Sydney - Ive Come to the Land Down Under - G'Day After 6 Months and 3 Weeks, 11 Countries, 10 Flights, 33 Bus Journeys, 11 Boat Journeys and 1 Elephant Ive finally made it to Sydney and the Land Down Under...What a Journey.!! We left for Narita Airport, Tokyo on Wednesday evening for a 10hour flight to Sydney - I really didnt wanna leave Japan and all the friends I had made over the last 2.5months...but we all made a promise we would all return in the next couple years an teach english in the same school..ive already researched Japanese classes in Sydney thats how much I loved the country...but alas it was time for a new adventure. We arrived at Sydney Airport around 8am Thursday morning - what a shock we got - after 27 ... read more
Tokyo - The Last Nites Out Starring - Tiffany ( Portland, Oregan), Christina (Sweden), Tom (Canberra, OZ), Daniel (Chicago), Stuart (Vancouver), Kingsley (Melbourne, OZ), Rae (Newcastle), Mick (London) & Ciaran (Kildare), Kim (Seoul, S Korea) Im still waiting on getting pictures from our second visit to Sakura Hostel as we had a completely different gang that these guys, this was our third visit back to the hostel. Ahhh good olde days... read more
Xmas Day in the Japan Alps started about 10am with a quick breakfast, then changed into our snowboarding gear an grabbed our newly waxed board an headed for the slopes - spent about 6 hours boarding an getting better an better so started doing the intermediate slopes...got a bit too cocky at one stage when I thought I was ready for the Expert slope..I stopped at the top of the slope an looked over the edge...looked over at Aaron..looked at my life insurance policy an crawled on my ass back over to the intermediate slope instead ;) We went out Xmas Day to meetup with Ashna (London), Rae (Newcastle) & Lydia (London) that we met in Sakura Hostel over a couple weeks in Tokyo. We went to a bar by their Ski Resort, and yet again ... read more
Hakuba - White Xmas In Japan We arrived in Hakuba on Friday 21st December after a 4.5 hour bus from Tokyo - we were expecting some snow when we arrived into Hakuba as its the busy time of year for the Ski Resorts - We werent disappointed as the snow had been falling heavily for the last couple days which meant I nearly disappeared when I got out of the bus.!! Its like nearly 3 feet deep an Im wearing a hooded top so yet again its away shopping for warmer clothes. We contacted our lodge owner who had said he would pick us up at bus station - when we arrived at the lodge is was just the postcard picture we were hoping for - as you can see from the picture. Even better when ... read more
Nagoya City Facts - With over two million inhabitants, Nagoya is Japan's fourth most populated city. It is the capital of Aichi Prefecture and the principal city of the Nobi plain, one of Honshu's three large plains and industrial centers. Nagoya developed as the castle town of the Owari, one of the three branches of the ruling Tokugawa family during the Edo Period (1603 - 1867) . Much of the city, including most of its historic buildings, were destroyed in the air raids of 1945. Following the development of the castle town, Nagoya grew into a metropolis as commerce and industry prospered and culture flourished. The culture and tradition of manufacturing blossomed during the Meiji period, and has continued to evolve into the present. Currently the region is home to leading Japanese manufacturing industries in fields ... read more