Category: Travel

Back to Japan to continue my feature on Nikko. If you missed Part One, click here. 🙂

By the time we had finished at the World Heritage Shrines, it was getting uncomfortably crowded, so our escape was well timed. A quiet walk through small village streets was really refreshing. We kept coming across quaint shrines, or remnants of times gone by

We were heading to Kanmangafuchi Abyss. A beautiful looking walk up the gorge, that was lined with statues.

We finally reached the river… its hard to find any natural river course in Japan that hasn’t been mucked about with concrete blocks or edging.

We finally reached the part where the river ran a bit wilder – the gorge formed a long time ago by the eruption of nearby Mt Nantai

Running along side the river are 70 of the original 100 Jizu Statues. Small effigies of the Buddhist protector of travellers and children.

Parents who worry for the health and safety of their children can make red caps for these statues and pray in return for them to watch over the young ones.

The day we were there a small community group were out cleaning up the Jizu – so this section had their caps and bibs removed

Just for scale… you can see the size of the statues with Jeff beside them

A major flood swept through in the Meiji era (1868-1912) and destroyed a number of the Jizu. Their bases remain, along with some headless ones. They still sometimes retain the caps, or a small build-up of stones that people place themselves.

It really was a lovely peaceful walk. Lots of lush green and autumn colours

Instead of returning the same way, we decided to do a kind of loop back through the town on the other side – just to see what we could see.

We did come across a shrine and a graveyard that was really interesting, and again, off the beaten tourist path.

This place had an abandoned feel

Amazing moss seemed to cover everything

24 graves are here. 5 were the retainers of the 3rd Tokugawa Iemitsu Shogun and 19 loyal vassals. It is said they committed ritual suicide (Seppuku) to follow their leader to the next world. (Although information is scarce it seems Iemitsu died about two months after his loyal retainers…)

Solemn rows of grave markers, almost forgotten

This whole afternoon away from the throng of the tourists was incredibly enjoyable. Finding forgotten places, peaceful spots and raging rivers was a highlight of our trip to Nikko.

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse.

Cheers

PS There is a legend about these Jizu – sometimes called “Ghost Jizu” because you can never count the same amount of statues on your walk up as on your walk back.

I wish I had of known about that before we went, because I would have certainly tried! 🙂

During our last trip to Japan we travelled up not so far from Tokyo to explore the famous shrines at Nikko.

We spent three days there and could easily have spent a lot longer. Even though I had lived in Japan for a number of years previously, this was one delight I had missed out on until our last trip.

We stayed in an awesome little guest house – The Nikkorisou Backpackers – which was located at the top of the town near the famous Shinkyo Bridge and an easy walk to all the shrines

The manager, Hiro, was such a great guy. Since we were the only guests at that time, he spent an afternoon driving us up around the mountains to see the sights!

He is also a fabulous artist, and some of his work decorated this cool and quirky guest house

More on our time with Hiro in another post.

It completely poured on our first day in Nikko – but it really didn’t take away from the splendour of the area

Mostly on our first day we wandered a bit aimlessly to get a feel for the area (a bit of a damp feel, but it was still an adventure)

We hit the right time for the superb autumn colours (indeed that whole trip we seemed to follow the prime viewing times)

The rain was intense the first day (we felt right at home really! 🙂 ) The rain chains off the shrines were working overtime.

The next day dawned unbelievably differently from the first (yup! right at home with that changing weather thing)

We got up fairly early to go up and see the main shrines & avoid the crowds

The shrines are rich with details and carvings

There are some famous carvings here, like the three wise monkeys and the sleeping cat

Toshogu Shrine is the final resting place of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate that ruled Japan for over 250 years until 1868.

The lavishly decorated shrine complex consists of more than a dozen buildings set in a beautiful forest. Countless wood carvings and large amounts of gold leaf were used to decorate the buildings in a way not seen elsewhere in Japan, where simplicity has been traditionally stressed in shrines.

The eternal guardians – scary looking fellows

And then you run across some cuteness!

There is a short walk up the hillside through the forest to the actual tomb of Ieyasu.

Back down the mountain, to the beautiful Shinkyo Bridge

And at the end of the day, nothing like a good soak in the traditional little tub at the backpackers! Bliss

There is a lot more to this area – but will save for another day.

Hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse into a stunningly beautiful area. If you get to Japan – do NOT miss this!

Cheers!

Cradle Mt is only a 2 hour drive from us and it makes a fabulous day trip, complete with picnics, wildlife and beautiful scenery.

Cradle Mountain forms the northern end of the wild Cradle Mt – Lake St Clair National Park.

The area is formally recognised through World Heritage listing as being part of the natural and cultural heritage of the world community. The core area was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1982 on the basis of all four natural criteria and three cultural criteria, at the time satisfying more criteria than any other World Heritage property on Earth.

Pretty awesome that we live near it! 🙂

There are a variety of walks, ranging from an easy 20 minutes, right up to a fairly challenging 6 day hike on the Overland Track. (This is on my “to do” list)

Some areas are dark and knotted with moss covered trees

And others more open and scrubby

The variety of lichens fascinate me

We enjoy bringing our visitors here – usually after a picnic lunch, we tackle the 3 hour walk/hike around Dove Lake.

Sometimes we get brilliant sun –

And other days you might be lucky to see Cradle!

