27 February - First full day in Japan, Tokyo to Niseko

Well, Japan has been really fun so far. It’s only 2 hours different from Melbourne time, so despite quite a late night to bed, we woke at 7am (9am Melbourne time) feeling refreshed. I have to say it was really nice not feeling weary after a long flight. Because the flight was entirely during the daytime, we haven’t had to deal with any jet lag. It also made a difference having the transport and accommodation fully sorted for once, instead of fighting our way through a metro system then ringing up an Airbnb host to let us into where we are staying. Maybe we could get used to this…

Onto the 8am hotel shuttle bus back to Narita airport, a 500m walk between terminals and an easy check-in. We had opted not to have breakfast first, partly to arrive in plenty of time before our flight and partly because we knew finding food would be simple at the airport. Indeed it was. Everywhere there were mini-marts offering all types of packaged food, both hot and cold, including oddities like bread rolls filled with noodles. We chose something that looked as though it had egg and cheese in it, plus a few nibbly things. Japan will find it extremely hard to reduce its use of packaging. Everything is in multiple layers of plastic, both soft wrap and hard. We also bought some packed fresh noodle dishes to have for lunch before the bus at Sapporo. Buying a coffee at a café costs around NZ$5, but a respectable coffee from a vending machine is about $3. John had what he thought was his best ever café-bought cup of tea - a big range of varieties available, but the Darjeeling was just perfect.

We really didn't have preconceptions about what Japan will be like. However I’ve been surprised at the lack of people so far. I thought Tokyo airport would be seriously bustling, but we’ve been in two terminals so far and it’s been pretty quiet and laid back. From what we have experienced so far, people are exceptionally polite, soft-spoken and soft-gestured. They gesture gently in the direction to go in a very subtle way – no pointing of fingers. When the two assistants directing those getting into the hotel shuttle bus had completed their duties, they duly bowed in tandem when the bus departed. Wow. I can’t see that happening in NZ.

From Narita we took Jetstar's flight to Sapporo, with lovely views of snowy fields around Sapporo as we dropped down. 

Coming in to Sapporo's New Chitose airport, with the landscape covered in snow

From the airport a very slow 3.5 hour bus ride, doing no more than 50km/h, but through very attractive snowy landscapes to the little ski resort town of Hirafu Niseko, at the foot of the extensive Mt Niseko ski field complex - with four joined ski resorts of Annupuri, Niseko Village, Grand Hirafu and Hanazono all sharing Mt Niseko. 

The bus arrived some half hour early, and it was a bit of a cold wait for our shuttle to the A1 Niseko where we were to stay. We had only been there 5 minutes when Alastair and his mate Simon walked in, having already been skiing and snowboarding. Lovely to see him again - the last time was November, so not too long ago. He'd already had 3 days' skiing. The apartment was three rooms - a kitchen and storage room, a living room which had our two futons laid out on it, and an upstairs mezzanine for the boys. Not generous with 4 people's luggage strewn about, but warm and entirely adequate, and rather attractive with lots of wood. The appliances take some getting used to. They are smothered in Japanese instructions and seem unnecessarily complex.

The town is very clearly a ski resort. Most buildings are lodges of some sort, from two or three rooms to giant concrete complexes. The architecture is a crazy mix of wood cabins, American-style houses, concrete bunkers and more, from tacky to super-smart and modern. Quite fascinating. Scattered through it are plenty of eateries, and in the town centre a collection of ski rentals and sales outlets. Having got ourselves settled in, our next stop was the Rhythm rentals shop where we collected our gear for the next two days' skiing, with an option to extend if we felt like it. The gear was pretty nice, and even shorter than we expected, for example my skis were only 177cm, versus my own skis at home being 183, and the previous ones I'd owned being up to 195cm. 

Having dropped our new gear back to the apartment, we went up into the town to a very popular ramen noodle place (Asahikawa-Ramen Tozanken) Alastair had spied previously. We'd hoped to be early enough to avoid its normal queue but no, we had to wait some time before our table was called and we sat down. A nice choice of styles and flavours and just perfect in a cold environment. The average price was around $13 for a massive bowl, so pretty reasonable, and delicious. 

Mongolian beef ramen noodles

Back to the apartment via the Seicomart mini-market for breakfast and skifield lunch food for the next day. What a range of weird and wonderful packaged items, all covered in garish graphics, multiple fonts, cartoon pictures and having almost no English that might have helped us work out what they might contain!  By then we were all tired and ready for bed, so down onto our futons for the night, super toasty as the floor beneath was heated.

