Overlander

On Wednesday I took the Overlander (long-distance train) from Hamilton to Wellington. The country is very dry and yellow at the moment. I tried taking photos from inside the train, which didn't work too well. So I spent some time out on the observation deck, which was fun. Here are some photos.

It's mostly good

I have one week left to go before I finish at my summer job. Actually, I only have four days left to work because it is Waitangi Day this coming Wednesday. On Friday I received a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates for being such a good sport working over the Xmas/ New Year period and even volunteering to work extra long days over that period (even though it turned out I wasn't needed to work all those hours because of a supply delay).

Next Saturday I will be flying up to Hamilton to visit my friend. I'm really looking forward to it! I'll be there for a few days and then I will catch the train back to Wellington.

I will have four days (two of those a weekend) between my trip to Hamilton and the day I start my course. Everything's moving so fast!

Tazawako

On the 5th of August I went to Lake Tazawa in eastern Akita Prefecture. I wrote about the trip several weeks ago. Here are the pictures.

Tatsuko (?) Hime. I think I've got that name right. She is a character in a local folk tale.

Sumiko and myself.

Iwate

On the 31st of July I visited a few places in Iwate Prefecture. Here are the pictures.

This is the campsite we stayed at. It had very good facilities, perhaps too good. It was supposed to be a seaside campground but I couldn't see any sea at all.

Then we drove to an area where we would be able to ride a tourist boat. These are pictures of the area where we waited for the boat.

Taken from the boat.

The purpose of the boat ride was to go out and look at these rocks. Apparently every now and then the sea hits these rocks in such a way that it makes a huge splash.

This is in Ryusendo, one of the largest limestone cave systems in Japan.

This water is 93 metres deep.

From higher up.

The first thing we saw when we came out of the caves.

A decoration on a bridge.

The same water that was in the caves.

The hills that I went tramping around the inside of.

Matsushima

Before I left Japan I did a little bit of sightseeing. I have already written about those trips but I never got around to posting the pictures. Here are some pictures from Matsushima, where I went on the 30th of July. Here is some information on Matsushima from Wikitravel.

On the tourist boat.

I think this might be an oyster farm, but I'm not sure.

A statue at, I think, Zuiganji. The following photos are from the same place.

A hideously garish tourist boat. This is not the boat I rode.

This is another temple, but I don't know what it was called.

Just to prove they really do eat them . . .