The gorgeous Old Town of Hastings in Sussex is set between two imposing chalk cliffs and serviced by a couple of creaky old funicular railways. They link the old-school seaside town with the imposing Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian villas up on the grassy hill tops looking out across the hazy English Channel towards France. There’s…
Six Months On – We’re Officially ‘Troppo!’
Six months on and we’ve well and truly settled into Troppo life here at Clifton Beach, Far North Queensland. We appear to have survived the ‘Big Wet’ (wetter than normal by all accounts), unscathed and thankfully unflustered. Honestly, not nearly as bad as it had been made out to be. We’re two Cyclones down –…
Gion and Miyagawacho – On The Temple Trail
We’ve had a wonderful week in gorgeous Kyoto. It’s been cold, especially coming from FNQ, but we’ve thoroughly enjoyed rugging up with long-forgotten winter coats, scarves, gloves and hats – all required in these chilly sub-zero mornings! Sadly, we missed the heavy snow which Tokyo copped this week but perhaps that’s a godsend as getting…
Temples, Shrines and Pagodas – The Ultimate Torii Gate Experience!
It’s an easy ten or so minute local train ride out of Kyoto station to Inari and a gentle walk up to the Fushimi Inari Shrine, ‘the ultimate Torii gate experience’, famous for its 10,000 vermilion Torii gates that snake up Mount Inari some 233 metres. Ok, so the train out of Kyoto station was…
Dynastic Emperors and Feudal Shoguns
Kyoto had been the capital of Japan and the site of its Emperor’s residence since 794 with the surviving Imperial Palace the Emperor’s home from 1331. In 1869 the capital moved from Kyoto to Tokyo during the Meiji restoration when the Tokugawa Shogun whose ancestors had ruled Japan in the feudal period relinquished power back…
Kyoto In A Flash
The Shinkansen from Osaka to Kyoto takes just 15 minutes – that’s it, barely enough time to take your seat and settle down. It’s that punctual and that fast. We took the 12.06, with people still standing and getting themselves organised as the gleaming white bullet train pulled out. Nothing stops the punctuality of the Shinkansen…
Dōtonbori – The Throbbing Heart Of Osaka, Japan
Think Vegas Strip, Coney Island, Shinjuku, Times Square… then there’s Dōtonbori – a totally mad jam-packed district in Osaka that really is, in terms of pulsing life, glorified kitsch and tacky gaudiness the throbbing heart of this city, like nowhere else! It makes Umeda / Osaka Station and the rarified air of the Hankyu Department…
Osaka, Temmabashi Oishi!
We’re staying in a real gem of a hotel, Hotel Noum – a smallish boutique hotel located on the river, just north of Osaka Castle and an easy stroll to the local metro stop of Temmabashi. If you ever find yourself in Osaka, don’t hesitate to stay here with its super-friendly, English-speaking staff who go out of…
Osaka – The Manchester Of The East
We’ve escaped the summer heat and humidity of FNQ for the colder winter climes of Japan, Osaka for three days and then, via the Shinkansen, Kyoto for a week. It’s a relatively short haul (7 hours is short from Australia ), a direct flight out of Cairns to Osaka with just one hour time change, so it’s…
On The Bright Side
Jasper eventually moved across Cape York and into the Gulf of Carpentaria – a slow moving devastating procession. In its wake however – on the Brightside of Jasper, came sunshine. Cyclone, what cyclone? Our house was remarkably cyclone-proof. Not a leak, scratch or blemish. A few sodden plants and an underwater lawn, but hey, in…
Travels With My Ant 