Travels with Ali

Midweek break in Yallingup

Yallingup is in the South Western region of Western Australia. Its a great spot to visit for a short break especially from Perth. The drive takes just under three hours.
With so many places to stay it was so difficult to decide, we eventually chose the Sienna Lodge and it did not disappoint! Situated in between Barnyard Winery and Cafe Lavender on Caves Road, it was just a short drive into Yallingup and around 10k from Dunsborough. Its owned and managed by a very friendly Lithuanian couple – Raminta & Egis Rusilas, they also own the beautiful “Barnyard Vineyard”.

Sienna Lodge

Freerange as you can get!

Arriving just after 4pm we dropped our bags in our room and headed over to take a look at the beach and then happy hour at the iconic Caves Hotel. A few snaps of the wild coastline of South West WA.

Dinner that night was at the gastronomic restaurant of Lamonts and as it was so busy Kate Lamont was waiting tables herself. Always a good idea to book ahead as this place is nearly always full.

Next morning as the Barnyard cafe only opens for breakfast on weekends we headed into Dunsborough for our freerange poached eggs on sourdough toast with coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice. Back to Sienna to decide where to have our next feast but first a stop in the Barnyard cafe for a midmorning glass of wine and a little look around.

Testing the local vintage

As there are so many wineries, we again had the difficult task of choosing where to go for lunch. We wanted to try something new so we headed over to the Brookwood Estate.

The menu had some tasty tapas options which was perfect for lunch.

Starters — prosciutto wrapped fillet mignon and grilled prawns with chill and coriander aoli

Dinner that night was in Caves Hotel as it was just down the road from us, also many places were fully booked due to the school holidays. Caves is always a good choice as it has such a great atmosphere, you can be casual and eat outside or dress up and eat inside. Food is always good and portions so large that one dish is enough for two. We had a chef’s platter to start, and sticky ribs to share. There were leftovers!

Some sculptures that caught my eye

Skateboarding chick

Stuffed Jeans to go!

The late afternoon sun shining on these trees at Caves Hotel

By the next day it was already time to check out. Time fly’s when you’re having fun, theres only so much you can eat and drink in two days! We drove into Yallingup and had an excellent breakfast in the general store which is also the Post Office, just by Caves House. Its not that well advertised that they even do breakfast. On the drive back we were recommended to drop by the Bunbury Farmers Market. Its a great place to stock up on fresh local produce. We even bought some lunch here and stopped at Heron Point to eat it.

And that was our very short two night stay over, until the next time we fancy a break!

Kagoshima

Nagasaki to Kagoshima

6 June 2017

By now I think our two drivers were getting the hang of the roads and tolls! It was especially useful to be able to input a telephone number into the satnav instead of the actual address – very helpful considering how all the Japanese places were spelt. Because if you put an o instead of an a or e you can end up many miles away as all the names are very similar or so they seem to us. Also included in the satnav the amount of the toll you had to pay was spoken to you beforehand.

We had a four hour drive ahead of us as you can see from the map above. As Kyushu is made up of several small islands there was not really a direct route to take to Kagoshima.

We passed through Yanegawa on the way which is made up of lots of canals.

Arrived quite late to Hotel Shiroyama – beautiful hotel – high up on a hill overlooking Mt. Sakurajima. Sakurajima is still smoking and one of the reasons we visited Kagoshima.

As it was late decided to eat at the hotel on the 13th floor. Had a gourmet French dinner – fantastic!

Four of us enjoying our fantastic dinner

Entree

View from 13th floor overlooking the city of Kagoshima

Shame the windows in our room were frosted! so had no view – obviously you had to pay more for the view.

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Kumamoto to Nagasaki – June 2016

4 June 2017

After spending the night in Kumamoto we boarded the car ferry to Shimabara and then heading over to Nagasaki.

Had a very interesting stop in Shimabara to have a look at the castle. It was built in 1615 and took around four to seven years to complete. After 250 years it fell into disrepair and restoration began in the 1960’s. You can go inside and have a look at the old warrior costumes and weapons through the years.

Shimabara Castle

Looking at the route above we then drove to Nagasaki via Unzen. This is where Anthony’s mum used to go for holidays when she was a young girl. A sentimental journey for Anthony. Unzen seafront had the feel of a 1930’s resort, so not much had changed since his mother had visited it seemed.

