Pre wedding meet and greet was an enjoyable event at the Garden Bar up the road from where we were staying and we all passed muster I am pleased to say.  Meeting Becky’s family and friends was very enjoyable and it seems that we are all on the same level for conversation and humor and, of course, nice French Champagne and canapés always helps that!  Saturday was wedding day at Millbrook Vineyard in Jaradale about an hour from Perth so we were taken on a coach – a rip roaring coach with the music pumped up to the max by a lady guest who started the party the minute she boarded the coach!  She was onto it and “louder, louder” she was screaming out from the back of ze bus while we were almost digging into the small handbag for the Paracetamol and the event hadn’t even started!  I might add that into this tiny purse I had prepared for almost any medical event!  After driving on the freeway for some time we turned off toward Jaradale and drove through the rural countryside.  The farmland was sad to see with not a green blade of grass to be seen anywhere and sheep and underweight cattle with their noses to the ground searching for food.  The drought here has been devastating and farmers are needing to cull their cattle.  The abattoirs cannot cope with the numbers and the outcome for these struggling farmers will not be good.  It must be very tough being a farmer right now in these parts where unless they have enough food to feed the stock they will perish and you can clearly see the evidence as you drive through this barren landscape.  Thirty per cent of the water that Perth needs is from desalinated plants but unless farmers are lucky enough to have a bore on their land they cannot irrigate their paddocks.

Onto the venue where the grapevines are in good shape and the surroundings are beautiful with the main venue built out over the small lake in front.  The ceremony takes place outside overlooking the lake but no photos allowed of the wedding party who all look amazing – six bridesmaids in different bright pink outfits, four groomsmen and two very tiny shy little flower girls sprinkling white petals in front of the bride as she walks down the grass.  The family photos with this clan are often a circus rounding up the right ones to come forward at the right time and stand in the right place and not act like clowns and today one sister-in-law has wandered off down the path into the venue and gone AWOL!  Not to worry – eventually after getting pinched on our backsides by husbands and bros to make us jump or squeal the ones in charge of the phones to get the photos take about 20 so that we just may get one where all are behaving!  Well that will be a miracle!  Anyway, much fun was had by all with nice food, nice speeches, lovely people and lots of dancing and we all behaved.  Now the dancing was good because it was my hope (and judging by how sore my knees were the next day it worked) that the exercise would help the shrinking clothes which always happen when we travel.  I know this is common – it must be the washing water!  So back on the bus we all climb – a few needed help and one guy boarded holding pink high heel shoes and a pink handbag and I don’t think he was sure if he had been to a wedding or a party or what but let’s just say he needed help to find his seat.  The lady who was in charge of the music on the way lost the job for the return journey (we were not sad about that!) However, she still had enough energy to want ze music turned up louder louder – didn’t happen! We suggested that the new recruit should perhaps play lullabies quietly over the sound system and then perhaps this hour long trip might be somewhat easier to endure now that one or two have sore heads!

Sunday morning was a slowwwww start on account of the fact that we are not used to getting to bed at 1 am and it has already taken us four days to slightly adjust to the four hour time difference from home.  Never mind – we have a post wedding get together at a bar on a Marina in Fremantle so Margaret and I have to endure another journey with Vern and Kerry in charge of getting us there which actually worked out well and just goes to show that practice makes perfect!!  These two have taken themselves off in the car a few times to explore the place and have come back with hilarious stories of how it all went while us girls have occupied ourselves in other ways!  A rowdy bar was probably good to wake us all up!

Dear Jenny then decides we should go and see a few things to keep us awake till dinner as apparently a little tiredness is evident so we 10 are divided into the two vehicles.  It is certainly a lot of fun being with four elderly brothers I can tell you for sure.  Getting into a vehicle driven by Kerry and navigated by Vern is one thing but me (for my sins) being the chosen female to get into a car with the four brothers is quite another.  I do not know why I got selected but perhaps my sisters-in-law thought I could be the one to control this undisciplined lot but that is one impossible task.  Firstly, I sat in the back seat between Vern and Aidan who immediately asked for the air conditioning to be turned up full and the temperature to be turned down.  Next minute I have a full blast of cold air between the legs which was much worse than the blimmin massage chair at the nail bar!!!  Talk about navigation – there were three navigators on this run to the market and the cenotaph turning left, right, twice around roundabouts and so much hilarity in the vehicle that it was like an episode of The Simpsons.  Just doing up the seatbelts with three of us in the back seat was an utter fiasco and I will leave that to your imagination!  I have had more than 60 years with this lot and they didn’t hold back in telling me I should be used to it!  However, I have been utterly blessed to have such amazing bros and sisters-in-law so count myself very fortunate. Onto the cenotaph we go with magnificent views over Fremantle and Rottnest Island – another photo but, as usual, disagreements over where to take it, sit, stand, smile, frown – just blimmin get it over with I am thinking! Then onto the Fremantle Market where all of the population gathers on a Sunday and I can tell you for sure they were there! Now can you imagine four disinterested bros trying to find the passengers from the other car amongst every type of food stall you can imagine, bangles, beads, gypsy outfits, hats, kids, music – you name it – it’s here! Miraculously we bang into each other by the Billtong stand but Jenny can see by the look on the bros faces that they would rather be anywhere but here! Heaven forbid – so we try and navigate back to the car but which way did we come in and which way do we go out and how do we get out and so it goes on!

