Road trip with Darren Day 8

After a failed attempt to organise sea kayaking for the next day we spent last night at a very basic camp site & decided today to make the trek back to Okaya. We drove back the way we came & didn't see the whirlpools at Naruto this time but the bridge was no less spectacular.

We drove along the North West coast of Awaji-shima as the book mentioned nice beaches & we wanted one last swim. The beaches were not so spectacular but we stopped at one & Daz went for a dip but I opted out because it was cold. He made some friends with a group of guys who were paddling in the water, they were impressed at him diving right in & asked him to pose with them for a photo. We reckon they'll re-tell the story & pretend they all went swimming as the were splashing some water on themselves before the photo!

We continued on & stopped for a sashimi lunch & beer (we still had some beer in the cooler bag from last night) by the very impressive Akashi Kaikyo-Ohashi before driving across it & back to Honshu for the return journey. We had a really good run home & Darren was a great navigator the whole trip but special thanks must go to Toppo for his enormous effort of taking us on our great holiday. 3 cheers for Toppo, hip hip hooray......

Road trip with Darren Day 7

After sleeping in the car at an expressway road stop we got off to another early start. We decided to visit a famous shrine called Kompirasan which is as famous for the 1,368 steps as it is for the shrine to mariners. We arrived in the town of Kotohira well before 8am & it was already heaving with every shop trying to get us to park in their car park with an obligation to spend at least $20 on souvenirs. We opted not to & after driving down some tiny lanes found a business car park to park in - we weren't sure what company it was, maybe a bank but it was a national holiday so we thought we'd risk it.

It was definitely worth the risk as it was the closest place to the bottom of the climb where I'm pictured above.

Here is Darren at the top, oh no there's another sign & more steps, we're not at the top at all!








About 800 steps later we reached the top. There were some signs along the way letting you know how much further & the odd struggling pilgram.

It was a hazy morning but well worth the climb, I wasn't trying to look extra exhausted! Once you reach the time the huffing & puffing disappears & is replaced with a smile.






However Darren looks noticeably less tired. We were quite proud of ourselves as we went through the bowing, coin throwing, praying & clapping ritual as afterward we watched many Japanese doing a rather abridged version.

On the way down we decided to stop for a cold drink to celebrate, We had their national beverage, Asahi Super Dry.... it was almost 9am & seemed like the appropriate thing to do.




This stop was for Mum & her love of (baby) elephants.

Feeling very light headed (was that from the climb or the breakfast beer I wonder?), we were still on the way down, we stopped for a giant tacoyaki snack followed by a strong coffee before continuing on our way.






Back to where we started from! It's amazing how much you can accomplish when you get up early. It was probably only about 10am by this time & we set off on the next part of the journey.















Next we stopped in Takamatsu City to visit Ritsurin Koen, one of the most famous & very beautiful historical parks in Japan.

It was really nicely set up too with suggested paths, a map to carry & information in English.

A cute/funny thing was at the end there was a small broom for dusting off your pants & shoes, sooooo very Japanese & we enjoyed watching people intently duesting themselves down.

Road trip with Darren Day 6

Today we spent driving around beautiful Ehime-ken admiring the stunning coast line & trying to find a place to camp but everywhere we found was full - it was beautiful weather & the whole country was on holidays, so it probably shouldn't have been so surprising.

We decided to head to Matsuyama City, the capital of Ehime-ken. This city was heaving & we stopped at the station to try a couple of hotels. They were full so we headed to the very unhelpful information booth. After waiting 10 minutes or so, in my politest Japanese I said hello & that I was looking for a hotel. Well you'd think I asked the guy for money or something, every time I opened my mouth he just shouted back "NO!" in English. So I asked (in Japanese), "is everything full?" he shouts "no, no, no" so I say "ah, there are vacancies?", he says "no, no, no" so I say "why are you saying 'no' to everything?" He keeps repeating his signature phrase & then starts waving his hand. It is so rare to receive such treatment in Japan & maybe he was having a bad day or maybe he hates gaijin, who knows!!!

We left Matsuyama City & headed for the expressway & joined the hundreds of others without accommodation & spent the night in Toppo (my car)!

Road trip with Darren Day 5

We got up reasonably early & had a delicious hotel breaky & afterwards wandered to this coffee truck we had found the day before. I must admit, as it says, the coffee from Cafe-Ya was pretty delicious.









Another quick photo before heading off on the next part of the journey.

We made our way south over yet some more beautiful mountains & eventually found the coast again.

We stopped somewhere along the way at a surf beach & this place was heaving with surf goers. Everyone was decked out in steamers but Darren & I thought we'd brave the water anyway for a dip. I got cold after about 5 minutes but Daz body surfed for well over half an hour amongst the board riders.

It was so nice to swim & I wished it was just a little warmer to enjoy it longer.

I was getting pretty tired & grumpy by this point & we spotted a campsite on a map & made our way there. This turned out to be quite a bit posh & a little expensive but all in all completely worth the yen.

We made a brief stop at a lookout on the way & hoped things would be just as nice at the camp ground.

I asked for a campsite with a view & we weren't disappointed. Daz set up the hammock & the grumpiness started to slowly dissipate.

We dined gourmet style tonight with camembert & bikkies followed bbq'd sausages, made into sandwiches naturally with a side of salad. Of course this was accompanied by a few beer.






The camp ground had a few nice viewing areas & it was a great place to watch the sunset & the evening stars.

Road trip with Darren Day 4

We woke up bright, early & WET this morning. Sometime in the early hours of the morning the wind & rain arrived & set in for a good part of the day. I was chased by a kind Japanese man with an umbrella when I was walking to the toilet in the rain, it was still before 6am. He waited for & walked me back to shelter afterwards. The 3 of us watched the rain fall & conversed about tsunami's & swimming in the Pacific before he had to go get ready for work. Needless to say we set of very early & accomplished quite a lot today!


I am standing at the entrance of the cave where
Kobo Daishi meditated on his pilgrimage around Shikoku on which he reached enlightenment.

The cave was right near Muroto-misaki (Muroto Cape) & as you can see the weather was not the Summer holiday we had planned. However the view was still very spectacular.

From here we kept driving along the coast & by the time we made it to the town of Aki, the rain had stopped & sun started to shine.


We stopped at a great little local museum in Aki & learnt a lot about it's history. There was a swimmer from the town who won a medal at the Melbourne Olympics . The display showed his medals, photos & even the Olympic uniform.

Not too far past Aki we came across this great viewing point & stopped to admire the roaring Pacific.

We kept on our way & eventually came to Kochi City around midday & this is where we decided to stay for the night.

The tourist information in this place was GREAT. We parked at the train station (free for the short time we were there) & wandered over to the information booth. The girl there helped us find a hotel in less than a minute & the best thing was, it was just across the road!

We checked in, freshened up & headed out on foot. We loved Kochi, it's such a pretty city. Wide footpaths, pedestrian streets & a great food court.

Our first stop was the very big & beautiful castle. We wandered all over & were given a great map & english guide before we entered. At theentrance there was a news film crew filming. We didn't take too much notice of it but we should have because later (when I was napping) Darren saw us on TV!!!



Darren wanted this photo with the Japanese flag in the background. I took about 3 photos because everytime I clicked the wind died & the flag could not be distinguished. If you look carefully on this one you can see the red circle.

In the evening we found a cool bar & played a couple of games of darts (I won) & drank some sparkling yoghurt - alcoholic of course. It was surprisingly very delicious!