26 February - Japan finally

Japan had been a dream of ours for quite some time, but we somehow never put it on our soon-to-be-done list until we decided that meeting Alastair there instead of San Francisco might work out well. Karen has always been keen on the cherry blossoms, I've looked forward to the old wooden architecture and the gardens. Neither of us thought we would be keen on the food, thinking mainly of sushi which we like, but in moderation. After our first Japanese meal, we realise that our knowledge of the range of Japanese food was very limited, and we imagine that food is going to be a highlight.

We left Melbourne after an excellent time with the family, and in 32 degrees, heading north to wintertime in Japan. The flight was 10.5 hours, and went well enough. Qantas was OK, nothing special but perfectly acceptable. We had little idea what to expect in Japan, but assumed everything would be super modern and efficient. No, not the case at all. Narita Airport is really showings its age, with lots of renovations under way but generally it felt dated and scruffy. The immigration queue was a vast long snake, culminating in slow fingerprint readers. Such a change from the efficiency of NZ and Australia which we find exceptional compared to almost anywhere else in our travels. Out through customs and quite a long wait for the hotel bus, and finally into the Narita View Hotel around 7:45pm.

Yukata gown in the hotel

The only choice for dinner was a buffet, which though quite pricey was excellent. A lovely range of fresh and cooked Japanese and other food, though we stuck to the Japanese on principle. Miso soup, fish, salmon, pickles, fresh veges for dipping in a hot broth, and a weird range of cakey desserts. Shocked by the beer price at around $13, but wine at $4 seemed remarkably cheap. We felt like tea anyway. We were not able to fill in what we presume was a customer feedback questionnaire - there seems to be remarkably little allowance for non-Japanese speakers, even in places frequented by visitors such as the airport and hotel.

Not so easy to fill in the comments form

I did like the provided yukata or gown. It is very nice to slip one on instead of normal European clothes.
So, a pretty good start to our 4½  weeks in Japan.

19 - 25 Feb Melbourne

Because we missed a day-out trip to Mornington Peninsula on Monday because of illness, we decided to go on Wednesday instead, as the forecast weather showed temperatures ramping up again. We popped the girls into daycare/kinder, then Bella and I did a yoga session before we jumped in the car around 10.30am and set off. It was a good 1.5hr drive to the southeast of the city, through vineyards and rolling country. 

Our first destination was a sculpture park at one of the wineries. Bella hadn't been here before, and it proved a delightful experience. An impressive number of sculptures were scattered beside a maze of pathways, and set against the backdrop on a beautifully designed winery building on one side, and the sea on the other. We spent a very pleasant 40 minutes wandering around, with the huge and unexpected delight of coming across a Plensa sculpture. We have been lucky enough to see his works before, in the major urban setting of Bordeaux and incredibly, at our local art museum in Ceret, France, which had a major exhibition of his work in 2015. However, we would never have dreamed we would find one of his works in a reasonably remote rural setting east of Melbourne. Plensa is one of the most famous living sculptors, and his work is highly sought after across the globe, and is worth many millions of dollars.

3D Plensa sculpture

Sculptures with marine backdrop

Sculpture pathway

We drove the short distance to Mornington village to enjoy lunch at a local pizzeria, before returning home just in time to give Heath a quick feed, pick up the pushchair and race to pick up the girls. Now Rosie has started Kinder, pickup time is clearly set as 4pm, and not any time afterwards.

Bella and Nic had a 'date night', going out for a Vietnamese meal then a movie. We are making ourselves very useful as babysitters. On getting home they raved about the movie (Green Book) so much that John and I did a double act and went out to the same Vietnamese restaurant and saw Green Book the following night. It was indeed a very good movie, and destined to win the Oscar for best film.

It was about time we got back into some swimming so we opted to do that on Friday morning. The outdoor pool at Glenferrie Road is such a lovely pool, and at 50m length is a pleasant to swim in rather than the enclosed 33 yard pool at Riverside in Nelson. Friends of Bella and Nic's flew in later in the day, en route home to London and also having been at Nic's sister's wedding in Whitianga. They all went out together on Friday night, meeting up with other friends who were also transiting through Melbourne. In fact, the two guys were two of Nic's groomsmen at B&N's wedding seven years ago. They had a wonderful evening out, while John and I were kept pretty busy with the three kids on the go. Bedtime for them was a bit of a relief, and a glass of wine hit the spot.

