Global gardens art show

We all attended an art show Bern had been organising for the Global Gardens of Peace. It was a wonderful night and a remarkable effort on Bern and his fellow members of the GGOP.

Father’s Day breakfast at Emmaus

Tony and I had a lovely breakfast at Emmaus this morning for Father’s Day next week. The school had organised Patrick Keane (AFL Media manager), Andrew Krakouer (firmer Richmond and Collingwood footballer) and Alana King (current WBBL cricketer). They bought along the Premiership Cup, this years premiership medal which Collingwood will win, this years Norm Smith medal that Scott Pendlebury will win and Brodie Grundys Brownlow for us to have a look at

Bunch of Birthdays

Hi

Happy Birthday to Monica and Carmel today, Sam last Saturday and Andrew as well to round it all out

Hi de hi!

we went to Butlins for the week - a British institution, home of the famous redcoats and def a cultural experience ;).  mix of ye olde fairground, ulladulla funland pokies for kids, southern cross club style entertainment (including my first ever panto!) and a fab brand new indoor pool perfect for small people.  Plus we went and met Dommy and Oliver on the beach in Goring by the Sea for a scrummy lunch and ice cream. The girls had a fab time, their favourite part was “everything”.  

it’s behind you! 

The trip over the mountain.

This was an interesting day.  We got up early - again - to catch a train from Kanazawa as we were going to do the Kurobe Gorge Alpine Route.  Dad mentioned in his email about all the different forms of transport which was interesting but it was also through amazing countryside.  There was a bus trip which twisted and turned its way up to 2500m high through beautiful forests.  My photos certainly don’t do it justice also by the time I got the phone focussed, the scenery had passed! 

this was the first form of transport.  I planned to take a photo of each one but this was the only one I remembered!

The highest waterfall in Japan.  There were 6 of the best, highest, deepest, longest etc on this trip but of course I would have to check the pamphlet to remember what they were.  I think we passed the biggest tree - round it’s middle - or was it the oldest.  I couldn’t get the camera out quickly enough ( I should say phone) I am knitting, you know!

Snow!

And more snow, this was a huge plateau.  Every now and then there would be a big hotel in the middle of nowhere.  I presume people skied up there.

And look at this snow!  Walls of it! We drove quite a distance through this.  it was higher than our bus!

Beautiful mountains and part of the highest dam.

And here is me!  

more snow! I thought the mountains in Japan were magnificent- so sharp and they roll along the horizon.

More dam and lots of water. 

another one of me and the beautiful mountains.

And then we arrived in Matsumoto around 4.00.  Another lovely day! 

Day 2 in Kanazawa

The day stared off ok with a walk to the station to sort some tickets for the next day but then it started to drizzle and then to rain so we had to resort to the purchase of umbrellas. Of course, it stopped raining then!  But they were put to good use later on as it did pelt down. 

Our first stop was an area where geisha lived in an earlier time. Interesting old houses and streets. 

Some photos:

Lot of people as usual! 

Old bridge over the river

After this, we went onto visit the 3rd best garden in Japan - I am not sure which are the 1st and 2nd.  it was deserving of the award. Magnificent!

the gardens are much more sculptured than ours and no grass - just moss.  

Next was the Contemporary art museum which was very busy but I did have a bit of a wander for a bit. There was one room which seemed to be exhibiting the art of the people.  I am not sure how it worked but I got the impression it was for people who wanted to paint. it was pretty vibrant.

And that was the end of the day for sightseeing as it was so wet.  I had a hunt around Uniqlo and any 100yen shop I could find whilst Dad went back to the hotel. So on to the next day! 

On the move again!

Monday morning we caught the train to Kanazawa, a town east of Tokyo on the Sea of Japan.  It was a very pleasant city with wide streets, not too crowded and a few sights to keep us occupied.  The hotel we used was the best so far.  Room enough to put the cases down and a little table to sit at for breakfast- we bring bowls, spoon and muesli with us and buy milk and yoghurt.  It was all very groovy with black accessories around the place.

this was the amazing  the Kanazawa station - the lady with the dog was very kind and posed for me!

Our first visit was to the Omachi markets just up the road where we had lunch then off to see the Kanazawa Castle - huge gardens and very beautiful.

The stone walls are enormous and so flat and smooth- it is hard to believe they were made by hand!

such expanse surrounded the castle.

the doorway to the actual castle.

these people were weeding the lawn - I think to remove the winter grass.  Very labor intensive!

This was a little enclosed garden next to the castle- it was so beautiful!

we are now in the grounds of a shrine near the castle.  It had a bit of sculpture going on in the grounds.

there was an special exhibition going on as well which seemed to use bamboo as the main ingredient.

on and down the street to an area where the Samurai once lived.  

inside the front door of the samurai’s house. I am not sure what they did here.

part of The streetscape 

inside a Museum house 

The rooms were always tatami mat floors and were bare. Sometimes they had elaborate screens but generally decor was pretty simple. 

