Home Harvest

Being away makes you appreciate home more.

We all missed Pippa and were so happy to see her again. She had a rough trot while we were in Japan. Dave (Grandpa) was walking home from the bakery with both Fuji and Pippa on lead when a Malamute (and a little dog following behind) appeared out of nowhere without an owner insight.

The Malamute attacked Pippa who was submissive and on the ground. Poor Dave in attempting to rescue Pippa, got his finger tangled in the Malamute chain. Luckily a car had stopped and two people jumped to assist Dave. Dave managed to release his hand and both then dogs ran off. Must have been scary stuff for Dave. Pippa seemed to be ok and limped home. On closer inspection at home, Dave discovered a large wound on her chest requiring a visit to the vet. Surgery was required, with the vet finding a second gash which also needed stitches too.

Pippa recovered well and the stitches have been removed. Dave's finger and hand was bruised but didn't have any structural issues. The malamute was picked up by the ranger the same afternoon. Dave filed an incident report so we are hoping the owner will cover the vet expenses.

The chickens and fish are all good thanks to a variety of people looking after them. The fish pond is a little algae ridden but I'm hoping replacing a third of the water and daily filter rinsing will correct that soon enough.

The patch of lawn out the back has survived the hot summer and our veggie patch looks fairly good. It was nice to do some work in it including harvesting the potatoes! The overall yield in number was less but the potatoes were huge! The tomatoes are just beginning to ripen while we picked that last of the beans. I've eaten a few blueberries straight off the bush.


The nectarines were disappointing. The leaf curl early on reduced the amount of nectarines and those that did form were mostly nibbled on by the possums despite being netted. Oh well I suppose there is always next year....

A Christmas Present to Remember

Our last full day in Japan was earmarked to spend at Disneyland, the girls Christmas present.  The hotel we booked was a short distance away to Disneyland and provided regular free shuttle bus to this popoular destination which was very handy.

We researched a little about Disneyland, the layout, attractions and parades and with the girls input planned out a general route and timetable. One of the attractions the girls were keen to see was the firework finale - Sky High Wishes scheduled for 8.30pm. Hence there was no reason for an early start and we found outside at the shuttle bus at 9.30am.

By 10am we were inside Disneyland, catching the first glimpses of Cinderella's magical castle! For those not in the know, Disneyland is made up of several different lands - Adventureland, Westernland, Critter Country, Fantasyland, Toontown, Tomorrowland and World Bazaar. In each of these lands there are numerous rides, shops and refreshment opportunities.

Adventureland was our first stop. We walked straight in and on to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, a boat ride through dark tunnels with spooky effects. Both girls were sufficiently scared! Next were the much more sedate rides - Jungle cruise and Western River Railroad before climbing up the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. 

Following our agenda we went to  Big Thunder Mountain, a roller coaster ride on a runaway mine train. Here we first encountered the large crowds with the sign outside on the ride indicating an hour wait in the standby line. Alternatively as we found out you could get a fast pass ticket, which gave you a time slot to return. Our time was 12.40am. We had 90mins to explore.

Taking the Tom Sawyer island raft, we ventured over to the island, crossing the bobbing barrel bridge, descending into Injun Joe's cave, exploring through tunnels of Castle Rock Ridge and climbing Tom's Treehouse before returning on the raft to the mainland for a bite to eat.

Still with time to spare we walked over to Critter Country where Splash Mountian, the crazy log ride, was located to get a fast pass ticket but were unsuccessful. We opted to do the Beaver Brothers canoe adventure, paddling around Tom Sawyer's Island. 

Back to Big Thunder Mountain, we all really enjoyed this roller coaster ride. The girls were so pumped afterwards wanting to go on it again!! We picked up our fast pass ticket for Splash Mountain  which  was valid after 4.50pm! 

Fantasyland was next on the list with lots to do and see. A few quieter (boring in the girls eyes!) rides - Snow White's Adventures, It's a Small World and Castle Carousel were all completed in quick succession. Andy took the girls on Alice's Tea Party - the turning tea cup ride with the aim to be the fastest spinning tea cup and subsequently got off very dizzy!

 

We noticed  people lining the street edge and remembered reading about parades coming through. So we joined them  to watch the Happiness is Here parade full of fancy floats, with well known characters plus various dancers and actors.

With everyone freezing thanks to the chilly wind and the wait time for Peter Pan's Flight was too long, we  had a bite of pizza before headeing off to Cinderalla's Castle to try on the glass slipper. No luck there with the glass slipper.

Over to Tomorrowland we secured another fast pass ticket for ride called Space Mountain which we could do after 6.40pm. We backtracked to Toontown to ride a mini roller coaster, Gadget's Go Coaster. The four of us successfully held our hands up for the whole ride. The Frozen Fantasy Parade came past a little while later capturing the girls attention so we stood eating popcorn trying to keep warm in the chilly conditions.