Righty now we are flying across the Nullibor on our way to Sydney having farewelled the family after a simple and enjoyable dinner at a little Italian restaurant last night.  We now join Georgia, Hannah and Matt for the next week so the bag has the requested recipe folder and I have a feeling I will be donning the apron to get through the requested list which will be fun.  Perth is a beautiful clean and well organized city and we have loved going back there.  It is 16 years since we spent time here when Brendan was doing his surgical fellowship and Oliver was a tiny baby.  We loved it then and we loved it again this time.  The one in charge of the B’s has fallen asleep beside me in his very comfy seat on this Virgin Australia plane after a busy and fun week with his three brothers and the extended nieces and nephews and their kids too.

After an eight hour flight we arrived late afternoon in Perth, the largest city in Western Australia with a population of approximately 2.4 million and the fourth most populous city in Australia. Our trip from the airport to our apartment on the river treated us to the most magnificent sunset lighting up the entire sky with its striking red glow. Darkness appears to happen quickly with a short dusk and suddenly it is dark. After a very good sleep the plan for the morning was for Vern and his brother to go collect the rental car. I had checked the whereabouts of this pickup point and it didn’t seem too far away. I, the one in charge of the P’s (which I had no intention of mentioning to these guys could include “pickup”) decided they could manage this on their own. That was the first mistake of the day because on their return journey to bring the said car back to the apartment they toured the whole of Perth!! My sister-in-law was trying to track them down – she apparently can always find where hubby is by looking at her phone! Heaven forbid – I think the one in charge of the B’s would blow his fooffoo valve if I suggested this would be a good idea for me to do! Anyway, eventually these two grey haired men appeared on the riverside path looking for us two girls after safely parking the blimmin car! It was decided that a trip to the Perth Mint to check out the gold bullion would occupy our minds so six of us – third brother and wife joined a tour. After getting the ferry back across the Swan River, fourth brother and wife thought we could all do with some exercise so a trip to Kings Park would keep us oldies fully occupied. Into the rental car we climbed with Vern and Kerry in the front and sister-in-law and I relegated to the back seat. Now she is busy on Google maps trying to navigate us to Kings Park and Vern and Kerry have already been on their reccie this morning and think they know best so we in the back seat are not so politely told to zip it! After a short visit to the park it was decided by fourth sister-in-law that we needed to go and settle down and have a drink at Subiaco Pub which was just a hop away – actually about 1000 hops but she is onto it – she will come and sit in the front of our car with the Google maps and she will be the navigator! However, unfortunately the other sister-in-law has already put the destination into driver’s phone so suddenly two women in the depths of Google are trying to navigate us to the darned pub! This is doing my head in – Margaret is still trying to locate her daughter’s whereabouts – it seems her phone is tracking the entire family and I am thinking I will put a straw in the wine bottle when we reach this blimmin Subiaco Pub and I might try and drown her phone when I go to the Ladies Room!

Rottnest Island

Yesterday we now ten of us were on the ferry by 7.45 am to get to Fremantle and another ferry to Rottnest Island also known as Wadjemup. However, it appears that today the Freemantle Doctor – the howling wind that occurs here regularly – has decided to make its presence felt to wake us dopey Kiwis up! Some arrive at the wharf having looked at the wrong App to see the temperature and they are ready for ze sun to pop up and scorch us – it doesn’t! The Doctor is fair blowing and I already have three layers on and by mid morning have donned a fourth layer being ze raincoat – no rain though! Rottnest Island is interesting for its history as a military defense embattlement with structures that watch over the sea and bunker in the ground. There is a maze of underground military tunnels and a powerful gun battery. The island was also used as a prison for Aboriginal men and boys and many are buried on the island – the structures they built still stand on the island today. The island sits in the Indian Ocean and the western end is the most western part of Australia. It is a protected sanctuary for the wildlife which are mainly birds and quokkas. The island is made up primarily of sand and it is impossible to grow vegetables or fruit trees in this pumice soil. Samphire, spinifex and saltbush are the plants that cover the island. There are 12 salt lakes and some solar farms and one wind turbine. Our tour takes us on a train ride on the old railroad and then lunch at the embattlement area and then a drive around the lovely bays of the island. Today my dear sister-in-law Jenny heaves a sigh of relief that we have a paid tour guide to reign in this Kiwi oldies bunch which, up till now have had about four self appointed tour guides! I might add it doesn’t necessarily mean they can be reigned in though!

Today is the pre-wedding gathering to meet all the team and I am just hoping we pass muster with the about to be in-laws! I think we all need a short lesson in how to behave appropriately so our invite to the wedding tomorrow is not cancelled and sold to some better behaved troops! Us four girls have just returned from having the nails done and two of us are fair leaping around. The reason for our new found lease on life is that after our nails were completed the lovely attentive nail ladies needed our chairs and suggested to us that we sit very comfortably in the massage chairs while we wait for the other two – good idea – turned out to be great idea! So we sit and the lady comes and turns on the chair and it is set to Auto to get the kneading, flapping, rolling blah blah blah! What we didn’t realize (because I am not sure it happens at home because possibly the Minister of Health has outlawed it) but the the massage continues down underneath where you are sitting and I almost hit my head on the ceiling when the range of options started down there! So it is fair to say that woke us up big time and we literally bounced over to the coffee shop following that little experience! Now we must prepare for ze meeting of the invited guests because tomorrow is wedding day!

