From Japan to the USA via Sydney

Today my old friend Eiichi Fukushima from Albuquerque, New Mexico, came to visit me in Sydney. He had been in Japan for 10 days visiting his son and his sister and took a deliberate diversion via Sydney in his journey home, to check up on me. You can imagine how touched I was by this.

What an extraordinary man he is. One of the first stories we recounted when he arrived was of a 2 day hike the two of us took in the Julian Alps of Slovenia, in 1993, when Eiichi discovered my manic side and me, his extraordinary alpine skills, and his great patience. Eiichi was part of the team who first climbed the highest mountain in Antarctica (Mt Vinson-Massif).

The first picture shows me and Eiichi in downtown Kogarah, while the second was taken at our Melbourne Cup party in Bezzina House. Later in the afternoon we were joined by Christoph Arns, a mutual friend from Sydney

PS: for the uninitiated, the Melbourne Cup is an annual horse race which causes all work in Australia and New Zealand to cease during its running.