Monday 4th July 2016

Today was an early start. Simon and I grabbed all our gear and food and took the train to Shinjuku. I was kind of nervous as it was a place I hadn't explored yet and it was in front of a building I didn't know. Another thing is that there are well OVER 200 EXITS! So if we ended going out from the wrong one. We could end up kilometres away and miss our tour bus. Thankfully the good ole JR free wifi was pulsing and I was able to get a map up and loaded so I can use the GPS to get to the meeting place. Which was fairly easy which is good. Another tip, I might have already mentioned in another post, but once you have a map loaded on google maps on your mobile phone, you don't need an internet connection for you to track your movements and direction of travel. Which is BRILLIANT! 

Anyway, we were getting close to our destination and we could see a fair few people sitting around with backpacks, hiking boots, walking poles and somewhat disheveled appearance (probably because people had to get on transport pretty early to get here on time). It was our tour group! Yay, we weren't scammed, alone or the extremely unfit ones. There were people of all types and ages, which gave us some confidence that we weren't going to collapse on the Mountain and die. 

While we waited a bit for more people to get here, we devoured some of our sandwiches and yogurt. And they were delicious! One thing about Japanese convenience store foods, is that they are actually delicious and aren't crusty and gross like we have back in Australia. Most people wouldn't dare buy that packaged sandwich from a 7 eleven. But in Japan, the food is prepared so well and flavoursome I couldn't get over it. 

After eating our food and drinking some water, we boarded the bus and it was time to get comfortable for the drive. One funny thing was that the last two people to get on the bus came in dresses and thongs (flip flops for you non-Australians) and of course, they were Australians. I would guess BlackMilk dresses and two flimsy foam pieces attached by your toe is not hiking gear, but they probably hired the gear through the tour company which is an option, if you're not looking at spending a lot more money on buying and lugging equipment around.

A pit stop later and an ascent up the base of Mt Fuji to the 5th Station, shiz was getting real. Soon we will be setting off on our long climb to the 8th station. We collected all our gear and all went up to our set restaurant for lunch. We were briefed on where to meet afterwards, and the time. Also to not eat the whole meal so we don't feel sluggish and tired. The food consisted of Soup, noodles, tempura, vegetables, rice and tea which was really nice. I wasn't really feeling the lunch too well from nerves but I ate enough and left to fix my gear.

At around 11:45am we met up at our meeting place and was informed of the best methods for the climb, from pace, posture, walking style and safety. Afterwards, we set off on the first leg of the climb. At this point most didn't know what to expect. In case you wanted to know...dust and very loose dirt. We had about 6-7 hours of climbing to get to the 8th station and it was pretty easy going with the pace set by the guide. We did regret now having walking poles though as that would have taken some of the strain off of us. We took some breaks every 30 mins or so, but to stave off tiredness the breaks didn't last very long which I was kind of sad about but I understood why. On the way up it is pretty windy so the dust is savage at getting into eyes, mouths, clothing etc. So definitely take sunglasses or googles. Seriously nothing worse than getting volcanic dust in you eyes...so stingy. We reached the 6th station for a bit of a break and bathroom stop, and from here the climb started to get difficult. (FYI to use the bathroom you have to pay 200 yen to use it for cleaning costs. Also there are no bins on Mt Fuji, so whatever rubbish you bring you have to take with you when you leave...apart from sanitary items.)

dat view doe

delicious dirt. it seriously gets everywhere and sticks to your skin. Nasty.

One way that the guide managed to keep everyone together was that we had to travel in a single file and the slowest at the front, fastest/more experienced people at the back. Which was a great way. There were a couple of people over 50 years old in our group so that was a good pace. After a while we passed our first mountain hut. Which was a cute sort of cabin like place where you can pick up supplies, go to the bathroom or get a branded stamp on to your wooden walking stick that you got from the 5th station. Walking on right by, we continued our ascent, again up ramping trails of volcanic dust and rock. After a bit more of a steep climb we arrived at the 7th Station which is 2,700m high. We got to stop here for a bit longer and sit and eat some snacks. Simon and I got to devour our protein bars and muesli bars, I was getting pretty hungry at that point so I was so excited to finally eat. In what seemed like no time at all, we had to begin our climb again. And this time is when the Mountain ramped up it's difficulty level.

It was still a bit manageable but this time it was more steep rock climbing than walking. With jagged rocks and irregular stepping heights the majority of the landscape. What was difficult as well is that you can't hold of use the chain to help when you need as they aren't built to withstand a person's weight pulling. This is when things were getting a bit difficult for me. I was getting moments where my lungs felt like I was breathing in nothing. Also was feeling moments of disorientation and vertigo. Which, on a mountain, climbing up steep sharp rocks...is not a good thing. Remember what I said in my last post, I kinda forgot I am an Alpha Thalassemia Trait so half of my red blood cells aren't large enough to carry the normal amount of oxygen around my body. And when you're on a Mountain with thinning oxygen levels...you're not going to have a good time. Normally this doesn't affect me, I can go to the gym, exercise like normal and it doesn't make me feel bad in the slightest. Which is why I don't think about my thalassemia ever.

