Hello!
Its been a fun week of touring with Rino. Five days went really fast!
Did I mention that we met Rino’s Mum, Chinami, when we were travelling in Japan a few years back? She is part of the Tokyo Free Guide group which is awesome for people travelling in Japan for the first time or for people like us who were unfamiliar with Tokyo.
You get matched up with a guide before arriving and exchange emails and your guide finds out what kinds of things you are interested in etc.
When you arrive and meet up they take you around, show you how to use the subway system, get you orientated etc. All you pay for is their travel expenses, entry fees and food! (Highly recommended!)
Anyway, the weather stayed mostly remarkable nice for Rino’s stay which made things much nicer and easier.
Her first afternoon we trotted down to Sisters Beach.
Rino spoke English pretty much as a first language (attended international schools as a child) so communication wasn’t an issue!
It was a lovely afternoon to get to know each other a bit more and plan what we were going to do over the coming days.
The following day started out wet and cold… but we headed on up to Dip Falls, the Big Tree and Stanley.
We panted our way up The Nut and by that time, the weather had cleared up beautifully for some amazing views.
Then we drove around the area and did the tourist thing!
The tide was right so we ducked into Black River Beach for a walk and a fossick .
There were excellent sand patterns that day!
So many wallaby tracks in the sand! They were clearly having a day out at the beach!
Of course, no trip to us would be quite complete without a day up at Cradle!
We had two choices weather wise… Thursday or Saturday. Jeff was working Thursday, but knowing how the weather forecast can change closer to the day, we opted to go on Thursday and we are glad we did… the weather changed dramatically for Saturday and we managed to get the best day!
We went up to Marions Lookout where we had lunch, before heading across to the base of Cradle and scrambling back along the Face Track and the Twisted Lakes track
We hiked over 13kms that day and it was great!
The Twisted Lakes track is a bit more of a challenge here and there but it is a very pretty detour off the normal route.
The following day we did a short drive around the cape but kept things pretty low key and finished up on Saturday by driving up to some of the local towns and then heading home via some beaches.
Reckon Rino has had a fairly decent look at our area in her short time.
Not to mention getting to pick and eat some of our fresh food!
BTW that carrot weighed in at over half a kilo!! (All eaten now haha)
She was pretty amazed at our tomatoes too – we picked 12kgs one morning.
That is my next job after posting this – sort, cut and cook!
So now – guest free and no plans! Wow. Since early last year we’ve hosted 26 people so its time for a decent break! Its been crazy and fun but we are looking forward to a solid six months of just us and get caught up with all the Norwich House ‘stuff’
Hope you’ve all had a great weekend!
Cheers
Hi Lisa- you are such amazing hosts! Lucky guests! You’ll enjoy your time to “be present ” at Norwich House. Company is delightful, and then time to reconnect with your home and daily activities is also very important. It certainly is about finding the balance isn’t it?
Hi Robyn!! Thank-you… you are very right! Finding the balance! Its been a fun year or so but we are very ready to be just ‘us’ for a while. I need to compile a notebook full of all those jobs and goals that are racing about in my head so I can get a little bit organised and focused! I feel like I have lost touch with lots of things!
First things first… spend a week at a moderately slow pace!! 😀 Hope you are having a lovely week!