An adventure across the ditch

Well, here we are in packing mode once again.  We thought we were so good at this but apparently we need a revision course (think it’s our age).  We go away regularly – we pack the car with our clothes, groceries, Billie the pup with her food supplies, Ivy the cat with her food supplies and it all usually goes to plan.  So we are now off to Perth and Sydney just for two weeks and only have our clothes to think about – all good – very simple!  But why is it then that the spare bedroom is chocka full with clothing for all weathers, medicines for all conditions, shoes for all terrains and we haven’t even finished yet?  We booked seat and bag and seat – looks like we should have booked a freighter!  I made a list because we recently went away for a week and I forgot my lipstick and that caused a mini crisis! We still have things to add to the mountain on the bed because not everything is ticked off the list!  Not to worry – we have scheduled an “edit” meeting in the bedroom!  Heaven forbid – that will cause all sorts of problems I can already foresee but short of us both sitting on the suitcase to get it closed so we can zip it up I can see that an edit will happen.  I don’t know why I am worried actually because Vern is in charge of the “B’s” – bags, buses, beer. Now that is very simple. I, on the other hand, got the short straw when the travel contracts were drawn up and, in hindsight, when the Government changed I should have had the foresight to get the contract redrawn but now I will never get it past the Select Committee! I have the “P’s” – passports, people, paperwork, payments, pills, photos, plugs, purchases, Pinot Gris and PROBLEMS! We are off to our nephew’s wedding in Perth and then to Sydney to see granddaughters.  It will be fun – it always is – and we will keep you posted if you are remotely interested.

It is time to say Sayonara to this amazing country and its lovely people and we are left wondering how you can get a population of 149 million people to be so courteous, so polite, so helpful, so gracious, so happy to share their culture with travellers and to send them home with special memories. They are welcoming everywhere you go. There are people offering assistance everywhere you go. They thank you for coming, thank you for waiting and thank you for everything. The Japanese people do not like to touch each other as in hand-shaking or hugging so there is much bowing and we are so used to bowing it has become second nature. I might even bow to the one in charge of the bowing!

We remember the dolphins who swam alongside the ship one night as we were having dinner on a low deck with a window beside the water. We enjoyed seeing the highway of ships and fishing boats as we travelled the South China Sea and along the coast of Japan. We could have sat for hours and listened to the wonderful pianist onboard the Viking Orion and we were in awe of the people at every port who welcomed the ship and farewelled us when we sailed out of their city.

We will never forget the delicious and healthy food served up in special little colorful bowls and dishes (even if we didn’t know what we were eating at times!) We admired the cleanliness of everything and were surprised that you very seldom see rubbish bins anywhere so we think that the Japanese people take their rubbish home with them. We looked at the skyscrapers in absolute wonder and lauded the designers of these remarkable buildings who had the foresight to design something worth looking at and who created space around the buildings to provide trees and gardens in these busy cities. We loved seeing the magnificent parks and green spaces for people to enjoy away from the hustle and bustle of traffic noise. We couldn’t believe the number of power poles and power lines stretching right through every city everywhere but when you understand that there are geothermal areas everywhere and that Japan sits on four tectonic plates you understand that this is the way it must be. We enjoyed seeing long tree-lined roads with colorful azaleas decorating the sides of the pavements and we applauded the people who have put thought into making this highly populated country a place of beauty. We felt at home seeing the mountains, the bush, the lakes and the sea surrounding this country of so many islands.

We really have felt like a tourist in this country – we cannot speak the language, we cannot read Japanese but we have got by without the need to go to acting class to mime (but we have had to act a bit at times!) Everything is written in Japanese – signage, labels on food, street signs and maps but we have figured it out – mostly!

However, like every country we have visited there are still homeless people which is a sad sight to see. They are not evident during the day but at night they do line some streets with their cardboard boxes and worldly belongings tidily stored around their little sleeping huts. Come morning – they have packed up and gone.

The cherry blossom turned up for us on the last day and it was magnificent. We would recommend Japan to anyone but we would also recommend you do some guided tours where the lovely Japanese guides are keen to share their culture with you so you can learn more about the places you visit and the history behind them.

We go home now where there will not be a buffet breakfast for us to make healthy (or unhealthy) choices! There will be no entertainment shows every night for us to attend, no one coming into the room to clean the bathroom and change the towels, no schedules to look at or signs to try and translate! No immigration forms to fill in, no more Customs folk checking to see ze apple hasn’t fallen into ze bag! We go back to road cones, Auckland traffic and winter storms and cold toilet seats!

We have really felt the Zen in this country and have a profound feeling of being so grateful and thankful and absolutely thrilled that we have had the opportunity to learn more about the people of Japan, their long cultural history, their magnificent country of many many islands and their much admired courtesy.

Sayonara Japan and arigato to everyone of you who made this such a memorable trip and one we would not have missed for the world. If you have travelled with us by reading Golden Postcards we thank you. We love sharing our experiences – travel seems to enlighten the mind. When you visit a country you haven’t been to before you notice things that are different from what you are used to and you are introduced to new experiences you haven’t had before. You see the world in a different light and it gives you hope for the future.

It is a cloudy morning in Tokyo and we are off to Hakone National Park and Mt Fuji. Fortunately for us, our tour departs from Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku where we are staying so we go to the meeting point at the appointed time. This tour company has several buses going to Mt Fuji today and so we stand for Bus 5 where ze guide has told us to stand but there are also signs for the various bus numbers and one American guy who is, I think, a graduate of the Trump Academy of Zero Diplomacy (and is on our blimmin bus) appoints himself the tour leader and yells out to everyone on bus 5 to “come overrr herre bus 5 people”. Heaven forbid – we prefer the lovely Japanese Yuki who we have just met! Anyway, Yuki has done this before and she steps up to the mark and, besides, his seat is in the back of the bus and thank heavens for that!