Then finally to our hotel in Nagasaki.

Very quaint hotel within walking distance of many interesting places. Stayed here for two nights.

I had read about the Dejima Wharf and what a good place it was! So we headed over there for dinner. Its very picturesque but lacks atmosphere. Our dinner was a disappointment. Supposed to be a seafood bbq – but we had to cook it ourselves. Luckily we found a great little bar upstairs with a live band so had a good song and dance with some locals who were celebrating a birthday.

5 June 2017

Off to a fairly early start as there was lots to cover today. First off we had a look at the old colonial settlement within walking distance of our hotel, where Dutch, Portuguese and English houses still stand.

I was very interested to go and have a look at Glover House.

This was a house built by an English guy who first came to Japan when he was 21 in 1859. He built the house and gardens in 1861. We are both really interested in travellers who left their native countries to establish themselves in other countries many years ago. These people would not have known what to expect only hearing about different places through word of mouth.

Anyway Glover Gardens and house did not disappoint.

I popped to the ladies and when I came back found Anthony deep in conversation with this lady who was gardening just outside one of the buildings. She was amazed that Anthony could speak so fluently. They found out that they were not only the same age but had the same birthdays! She asked Anthony why he was so old with such young children – so direct . She was very reluctant to let him go.

Its interesting to note that Mr Glover still liked to be surrounded by his English furniture.

Onto the next stop – the Foreigners Cemetery – where we spent at least an hour looking at old gravestones.

We spent ages looking for this place going up and down alleyways.

Foreigners Cemetery — anthony looking round so many gravestones

The day was still not done and there was time to visit the Peace Park and A Bomb Museum. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the only places to this day that have had atomic weapons used against them. It was very moving to wander through the museum and find out the history of what actually happened.

Standing in front of the Peace statue built to commemorate the people who died in the disaster. The face is not Japanese but the face of a “Person who goes beyond human races.”

So that concludes Nagasaki – next up Kagoshima.

Beppu to Kumamoto – 3 June 2017

Driving back through middle today to Kumamoto to catch ferry onto Nagasaki. We had a couple of stops on the way of course! Besides being famous for its onsens Beppu is also famous for its “Hells”. These are spectacular hot pools, boiling mud and geysers which make up the “8 Hells” of Beppu. More info here. These hells are not for swimming and are now mostly a tourist attraction and you do have to pay to enter. To make it more interesting they’ve added a few animals!

Capybara – Large rat

Mountain Hell

Sulphur Hell Beppu, Kyushu Islands, Japan

Then off to Kurokawa Village for lunch. Another very traditional village. After this had a quick photo stop overlooking Mount Asa. Kurokawa village so quaint and we all loved it here. Little windy cobblestoned streets and alleys.

Walking down to the village

Teeny tiny cafe

Enjoying a custard donut

Overlooking Mt Asa

Beautiful patchwork of fields

Fukuoka to Beppu

Fukuoka to Beppu

Friday 2 June

Today we picked up our hire car with the driving to be shared between our two trusty drivers, Vaughan and Anthony. The route I had mapped out for us was slightly bizarre! In our nine days in Kyushu we travelled West to East to West to North to South, but it was the only way I could see to get every place in that we wanted to visit. It was hard also because Anthony in his excitement kept calling out different places he wanted to visit. And so it went…

We drove first to Kokonoe Bridge. It is 390 meters long, 173 meters high, 1.5 meters broad and it is the highest suspension walking bridge in Japan. Vaughan actually experienced vertigo on this bridge. It was extremely windy in the middle of the bridge. You can see Mimata Mt. and Waita Mt in the distance.

After this hair raising experience we stopped somewhere in the mountains for lunch. Found such a quaint place. Scenery was incredible from here.

Then onto Beppu with a brief stop in Yufuin a popular hot spring resort. We’re now in the Oita Prefecture.

Arrived late afternoon to Beppu Bay Royal Hotel overlooking the ocean. Just the one night here – why? Anthony said he liked the sound of the name Beppu. The hotel was situated just outside the town but I chose it because of the perfect views especially from our bedroom window.

As there were not any restaurants around the hotel we taxied into town around 15 minutes away and found a great Korean BBQ place. Food was delicious and our waiter hilarious. A good night.