     By May its death-warrant was posted.

In August the trees were cut down.  

Then lot was being cleared.

And soon-after a ground-breaking ceremony was held for an ugly new 4-storey apartment block.

This process was repeated around the neighborhood until almost none of the old houses remained.

RIP Sasuke (2002 - 2011)

On Friday 11-Nov our cat Sasuke passed away quietly in his sleep.

Sasuke had been ill for some time with a jaw infection that twisted his 'canine' teeth and eventually prevented him from closing his mouth.   Surgery on his teeth helped but he despite medicine he never managed to shake an infection in his nose and lungs.   The mouth infection had led to kidney problems as he had found it difficult to drink, and he had been walking with pain for some time.

During the week it became clear that he was very sick and nothing more could be done except to make him comfortable.   At night he would come and snuggle next to me between my body and arm, and he felt very thin and cold.    By Thursday we knew the end was imminent and we said our goodbyes as we put him to bed next to us.  I listened to his faint and labored breathing as we fell asleep.   In the morning he had passed away.

Rika and Hannah gave him a lovely send-off.   They adorned him with flowers and wrote a goodbye card.  Kyo-chan came over to say goodbye and we had a small wake.

Minimi saying good-bye.

Then a buddhist pet mortician came to take away Sasuke's body, althiugh we didn't attend his cremation.

Hannah says that Sasuke has gone to live on the evening star with Yamaguchi Goro (see this post).   We all miss Sasuke very much and Hannah still (Oct-2012) often talks about him.

Hannah and Sasuke  2010

Sasuke in his prime.  London 2004

Photo-shoot results

We got the results from Hannah's photo-shoot with her agency last month.  

We were given hard copies (only) of selected photos from this years shoot, which we are not supposed to post.   And a disk with the photos from last years shoot, which I suppose we are free to use now.

These are from last years photoshoot:

And a sneaky copy of my favorites from this years photoshoot.