Personally I like the misty damp days best. It brings out brilliant colours – especially in the trees

There is a fantastic path, mostly boardwalk, the entire way around Dove Lake, and the view of the mountain constantly changes

Winding your way through the scrub

At times the path leads you down to small beaches

Where your view of Cradle Mt changes again

You find small determined plants, literally growing out of the rocks

And the unique Pandani stand out in the landscape

My favourite part of the walk is entering the Ballroom Forest

Quite often you will see wildlife

The boatshed that stands on the northwestern shores of Lake Dove was built in 1940 by the first Ranger at Cradle Mountain, Lionell Connell & is quite a landmark on the lake. The shed was built largely from King Billy pine. Although some restoration work was completed in 1983, the shed remains pretty much unaltered from its original form – It can be a tricky proposition to get a photo sans-tourists as its a popular place for photos

We are hoping to return soon to do a different walk with Emma and Mana – if the weather isn’t too dreadful.

Enjoy the weekend all!

Cheers

I first travelled to Japan when I was 19. I somehow wrangled a job as a golf caddy in a country I knew nothing about and spoke zip of the language (and I knew less about golf, but hey – when you are 19 you can do anything right??)

My 6 month trip turned into a year, and over the course of the next decade I spent about 3 years of my life living and working in beautiful Japan.

I thought I would use my “Friday’s Footprints” on occasion to share with you some of the places and people I love.

Japan is a really amazing place to visit. It is well set up for tourists, not as expensive as you might have heard, easy to get around, the food is awesome and the people who live there are delightful.

Arashiyama is a small town on the western outskirts of Kyoto. The name literally translates into “Storm Mountain”

Our friends, Mari & Koichi, with their daughter Moe live here, and I have been lucky enough to visit it on numerous occasions in its various seasons

I met Mari and Koichi by chance as I caddied for them during the early stages of my first trip. Mari spoke English well and we became friends forever-after! (Despite my terrible caddying skills!)

Arashiyama is a beautiful place to visit, especially during cherry blossom season or when the leaves change in autumn.

It is especially famed for its beautiful bamboo grove and at peak times tourists flock in their thousands! (Best to try to avoid – a quiet day is incredibly peaceful in the green!)

The main temple, Tenryu-ji is right near the heart of the town and is well worth a look

You can cross the famous Moon Crossing Bridge, Togetsukyo – a landmark of the area for over 400 years! A tradition when children reach certain ages, is to receive a blessing from the temple on the other side, then walk back along the bridge without glancing back, or bad luck will ensue!

Up in the mountains on the other side of the bridge, you can visit the monkeys at Kameyama  Park. The animals are not caged, but rather, people can go into a building and be the caged ones looking out if they don’t feel comfortable among the local residents!

Every time we visit, we go to this little restaurant by the river

The thing is you have to grab a stray boat and paddle over to it!

It totally adds to the uniqueness of the area

Crazy fish lunch

Arashiyama is filled with beautiful pathways

Stunning colours are everywhere in November

Every outing is an adventure – you never know what you might see

The town seems full of artisans –

We met Bruce, who has this amazing shop full of his designer pencil cases!

He has created so many beautiful designs, the whole shop is a work of art.

The town is beautifully free of department stores, McDonalds & such, but has quirky interesting shops – yes its tourist driven in a lot of ways, but it has the charm of a small town – and it is fabulously fun to browse!

Quite often we will wrap up a stay with a BBQ in the front drive of our friends house, often joined by neighbours or other friends. The atmosphere is one of fun, with awesome food and a whole lot of laughs!

I hope you have enjoyed a small glimpse into “my” Japan

Cheers

I am sure I can’t keep saying “This is one of my favourite places” on all of these posts… But we really love driving about 40 minutes west of us to take a stroll on this rugged beach, which rarely has another soul on it.

Mid summer is probably different but we reserve our jaunts for the off season.

Its a great place to visit to relax, collect some shells, play about with the camera, paddle in the ocean if its not too cold and see what odd things the sea has washed up that day.

Odd things –

I like the spikey grasses

and where the beach meets the river that is racing down to the sea

I totally love driftwood. But there are limits to what I can fit in the car to decorate my garden with

It can be beautifully moody

Or show off its colours

The sand has artistic tendencies

As does the water colour of the river

We have a ridiculous number of these shells at home! I do plan to use them to edge my herb garden one of these days

Always time for a selfie

A great place to visit in north-west Tasmania

Cheers

Time to share another bit of Tasmania with you.

Fossil Bluff, with its beautiful sandstone cliffs, is less than 10 minutes drive from our front door. We often dash down here for a beach fix and to collect a few more pretty rocks from the shore. (We’re a bit nerdy like that! 🙂 )

Layers of the cliffs are embedded with fossils which date back 38 million years!! You’ll see mostly shells but Fossil Bluff has yielded a fossil wombat (Wynyardia) and a complete ancient whale (Prosqualodon).  Cool huh?

Its possible to walk a fair way up the beach at low tide

There are lots of nooks and crannies to explore

My favourite pastime down here is rock hunting. I am quite addicted to the amazing rocks we find at different beaches in our area.

You can find nice examples of Calder River Agate

And other pretties –

Its a gorgeous photogenic area, so I rarely go down without my camera

Its a fossickers little bit of heaven

Its the perfect place to run a visitor down to see when time is pressing, but I am just glad its a stones throw away from us to enjoy!

Cheers!