A Blast from the Past

New Year's Eve at the Mount, catching up with old friends.

Up the Mount

Another 'to do' ticked off the list.  Forgot how tough the climb to the top is!  Well worth the amazing views though.

Try these for size

The hugest NZ mussels, cooked in tomato and coriander, heaven!

Snob

This is our 'ex-cat' Mickey.  It seems in the three years we've been gone he has forgotten us and is now firmly attached to my brothers, his new carers.  Can't believe how fat he's gotten!

Golden Light

Sunset fishing at Bowentown.  We didn't catch anything but what a perfect spot.

A Rare Event

Michael finally relented and let us take the boat out on the Tauranga Harbour, what a treat!

A Kiwi Christmas

Brunch with the Strange's.

A spot of croquet in the afternoon.

Dinner with the Ryan's.

The Light Trail

Mind the Pud!

An early Christmas celebration with the Kilmore's.

Which One?

A visit to the Christmas tree farm to choose our tree.  Tim did a great job at cutting it down and carrying it to the car, with help from me of course!

Fun in the Sun

A lovely day at the Mount with Calie & Isaac.

Home Coming

On our way home from Auckland Airport.

Sayonara Tokyo

Sunday we rose early to make the most of our last day in Tokyo.  After opting for the Japanese breakfast at our hotel rather than the continental and attracting some bemused glances from other patrons (probably mostly due to my poor chopstick skills) we made our way to the train station where bought tickets to the airport for later that afternoon and arranged to store our bags for the day.

First stop on the list was Kokyo, the Imperial Palace and home to Japan's incredibly reclusive emperor and imperial family.  Apparently life in the palace is rigidly controlled by an agency known as the Imperial Household Agency, who keep any potential scandal under wraps.  Needless to say the grounds are strictly off limits to visitors, but it is possible to wander around the perimeter and visit the gardens, which we did.  Despite the season, the gardens were quite pretty, and Tim enjoyed experimenting with his new camera.

Later that morning we caught the metro to Harajuku to check out the cos-play (costume play) crowd that are said to hang out there on sunny Sundays.  I think we must have been a bit too early for all the action though, as we only saw a handful of bizarrely dressed Japanese-style goths, French maids and aime characters, but it was still an interesting place to visit.  From here we continued our walk towards Shibuya, on a mission to ogle the legendary Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo's answer to Picadilly Circus or Times Square.  Shibuya Crossing is famous for its throngs of people, blazing neon lights and enormous video screens, and did not disappoint.  It was one of those "wow - we're in Tokyo!" moments.  We had read on tripadvisor.com that the best place to truly appreciate this spectacle is a Starbucks which is situated directly above it, so we nabbed a prime spot overlooking the crossing while we sipped our coffee.


By that stage it was nearing lunch time so we found a popular looking spot to eat (we could tell by the queues outside).  This place was the sort where you select what you want to eat by using a press button and pay machine outside the door, which then prints out your order before you take your seats, so that when you sit down your food is pretty much ready to go.

So it was a delicious and filling noodle-soup lunch for both of us, before a quick last look around the madness that was Shibuya.  Honestly that place makes London look quiet, the sheer number of people around even on a Sunday afternoon was amazing!  Then it was time for a quick photo in front of the Hachiko statue - a famous dog that used to wait patiently for his owner outside the station each day, even after he had passed away.

Then it was time to catch our train out to the airport, this time we splashed out on the highly efficient express train, meaning the trip only took 30 minutes.  Tokyo had been a blast - absolutely crazy, but such fun and a well worthwhile stopover.

And for those of you who are wondering, despite Tim and I both learning Japanese at school, the only words we used the entire few days was "konnichi wa" and "arigato gozaimasu"!  French would have been much more useful!

Sushi for Breakfast?

After an early night both of us woke up super early so decided to make the most of our disrupted body clocks and check out Tsukiji Central Market, the largest fish market in the world.

Arriving about 7am, we had missed the daily auction, but the market was still in full swing, with carts, trucks and vehicles screaming around the outskirts, directed by white gloved officials standing on platforms in the middle of intersections.  More than a couple of times we had to dive for cover as we made way for the motorised carts that manouvre about at breakneck speed. Further in were rows and rows of stalls selling probably every type of fish and seafood product on this earth.  It could only be described as organised chaos, with everything alloted its own area.  We spent an hour or so strolling amongst mountains of octopus, rows of giant tuna and enless varieties of shellfish and exotic looking fish, a few friendly stallholders pausing to ask us where we were from as we took in the sights and sounds.

Tradition has it that a visit to the market should finish with a sushi breakfast, which after a bit of an ordeal trying to find a cash machine that would accept our English bank cards, was exactly what we did.  I don't think we'll ever again eat such amazingly fresh and delicious sushi, it was so good.

After breakfast we continued our meander through the outer market, which sells pretty much anything and everything, and is a lively place, where we found ourselves being carried along by the hustle and bustle of the crowd.  The sheer number of people everywhere we went in Tokyo was quite incredible, but there was still an incredible sense of order and politeness.

Spotting yet another streetside vending machine (they are everywhere in Tokyo and sell just about anything) we grabbed a takeaway coffee and walked towards the river, famous for its twelve bridges.  We took a cruise boat from Himode Pier up the river to Asakusa.



The main attraction at Asakusa is Senso-ji, a massive temple.  Leading up to the temple is the bustling shopping street Nakamise-dori which was absolutely thronging with people.  It was all we could do to once again be carried along in the sea of bodies, managing to duck into a couple of touristy trinket stalls along the way.  By the time we reached the temple we were pretty well over the crowds, so Tim opted to sit out the visit inside, while I had a whistle-stop look around.  Right next to the temple was an interesting market selling all sorts of weird Japanese snack foods, so we sampled what we thought was some sort of sweet treat on a stick, which ended up being some odd fishy flavoured glutionous balls coated in mustard, not something we'd be keen to try again!



Next stop on the list was a visit to Akihabara elecric town, home to Japan's legendary electionics industry.

Akihabara is where many items are market tested and is an absolute assault on the senses, with street touts hawking cheap goods, elecrtonic bells ringing and geeks of all ages decked out in weird and wacky outfits dressed as their favourite manga (Japanese comic) characters.  The Japanese have a thing for all things cute and what we would consider tacky, and in many ways have a very sexist attitude to marketing, with girls dressed in cutesy skimpy outfits promoting the latest electronic gadgets.  In fact we noticed that it was not only these promo girls dressed this way, but it was common to see groups of girls our age dressed in fairy tale style dresses with skirts, knee high socks and platform heels!



It was fun to wander around, but we also had a goal in mind, hunting out a good deal on a SLR camera - something Tim had been hankering after for a long time!  After comparing several different stores we settled on one, and walked out with a brand new Canon - Tim grinning from ear to ear.

With the tiredness beginning to hit after an incredibly busy day we decided to grab a quick Japanese style curry washed down with a pint of Kirin beer before heading back to our hotel.