On Tuesday, Tatsuki and Kaori went to Tatsuki's music class.  These are usually on Fridays; this was an extra one to make up for one that was missed over Christmas and New Year.  There will be another one on this Friday.  Lots of music this week!

Austin, The Builder and I didn't feel the need for a music class so we drove up into the mountains instead. It's a lovely drive.  And at the end of it there was a huge, deserted park with an enormous cherry tree at the centre of it.  It's around 1500 years old and very venerable.  It's propped up in much the same way as the Major Oak in Sherwood Forest. At this time of year it is bare and leafless.  Austin tells me that during the couple of weeks in spring when it flowers the park is absolutely packed with people.  But I can imagine that the park would be beautiful in summer and autumn as well. It's rather lovely in winter, it must be said. There are lots of other cherry trees in the park. In the autumn I can see it being every bit as colorful as during the time of the spring blossom.

Kaori made us gyoza for dinner.  Kaori's gyoza are a wonderful treat. If she ever comes to my place we will have gyoza at every meal!

On Wednesdays, Tatsuki will soon start going to sessions in the kindergarten he will be going to full time from April in Gifu.  It's a bilingual kindie that teaches in Japanese and English.  But he hasn't started doing that yet, so he, Kaori, Austin, The Builder and I headed into Gifu - to the new Costco that opened last November. It was surprisingly crowded for a weekday! We couldn't do a massive shop. The Builder and I have no way of transporting the contents of a big shop back to Tupton, and Austin and Kaori don't really have anywhere to store vast amounts of things like loo paper,l or washing up liquid or whatever. (We use the cupboard on the upstairs landing as a Costco storage space :D ). I did, however, accidentally buy an enormous quantity of wine.  They had two x 5 litre casks of wine in boxes.   In the English Costcos you wouldn't be allowed to split them.  In Japan, however, they expected you only to buy one! So the end bill was huge (to Austin's alarm) and The Builder and I ended up with ten litres of wine!  One of the boxes is packed in a suitcase and ready to emigrate to Tupton!  Then curry at another Coco Ichi for lunch, and I made us stir fry chicken for dinner. Not as good as Kaori's gyoza, but palatable.

And then it was Thursday.  Austin went back to work. Tatsuki and Kaori went to Tatsuki's play school. And The Builder and I took various trains back to Osaka Airport Hotel, ready for the final flights which will bring to an end the World Birthday Tour. I knew that the time would go very quickly when we set off on the first leg to Singapore, and weeks and weeks of time stretched out in front of us. And it has.  This last week especially has vanished very quickly. Many thanks to Kaori's parents for a fabulous evening at their place, and to Austin and Kaori and Tatsuki for a lovely, restful, adventurous, fun-filled time at their place.

Victoria Photos

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•   Victoria Photos

Noritake Gardens and Wagyu Beef

We had a lovely day yesterday.  We all took the train in the morning and headed into Nagoya.  Tatsuki quite enjoyed travelling on the train.

Then we caught another train, out to Noritake Garden.  Tatsuki wasn't quite so sure about that.  He doesn't approve of train hopping!

We had gone to  Noritake Garden partly because I like it and I don't get to go very often, but mainly because I wanted a couple of Totoro tea mugs and mostly because I wanted some of their chopsticks. If you are there in January they sell chopsticks with the animals of the Chinese zodiac on them.  I have a pair with sheep on (I am the year of the sheep). I bought a pair with monkeys on (that's this year and Kaori's year) and another with dragons (that's Tatsuki's year) and one with cows. I don't think I have a pair with horses (The Builder's year) or chickens (Austin's year). We'll have to get those next trip.

Right.  Lunch time.  And off we went to a CoCo Ichi curry house.  It wouldn't be a proper trip to Japan without a curry at a Coco Ichi curry house :-D

And then we headed to the Nagoya City Science Museum, which was lots of fun.  We only went into the museum, leaving the Planetarium and the Pokemon exhibition for next time.  We got a discount because we had come by train!  And we had a great time.  It was very busy, particularly on the lower levels where there is lots of stuff for little children.  But it was, of course, a public holiday. Tatsuki thought it was fabulous.