We leave Shinjuku on what would be a very busy Monday morning but it is Golden Week here in Japan which is the second most important holiday (New Year being the most important). Golden Week is the last few days of April and first few of May where there are four bank holidays. We travel with relatively little traffic through the spiderweb of expressways. Yuki tells us that 14 million people live in Tokyo and that one third of the population of Japan (129m) live in Tokyo and the surrounding areas. We pass many stadiums and Government owned and run horse racing tracks – the Government controls all the horse racing in Japan. We also pass large breweries of Asahi, Santori and Sapporo. Yuki is excited because this is the first time she is revisiting Mt Fuji in three years. She managed to get a job in the Vaccination Call Centre during Covid but is so very happy that life is almost normal again. On we go through a mountainous area of dense bush in vibrant shades of green, through long tunnels and over long viaducts looking down on vast valleys where there are small settlements. We pass Lake Sagami, an artificial lake. There are many paddy fields on arable land – planting is just taking place in some and others are already flooded. There are huge plastic hot houses and many people are tending their gardens as we pass neighborhoods where there are lots of vegetables growing in garden plots.

Yesterday it was snowing on Mt Fuji but today we are in luck because the sun is shining and the bus winds its way up the switchbacks of the mountain road to the fifth station beside the glorious Mt Fuji which is 3,776 meters high or 12,365 feet. Mt Fuji has erupted nine times in 400 years and our ears are popping as we go up the mountain. Amazingly we see many cyclists riding the mountain today and the one in charge of the B’s (including bikes) sits reminiscing about the big mountains of Ventoux, col d’Abesque, col de Madeleine and others he rode in France and in Germany when he went to compete in the ITU Age Group World Champs and when we went to the Tour de France a few times. I think he would like to be riding Mt Fuji but those days are over and he is stuck in the bus with me!

The fifth station where we get off the bus is 2,300 m and it is rather chilly so those who donned sunfrocks today are shivering a tad. Luckily we packed layers so we are fine and enjoy the closeup view of the mountain as the cloud lifts and we are right there to enjoy it. There is also a little shrine we visit, make our offering, bow twice, clap twice and hope our wish comes true. We are all given a little bell at the souvenir shop which comes with a message that says they have been purified at the shrine on the summit of Mt Fuji and “you can also live for more than a hundred years in peace and happiness”. Thank goodness for that.

We all hop back on ze bus and wind our way back down ze mountain and drive on to a hotel where we have lunch in an enormous hall which is set up beautifully with tables ready for the tour groups coming in. Here we enjoy another delicious lunch with some entertainment.

Next stop is Hakone National Park which is a huge area of land with mountains and lakes and is enjoyed by many who come to go fishing, boating, tramping, skiing, playing golf and to enjoy the outdoors.

We get to Lake Ashinoko and we are going on a cable car to the top of Hakone Komagatake which is 1,327 m high. Now the one in charge of the B’s does not really like heights and I wonder about this but he is all good and ready to go. We are loaded into ze cable car which is going to take us to the summit and there is a sign that says the temperature at the top is 10 degrees Celsius. (There is no mention of the wind and cloud which is blowing a tad at this point and thank goodness for the Kathmandu jackets). Now, this is interesting because someone has decided to bring their poodle on this trip in the cable car and someone else arrives with what I thought was a cat in a cat cage but turns out to be a miniature dog in the pink carry-on and I am hoping that the cage is well insulated or this little critter is going to freeze to death! We get to the top and decide to do a loop walk on a nice track overlooking a golf course down the valley and the lake. The day finishes with a boat trip on the Lake Ashi to a stop further down the lake where the bus is waiting and there is even a cherry tree in full bloom waiting beside the bus – our lucky day! This was our final excursion on this amazing trip – a ten-hour day and we loved every minute of it.

Amazingly we got through this trip without too much trouble adjusting to the plumbing systems of this country which is just as well because we didn’t pack the “Bathrooms for Dummies” manual. Only two things happened – I tried to use the shower at ze hotel in Tokyo but had water coming out of every spout except the one I wanted so ze boss was called and eventually ze water came out of ze spout I needed so all good. And then today I went to use a bathroom but nowhere to put ze bag so I wiped the basin and popped ze bag in it. But everything in these bathrooms works automatically and to my horror ze tapped turned on and filled the side pocket of my bag with water! All minor compared to what has happened on other trips I can tell you for sure!

We are almost ready to come home but have some memories still to write – one last post will probably be written while we are waiting to board ze plane!

Viking Orion berths at Yokohama Port which is the last stop of our cruise and we are on an excursion to Tokyo which is 45 km away. Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan with a population of 3.6 million. It was once a fishing village but with the introduction of the port it grew enormously. We cross Yokohama Bay Bridge which is a long suspension bridge and see thousands and thousands of new cars and trucks waiting to be shipped offshore. Our guide tells us that in order to buy a car in Japan you need to prove you have off-street parking for the car. If you haven’t you would need to rent it so we have seen these “car shelves” where you drive onto a pad and your car is moved up into a space and parked. We pass through several tunnels (one was 18 km long) on our way to Tokyo and are in awe of the masses of skyscrapers of interesting designs that are across the skyline. Apparently one tunnel here is 55 km long – another reason I need to email Wayne and I am also going to let him know that you do not see the road cones lining up like red and white stick figures all over the place.

Tokyo is the birthplace of sushi which, here in Japan, is typically sticky rice mixed with a vinegar and a little piece of raw fish on top. Our guide, Sato, tells us about the traditional Japanese breakfast and the one in charge of the B’s and I are pleased we have had ours. Typically the Japanese have raw fish, a raw egg which is mixed with soy sauce, and fermented soybeans called Natto. This is all very good for your digestion which we have no hesitation in agreeing with – but not trying!

