Ichiban Nihon Sankei

Matsushima is one of Japan’s famous Nihon Sankei. This phrase translates broadly as “Japan’s three greatest scenic locations”. Miyajima, near Hiroshima, is the second of these locations and a slender sand spit at Amanohashidate is the third.

They owe their modern day fame to a Confucian scholar called Shunsai Hayashi. In 1643 he wrote a book about his travels through Japan. He singled out these three three locations for special praise, calling them the nation’s most scenic beauty spots.

Matsushima’s fame subsequently grew when a famous poet, Matsuo Bashō, wrote a moving Haiku poem about his reaction to the beauty of Matsushima. School children still study it to this very day.

The name Matsushima means “Pine Tree Islands”. It’s a fitting description. Matsushima Bay is ringed by a series of small sandstone islands.  Most are topped by mature, craggy pine trees. Over time some of the islands have been sculpted by wind and waves into memorable archways and all manner of captivating shapes. Its a wonderfully picturesque and tranquil scene.

I first visited Matsushima during a business stopover in Tokyo back in 2009. I came away refreshed and in general agreement that it really was a rather unique location. I wanted Mum to experience Matsushima’s beauty as well.

 On our first full day in Japan we caught the Shinkansen north to Sendai, and then transferred to a local train for Matsushima and neighbouring Shiogama. We both marvelled at the fact that we could travel more than 370kms in two hours.

Our day began with a quick trip to the local fish market in nearby Shiogama. They say this market sells more tuna every day than any other worldwide. We arrived a little late to see the large fish being butchered but did spot one merchant sharpening his rather gruesome oversized cutting blade. Some stalls were still open and selling all manner of fish. It was fascinating to watch shoppers carefully examine dozens of specimens, before finally selecting the finest example.

From the market, we made our way to the local boat pier. We wanted to catch a boat that took a scenic route across the bay to Matsushima. The boat threaded its way around the bay past the area’s most famous islands before finally reaching in Matsushima itself.

We were curious to see the enduring impact of the 2011 Tohoku tsunami and earthquake. I’d heard that Matsushima was spared the worst of the tsunami’s destructive force thanks to the natural barrier formed by its famous islands. It was clear that the area was flooded and buildings were damaged. We also saw photos of the tsunami's aftermath

However, the waves that reached the shore were less destructive than in the neighbouring town of Ishinomaki, a few miles up the coast. This town was inundated and thousands lost their lives. I’ve posted a photo above of the boat pier we used at Shiogama. This YouTube video shows the same location swallowed up by the tsunami (start watching at 6:40).

As you can see, the water rose at least 2-3 metres in this very spot. It was rather humbling experience to think that we’d seen with our own eyes. Two years on the only visible signs of the tsunami are the large number of pavements and gutters still in a state of disrepair.

Mum loved Matsushima. Perhaps the most memorable sight for both of us was the colourful mausoleum we visited at the Zuigan-ji, the region’s impressive Zen temple. The gravesite sits on the summit of peaceful, wooded hill which we were lucky enough to enjoy alone for almost ten minutes.

 

The winter that wasn't

It's official.  Sydney has recorded its warmest winter on record.  Brisbane, Melbourne and Canberra also experienced a record winter. Australia's east coast cites have all reported temperatures almost two degrees above their long-term average.

Sydney averaged 14.9C over winter.  Yesterday, also the penultimate day of winter, the afternoon high reached a very pleasant 25C.  Sydney's winter got off to a wonderful start back in June.  Mum and her sister arrived in time to enjoy a week of relatively warm temperatures in the twenties.

Roll on summer!

Miles of legacy

A final legacy of our London adventure drew to a close this week.  The Saab went in for a long overdue service.  While it was in the workshop the UK dashboard cluster was swapped out for a metric unit.  The cluster was originally changed to secure a UK registration. Since then we’ve driven around with a speedometer displaying imperial and metric speed, while the odometer kept score in miles.

The Saab’s done just over 32,000km.  As a result the latest service was rather involved.  The brakes were relined and discs renewed, steering pins were replaced, the electric window setting adjusted and pretty much every filter replaced.  The car spent almost four days in the workshop before emerging as good as new.  We’re now $3,000 poorer!

A garden for 2020

Our outdoor living space is finally set for another decade of entertaining.  Garry and I have spent the last three weekends replacing and upgrading everything on the main balcony.  The balcony’s recent refurbishment left us with a garden to plant, an irrigation system to install and pots to refurnish.

It took a full day to replant the main garden. We first had to top it up with soil.  For some reason, the garden’s level dropped more than 10cms once the original soil was shoveled back into place. The building’s management agreed to supply replacement dirt which duly arrived in the form of more than a dozen 30kg bags of earth.

We then spent an entire weekend installing a new, upgraded garden irrigation system.  Garry decided to go for an impressive gold-plated version built from custom-cut hard-shell PVC piping.  The final installment looks impressive.  It’s definite improvement on the original system.  At some point we plan to paint the white plastic tubing to match the colour of the surrounding walls. 

