weekend in Abashiri

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Last year I made the trek up to Abashiri to see drift ice (from russia) and wasn't so lucky! On a few levels actually. Last year, I straight-away lost my SLR camera ice fishing on Abashiri lake. Long story...! and it was too windy to go out on the boats to see the drift ice.

So this year I had high hopes of getting to see ice. One of my building mates went the weekend before and saw loads of ice, so I felt pretty confident it would happen this year.

My co-worker Olivia decided to make the trek with me. There was a bit of drama involving me getting to the train and we just barely made it! The ride up there was pretty uneventful. We just chatted and slept.

We pulled in to Abashiri Station at 11:00pm and met the other guy who had been on the train with us. Our host,James, was also waiting with his car. We decided what to do...go home, get a bite...and we decided to go home because James had made pumpkin pie and gingerbread cookies! It was a good thing too, because the other gents we were going to meet up with had come back then anyway. The pumpkin pie was delicious! Nic had brough Louie (his dog) and I took to playing with Louie straight away. Andy was also there and I gave my puri-kula buddy a gargantuous hug!

So we sat around chatting and eating for a few hours, sorted out sleeping arrangements and went to bed.
When we woke up the next morning James had made a breakfast pie. MMmmmm. It was soooo delicious. I made some coffee with Bailey's cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Yum! We called about the drift ice boat and it wasn't going out. Grrrr! So instead we loaded up our cars and went to the coast to see washed up ice. Unfortuantly there was not nearly the amount there was last year, but it was still beautiful. really how much can you expect from nature?

When we got down to the shoreline there were divers collecting something (klione maybe?) and they were standing knee-deep literally in ice water...Brrrr! there is NO way I would do that! Ok, granted they were wearing suits and skins, but stilll! We took a few pictures and proceeded to walk around the cliffs.

The cliffs were rather treacherous as they were pretty much just covered in ice or snow. I was just wearing my regular boots so I was a tad hesitant. Olivia was too, but we gambarimasu-ed and squeezed around. On the other side was a little beach! It was so delicate. Sand met snow and summer grasses turned to straw bravely sticking out of the snow.

We walked around the backside of the next cliff to a bigger beach and a shoreline that stretched lazily along. Washed up drift ice littered the beach. Andy was wearing his Ninja mask and took to leaping around showing his ninja moves in the snow. I think we were all pretty amazed at just how beautiful it was, we kinda forgot about the cold.

Olivia collected icicles and then she and Andy rescued a piece of drift ice from the sea. It took them quite a few minutes! and apparantly it was quite heavy.
I didn't know that when the ice freezes all the salt goes into the water and there is no salt in the ice. Interesting eh? I thought the water might be murky from the salt, but James said it's because the water is so cold.

Everyone kinda flitted about a bit. Louie was loving the snow! I kept trying to get a good photo, but he doesn't like to sit still!

We made the walk back to where we started and the other people joining our party showed up.
I guess there were 12 of us in all. We sat around (me on the ice) for a bit and chatted until we got too cold. My butt was of the verge of shimoyake I think!(frostbite!)

We went in a nearby hotel and took a look at their giftshop. I got some postcards and kitty keitai strap for my sad and pathetic collection. why oh why am i such a sucker! Everyone was trying to take pictures of the klione in a small tank. Unfortuantly my camera didn't get any good ones. Klione are small (but not always) clear angel shaped creatures with little cat like ears. Their innards glow and sometimes you can see their heart. They are really quite cool.

Then it was off to lunch at a new pizza place. Andy Olivia and I shared food. All I can say is yum! Pizza, pasta, salad, rosemary foccacia, cake, tiramisu and coffee! A feast! We spent ages and ages there then went back to the house. Andy and I wanted to do puri-kula so while everyone rested we went off to the game center. We played some games, and did puri-kula twice.

We weren't quite ready to head back yet, so we stopped at Off House and had a look. they had a great selection of stuff and Andy and I got lost in the music section. James rang and pulled us out of our cd stupor. He wanted bread for the next mornings French Toast feast.

We got bread and proceeded back to the house. Oh, I forgot to mention I was driving! Yeah! Andy let me drive! I have a J-license, but no car, so driving is always a good time. But i didn't know where I was going and he always gets lost, so we had to turn around a lot!

When we got back everyone was lounging. We got ourselves together and headed off to Abashiri Festival for some fun on the slides. OMG it was fun...I think I never grew out of my kid stage. Andy and I ran around taking pictures of sculptures and racing down the slides....Wheeeee!!!

Next was the bathhouse. It was pretty uneventful, except that Olivia got her towel wet, er soaked and didn't have anything to dry off with...so I patted down and let her use my towel, and I blow-dryed myself!

When we finally finished sorting ourselves out we hurried off to Indian/Nepalese food. They had prepared a feast and we all totally gorged ourselves.

No one was up for going out (except Andy and Nic! and they wanted to do karaoke on a full stomach...) so we just headed back to the house. I drove again. This time Patrick was in the car with us, but we still got lost! Ah, we're hopeless! We went in search of yuki ichigo (layer of cake with a strawberry in the middle cream on top of that and wrapped in mochi) but no such luck....

By the time we made it back to the house, they'd given up on us and locked the door! We sat around talking and watching youtube. After youtube it turned to politics....hmmm. Anyway, everyone has a totally different view. It was interesting to hear the non-US people comment on our system and who should win and why...blah, blah, blah

Finally went to bed. Michael joined our room. My face was cold and I curled up to the sliding doors and my backpack. In the a.m. Nik came to wake us up for breakfast. Olivia could not be moved/woken. So I went down and ate some French toast and made James and Andy my coffee specialty. Six of the gents had to leave so they did. Leaving the rest of us to our own devices. The boat wasn't out because it was too windy. While we were sleeping massive amounts of snow had fallen. So much that flights, trains and buses were canceled or delayed. I think about 1 meter of snow fell overnite....on top of the snow that was already piled up!

Because of the immense collection of sudden snowfall no trains/buses/flights were on time. We (olivia and I) were scheduled to bust out at 5:15p.m. but Olivia didn't want to get back so late, so she decided to get the 2p.m. train. I didn't want to have to possibly stand the whole way, so I said No thanks! I would wait for my reserved train. We then talked about going for a hike, but no one could be bothered to move, so we just sat around until it was time for Michael (AUS) and Olivia to go. When James got back we had some baklava (yum!) and Nick and Patrick took off. Andy decided to stay a bit longer. James and I headed out around 4. We went to the park so I could maybe see drift ice. The snow was incredibly deep and the path totally covered. We finally made it through to the fence-line and I could see the ocean! It was AMAZING! sigh....I saw an eagle and about 5-6 swans flying overhead. Off in the distance I could see a few pieces of drift ice.

So we sat out there for a few minutes and trudged back to the car. It was about time to catch my train, so we headed to the station. Only had about 20 minutes till the train arrived (40 minutes late~!) So I got some conbini food and said my goodbyes...

the 5 hour train ride only took 6! Yeah~! and it was virtually empty, so I got good sleep! well, for a train, which really isn't good sleep at all!

I hope the 3rd time is a charm, because I REALLY REALLY want to see drift ice before I leave Japan....Next year is my last chance...!

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