Japan

We recently spent three weeks in Japan. Two weeks were spent travelling around Honshu and Hokkaido and a week was spent snowboarding in Niesko. Our top five highlights are:

1. Sumo

For the first time in five years two grand champions fight it out on the final day of the Tokyo New Year competition and we were in the audience. What more could we ask for on our second day in Japan? You can watch the bout here!

2. Kyoto

Geisha, numerous temples and kobe beef. So much to offer. It was our favourite city of the whole trip.

3. POW

POWER TO THE POW!!! Japan is famous for its powder and it didn't disappoint us in Niseko. Well the first day was absolutely awesome but after that, pure heaven!!

4. Shinkansen

No better way to travel! Fast, punctual (and we mean to the second on time) and comfortable.

5. Onsen

Traditional Japanese baths. Probably the cleanest, nudest most relaxing way to bathe and wind down after a long day of snowboarding or sightseeing.

Full write up (be warned it's long)!

And of course......... LOTS OF PICTURES

If our pic's aren't enough you could always check out those taken by Pen & Kris or Anna & Adam !

Overall Japan was one of the most amazing places we have ever visited. So much so we are already planning the next trip. Japan now comes with a Rob and Lou’s Highly Recommended Stamp of Approval for Being a Fucking Amazing Place TM!

Sayonara!

York

We caught the train early Saturday morning (12 January 2008) to York! Reputably England's most haunted town and also home to the largest cathedral in Northern Europe.

Disembarking just in time to have a big English breakfast at Betty's which we reckon served the best toast we have ever eaten (big call we know but it was THAT good), we then checked out the abovementioned cathedral; the York Minister. The Minister is HUGE! We meanded around inside the nave, the undercroft, chapter house, treasury and then climbed the 275 spiral steps to the top of the tower.

After the Minister we investigated the ruins of St Mary's and climbed along one portion of the old city walls. After a late lunch and our first pint of the trip we checked into our guesthouse then made our way to the York Brewery for the 5.00pm tour. The tour must have worked up a thirst as afterwards we sampled a couple (okay 5 of their ales) with Lou's 'Best beer' prize being awarded to the Yorkshire Terrier for quality and taste.

Given York is apparently haunted we thought we'd take the opportunity to get scared! The Ghost Hunt of York provided us with many stories and screams but also plenty of laughs. The best bit of the tour however was that the tour leader singled out Rob for everything! Overall great tour! We finished the day with a late dinner in the local Thai restuarant.

Now the best thing about staying in a guesthouse (which we realised over our New Year's break) is the quality of the breakfast. Of course we filled ourselves to the brim before wandering back to the Minster to the start of the City Walls we had not yet covered. The walls took us to Clifford's Tower where we were afforded with some good views back over the city. Feeling like a sit down we found the Punch bowl, an old pub that served the pints we required to make it through the day not to forget the good Sunday roast and toffee pudding.

Now neither of us are major rail buffs but to pass the afternoon we decided to visit the National Rail Museum. The museum was massive and just when Rob thought we had seen it all Lou pointed out we'd only checked out one of the two main buildings. On top of that it wasn't until we were getting ready to finish that we realised there was an enormous outdoor museum as well! It was a great way to spend the afternoon even if you're not into trains. Highly recommended!

To finish up the weekend we had an early dinner at a Turkish BBQ restaurant before getting back on the train bound for home.

York was a great little town; very pretty, with enough to keep us busy for the weekend!

More York pics here!

Southern England

Rather than head abroad we thought we would check out more of England over the New Year's break. Here is what we got up to:

Day 1: Friday 28 December 2007

Hiring the car from Gatwick Airport so we didn't have to drive through London and we were on our way. First destination was a small town of Tenterden were we got on a little steam train heading to Bodiam Castle. Bodiam was on the agenda with Geoff when we went to Battle (due to time constraints this didn't happen) so it was good to finally get there. The castle was closed however it was one of the first ones we had seen complete with a water filled moat. From Tenterden we then went south for our first stop, the medieval town of Rye.

