Obviously, with the kids we aren’t all about culture and fine dining 😜 so we need to throw in some more fun stuff – like VS Park which is sort of physical games, often combined with virtual reality. We got a two hour pass and it was pretty empty so that gave us just enough… Read More Outrunning a bison
M was keen to try out the Zen Garden train (AKA Kyo Train Garaku which means “Gorgeous Kyoto Train”) that shuttles between Osaka and Kyoto on weekends. We couldn’t make the dates work for using it as our actual travel between these two cities, so it ended up being an activity for its own sake.… Read More (Not) so zen
There’s a permanent Teamlab’s exhibit in the Osaka Botanic Gardens of basically glowing things and it’s sooo pretty! When we got there the line was very long – to the point where they had a person with a light up sign that said “This is the end of the line” 😖 – and I was… Read More Ooh glowy 😍
We headed out to catch the nightlife in Osaka and that means the bright lights of Dotonburi… and the Glico running man. Not that we had any idea what that was exactly but it turns out he’s winning a race after eating energising sweets, including Pocky, since 1935 (that’s a damn long race!). There are… Read More Osaka nightlife (Dotonburi)
Nara is a short day trip from Osaka and a special little town that has free roaming deer that bow to you in exchange for crackers. This was definitely the most foreigners we’ve seen (with the exception of the airport). A word of caution though: the deer can get a bit aggressive especially if they… Read More Oh deer (said Kevin)
This morning I was unwittingly tricked into eating natto sushi. Natto being a special Japanese food made from fermented soy beans, looking somewhat reminiscent of that scene from Alien when the alien is laying her eggs. Yes, it really is as good as it sounds! The scene of trickery at breakfast this morning was very… Read More The Natto Incident
After a looong travel day and arriving late to our accommodation we woke refreshed and ready to go… NOT! (teaching the kids sarcasm so we need to be extra obvious currently) We’re moving slowly between getting four people ready, all the toilet stops, food stops, random distractions (e.g. another vending machine) and having no idea… Read More A slow start in Osaka
A long day of travel for day 1 as we took off at sunrise from home (after waking up at 4:20am), changed planes in Cairns (and had a lovely morning tea with Lisa), then flew to Osaka, landing at sunset. Now, no more flights for a month! 🤞 After a mere 24 hours, we’re mastering… Read More And we’re off!
Today’s lunch was the last time for a while that I’ll be having Vegemite and tomatoes on home-made sourdough toast. Next week it’ll be the switcheroo – to sushi tuna with wasabi, washed down with a JPA (beer) 🍻
And just like that it’s done. Work is over for nine and a half months*. One week to pack up our lives and put what we need into our backpacks to live for three quarters of a year. It’s been a long time coming, and I know some were skeptical, but I knew it would… Read More Work is done!
Country Hoppers 