 
Our garden lighting has also been upgraded with new bollards and fancy enamel-coated tracks that hide the cables.  Then finally, today we refurbished our free-standing pots.  This includes topping their soil, replacing old weed mats, washing ornamentals stones and upgrading their irrigation system. 
 
We now have a balcony restored to pristine condition. It got a new water membrane, new tiles, a fresh coat of paints and all of the fancy refurbishment work we’ve undertaken. Garry plans to complete the picture by building the BBQ into the garden.  This’ll open up additional space around our outdoor dining zone.  Roll on Summer!

Crop circles in the carpet

 

The repairs to our balcony are finally drawing to close.  After six weeks of construction, interrupted by more than a week of unrelenting rain, the finishing touches are underway.  As you can see from the photo above new tiles have been laid and the walls have received a fresh coat of paint.  It's all come up rather well.  The final result is terrific.

While the neighbour's water penetration problems are now resolved unfortunately we've discovered a new water pentration problem indoors.  Earlier in the week I discovered our large indoor pot plants had been leaking onto living room carpet. The internal drip trays overflowed and the water has soaked through the pot's pressed concrete wall.

We now have two thread-bare "crop circles" in our carpet where damp pots have rotted the wool and left rather unpleasant mildew stains.  I've spent the last few days waterproofing each pots with a special membrane coating.  It's thick rubbery compound that you paint onto in progressively thicker layers.  Hopefully this will prevent any futher damage.

We're trying to look on the bright side.  The ruined carpet is another perfect excuse to begin planning those renovations we keep deferring.

The Final State

We're off to Tasmania for Christmas.  This will be the first visit to Australia's island state for both Garry and I.  In fact, it's the last of the nation's states and territories we've yet to visit.  We've booked a two-week driving tour that will see us leisurely circumnavigate the entire island.

We'll be taking our beloved Saab with us to Melbourne, then crossing Bass Strait by ferry on December 22.  We'll take two days to reach Melbourne and another two while returning return home.  The drive south will include an overnight stop in the Snowy Mountains, while the return stopover has been booked in Eden on the New South Wales South Coast.  I've never driven the entire South Coast so I'm looking forward to the experience.

As a special tenth anniversary gift, I've booked us into the stunning Saffire Freycinet located int Coles Bay.  We arrive on Christmas Eve for two days of unadulerated luxury (that's it in the glorious photo above).  After a challening year of highs and lows we decided it was time to kick back and celebrate.  Even more so as our respective career transitions slowly settle into a more promising direction.  Garry's business has started to grow again and I'm about to start another full-time role after a year of freelance and interim consulting gigs.

We'll then head south to Hobart arriving in time to see the first boats complete the classic Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race.  Other highlights include two nights at Cradle Mountain, a night at Port Arthur and two days relaxing in the picturesque north coast village of Stanley.

Six weeks and counting

I'm starting to get a little excited.  In six weeks time my mother and I will begin our 12-day tour of Japan.  Overnight, Kozantei Ubuya Ryokan, a traditional Japanese style hotel in Kawaguchiko, confirmed our reservation and complimentary "western-style breakfast".  I've booked this special boutique hotel as a 70th birthday gift for Mum.  Each room in the hotel has stunning view of Mount Fuji which can be enjoyed from the comfort a hot tub on your own private balcony.  I hope it really does look like the photo above!

Wet, wet, wet

The apartment directly under our rooftop balcony has suffered water peneration problems for more than a year.  Nurmous attempts have been made to solve the problem.  This included lifting balcony tiles in several locations and repairing the protective water membrane unerneath.  These efforts proved fruitless. 

The building's Body Corporate has finally decided to resolve the issue by replacing our balcony's entire water membrane.  However, sitting on top of the membrane is tonnes of terracotta tiles and supporting scree.  The scree a solid mix of sand and cement. It keeps our tiles stable and provides an optimal incline for drainage. At it's highest point it almost 15cm thick. Removing it requires a jackhammer.

As a result, our balcony became a building site last Monday. Furniture, plants and accessories were transfered to the smaller balcony at the back of our apartment.  For four days, three workers jackhammered away.  The rubble they created was then scooped into sacks and precariously winched down the side of our building.

By Friday we were left with stark grey concrete shell. All was proceeding to plan. That is, until 8:00am on Saturday morning when the heavens opened. A large high pressure zone has stalled off the coast of New South Wales trapping wet, moist air over Sydney. 

As a result, rain has fallen continually and is forecast to fall for another two days. As of 8:30pm this evening almost 83mm had fallen. That's more than two thirds of June's average rainfall in 36 hours.  By the time the sun appears again on Tuesday, more than 80% of the monthly average is predicted to have fallen.

Without doubt, its the sort of weather you don't want when your roof's protective water membrane is missing.  We think our neighbours are dripping wet.

UPDATE: 8.00am June 24
Overnight rainfall reported over the last 24 hours rose above 50mm.  This means that more than 106mm has fallen in 24 hours with more to come. Since records began June's rainfall has averaged just over 120mm per month.