We arrive in Tokyo (once called Edo) and there is a large area of reclaimed land along the Tokyo waterfront which is beautifully designed with parks, attractive gardens, walkways, hotels, stadiums, apartments and corporations. 12.9 million live in this city which is just 2000 square kilometers in size and stretches just 50 km from east to west. We are off to the Meiji Shrine and pass Meiji Park which was the stadium for the Tokyo Olympics. This shrine is dedicated to the great great grandfather of the present emperor and is spread over 170 acres. We wander down a lovely wide walkway with lush trees on either side passing men sweeping the falling leaves. We pass under the torii gate and walk towards the shrine and are thrilled to see there is a bridal couple there having photos taken. This is interesting because we do not see any guests – the couple seem to be here by themselves – well not entirely because there are hundreds of people here who would love to go to the wedding actually and they are all here clicking their photos! We have been told quite a lot about the weddings and we know they are happy occasions so take place at Shinto Shrines but a large number of Japanese have a desire to have a Christian wedding in a church. Now this all sounds fine until you hear that a lot of these couples are married by men who just dress up to look like a pastor or priest – they are not religious ministers at all but the couple are happy because the bride is dressed as a traditional bride in white with a veil and the wedding took place in a church.

We are also told about the present Emperor Naruhito and his wife Masako. Masako was a Harvard graduate and married the present emperor in 1993 – they have one daughter 20 years old. Masako has been ill for some years and it is believed that she suffers from depression. The current law says that only a male can be emperor. Presently there is a debate taking place to determine if this law may change and many Japanese apparently would be happy with a female to be in the role. Conservatists, however, are against it. Our next stop is the Imperial Palace Plaza which has an attractive plaza and garden.

As I have mentioned before, everything is very clean and very tidy everywhere we go. Every park, sidewalk, road etc is spotlessly clean. There are hand sanitizers about every 50 m and on this trip our hands have honestly consumed more alcohol than our mouths! There are also vending machines everywhere – in fact one for every 30 people! There are so many drinks available you can almost die of thirst while you are trying to make the decision about what to choose! We haven’t used because we have no idea what they are. We have been here two weeks but still can’t read Japanese. In France I purchased sour milk thinking it was milk and kitchen paper when I thought it was toilet paper so I am forbidden to choose ze drink in case ze one in charge of ze beers blames me for ze bad choice!

After lunch on the top floor of the Asahi beer building our final stop for the day is to the Senso-ji temple built in 645 AD. The description of this was that it had a “lively temple precinct”. It should have read “expect to mingle with half the population of Tokyo while you squeeze past them to take ze photo and admire the magnificent grounds and meet hundreds of lovely young ladies who have rented kimonos from nearby rental shops to have photos taken at ze temple”. But it is still a lovely place to visit so we breathe in and squeeze past and get ze photos we want!

Tomorrow we get off this lovely ship and stay on another few days to go to Hakone National Park and Mt Fuji.

Viking Orion arrives in Shimizu on a glorious morning and the magnificent cone-shaped Mt Fuji is clear to see as we eat our breakfast. This 3000 foot high mountain last erupted 300 years ago and can be seen from miles around. We have a busy day in this city of 700,000 people. We set out in the bus to Mt Kuno to visit the lavish Kunozan Tosho-gu shrine which was founded in 1617 and was originally a Shinto Shrine. Someone obviously decided that today was the day we need to get the heart rate up because of the shrinking clothes so the day starts with a step class! Off we go to the cable car which takes us down the mountain we have just come up in the bus! Heaven forbid – what is this about? But then we arrive at ze bottom only to climb back up to ze top on the other side of the mountain so we must climb 120 high rise stone steps to get to the Tosho-gu shrine where there is much to admire (after we check we are still breathing). There are extravagant wood carvings with much gold leaf and colorful Japanese lacquer and it is stunning. There are several buildings and the gorgeous colors are enhanced by all the beautiful maple trees, camphor trees and cherry trees where we get to see the last of the blossoms which are about to fall off the trees. We get as many photos as we can of this disappearing blossom! And now, just to finish us off, we have another 60 stairs to climb as the cable car delivers us back to the top where we started!

Nearby is Nihondaira Park, a 1,000 foot plateau offering sweeping panoramic views of the city of Shizuoka (Shimizu), the mountains of Izu, Cape Omaezaki and the famous Mt Fuji. There is a nice walk through more lovely gardens to the viewing platform surrounding a lovely wooden building at the top. This is a mountainous country and wherever we have been there are mountains surrounding the cities along this southern coast.

We have been told by several of the guides that only 1% of Japanese people are Christians. The history behind this is that up until the 16th century there were many Christians but the feudal government prohibited it in the 17th century when Shinto took over and then Buddhism followed. Shinto is seen as a relaxed philosophy whereas Buddhism is seen as more serious. The two have now merged and live in harmony. People get married in Shinto Shrines and take their newborn babies there for a ceremony at the age of one month. Funerals are held in Buddhist Temples. They have a saying here – you are born a Shinto and die a Buddhist.

This city exports green tea, mandarins and wasabi. Yamaha and Honda motorbikes are also made here and many automobile parts. Shimizu imports huge quantities of frozen tuna for sashimi and also soccer balls! In this city and surrounding districts we have seen more houses than apartments but many of the suburban areas seem to also be sprinkled with businesses amongst the houses.

Off we go in the afternoon to visit Minho no Matsubara on the Minho Peninsula where we take an interesting walk down a wide boardwalk surrounded on either side by a grove of very old pine trees which are protected by UNESCO and we end up on a “sandy” (make that dark grainy) beach. On either side of this boardwalk are nice houses with pretty gardens.

We are welcomed back at the ship where we are given a glass of bubbles on the wharf and many of the crew are lined up with red umbrellas forming a guard of honor and dancing to the music in the sun. An hour later the ship departs the lovely Shimizu with many people lined up at the wharf to farewell us. This happens at every port and is so special to witness.

