From Sapporo to Shinjuku

Nine and a half hours of travel and we have returned to what feels like our second home, the Prince Hotel in Shinjuku. The weather was wet all the way down, the first time we have actually needed the umbrella.

We left Sapporo at 7am on the Super Hokuto. Unfortunately, we were seated on the right, away from the ocean views. Not enough space for our luggage either. Three hours later and it was straight across the platform at Hakodate to the Super Hakucho.

A bit more scenic on that train, with views of the lonely grey sea and the quiet villages beside it. I should love to have stopped and dine at some restaurant overlooking it. But then it was beneath the Seikan tunnel and back to Honshu and Shin-Aomori, a trip that took two hours.

From Shin-Aomori up the escalators and on to the Hayate Shinkansen to Omiya in Tokyo, three and a quarter hours later. I spent the time writing my blog, amusing Alex and sleeping, as did B. Finally a local train to Shinjuku station, where I had to brave the rain to carry the luggage to the hotel.

That left some time for shopping and browsing at Takashimaya, Tokyu Hands and Tower Records, before we retreated under the rain to the comfort of our tiny, trendy, familiar room.

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One night in Canberra

It's the April school holidays and we are too busy to have a break but need one because of that. And because it's the Easter weekend the options are limited, so we just drive down to Canberra for the night. No, this isn't our first trip for 2023. I wrote about Japan on another site . I refuse to wake up early so we depart after 8.30 AM. There is not much to say about the drive except that the clouds seem so low and Lake George is very full. We stop at a rest area and at the lookout up the hill to take it all in. Everyone is hungry so we first stop in Dickson and then can't think of anything to eat, so I drive us to Civic, where we can't decide and end up eating at the Singaporean Killiney Kopitiam branch. The Canberra Centre has nice shops. I dream of getting an iPad from the Apple Store, we buy a blanket and toothbrushes from Muji and wish that Lego wasn't so expensive. Nothing we can't get in Sydney, but then we rarely go out shopping in the city. It'

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A selection of jams

We're home now. The last two days of our Brisbane trip involved a lot of driving but not always much movement. On Wednesday we arranged to met Sis and her family at Robina Town Centre, a massive shopping mall. That meant a drive down towards the Gold Coast along the same motorway we'd driven up along. What should have taken an hour took twice that due to the holiday traffic along the 3 and 4 lane road. Lots of people taking the turn-offs to three of the "Worlds" (Wet'n'Wild, Movie World and Dreamworld). The Town Centre hosts Artvo , a trick photography gallery where you use perspectives to make subjects look like they are part of the artwork. It was surprisingly fun, despite the aversion of we males to being the subjects of photos. Afterwards we had a long chat over lunch, which was sourced from a variety of eateries. I had roti and chicken curry from Roti and Buns . Passable, though the curry was more laksa like. We later took Sis to Daiso and she and her h

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