So much so that he didn't want to leave and chucked the biggest of huge big Wobblies as we headed off back to the station.  But we had to go.  We were due at Kaori's parent's place for dinner and it wouldn't do to be late - particularly since they were coming to the station in to cars to pick us up!

We had a delicious dinner at Kaori's parents' place.  They did us a lovely, traditional Japanese meal, with sashimi, chicken salad, tempura and wagyu beef cooked on a table top griddle.  I have never had wagyu beef before and it was absolutely lovely.  We muddled along fine with their English, my rather bad Japanese and Austin's translating skills.

When we were in the Science Museum, I stopped to play with one of the exhibits, where you put little balls at various places and push them off to see which gets there first.  The Builder went to show me how to use it (he had been watching some children using it).  I turned round and said "Yes. I know. I can read!"  And then realised that I can now read Katakana (sometimes with considerable effort). I could see the two different lines that said "start".  But it isn't that many weeks ago that I couldn't read katakana at all. I must practise it a bit more.  And learn a few more kanji so that they are reliably in my memory. I keep seeing kanji that I know I should know but which aren't planted in my memory sufficiently well for me to recall their meaning in the wild.  It's a bit frustrating sometimes!!

Arrived at Austin and Kaori's place

There as no trouble at all on the Japanese railway system.  Not that I expected there to be. A nice man at the railway station at the airport sold me ticket right through to Nagoya. We had no trouble changing trains at Shin Osaka.  We even found the right platform for the train to Hozumi without trouble when we got to Nagoya.  And Austin was waiting for us when we got there, to take us back to their place.

Excellent!

We're having a good time here.  Tatsuki seemed pleased to see us, and doesn't seem to mind that we are still here.  We went yesterday afternoon to the Ichinomiya Tower Park to see the Christmas and New Year illuminations, which were lovely.  Both Austin and Lindsey said that they were better than the Christmas lights in Tokyo, which surprised me a bit - but the ones in Ichinomiya were certainly good.  Tatsuki enjoyed the playground, and especially the bouncing area, which was like a bouncy castle only it looked like ski slopes, not a castle.  Kaori quite possibly doesn't enjoy being squashed between Tatsuki's chair and me on the back seat of their little car, but seemed to enjoy the park and lights.  Austin enjoyed the whole thing, apart from the bit where he dropped his brand new, replacement for the one that got dropped in the toilet, iPhone and the screen cracked into a very pretty, but largely unusable pattern.  We called into a local mall on the way home to get it repaired, but the Apple repair store closes at 3 on Sundays.  Today is a public holiday (Coming of Age day), and we have other plans. So tomorrow is now Repair the Phone day!  We had dinner in a Katsu diner to relieve the disappointment.

There are, of course, photos and no doubt there will be more to come.  I'll let you know when they are ready. In the meantime, here's a selection:

Arrived in Osaka

We had a good night at Reef Palms in Cairns and took advantage of their free shuttle trip to the airport in the morning.  This did mean that we got there ridiculously early for our flight, but it also meant that the airport was close to empty!  In almost no time at all we were airside and ready to fly.  In about two and a half hours time :-D

No matter, thought we.  We'll fill in some of the time by having breakfast. So we did.  And it ranks amongst some of the grimmest food I have eaten in a very long time.  Even allowing for the fact that they only made up one breakfast instead of the two that I had ordered, so the second was "prepared" in super fast time, the food was dire.  I didn't eat mine.  The Builder ate most of his, but only because he was hungry.  I filled in the rest of the time by buying up the airside shops.  Not one of my usual activities but they did have some nice things.