Something is going on today – maybe the boss has advertised me on Trade Me or something. There is a knock at the door which I answer and there is a tall man standing there holding up his stateroom entry card. He says to me (while looking down) “the keycard didn’t work”. I tell him “wrong wife”. He apologizes profusely and wanders off. Five minutes later, we go down to Deck 1 to disembark for ze tour and there is a man standing there obviously waiting to go ashore. A Viking crew member announces to this man as I arrive down the passage “here is your wife now Sir”. Once again – wrong wife! What is the boss trying to tell me here? The day finishes with a five-course dinner at the Chef’s Table because we have earned it after climbing ze stairs!

Konnichiwa – We arrive in the sprawling city of Osaka early on Anzac Day morning which would have been Dad’s 101st birthday. Viking have acknowledged this day by supplying poppies for the Kiwis and Aussies to wear and they have a beautiful display on the large screen in the atrium on the ship. We are making our way to Kyoto today to enjoy some ancient traditions of that city which used to be the capital of Japan until 150 years ago. At the port here in Osaka there is a huge garbage incineration centre which was designed by Hunterwasser so the building is colorful and interesting and we recently visited the Hunterwasser Museum in Whangarei. He has designed many buildings in this city. There are many very interesting bridges and our bus drives onto a spaghetti junction that has many layers to it. 400 years ago this city of Osaka was under the sea and was a fishing village. Now on this huge area of reclaimed land is a bustling city with a population of 2.7 million and motorway systems going in every direction. On large parts of the motorways you cannot see the traffic on the other side because of high screens.

Eko is our lovely Japanese guide today and she, like others, talk about the pandemic. On the subject of that it may interest many of you to know that many many people we have spoken to here from the US, Canada, Australia, UK, Scotland and Ireland have huge admiration of Jacinda Arden and what NZ did to protect its citizens during the past three years. Without exception they are all sorry she has stepped down. You may not all agree but I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that she is admired as a world leader by people from other countries.

Onto Kyoto we go and it is interesting that Osaka just merges into Kyoto as we pass suburban houses and large agricultural plots growing rice and vegetables. There are also high crescent shaped screens at the sides of the motorway by the suburban areas to stop the pollution. It is interesting to note that Osaka is the home of the 2-minute noodles because they were founded here by a man named Mamofuku Ando who owned a company called Nissan Food Products and passed away in 2007. The HQ of Panasonic is also here in Osaka and the HQ of Nintendo is in Kyoto. Eko tells us she is friendly with the boss of Panasonic and she recently asked him how many people worked there. His answer was “about half”!

Kyoto is a very old city where the ancient traditions are still part of everyday life. For example, we see many women in kimonos (which, by the way, add 8 kg of weight to these slim women) and men wearing the hakama pants and the haori shorter kimono tops and the wooden geta flip flops.

Our first stop is at the Kinkaku-Ji Golden Pavilion which is a Zen Buddhist Temple set over water in the most beautiful gardens. When this golden palace was founded it was the centre of politics and culture and was used to welcome the Emperors of Japan and trading partners. It is covered with 2 million pieces of gold leaf measuring 10 cm square and even some of the interior rooms are lined with gold leaf. It is exquisite and the reflections in the pool beneath it are glistening. The garden has wide paths where you can admire the trees and flowers and quietly trickling water from the waterfalls. There is also a 100 year old pine tree known as the “yacht” which is a bonsai – not all that small but definitely small for a 100 year old pine!

On this tour I got a promotion to Tour Leader (some of my relatives will not be surprised because they actually call me TL) but basically all this meant was I got to hold the sign for Eko for a short time for the less than obedient bunch that we are with today!

Next stop is the lunch stop at a lovely resort a little further on where we are welcomed in the lightly falling rain to the restaurant which is located down a cobbled path through a bamboo forest. Here we are served another beautiful lunch all set out in the bento box with other little dishes either side. Once more, everything is exceptionally tasty little bites. This is followed by the arrival of two Maiko – trainee Geishas. One is 17 years old and the other is 20 and they are beautifully dressed in the kimonos with their hair decorated with symbols of the season – spring and so the decorations resemble wisteria and cherry blossom. After their performance there is question time and they tell us they have their hair done once a week and it must stay like that until the next appointment with the hairdresser! So how do they sleep – well it is almost sitting up actually. They are very disciplined – it costs $US100,000 to train a geisha. The cost goes towards their education where they must learn to sing, dance and converse on all sorts of subjects and, of course, their kimonos and hair. You can start to train at 15 when you are an apprentice and you can leave, if you wish, after you turn 20. Firstly, you are an apprentice, then a Maiko and then a Geisha. You are interviewed, along with your parents, to see if they approve (often they don’t) and at the end of your training you are either retained or it is suggested you look for something else to do! The oldest geisha here in Kyoto is 95 – can you believe that she still works.

It is back on ze Number 14 bus to visit Ryozen Kannon, a somber temple topped with an 80-foot statue of the Goddess of Mercy commemorating those who died in World War II. Here we observed the “Way of Tea” – a ceremony involving the preparation and presentation of a Matcha – a powdered green tea. This is followed by the traditional tea ceremony where we are given the bowl of tea which, interestingly, is frothy. After this we get to experience Zazen, a form of Japanese meditation. We are sitting on little stools and the master informs us that yesterday, during the meditation, a person fell right off ze stool! Heaven forbid – let us hope that ze deep breathing with ze eyes half closed does not cause the boss or I to end up on ze tatami mat! The meditation finishes with us almost floating back to ze bus – but first we visit the souvenir shop and some are eager to walk in the drizzle to the shopping street. This daily event results in two ladies not making it back to the bus and we wait and we wait. Dear Eko trots off to find them, a man trots off because he saw them in a shop, Eko comes back without them, the man comes back without them, Eko goes again and finally after about 25 minutes the two ladies climb onboard but Eko is missing! Heaven forbid – who would want to be a tour guide – and, by the way, the two ladies were carrying the bags full of the shopping and said not one word of apology for holding up ze bus which is now going to get caught up in the rush hour traffic on its way back to ze boat! Unbelievable.