Three kiddies can be a handful, literally

Violet giving Bunnings Bear some milk

Saturday morning is swim lesson time for Rosie and Violet. Rosie has just moved up a class. However, having not done a long walk for over two weeks, and with our trip to Japan only a few days away, J&I decided we should put our walking shoes on and put some miles under our belt. We found our way to a pleasant walking/biking track not far away, and walked a solid 17km over the next few hours. The route was along an old railway reserve and took us through some lovely residential areas, parks, playgrounds and reserves.  Much of the track was shaded by large trees and it was a great find for more walking experiences in the future. Of course we had to stop off at a cafe for a coffee on the way back, and arrived home hot but happy around 2pm. The entire family and friends had had post-lunch naps. They set off to the pool again to catch some cool water and for the girls to have a play. We stayed behind with Heath. He is no trouble at all - either sleeps or gurgles away merrily on his mat on the floor. 

It was a seriously hot day again, so Bella's friends opted not to go to their evening music concert but stayed and had fish and chips with us, followed by a movie on TV. A bit of time in the garden on Sunday morning, before the heat, let us get rid of a few weeds and pull out the overgrown kale from the vege garden. Bella and Nic visited some friends in the afternoon, two of whom had just had their first baby, then we all went to the nearby Auburn Hotel. We met up with other friends, again with a new baby, and with grandparents in tow. It was interesting to chat with the other grandparents, who are very well travelled, based in Wellington but visiting sons around the world.

Our last full day here, Monday, there was no question but to head to the pool again and get in a few lengths. It was so nice, especially with another hot day on the cards. Bella had popped into her previous workplace and things are looking good for her when she plans to go back to the office next year. We enjoyed brunch together then spent the afternoon doing washing and packing our bags for Japan. It feels good to be able to leave quite a few clothes and other bits and pieces here, and shrink the size of our bags quite a bit. If we didn't have our ski helmets with us our bags would be pretty skinny. 

Our son flew into Japan yesterday and has already texted to say how much he is loving being back. He will get in three days skiing before we arrive in Hokkaido. John has just read in the news that Hokkaido had a 5.7 earthquake a few days ago, but I'm more concerned about how I'm going to deal with skiing in heavy powder than any earthquake. 

We can't wait for Japan. It feels like one of the more exotic locations we have travelled to, and it is lovely sitting in the airport waiting for a flight to Tokyo! The snow looks as though it will be a bit spring-like which is a pity, but the blossoms should be in full flush in Tokyo at the end of our trip. The Nakasendo Way walk should be fabulous.

15 - 18 Feb Melbourne

The flight with Virgin Airlines was basic but fine. With no screens in the headrests we watched movies via their rather poor app on our phones - a 5" screen doesn't really cut it. Sally had flown in a few hours earlier and was there to meet us as we walked through arrivals. As usual, the trip to Bella's house with Uber went very smoothly, and Rosie had been allowed to stay up to greet us. It was lovely having a few quiet hours with Bella and Nic before bed.

Everyone was up in time for Rosie's swimming lesson at the local pool at 9am. Violet didn't go swimming because she'd been unwell. It was 'assessment day' for Rosie and she passed with flying colours, so moves up to the next swim group next week. She's progressing from being a 'Tadpole' to a 'Goldfish'.

A coffee stop followed, and went well until Violet threw up spectacularly all over Nic. Nic took it very well, and quickly bundled her up and drove back so they could both sit in the shower. John's mother enjoyed the walk home through Bella's neighbourhood. Once the children had their sleeps after lunch we headed to the nearby park, where Rosie showed off her bike-riding skills with 5 laps of the park and we had a lazy time watching the kids in the playground. 

A leisurely walk slightly further afield on Saturday morning, to another park, and past some seriously expensive mansions, was very pleasant. The temperatures in the mid 20s, so very nice indeed. Unfortunately the day then went downhill for me, when my illness returned and I was very unwell again during the afternoon and night. But wait, there's more. Sally then came down with it at 11pm. It was a bit of a blight on the day.

A stroll through Hawthorn neighbourhood

Nic left the house at about 4.30am this morning for a flight to Sydney for work, and is back tomorrow. I felt a lot better by breakfast time and got up and Sally stayed in bed, also feeling a lot better, reading most of the morning.The girls both off for the day - Rosie has just started Kinder 2 days/week and Violet has daycare 2 days/week. We had a nice quiet morning, with John doing some prep reading for our walking tour in Japan. John and Bella (the non-sickies) went out for a quiet lunch together while Sally and I had a quiet afternoon. Later all of us walked the short distance to collect Rosie and Violet from Kinder/Daycare. An early night for all.