I had entirely accidentally booked us seats in what is the closest you can get to Premium Economy on Jetstar.  We were one row back from the beginning of the economy seating.  There was only one row behind us before you got to the cabin crew's galley.  By the windows there was one more row behind that, then a barrier to the rest of economy.  We were in a small, self-enclosed area and were mostly attended to by the crew who were looking after Business Class.  I had pre-ordered meals.  It was all rather civilised.  Next time I shall try for the front row, which has extra leg room, and no one tipping their chair back in your face! (I realise that you have to pay extra for that on Jetstar, but that's ok).

We had a good flight over.  Immigration allowed us into Japan.  Customs expressed absolutely no interest in our cases.  The only slight drama was that, although I could remember all the words in Austin and Kaori's address, I couldn't remember any of the numbers and I had forgotten to save their address before we left Cairns.  It didn't matter in the end.  There is excellent wifi in the airport pretty much from the moment you arrive.

I had booked us into the airport hotel, which is where you find us this morning.  We had the buffet dinner option last night, and very tasty it was too - though I fear that we were both much more entertained by the soft ice cream machine than by all the rest of the food, delicious though it was!  Breakfast this morning was a much better deal than in Cairns yesterday.  I was going to say that it jolly well should be, considering how much it cost.  But in fact it wasn't significantly more expensive than yesterday's offering.  A bit, but not hugely so.  I did fill in a fairly grumpy comments form yesterday, so maybe they'll improve things.  And, of course,  yesterday might just have been an off day.

And shortly we will head off and entrust ourselves to the mercy of the Japanese Rail System.  We have to get ourselves from here to Hozumi, where we are hoping that Austin will meet us :-)

On The Move

We had a lovely meal in The Builders Arms with Lindsey and Ian on Wednesday night, in celebration of our final night in Victoria for this trip. We expect to be back sometime in the (Aussie) winter.

Then we flew up to Cairns for a night, en route to Japan, for the last leg of the #WBT.

I fly a lot, comparatively speaking.  I know what you can and can't take in your cabin luggage.  When in doubt, I don't. So The Builder and I were a bit surprised when our little cabin suitcase was set aside and opened for inspection.  If you had asked me, I would have said that the picnic cutlery had been packed in the suitcase with the stuff for Japan.  But no. There it was, metal knives and all, packed in the cabin luggage :-S. The picnic cutlery doesn't have its knives any more.  Then I got selected for a random drugs screening.  I passed that one :-D

Oh, and the Tullamarine Airport might like to consider improving its signage for access to the new Terminal 4.  It was something of an adventure trying to get there and find the short term parking! Thank you to Ian for taking us on this adventure - though I don't think he realised when we set off from the flat that it would be quite so exciting.

It was quite hot and rather humid in Cairns yesterday afternoon. It's only a couple of km from where we are staying, into the town centre, along an attractive walk along the seashore.  So off we went for a bit of exercise.  I think I nearly did for The Builder.  A 4km walk in the middle of the afternoon might not have been my brightest idea. We didn't go back in in the evening to check out the restaurants. We went to one of the two nearby pubs instead. Although the hotel does run a shuttle into town in the evening. Next time we'll make use of that. I quite fancy sampling some of the seafood restaurants in town, although the Dunwoody did us a very nice chicken schnitzel and a lovely piece of barramundi.

We're off to Osaka this morning.  I am not expecting it to be 30+d and humid there!  Might have to dig out my shoes, socks and jumper, none of which have been disturbed for nearly a month.

Frannie in the Builders Arms (photo thanks to Ian)

A busy few days

We went from Warragul back to Mount Helen, Lindsey and me in her car with Sam, and Ian and The Builder following on later in Ian's car.  I think Sam enjoyed his visit to Coco and Vallie - but he was certainly happy to get home again to his own toys and couch!

