A new workhorse

I'm back in New Zealand and I've a few months to do lots of exploring, including going tramping. Some of my Aussie friends seem somewhat offended by me using the Kiwi word for going for a long walk in the wilderness with a backpack on, but since I'm in their country, why not use the right lingo? I'm yet to lower myself to saying "jandals" though!!

My ten day walk on the AAWT made me decide it was time to update my backpack to something a bit more comfortable when carting close to 20kg on my back. The weight of my bag at the start of that trip, with 10 days of food, 3 litres of water, and full camping gear, weighed just over 17kg, and I really noticed the strain on my back and shoulders using my 44L Osprey Talon.

 I'd been contemplating purchasing an Aarn pack for some time, and I was even more motivated after meeting a number of other walkers with them.

The Aarn packs are unique. They are specifically engineered to allow the wearer to stand more upright when walking, with the weight of the gear more evenly distributed around the pelvis by the use of balance pockets at the front. This means that there is very little strain on the neck and shoulders, and the more upright posture means less lower back and hip pain. The outcome for the wearer is that the pack seems to weigh much less when wearing it, so you can do more distance in comfort.

Back in New Zealand I loaded all my camping gear in a bag and schlepped over to Small Planet in Queenstown to try on a few of their Aarn packs. My method of buying a new pack is to always try it out with the actual gear I'll be packing in to it. Not only to check it out for weight and comfort, but to see how the pack works with storing the gear itself. Although I had done a lot of the research online, nothing compares with trying out the packs in person. In fact the pack I had my eye on ended up not being what I wanted as it had no external pockets on the main pack at all, and I didn't like how the front pockets attached to the waist belt.

In the end, I purchased the Peak Aspiration with Sport Balance Pockets. The main pack is 44L and the pockets add another 12L. It has integrated waterproof liners in all the bags, and the side straps allow me to carry skis should I decide to go ski touring this winter.


And then I loaded it up with four days worth of food and camping gear, and went tramping.

That's next….

Flea Market Heaven

On the 25th day of each month there is a flea market held at Tenjin Kitano Shrine in Northern Kyoto.
And what a market!

Old Kimono, fabric offcuts, bric a brac, antiques, ceramics, beads, crappy shit, new trashy crap, collectors items, old cameras, jewellery and watches, old photographs and vinyl records, lots of food and produce and flowers and plants and….. the market went on and on.

In fact I spent a good 4 hours or more wandering the stalls and the temple, eating ramen, and purchasing a few more textiles. I really do need to start producing something from all this material I keep buying on overseas trips….

There was cheap junk, and expensive collectors items, a flea market for all tastes.

The market went for miles, well all around the shrine anyway, which was quite pretty to visit as well. As long as you left your Scottish Terrier at home.

I could have bought so much stuff, but with such tight weight restrictions on luggage I only bought one old kimono jacket and about three or four cuts of fabric. And some beads to make into earrings.

I spent most of the day there, so had little time to do further sightseeing beyond visiting the nearby Golden Pavillion at Kinkaju Temple. It was crowded, but wow!!

After Kinkaju I had wanted to visit another temple and garden in the area called Ryoan-ji, but I had run out of time, so I jumped on a bus and headed back to the hostel.

With only a couple more days to go I needed to finish off that nice bottle of sake I'd bought in Hokkaido so I sat in the dorm chatting to a young French Canadian lass who was about to head off on further travels after a month or so working at the hostel. She had acquired a mass of clothing and was trying to downsize her baggage and send stuff home. So I sat there swigging sake and questioning every choice she made, asking her to justify why each item needed to be kept. It actually hadn't occurred to her that it might be possible to pick up a really cool dress in Portugal, so why carry so much stuff all the way? And the memories that come with buying souvenirs are priceless. By the end we had at least halved her pile, though there was still some culling to do. Despite me thinking I may have been a bit mean, she thanked me for my honesty and said she couldn't have been so brutal without my help.

On this trip I had gone to the other extreme, in fact my trip in to Kyoto had only included the stuff that fitted in to my 33L backpack. I only had one pair of trousers, and was getting mighty sick and tired of them, especially as I really love the quirky Japanese fashion that the women wear here. The skirts and jackets are so cool, I wish I had taken more photographs, but women of all ages dress stylishly in Kyoto. I felt very underdressed.

Oh well, the sacrifices we make....