10 to 15 February Auckland

We'd allowed a spell of 5 nights so we'd have time to help Rhonda with repainting part of her house. It was getting on for a decade since last time, and the colours and style needed a good refresh.

As we often do when we stay with family, we had a renovation programme in mind. The next four days were pretty intense, starting with waterblasting, thankfully virtually no sanding because the paintwork was in good condition, then two or three coats of paint to cover the existing yellow and purple. Unfortunately John became very unwell on Day 3, with a moderate fever. He spent much of that day and the following, lying on the bed. Rhonda and I soldiered on and managed to get the main face of the house finished, except for painting the front door and a final coat on the verandah decking. It's looking so much smarter, with the rich blue paint adding a great highlight. Rhonda painted all the fencing as well.

The yellow and purple is on the way out.

Looking good.

We put all the paints away on Thursday night, ready for another round when we return to Auckland in April, on our way back from Japan. Unfortunately I was seriously under-the-weather that night, coming down with what we think was a coffee withdrawal headache. Although I'd kept well hydrated during the day, the very hot temperatures, very hard work and missing my normal coffee, conspired to give me the worst headache of my life at around midnight. After being sick I felt better and gradually the headache dulled. It was not a happy lesson to learn that I am potentially susceptible to getting ill this way, though John seems to have his more-or-less under control.

Thankfully, I felt mostly fine by the morning, and John was also now functioning at about 80%. We packed our bags and had a quiet few hours, before Rhonda took us to the airport in the early afternoon. To be honest, we haven't really thought about our onward trip to Japan at all. We have been so focussed on our babysitting and painting. Our exercise regime has suffered in the last few weeks, but then we figure running after children and climbing up and down ladders must account for something. Each time we Skype with our son he reminds us to keep doing our wall-sits and squats to get in as good as shape as possible for skiing. Yeah right. 

6 to 10 February - Whitianga

We are taking quite some time to get to Japan! The plan began with four days of babysitting duties at Whitianga for the marriage of our son-in-law's sister, at which both our daughter and son-in-law play major roles, then some time at Karen's sister's in Auckland to help her with house painting amongst other things, followed by time in Melbourne before heading to Japan.

In Japan we start with some skiing in Hokkaido with Alastair and a friend, then 2 weeks of travelling before the main event, a 6-day walk along the ancient Nakasendo Way between Kyoto and Tokyo. We were hoping temperatures would be OK, as it is still winter there and we'd be cutting it fine to see the cherry blossom in Tokyo at the end of the trip. Blossom forecasts, yes they really are a thing in Japan, say Tokyo's blossom should be in full flush while we are there, which will be a thrill for us.

We arrived more or less together at Auckland Airport, us from Nelson and our daughter and family from Melbourne. We met at the car rental firm where we picked up a van large enough to cope with two of us and 5 of them.

Pigeon Valley on fire as we left

Off on the road to Whitianga for an arrival late afternoon. The next 3 days were a whirlwind for Bella and Nic, and pretty busy for us. The three children, now 3 months, 19 months and nearly 4 years, were a delight. They were very cheerful, very busy, and a lot of fun to look after. There was only one time when we got a little overwhelmed by the activity!

Grandmama and baby Heath

One rather unwelcome event was heralded by a series of phone calls from friends and family in Nelson. As we left Nelson, we'd looked out the cabin window at a major forest fire well to the south of the city. Over the next day it got rapidly worse, and a small new fire started in the city, very near our home. We got reports from friends close by, and found that Walters Bluff was being evacuated, including of course our summer renters. Had the wind turned southerly instead of the northerly blowing, our house would have been one of the first in line to be burnt. We spent an anxious afternoon and evening, but as it happened, the fire was rapidly contained then extinguished, and our renters were able to go back home that night. Not a pleasant experience for anyone, and we felt a little lost being so far away. While Nelson is dry and hot, Niseko in Japan where we start with some skiing is at -11 to -14C.

The Walters Bluff fire, only about 200m from our house

Grandpapa with flowergirl Rosie, and Violet

The wedding went well, and everybody had a very enjoyable time before heading back to Auckland. The trip back was punctuated by Rosie taking after her mother's childhood example by expelling her breakfast on a winding section of road. A fair bit of cleaning up to be done, but with 4 adults it was all sorted quickly and we arrived back in Auckland with plenty of time before their flight back to Melbourne.

Grandparental duties obviously include ice creams (but not on the day of the trip back to Auckland)

Karen's sister went out to the airport to meet everybody and afterwards to take us back to her place.