Pat came to lunch on the Sunday. Ian made a slow cooked lamb dish with lots of vegetables and with roast potatoes on the side.  We had cheese and fruit for afters.  It was all very delicious and a good afternoon was had by all.  Well, by all apart from Sam who was very restless and a bit agitated.  The reason became clear when we could hear, far in the distance, the rumbling of thunder.  Sam hates thunder.  And can clearly hear or feel it long before we could.  He has a storm vest which is alleged to calm dogs down in stormy weather.  It seemed to help. Unless it was him hiding under the dining room table, protected from the Evil Monster by all our legs around him :-D

We moseyed on down to East Melbourne (there may have been lunch involved, at L'Espresso in Ballarat) and had dinner at Simon's place (excellent steak).  And now The Builder and I are at Mount Martha, starting our last full day of the Victorian leg of the World Birthday Tour.  Three weeks, which have gone very quickly!

If you should find yourself in East Melbourne, looking for somewhere to have a pleasant, light breakfast, brunch or lunch, you could do a lot worse that to try the Square and Compass.  Lindsey pointed it out to me on our morning walk yesterday, though I don't think she or Ian have ever been in.  It was very busy when The Builder and I dropped by at lunchtime. And it was easy to see why. The menu isn't extensive, but it was well cooked and very tasty.  I shall remember it for future visits.

Lunchtime:

Dinner time:

Doing what The Builder and I do best - eating and drinking :-D

Kookaburras

Some weeks ago I was in the shower in Tupton.  It was just before 6 in the morning. It was still dark.  And I became aware that I could hear a kookaburra.  This was a bit disconcerting.  There aren't many kookaburras in Tupton and I have never previously heard one (although someone round about our place appears to have a cockatoo - I'm sure I hear one occasionally and they are hard to mistake!).  Anyway, the bird I could hear from the shower was definitely a kookaburra.  Very odd.  Then I went into the bedroom and The Builder asked me if I had heard the kookaburra on Tweet of the Day. Ah yes.  I had forgotten Tweet of the Day.  My kookaburra had been introduced by David Attenborough :-)

This morning I was woken by the loud laughter of several kookaburras.  Aside from the fact that it was unnecessarily early (something around 6 in the morning :-) ),  it wasn't particularly disconcerting.  There are lots of kookaburras round about here.

Greetings to 2016

Seeing out 2015

And greeting 2016

En route

We had a lovely visit to Geelong.  We went to visit my friend Irene and her venerable dog Maggie.  Irene's friend Gilly was there too. I've known Gilly for a long time, but haven't seen her for, it must be over 20 or 25 years.  It was good to catch up with her.  It was good to catch up with Irene, too, though we have seen her more recently than that - most recently at Chris and John's place when we went for lunch. We dined on vegetables from the garden, vegetables not from the garden, meaty stuffing and apricot tart. It was all very delicious and convivial.  Thank you to Irene and to Maggie for their hospitality.

After a hearty breakfast (I had never thought to have silver beet/chard with my eggs and bacon - I will do in the future), we returned to East Melbourne where we gathered up Ian and then we went New Year's Eve Feast shopping. We went to Port Melbourne to a delightful deli/grocers  for most of our provisions and to Chadstone for supplies of meat. Then we headed to Warragul. Not a bad run. The roads were relatively clear, it being what someone on the radio this week called the Inter Fest, when many people are on holiday and the pace of life slows.

We went with Matt to close up part of  his school after the builders had finished for the weekend.  While we were there we had a look around.  It's a lovely school.  Much bigger than I had expected.  On the way back we called in to look at the house they have recently bought.  It needs renovating but it has lots of potential.  Belinda's mother is going to live there when it's finished.

Then Lindsey turned up with Sam and an evening of eating delicious food, prepared by Ian, and drinking delicious wine ensued.  I didn't stay up to see in the New Year.  Every day is the start of a new year for somebody!  And anyway, these days the mornings seem to me to be the time of new beginnings, not midnight. I left them watching a film about some bloke growing potatoes on Mars and went to bed in the quite remarkably warm bungalow.

And here I am, greeting a morning which is much fresher and cooler than yesterday, poised at the start of 2016, which promises to be even more "interesting" than 2015. I wait with interest to see what it has to offer.