Some fish in the pond

The gardens seem to be meant for meditation - very peaceful!

after this we had a bitter f a wander around some shops- not hard to miss those here - and then wandered down the road to the hotel.

Back to Tokyo and the baseball

Back in Hitoshi. Saturday was a relaxing day. Sara was at school for the morning then off to see a band around teatime.  The rest of us went down to Yokohama for dinner at an Italian restaurant.   The place was pumping there as it was the Green Room festival and there was lots of music.  I am not sure what the green room was about.  

Sunday was a big day. We went to the baseball at Tokyo Dome. It was just great.  I tried to put videos in here but didn’t have much success. I will happily show anyone who wants to have a look when I get home. I think I spent more time watching the cheer squad and taking videos of them than I did watching the play! Although I did video one bit of play where the pinch hitter was called up with runners on every base - it was pretty exciting. 

When we got home, Maki had prepared Goyza dumplings for our tea - absolutely delicious!  here we are having our tea.

And now are off to Kanazawa early in the morning!

And off to Sapporo

after the long wait, we caught a train to Sapporo - with a change after 4 1/2hours then another 1 1/2hours.  We were a bit sick of sitting by the end of the day.

We dropped our bags and went off to have tea.  The next morning we went for the usual walk around the town. Some photos of the sights:

Sapporo Tower 

these photos were taken in a beautiful park running through the centre of town. Lots of people were out celebrating the Lilac festival.

the lilac.

the black mantra which was a slide

another sculpture in the park

An old government building from 1878

Court of Appeals

Later in the afternoon, tony went off to have a look around Sapporo Beer.museum whilst I went to Tokyu Hands and we met up in the Biergarten for dinner.  This is us having our meal.

It was a specialty of the area called genghiskhan- it was lamb and vegetable cooked on this little barbecue sort of thing on the table - it was delicious!

And that was Sapporo.  We only had the day but we walked a lot and covered a lot of territory.  The next morning we were off to catch the train again for an 8 hour trip back to Tokyo where we met Paul who took us home to Hiyoshi where we were met with an enthusiastic welcome from Buddy and JJ

A wet afternoon followed by a fine day

Up early again to catch a train to go further along the coast to Kushiro. It was a wet day on and off and the sea looked pretty rough all the way along but we could still see pretty great scenery.  We booked into our hotel and thought we would brave the weather and go for a walk but again we turned around as it was too wet and windy.  So a pleasant afternoon lying on the bed, knitting and reading!  The view out the window was pretty bleak.  And the sad part was that Kushiro is reputed to be 3rd in the world for its magnificent sunset but no sun today! I read that in the Lonely Planet so it must be true!

Up early again to catch 6.03 train from Kushiro to Abashiri which was on the top of the island. The train was a little old local 2 carriage train although we were only allowed to sit in the first carriage. The trip was through 2 national parks which were pretty spectacular in parts.  We had a 3 hour wait in Abashiri so went for a walk to find the Okhostk Sea. The photo below is what it looked like - so foggy! This sea freezes over in winter and people come up to have a ride on the sea. It was a pretty ordinary town although it had a long street with verandas over all the shops for about 600 metres. We saw a sign for coffee outside a shop with the door closed. When I touched the door, it sprang open and there were all these people sitting at the bar and tables looking at us - I think they were drinking coffee.  The overwhelming smell was the cigarette smoke. I nearly backed out but they were all staring and the owner gave us such a friendly greeting that we went in.  The coffee which was just black came with a piece of thick toast.  Dad eventually got his message across about hot water only in a cup - so he could use his decaf tea bag!

This photo is for Mark. We were at the station when this little group came along with their teacher. They were on an excursion of the station learning how the ticket machine operated, how to go through the gates,etc. We were impressed with the clip boards around their necks. They rested the board on their tummy and the cord held the board straight so they could write - pretty knacky.  I am not sure whether anyone worried they might choke or not?

One more photo of this town - the red crane, symbol of Japan. 

we didn’t see real ones - nor did we see any brown bears.

Oh I forgot the one real bird - a jail bird!   This place is famous for its prison - like Alcatraz is to America.

More snaps from Toyako

I mentioned this was a hot springs town with a huge caldera lake with an island in the middle all of which came into being as a result of volcanic action.  There was a walking/cycle path around the lake dotted with sculptures- a few snaps below:

and now on to the next town.

A few more snaps

just a few more shots 

The front of the Shinkansen we rode from Tokyo to Hokkaido. 

The front/back of our hotel from the boat. The size explains the numbers at breakfast.  On our second day, we were leaving early so went to breakfast when it opened at 6.45 - there was a huge queue waiting to go in. I am not sure what they were going to do for the rest of the day. 

some cute swans nesting on the island we visited.

What every house should have!   We had to use these before getting back onto the boat.

Toyako is a hot springs town where people come to bathe in the onsens which are mostly in the hotels although anyone can pay to use them. There were hand onsens and foot onsens in the streets. I had a sit in one of the foot baths as well as a bath at our hotel. I am so much healthier and you will be pleased that it supposed to have extended my life!