I have to finish by reporting on a piece of Japanese design that takes my fancy. It is to do with the bathroom and the fact that all the toilet seats are heated. Now frankly I could sit there for an hour, enjoy a cuppa, contemplate, do meditation or whatever but it is very nice indeed. A few years ago we visited some friends in LA and when I entered the bathroom the seat lifted to welcome me. I got the fright of my life actually. Anyway, I was there for some time because it was the first time I had seen the menu selection panel on the side of a toilet and I thought I would try the variety on offer. I tried to get the one in charge of the bathrooms to go and have an experience but he wasn’t keen on the idea but I can tell you that I came out of that bathroom with a new lease on life. But in Japan I have not dared to press any button in case I get a surprise I do not want because I cannot read the menu!

As I write this we are sailing now in the Pacific Ocean. It is blowing 30 knots and the seas a a tiny bit rough with a 3-4 meter swell and we are headed for Shimizu.

The walk to the restaurant was through mature stands of bamboo

It is a beautiful morning to arrive in Hiroshima and we have a free morning so decide to use the shuttle provided by Viking to go into the City for a quick walk before our tour this afternoon. The map has little symbols of cherry blossoms where you are meant to be able to find the trees. The trees are there, of course, but the cherry blossoms are now blooming one month early because of global warming. Seems that in a few years the cherry blossoms may bloom in Alaska! In fact they start in parts of Japan in January now and many areas are done and dusted by the end of March. However, the dogwood trees are in bloom and they are a sight to see. We do a quick walk to the Hiroshima Castle built in the 16th century and admire the lovely grounds.

Our afternoon excursion is to the island of Itsukushima to visit its “floating” Shinto shrine and we are taken by ferry to this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Built on pillars, the shrine complex consists of multiple buildings connected by boardwalks and appears to be floating when the tide is in. Its dramatic 50 foot tall, red-orange torii gate is distinctive because it is built over water. We are very fortunate to witness a wedding taking place within the shrine and a formal tea ceremony for the bride and groom. This is followed by a photo of the group and there is a ritual to this photo shoot (the boss would never put up with it!) Two attendants wearing white gloves are positioning everyone with precision. The beautiful kimonos of the bride and groom’s mothers seem to be being taped so they sit correctly for the photo and one guest’s hair is being sprayed to keep it in place. After this excitement we take a quiet stroll (actually not so quiet because it is Sunday and there are many people taking the “quiet” stroll with us) through the shopping and residential area of the island which is only 30 square kilometers in size with a population of 1400. Three million tourists visit this little island every year. The ship is in Hiroshima for two days – by the way “shima” is pronounced “sheema” and means island.

We start day 2 in Hiroshima very early because we are going to the Hiroshima Peace Park. This is one of the most emotional places we have experienced as our lovely guide takes us on a quiet and contemplative stroll through this most beautiful of places which has so many very sad elements to it. We are here at around 7.45 am on a Monday morning – it is early but it is a huge advantage because it is very quiet. Our guide tells us that in August 1945 Tokyo and other cities had been attacked and no one expected a bomb to be dropped in Hiroshima – people seemed relaxed in a way. The bomb dropped at precisely 8.15 am on 9 August 1945 – the hypocentre was 160 meters from where we are standing. The ground temperature rose to between 3000 and 4000 degrees Celsius and 220,000 people lost their lives. The Peace Park has a beautiful concrete arch where the names of every one of those victims is inscribed. Just beyond this is a flame of peace which will burn until our world has no atomic bombs at all. Standing there watching this flame flickering you hope so much that one day it will be extinguished and that it is not an eternal flame – but you wonder.

We move on past the long pond where the water trickles serenely and come to an area which is a monument to a young girl called Sadako Sasaki and the story of the paper cranes – a little bird made out of paper that, after the death of Sadako in 1955 her story and the paper cranes became a symbol for world peace. It is a beautiful story of a brave young girl which you can Google and read. After her death her many many friends raised money for a memorial to her and for peace.

We come to a paved area where the ashes of around 70,000 unidentified victims are buried and as we stand there with leaking eyes a bell rings out in the distance – it is precisely 8.15 am and the bell rings every day at this time. We are told that there are still around 130,000 bomb survivors alive today.

We walk on further beside the river and see the remains of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. The hall’s hollowed dome, appropriately called the Atomic Bomb Dome, was intentionally left in ruins as a stark visual reminder of the bomb’s destruction and was the only building that was left standing close to the hypocenter of the blast.

This city has risen from the ashes of that terrible day and it seems a miraculous recovery which has taken decades. The restoration has seen well-designed buildings, bridges and parks built which have helped to heal a broken city but the human scars still remain. Our last visit is to the Museum in the park where we see accounts of that day written by young survivors who lost parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, cousins. It is difficult to take it in and it literally makes your heart ache to be here and yet we must never forget these events even though it is so sad to recount them. Tomorrow is Anzac Day where we all remember and pay tribute to the Anzacs so, although this has been sad to write, we are so very grateful to have visited Nagasaki and Hiroshima and to be able to pay our own tribute to the people who suffered terribly and lost so much.

