Tokyo city 27th and 28th December Hakuba 28th to 31st December Myoko Kogen 31st December to 1st January Tokyo city1st to 4th January 2015... read more

Leaving Solitaire was a chance to rinse the sand from between the toes and enter the twilight zone of Swakopmund, a German inspired enclave in western Namibian against the skeleton coast. Another dry morning greeted us at 6am and by 7:30am we had packed up and started out on the bikes, along a broad flat valley of brown grass, goats and the occasional bore water well. Challenging the boredom and bumping factor, we were passed by few air conditioned tourist buses and trucks on their way to the road works that started at the 17km mark, throwing up enough dust to give one a ‘London nose’ for the trip. By 10:30am we had knocked off 50km and racked our bikes for the long deserted descent down to Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. The arid environment of the ... read more

“Ou est la lemur, monsieur?” “First we view the plants as they do not move”, Laurie, with his good honest bloke’s name, tells us in a thick Malagasy accent. This local guide has lived in Ranomafana all his life, grown up in the bush and a lemur whisperer of sorts like his side kick Tahi Starting out yet again at the fresh hour of 6am, leaving by 7am, we were taken 10km up the hill to the reserve entrance. Here, a massive female pray mantis posed on a bright leaf, no doubt about to devour her male mate in gratitude for his role. The scenery was dense rainforest, and the humidity was as thick as Laurie’s accent First came the plants, the diabetes cure, the geckos and the constant calls in the forest of the much ... read more

One crammed travel pack and a sleepless night. Broken by a whirring hum from the lounge…then a low pitch groan from the eerie night…and a short swift swish of guttural dragging from the bedroom. My safari had begun and the garage door opening, curtains cast aside and static bike were the animals The time arrived to depart and to wind down from the coiled spring I had become. Bleary eyed and awake at 2:30am, I declared rise and shine it’s spin bike time! Checking the weather in Johannesburg, I anticipated temperature and altitude highs as per the webcam views. Johannesburg, I discovered, was as high as Denver in the USA, at nearly 1800 metres above sea level! Great, that means I will be swimming worse than ever there….. With sheets changed, Hotel Onepoto was readied for ... read more

As jet lag set in and the day wore on, seeing the mid afternoon NZ vs Japan rugby match in Tokyo was the main time waster (I.e walkover match) of day one. No bars open, no cafes or hotel restaurant coverage, so tuning into TV4 on digital at the Hilton and between the ooohs and aaahs of the commentator we figured that NZ was winning. Keen to validate our JR passes that evening to make a speedy exit the next morning, we planned a trip to the Narita airport JR station en route to dinner. Arriving at the JR office short of 2 passports did not get us off to a great start, and so some to’ing and fro’ing and a little cursing later, we validated them and headed to the outpost of Chiba ken. ... read more