Back to Splash Mountain, for our scary log ride. Katy exclaimed after 2 small drops and prior to the big drop that she wanted to get off! Both Andy and I got a fair soaking on the big drop and we were all laughing with excitment having survived the ride. Afterwards Katy said that it was the best ride ever!!

Peter Pan's Flight was still too busy so we walked to Tomorrowland via the Space Jets ride where we piloted our own jet over Tomorrowland. Into a warm restaurant we shared  mickey shaped burger and fries. Again it was perfect timing as we finished just as the Electric Parade Dreamlights came though. We huddled together in the dark and cold to watch wonderfully lit floats adorned w ith popular Disney characters roll past.

Straight off to Space Mountain, for the scariest ride of the day - a roller coaster in the dark!! Again both girls were pumped afterwards! We were luckily now as the crowds had subsided that we walked straight onto Star Tours, a 3D Star War themed ride which was really fun. 

With only 20mins until the fireworks started we popped over to see if Peter Pan Flight was any quieter. An announcement  came over the loud speaker system informing us that the fireworks had been cancelled due to weather conditions. There had been a slight breeze all day making the already cool conditions much colder. The girls were disappointed but it was short lived as we found a small queue  at  Peter Pan's flight.

Suspended in a chairlift type boat, we flew through the night skies across London and Never Never Land . It was a lovely way tranquil ride well suited for the last ride. We wandered back towards the front gate, stopping for a Mickey Mouse waffle with chocolate topping before continuing on to find a shuttle bus waiting to take us back to the hotel. It was about 9.30pm by the time we arrive back at our room. A very long but fun filled day was had by all and hopefully a Christmas present the girls will remember forever!

Izu Peninsula

This weekend was spent with Rob Plowright, Masumi and Caio (their 10-year old son), touring the Izu Peninsula. We left Rob's house in Mishima on Saturday morning, emboldened by sunny skies and a perfect view of Mt Fuji, and headed south. First stop was the wasabi fields. Wasabi is a root vegetable that is ground into the paste that you all enjoy on your sushi. But the vegetable itself has to be grown in a cold, clean mountain stream - so the wasabi fields are terraced fields, planted in 5-10cm of mountain stream water which is continuously flowing. A pretty unique landscape.

We continued our drive down the Izu Peninsula, looking for Kazuma's 7 waterfalls. This is a nice, easy tourist grade hike past some pretty spectacular waterfalls. We had our lunch on the walk (mostly onigiri, which are the packaged rice triangles cold from any 7-11 with a variety of fillings).

From here we meandered down to our hotel in Shimoda, and took a nice coastal walk on the neighbouring headland, which included some daring rock-hopping escapades from Ella and Katy, and a climb up to the site of the old Shimoda castle, of which only the moat and embankments remain. Caio stayed in the hotel, watching the sumo wrestling (the second last day of the major winter tournament).

The hotel was rated pretty highly by our girls - Ella said it was the best on the trip, Katy said the best ever! There are a few reasons for their high rating:
1. It was by the seaside and we got the biggest room on the top floor which had tatami mats, futons and views over the bay.

2. After our little walk, we all bundled into the onsen (except for Caio; sumo was still on). Both  male and female onsens had an outdoor bath, which is pretty nice to sit in the steaming water while being outside in the cold.

3. After our onsen, we all put on our yukatas - cotton kimonos which are worn by both men and women. And when I say worn, I mean that everyone in the hotel wore their onsen. To dinner, and all around the hotel. They also wore their little slippers (which are too small for our clodhopping feet) and little jacket/shawl thing which goes over the top to keep you warm. The dinner was an all-you-could-eat buffet of Japanese food, most of which are too adventurous for us, but it means that the entire hotel eats at the same time. In their yukatas. We found it very bizarre - like going to a school camp where everyone has to eat dinner in their PJs…

4. The girls couldn't find a yukatas small enough for them, so they elected to wear their own newly-bought kimonos. This caused quite a stir in the dining room, where all the Japanese  told them how cute they looked (we learnt that 'kawaii' is the word for cute) and smiled at them.

5. You could play ping-pong. You have to book the room, of course, but we all had a try at it, although Caio was the champion.

6. Finally, just when we were about to go to bed, Caio raised the prospect of karaoke. For this, you go down to the basement, where two tables of middle-aged Japanese bogans were sitting (in their yukatas and shawls) taking turns at karaoke. We were welcomed with open arms, and some of the locals forced us to sit at their table. Ella jumped right into it, and immediately signed up to sing Adele's "Someone Like You". Katy then had a go at Katy Perry's "Roar", but it's a fast-paced song and she couldn't quite keep up with reading the words. Then, after a few more Japanese dirges from our friends, Ella sang "Thank you for the Music" and they sang "Mamma Mia" together. It was hilarious, and they received rapturous applause from the crowd.