On a brighter note, we went to dinner last night with a couple from Wisconsin and their names were Ron and Jerry. They wanted to know about our travels, where we have been, our family etc. I kept going to call him “Tom” actually! We chatted and laughed our way through the three courses before going to a great concert before we fell into bed!

We have just left Hiroshima and are sailing on to Osaka and it is very similar to the Marlborough Sounds with islands surrounding us everywhere. Hiroshima is a city of islands, rivers and by the sea. The main crop grown here is rice. Oyster farms are are everywhere around the islands here and the oysters are huge. They tell us that rugby is very popular and there is a big stadium built especially for their famous baseball team called the Toyo Carps (I thought the lady said “Cops” to be honest). She also taught us to count on the bus and I got the hang of it quite quickly. Apparently I am nanajuugo and the one in charge of the B’s is nanajuuroku. It would be much easier if we were juu which is 20 – in fact everything including climbing stairs, walking 10 km a day, having a body that would fit neatly into lycra and being able to dance the night away would be easier if we were 20!

Sayonara

We arrive in Beppu on a sunny morning with music playing on the pier. There is a group of High School students waving flags welcoming us to Beppu and they take turns on the microphone giving us interesting information about the region which is like the Rotorua of Japan. This is followed by a dance performance with musicians. It is great to see the young people of Japan so involved in tourism and taking great pride in welcoming the world back for a visit. All the students we have encountered have been spontaneously friendly and so courteous.

The day starts with a bus tour in the usual way except that 45 people have made their way onto the #18 bus and the Japanese lady does three counts because there are only supposed to be 40 and one couple who arrived a little late to the bus sees the gentleman complaining because he cannot sit by his wife! But the lovely Japanese guide deals with it all with grace and patience.

It is Saturday and it is a little busy with families having outings and taking their children to play in the parks and ride their bikes. Beppu’s population is only 113,000 in an area of 125 square kilometers. It is a geothermal area famous for its Onsens which are hot springs. There are 28,000 Onsen pools in Japan and 2,300 here in Beppu. There are ten different kinds of Onsens and the idea is that you firstly wash in the shower and then hop naked into the Onsen to let your body soak in the minerals which are very good for health and the skin. You are warned to cover all tattoos so that you do not offend anyone. I am relieved that the one in charge of the B’s and bathrooms is not in the mood to strip off today and soak in ze Onsen because I am not feeling like joining the Saturday throng to join him and it is too hot anyway. Mind you, it is possible to book private pools if they are available. The water and steam from the Onsen is also used to cook food.

Apparently when we arrive at the Onsen we can get a tasting of Saki (just what we need at 11 am but then we have had a morning tea of whiskey in Scotland, Guinness in Ireland and Cassis in France – we will just go with the flow!!!)

There is the smell of sulphur in the air as our bus makes its way up the hill passing through residential areas where steam is pouring out of the ground through dozens of vents. We arrive at the Myoban Yunosato Onsen where the lady tells us her family is the 6th generation to run the business. The ground beneath our feet is very warm to touch and the thatched huts are there to allow the mineral content to develop and be extracted to make skin products. The thatched huts allow the steam to escape.

As we walk down the path to go back to the bus a Japanese lady asks me to take a photo of her man and herself – I oblige. But as I said, the Japanese always repay a favor so she says she will “take photo of you.” The boss begrudgingly agrees to having one photo taken a day and apparently this has already been ticked off but he agrees. Now this dear lady wants the perfect photo – she tells us where to stand – how far apart, where to look – landscape, portrait and then she moves us to take more! While all this is going on there are about ten people also wanting a photo at that spot but they understand what is going on and joke with us about the photo shoot!

On we go to Chinoike Jigoku which is a blood-red hot spring, one of the city’s famed “Hells” which is rich in iron oxide. The sign says “Bloody Hot Pool”. Adjacent to the Bloody Hot Pool was a lovely waterfall and garden. The sun was shining on the beautiful specimens of Japanese red Maple trees which were glistening in the light. Down the road from this and on the side of the hill is a huge display of azalea bushes in different colored hues and it is magnificent.

It is a beautiful afternoon here in this area rich in geysers, mud pools and hot springs and we have a walk in the park after lunch and relax on the verandah watching families having fun together in the lovely grassy area at the port. I am thinking of sending Wayne another email about how great it would be to have a well designed cruise ship port in Auckland. Music is playing outside the Customs Hall where the friendly immaculately dressed men are checking our passports and making sure an apple hasn’t fallen into the bag! We move on to Hiroshima tomorrow and we have a big day ahead. Right now Taylor Swift is Shaking It Up on the pier and I feel like dancing! The boss has just gone to a lecture on astronomy but honestly, my brain just won’t cope with that after my day in this steaming place. I guess he will come back seeing stars!

Finally, I want to tell you something that came up in the lecture last evening on Japanese Culture. The word for city is “Shi-ti” which is a little unfortunate. The lecturer, an American guy married to a Japanese lady has been living here for many years and involved hosting business delegations from overseas and he told the story of hosting some Americans and the Japanese business speaker was talking about the Shi-ti parks, the Shi-ti builders and buildings and so on it went. At the end of the presentation the Americans were dumbfounded that this guy would speak like that about things going on in his City!! But he wasn’t being disrespectful because places were named “Shi-ti Towers” and “Shi-ti Hotel”. You do have to listen very carefully at times and get your brain into gear to figure out what is being said which is why you do not need Saki for morning tea!

The evening finishes with a concert “Saturday Night at the Movies” and I send the boss to the theatre to save a seat while I go elsewhere. On entering the dimly lit theatre I am searching for a grey-haired man with a spare seat beside him but there about 500 such men to choose from which tells you the age group of travelers on this ship!