Osaka
First stop was Osaka here Ali, Luc, Kate, Emma, Al and I explored on foot and bike and saw the city sights including the worlds largest aquarium home to a whale shark!! We also visited the area Koya san up in the hills which was full of beautiful shrines and temples.
Hiroshima
Next stop Hiroshima leaving the others for Al, Emma and I to branch out on our own. We looked around the peace memorial park and saw the A-bombdome. The museum was extremely emotive and definately worth a visit. We also headed over to the island Miyajima famous for its floating torii gate and hiked up Mt.Meisen there only for emma to be chased by a deer trying to eat her popcorn at the top! Brilliant views from the top too.
Kyoto
In Kyoto we rejoined the others and all stayed with Sean at his house. He made a fantastic guide and we cruised around on bikes seeing all that kyoto had to offer including Geisha, traditional streets, cherry blossom, and a multitude of torii gates! We even visited Seans pub and a bar with the most lethal long island ice teas known! the weather was brilliant too and the city was definately one we could have stayed longer in.
Mt. Fuji
Emma, Al and I departed from the rest again and headed for Fuji! We wandered the town and took in the spectacular sight of Mt.Fuji. Emma unfortunately left us here and Al and I spent the next day at Fujikyu highland theme park which has some truly mental rollercoasters!! We looped and span our way around them seeing Mt. Fuji whilst speeding around and even whilst upside down! Our final day in fuji was spent on the outskirts in the fugaku fuketsu lava and wind cave. This 110m long cave was formed by the flows of lava from Mt. Fuji and now holds insulating properties that allow it to stay cool all year round. Owing to this beautiful ice pillars and formations can grow and develop like stalctites and stalacmites. On our walk through the woods and back to the bus stop we also had some spectacular vies of Fuji.
Ito
We have finished our trip, and also our 4 months in Japan, in Ito on the Izu Peninsula. This is a small coastal town and we are staying in a Ryokan style hostel that has its own onsen! A brilliant end to the trip even if typhoon weather did keep us in the room most of the time! Fantastic blossom here along the river though and also made it down to the seafront before the weather closed in!
And so that brings me to the end of my 4 months in Japan! Its been truly amazing and I have made many incredible friends and memories along the way. From mountains to sea, from powder skiing to riding bikes through the streets of Kyoto I have experienced Japan in the best way I think I could have done. One day perhaps I shall return but in the meantime its on to warmer climates...next stop Australia!