Day 2: Saturday 29 December 2007

After exploring the delightful little cobblestone streets of Rye and the Gun Tower Exhibition we drove onto to Beachy Head where we enjoyed lunch. Beachy Head is famous for its sheer drop white cliffs (similar to Dover but way prettier). If Beachy Head ever needs to change its name we nominate 'Windy Beach' due to the cyclonic winds that seriously tried to knock us down! Along the highway we also viewed the Long Man of Wilmington (think huge white chalk drawing of a man on a hillside that's been there forever). Our next stop on dusk was Arundel for a look at its castle (didn't go in) and a walk around its pretty town. It was then onto the area known as New Forest and our destination for the next two nights Lyndhurst.

Day 3: Sunday 30 December 2007
New Forest is famous for its beautiful scenery and wild ponies and the drive through the forest to Beaulieu gave us plenty of chances to see both. The ponies just munch by the roadside and have free reign of the place. In Beaulieu there is a National Motor Museum, Abbey (partially in ruins), and Palace which we checked out. The National Motor Museum had everything and would be highly recommended to any car buffs out there (though you needn't be one to enjoy it). From Beaulieu we headed to Highcliffe for a walk around the castle (closed - notice a trend happening here) and checked out the beaches. We then headed back to Lyndhurst were we enjoyed a brilliant Italian meal and the BEST BANOFFEE PIE we had ever tasted.

Day 4: Monday 31 December 2007
To begin the day we went for a quick drive through the Forest checking out the deer at the deer viewing platform before heading to the highway for our long drive to St Ives. To break things up we walked around Lulworth Castle and hiked the beach side cliffs to Durdle Door. A great recommendation from the owners of the B&B in Rye.

Dinner was in a small restaurant near the harbour were we enjoyed some seafood and champagne. We then stood on the promenade for an hour watching the antics of the town walk by. The whole town goes into fancy dress mode for New Year's Eve and honestly we had never seen anything like it before. Our best dressed award goes to the 'Bobsled Team' named the Sleigh Lords! New Year's itself was a quiet affair back at the guesthouse just the two of us!

Day 5: Tuesday 1 January 2008 - HAPPY NEW YEAR
Breakfast was a little later today to give everyone to a chance to sleep in so after filling up we headed the coastal road to check out Pendeen Watch (lighthouse), Land's End (the end of England), Minack Open Air Theatre, and St Michael's Mount. We then spent some time checking out the beach and harbour of St Ives before having some beers in the local (with some fellow Aussies) and an awesome seafood meal at another restaurant (much cheaper and better than our NY's eve meal).

Day 6: Wednesday 2 January 2008

Last day of our holidays - BOO HOO!!!!!! It was going to be a long drive back to London so we set off early breaking up the drive with a stop at Cheddar Gorge (the home of the cheese) for a look at the gorge and caves. It was then back to Gatwick to drop off the car and home to the flat in London.

As normal we tried to cram as much as possible into a short amount of time however this trip was a lot more relaxing than some of the others we have done. The B&B's / Guesthouses we stayed in were all fabulous. It was great to see some more of the country we are temporarily calling home and fortunately for us England is a very pretty country with plenty of sites to see!

More New Year's 2007 pics!

Paris, France

It was our third trip to Paris; given Geoff was a virgin visitor we set out showing him all the sites including:

• Chateau de Versailles
• Eiffel Tower
• Arc de Triomphe
• Champs-Elysees
• Notre Dame
• Saint Chappell
• Seine River (by tourist boat complete with commentary)
• Louvre Museum

Unfortuntely the Catacombes were closed so we missed out there.

One of the highlights however was on Christmas Day having brunch at the Ritz. It was very tasty and fancy. The chocolate desserts were amazing!

Then it was back to London with Geoff heading back to Australia the following day (boo hoo).

More pics of our antics in Paris!