Author: awaywiththebirds

  • Nobby goes on holidays

    Christmas in Kingsford Mummy, when you come home, can you get a new house with a big garden so you and I (or even Daddy and I ) can play chase…. So much fun Today is very hot…about 39 degrees so Suss and I did an early morning walk to Grandma Moses ( to get…

  • Nobby goes on holidays

    Two more sleeps till Xmas Suss has mixed some yummy chicken into every meal so far. And it’s not even Xmas or an extra special day, so I am getting very excited as to what EXTRA treats I might score on Xmas day. Only two sleeps before I find out…. Anyway there’s a bit of…

  • Nobby goes on holidays

    The first few days My mum and dad dumped me at Suss’s place on Thursday night. They were so thrilled to get rid of me that they forgot to bring my harness (but dad thought better of it, considered Suss’s driving and dropped the harness around). Anyway you can imagine how devastated and restless I…

  • Nakasendo 2024

    Mt Fuji to Tokyo Time to say goodbye to Chieko and all the lovely staff at Mt Fuji Satoyama vacations, and the very comfortable tents we had slept in. And one last chance to get a glimpse of Mt Fuji (which wasn’t visible today, so we were very lucky yesterday!) Chieko took us to the…

  • nakasendo 2024

    Mt Fuji Lesley got up sufficiently early to get some great pictures of sunrise over Mt Fuji An early start for us (7am) for a visit to the Shiraito no Taki waterfalls. James and Julie took the e-bikes to get there; Lesley and I were driven by our guide and host Chieko, who has been…

  • Nakasendo 2024

    Tokyo to Mt Fuji First thing this morning, Lesley went for a walk, James and Julie went shoe shopping, and I lazed around. Lesley and I had an early lunch at Tokyo Station. Even though it was only 11 am, the queues for many of the little restaurants were substantial. At one of the ramen…

  • Nakasendo 2024

    Back to Tokyo After a lovely sleep in a real bed with real pillows, we made our way to the Mitsokoshi Department store, the first Department store in Japan. The history of Mitsokoshi began in 1673 when Takatoshi Mitsui, a kimono fabric merchant, opened a store and introduced the concept of sales at labelled prices.…

  • nakasendo 2024

    Day 5: Karuizawa to Yokokawa As you could see from yesterday’s photos, Karuizawa does not retain much of its traditional post-town scenery but has become popular as a western-style summer resort. The town was catastrophically damaged in the 1783 eruption of Mount Asama, and further affected by repeated fires and famine. When a Canadian missionary,…

  • nakasendo 2024

    Day 4: Matsumoto Breakfast at Matsumoto before heading out for our free day ( i.e no hiking) We got a shuttle into town. James, Julie and I put our backpacks in a locker at Matsumoto station. Lesley got dropped at the famous Matsumoto castle ( which we had seen before). On our way to the…

  • nakasendo 2024

    Day 3: Yabuhara to Narai Firstly a huge apology as I have misled you as to the sleeping arrangements…we aren’t sleeping on tatami mats; we are in fact sleeping on a thin futon bed on top of the tatami mats plus wheat pillow. It’s still almost on the floor so getting out of bed is…