We got up this morning and had the all-you-could-eat buffet breakfast (in case you were wondering, only about 50% of people wore their yukatas for the this) and headed out the door. Our route took us back up the east side of the Izu Peninsula, with a 5 km walk around a headland and back through the forest. Ella and Caio egged each other on with acts of daring and bravery on the rocks around the headland, but no one got swept out to sea and we had another great walk. We had lunch further up the Peninsula, and then got dropped at Ito Station to catch a train to Tokyo.

We saw a very different perspective to Japanese life with Rob and Masumi, which we really enjoyed. To be in a hotel which was entirely occupied by Japanese was a real eye-opener. And to explore just a small corner of the country by car and see areas away from the tourist trail was great. Also nice to catch up with Rob, who I haven't seen much of in the last 15 years, and to see and hear what life is like for an Australian living in Japan.

And now, for something completely different. We're back in the hustle-bustle of Tokyo; final stop is to immerse ourselves in a non-Japanese environment : Tokyo Disneyland …

Mishima

Yesterday morning we awoke to grey skies and headed out of our hotel. Then initial plan was to spend some more time in Nara, but after seeing another pagoda and feeding a few more deer it started to snow again, so we ambled off towards the station.

Our travels took us most of the way back to Tokyo to a town called Mishima, where Rob Plowright lives with his family (Masumi, Caio aged 10 and Rui aged 14, who is currently in Australia). Ella and Katy were pretty shy with Caio when we arrived; and he understand English but doesn't speak much of it. Eventually they bonded, first through watching the sumo wrestling on TV, then a game of monopoly. Then, Caio challenged Ella to some sumo wrestling which was much more entertaining than the real thing on TV! Skills were a bit mismatched, but after 20 or so rounds Ella finally won a bout.

Today we are heading down to the Izu peninsula with Rob and family.

A Day in Nara

This morning we packed up our belongings and left our friendly Kyoto apartment to travel to Nara. It is only a short, 1 hour, train ride to Nara, and could easily have been done in a day trip, but it's a nice and liveable city, and makes nice change from busy Kyoto. The tourist region in Nara is basically a huge park, dotted with old temple and monuments, which gradually makes way into beautiful forest. Oh, and there are some deer, but more on them later. Nara was actually the capital of Japan before it shifted to Kyoto in 794 AD. It's also a sister city to Canberra, although nobody seems to know about that here!

After arriving, we dropped our bags off at our hotel and headed into the park. First, we sat down for a snack, wondering whether we would see any deer - but they obviously heard us rustling our portable sushi wrappers, because first one and then more deer rushed up to meet us. The point is that you can buy deer crackers (150 yen per packet) and feed them. Very cute, and they are mostly tame ... except for the bunch of 10 or so that mobbed Nat. And the one that tried to pick a fight with Ella by jumping on her. And the one that snuck up behind Katy when she had hidden the crackers behind her back, and chomped one of her fingers! That one actually drew blood, and lead to outbursts of "I hate deer," which lasted for all of 5 minutes, before both girls were back feeding crackers again.

Our route took us through the park, past some ponds and up to Kasuga Taisha Shine. From here, I persuaded the girls we should climb up Wakakusayama Hill, which took us up through the forests to the East of Nara to a lookout. The forest was amazing, they had awesome rest areas and it was a nice view, but I hadn't realised it was a 3km climb to the top. However, a can of hot corn soup from the vending machine* on top, and quickly chomping down our leftover sushi (before the deer stole it from us) and we all found the energy to descend.

Back in the park, our walk culminated in the Daibutsuden in Todaiji Temple, which is a huge wooden building with a gigantic Buddha in. And the girls had to crawl through a hole in a pillar to bring themselves enlightenment (I'm not sure it has worked yet).

The tourist areas of Nara are pretty crowded, but once you get away from the main attractions it is very nice. And at the end of the day, the tourists leave Nara on buses and we are left with a nice relaxed town. In the evening we strolled through the covered malls to find a nice little restaurant, in which the chef and his wife gave us special treatment - we had to write in their guest book, and they concluded by giving us a calligraphy sheet with our names written in Japanese.

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* For those who haven't been to Japan before, vending machines are everywhere here. You can buy almost every type of drink you like, including a huge array of soft drinks, coffee (hot or cold; the hot stuff is awful and I haven't braved the cold version) and even hot corn soup. Some special machines even have ice cream, but it's been a bit cold to attempt that one.