Departure Before Dawn
It was the day I would finally set off for Tasmania. Boarding was at 5:40 in the morning, and I had stayed awake all night.
There was something unique about a day that begins inside the quiet hum of an airport. When the small plane shook and lifted into the air, I felt a quiet shift deep inside me.
This trip to Tasmania had one purpose—to reunite with a friend I had been in touch with for more than a year.
We had tried to meet in Adelaide or Melbourne, but her work schedule had shifted, and we had kept missing each other. Still, something inside me whispered, “If I don’t go now, I may never see her again.” That instinct carried me here.
A Shared Way of Seeing
Soon after arriving, I grabbed some bread to recharge. The sky was hazy, but the air felt crisp and clean. Not long after, she came to meet me, and together we began exploring Tasmania.
One thing struck me immediately—we shared the same sense of value when it came to photography. On my journey, I take photos to send back to my grandfather in Japan, who uses them as inspiration for his paintings. She, too, takes photos as material for her family’s artwork.
In that moment, I felt something warm—an unspoken bond. We weren’t just capturing landscapes; we were passing something on to family, weaving connection through images.
At one lookout point, we laughed at a rock formation that, if you squinted, resembled the shape of the Australian continent. “It really does look like it,” she said. These small, playful discoveries reminded me why travel is so full of joy.
Simple Meals and New Experiences
For lunch, we had eggs prepared in a simple way, but the taste felt nourishing and grounding.
Later, at her suggestion, we went to a golf course. It was my very first time. I didn’t know how to swing properly, but I copied what I saw and gave it a try. The ball often veered to the left, but even so, I enjoyed it.
It wasn’t about skill. It was about trying something new, laughing at mistakes, and feeling fresh energy. A door had opened to another world I hadn’t experienced before. I thought to myself, “One day, I’d like to practice properly.”
