Today was a Mount Fuji day. We had been assured when we arrived at the Hakone Hotel that we could see Mount Fuji from our rooms, but with torrential rain and mist, it stayed resolutely hidden – something which it

Heading to Hakone
Today was meant to be a very full day, but ‘best laid plans of mice and me ….’ and all that, meant that it was quite a quiet day. The plan had been to get the train from Shinjuku to

Titanic Tokyo
There are lots of adjectives starting with ‘T’ which might be applied to Tokyo – thrilling, thriving, titillating, trenchant – but one which you definitely wouldn’t apply to most of the city is tranquil. The city teems with life and

Tantalising Tokyo
Landing in Tokyo Narita airport was an eye opener, or perhaps more accurately described as one of those landings best experienced with eyes closed. The pilot’s eyes might as well have been closed as they couldn’t see anything at all.

Brisbane to Byron to Brisbane
Our last few days in Brisbane were spent visiting, chatting and generally relaxing – a perfect combination. After a day in Kenmore, we then headed down to Byron Bay to stay for a couple of days. A side trip for

Summitting Mount Coot-Tha
Verbing, or what grammar nerds refer to as denominalization, is a modern (and perhaps not very desirable) linguistic trend, but that is what we did today – we summitted Mount Coot-Tha. The worst culprits for verbing are sports commentators (”

Meandering around museums
Sometimes a day of slightly aimless meandering can unwittingly be very fulfilling. Having no specific purpose or target for the day means that you achieve all you set out to do and today was one of those days! We didn’t

Blazing to Brisbane
A day of travel today …. However, our flight from Hobart was not until about 2pm, so for the morning we decided to head a little north of Hobart to Bonorong Wildlife Park. We got there a little time before

MONA
The first adjective which comes to mind when describing MONA (The Museum of Old and New Art) is eclectic. Somehow though this doesn’t seem to do justice to the unique combination of art, architecture and experience which it represents. This

A wooden day ….
We had been recommended by friends to visit the Wooden Boat Company in Franklin on the Huon River and figured what’s not to like – wood and boats – a perfect combination. The drive was about 40 minutes and the