An hour or two went by (it's hard to tell as you just keep your head down and focus on what your doing and where you're going), we finally reached the last hut before the 8th station. I was clinging onto the hope that that WAS the 8th station, but alas. It wasn't. There was still another 2.5 hour climb to the 8th station. Part of me kind of died when I heard that. I looked at what we had to climb for 2 and half more hours and it was allllllll steep rock climbing. At this point I barely made it up without fainting off the Mountain. With my dizziness increasing, disorientation along with a headache. I couldn't fight the altitude sickness much longer. If I were to choose to continue, I would have either vomited, disorientatedly fallen backwards and die or both. So at this point, at around 3100m I made the tough decision to tell Simon that I couldn't go on. I was the only one to quit and not make the 8th station journey. Which made me feel pretty crummy. Firstly, I wasn't going to make it to the final station of the day and knowing Simon, he wouldn't let me go back to the 7th station alone. So he would miss out on proceeding ahead too. We told one of the guides and she rand up the 7th station to let them know we were coming and told us which way to go. Thankfully we didn't have to go down the way we came up because that would have been a nightmare and possibly have turned into the world's worst slip and slide. But there was a roped off area with a ramp down which I'm guessing was a road for supplies to mountain huts and descending for some. The dirt was so loose and hard to walk down without sliding and slipping of loose stones. But it beat going uphill on steep rocks at this point. It took about 20mins or so before we finally got to where we needed to go. We saw 2 knights in shining blue, as two of the 7th station men came to meet us and guide us to the hut. They didn't speak any english but were so helpful. One even took my backpack.

It seemed like we reached them in time as thunder, lightning and clouds were starting to roll in and I was afraid to be caught in a storm. We had to climb up a bit and go cross country to get to the hut, which actually made me die a bit more inside because I was struggling to get enough oxygen in it was hurting my lungs. But soon, we reached the cabin, got to sit down and the staff gave us slippers.

We finally got to take our hiking boots off, which I was kind of nervous about because sweaty feet and hiking boots always don't mix. But it wasn't so bad...thankfully... T_T
They showed us where we will be sleeping, the toilets and when dinner would be ready. Our beds were pretty much just the wooden floor and the room was entirely these wooden bunk beds and hard rice filled like pillows. It was nice that we were the only ones sleeping here as if not, you would be sleeping right next to strangers with no boarder or boundary next to you.

 Already being at this altitude felt better and since we had sometime until dinner, we decided to clean up and freshen ourselves. There were no showers at our hut, so we had to do a wet wipe shower and hope for the best. I cleaned up as much as I could and changed into some thermals as the temperature was dropping. Then we ventured out of our bunks and into the main area for dinner. It was curry and rice with miso and a drink. They also gave us our bentos for breakfast the next day. I was still feeling a bit queasy so I ate mostly my rice and miso and gave the rest to Simon. I didn't want to risk vomming and the nice lady thinking it was because of her food. After eating we just kind of wanted to sit there and enjoy the view, the people and watching other hikers go past.

And the view is stunning. We sat and I bought us hot chocolates, and we just watched and enjoyed where we were.

please ignore how delirious I look/really gross

 The staff are so lovely and extremely nice. The lady who prepares the food was the only person who spoke english, so when one of her workmates tried to use google translate to ask questions, she helped translate. And she was seriously the cutest woman ever, she had a cool knit hat on and the most adorable personality, she hopes to visit Australia one day and I truly hope she makes it here. The staff there made our stay absolutely forgettable as they were all round amazing people.

At around 7pm, we decided to retire into our room and get comfy...as much as possible on hard rice like pillows. We managed to fall asleep, I kept waking up though as we were on the side where the toilet was so other guests staying on the other side of the hut, had to come into our room to get through to the bathroom. What felt like no time I woke up with the worst headache I think I have ever had. I looked at my phone and saw it was 11:23...at first I freaked out and thought, 11:23am??! OMG WE SLEPT THROUGH MY ALARM AND GOING TO MISS THE TOUR GROUP BACK AT 5TH STATION. Then I got my act together and realized it was 11:23PM, not even midnight. My head was throbbing so bad I thought I was going to vomit everywhere. But I managed to keep it together and take a couple headache tablets. I would think I got the headache from breathing enough while sleeping in such a high altitude. But I finally managed to fall back asleep, once I fluffed my rice pillow ;P

trying to get comfy like...