Day 2 in Toyako

This morning we had a sleep-in! We had breakfast in the huge dining room- buffet so heaps of different food - then off to the bus which took us up to the crater of a volcano which last erupted in 2001.  You had to catch a cable car to get up the top and then walk a bit further uphill to see the crater which was a bit disappointing as there were no flames just a huge dust bowl!

we thought we walk around to the other side as there was a path but first you had to go down some steps - about 400 of them!  By the time we reached the bottom and saw more steps going up, we decided to give the rest of the walk a miss - the view wasn’t going to improve on the other side!

These are just a few of the steps.

this is the volcano with its top blown off

and this is a lava dome which pushed up through the ground when the volcano erupted.

we could see the mountain covered in snow from our bedroom window.

and would you believe there were cherry blossoms in the streets!

The Main Street of Toyako - so empty even though there were hundreds of people staying at some very big hotels.  I am not sure what they did during the day - whether they were on tours and went on outings during the day.

Japan 2019

We arrived in Hiyoshi on Friday night after a relaxing trip over via Bangkok. We had a relaxing day Saturday taking the dogs for a walk, a short trip to Yokohama and a barbecue on the terrace - the weather was great!  Sara was at school for most of Saturday- think of that, kids - school 6 days a week!

We were up early for a long train trip to Hokkaido. The Shinkansen trains are amazing - so quick and comfortable. We passed through Sendai devastated by the earthquake 10 years ago but now looks completely rebuilt looking over a sea of new buildings from the station. Once we got on to Hokkaido, you could see quite a difference in vegetation and landscape.  The rice paddies had changed to large fields of vegetables. We are now in Toyako which is on a lake formed by a volcano. It was a busy town when we arrived as the Toyako marathon had just finished so people everywhere, a lot limping!

Here is a view from our room . It is a bit hazy but you can just see the mountain across the lake.

Our first excursion was a ride on a pretty fancy boat to an island in the middle of the lake. 

Every night during summer, they have fireworks. They fire them off from speed boats which dash across the lake for about half an hour.

here is a little shot - 

And here is the view from our window at night. 

Today we off to check out a volcano!  Hope all stays quiet! 

We went to watch dommy play footy

April Bdays

Beth’s Birthday

We had a bbq party (but there were no party bags or crowns much to Abi’s disappointment) for Beth - it was 24 degrees...in April.....in Britain!!!  

At peppa Pig world  

birthday girl

Cheeeeeeese

mine cake

Bunny cakes

loves the dress I made for her

bbq party 

I made the train cake

Cake day

More cake day celebrations

some of the best happy birthday singing I’ve heard in a while

I forgot to show this.

We stopped off at Kawakawa on the way through as I had read about this special toilet in the Lonely Planet.  It was built by an Austrian architect out of recycled materials and handmade tiles. It was very colourful and unusual.   The roof had grass growing in it and there is a tree in the middle.  At a town down the road there was some sort of pop up office trying to complete his plans for a Maori Art Centre.

On a special seat in Kawakawa

And here is Sara and her friend.  200 girls from Sara’s school have come to stay at private homes in Auckland for 3weeks and they go to school here. We were going back to catch the plane home from Auckland so we met Sara after school and went and had a drink with them. 

And that was New Zealand! 

Last stop - Russell!

Well, tony did a marathon drive from Napier to Russell -  623kms.  A long day as we did stop every coup,e of hours and there was an extra hour added due to roadworks.

but it was worth it as Russell was just lovely.  It is in the Bay of Islands north of Auckland so we had to drive past Auckland- my planning with this one wasn’t so great but can’t win them all.  We hadn’t decided what we would do till after we arrived in NZ and by that time we had booked the train. 

It was and idyllic place. We had a quaint apartment reached by some steep steps  - bit tricky but we managed to fall down. It was in a great spot which helped. The Bay is so picturesque - blue waters and islands popping up all over the place, a neat shopping area with cafes, pubs and restaurants. 

As we had such a long day, we visited this great beer garden and had delicious pizza for tea that night.  The next morning, we had a wander around town, went to mass (it was Sunday) then drove over to a winery for lunch. ( this was dads birthday lunch) We then went home for a rest!  Later, we went for a walk to the next town which was uphill and down dale for about 3 kms and back again. This justified a call into the beer garden on the way home.

The next day, we went for a beautiful cruise around the bay which took us out to an island with a whole through it and around a lot of the islands. We loved it. 

That night, we went to a very nice pub called ‘Duke of Marlborough’ and had another delicious meal which celebrated our Anniversary. And that was that. We drove to Auckland and met up with Sara who is on exchange for 3 weeks. Sara is going to school and living with a family. It was just lovely to see her.

some snaps from the Bay of Islands

a Moreton Bay fig which is a couple of hundred years old.

The wharf at Russell

The hole in the rock which our boat went through! 

The lighthouse on the end of the peninsula  

Fish overboard and we saw heaps of dolphins but I just couldn’t snap fast enough! 

The sunset