UPDATE: 9.30pm June 24
It's official. Since Saturday morning we've had June's entire average rainfall dumped on Sydney.  So far 123mm of rain has fallen in less than three days.  The forecast predicts more rain ovenight.

Been there! Done that!

My Auntie Pam has completed her first Sydney vacation.  It's been a wonderful time sharing so many of my favourite local sights with her and my mother.

Back to the Blue Mountains

Mum and Pam’s penultimate day in Sydney was spent in the Blue Mountains.  The day dawned with surreal, ghostly fog flowing across the city skyline.  Morning news stories said the mountains were also covered by a heavy blanket of fog.  However, with a two-hour drive ahead of us we felt confident it would burn away before we arrived. 

To give us the best possible chance of clear skies I made a detour to Homebush, for a leisurely circuit around Sydney Olympic Park.  I only venture this way when there’s a major sporting venue on.  On these occasions, many of the area’s roads are closed and access is highly restricted.  We were delighted to find every road open, giving us intimate access to the Olympic stadium and nearby arenas.
 

We arrived in the mountains shortly after 11:30am.  Our first stop for the day was Wentworth Falls.  I think it’s the ideal location for introducing first-time visitors to the Mountains.  This proved to be spectacularly true for us.   We discovered a lingering finger of fog snaking its way up the Jamison Valley as we made our way to the day’s first scenic lookout. 
 

I even convinced my guests to take a ten-minute walk down dozens of jagged hand-crafted steps to Pulpit Rock.  This is a small lookout that sits on the edge of sandstone cliff.  It offers photogenic views of Wentworth Falls and surrounding valley.  We had the entire scene to ourselves for almost 15 minutes.
 
Our second stop was my favourite mountain vista. North of Blackheath township the Grose River cuts through the mountains on its way to the Hawkesbury River.  The resulting gorge, known as the Grose Valley, is simply stunning.  It’s best viewed from Govetts Leap, about 15 minutes west of Katoomba.  It’s a quiet lookout as tourist buses rarely venture this far.
 

I had planned to take Mum and Pam for lunch at the Hydro Majestic Hotel in nearby Medlow Bath.  This Edwardian venue was the mountain’s most popular entertainment venue when it opened in 1904.  Well heeled patrons would sip their brew while soaking in breath-taking cliff top views down the Megalong Valley.  
 
However, we found it closed.  Its entrance was fenced in and the grounds were clearly derelict. I later read that it’s about to undergo a $30 million renovation.  Many of its iconic rooms, including the casino, ballroom and wintergarden will be painstakingly restored to their former glory.
 

All was not lost. I took Mum and Pam back to Katoomba for lunch at another historical venue, the Paragon Café.  It opened in 1916 and claims to be Australia’s oldest café.  It’s reputation was built on back of delicious hand-made chocolates, attracting the rich and famous for decades to its popular art deco furnished function rooms.

Our final stop for the day was Echo Point.  This is home of the Three Sisters, easily the Blue Mountain’s most photographed location.  It’s also the one location that’s guaranteed to be filled with tour buses, tourists and tour guides.  However, the local council has worked hard to keep commercialization to a minimum, leaving the location open and accessible.  Cars are forced to park well away from the area keeping it surprisingly pedestrian friendly.

 

Manly for lunch

Today's excursion was a ferry ride to Manly for lunch by the beach.  We picked a perfect day to see the harbour in all of its glory. We arrived early at the wharf to ensure we got seats outside facing towards the Opera House and the harbour's southern shoreline.

Our luck continued to hold after we arrived in Manly. We found a fantastic seafood restaurant overlooking the beach.  As we rocked up a table became vacant on the footpath.  Everyone ordered the fish and chips and he sat soaking up the view, enjoying a tasty meal and a fine glass of wine. Bliss!

Cool Canberra

It's been almost 25 years since my mother last visited Canberra. At the time, her visit was a last minute addition to a travel itinerary that had been thrown into disarray by the infamous1989 airline pilot's strike.  My parents were part of larger New Zealand contingent that found themselves stranded in South Australia.  Their original itinerary was meant to take them to Queensland before departing for home from Sydney. Their transport conundrum was ultimately resolved by hiring a car and driving across New South Wales to Sydney, stopping over in Broken Hill and Canberra.

 

This month, while my Auntie Pam in town, I decided to take Mum back to Canberra for another tour.  We couldn't have picked a better weekend.  It was an unusually pleasant period of winter weather with plenty of sunshine temperatures in the mid-teens. We made our way south on Saturday morning stopping for a compulsory photo at Golburn's Big Merino and a delicious late-breakfast at Grandma's Little Bakery, Fedra Olive Grove.

 

Grandma's Little Bakery has a hugely popular outlet in Inner Sydney so I was keen to road test the original cafe near Collector.  The main building sits on a low hill overlooking a young orchard of olive trees.  It's a delightful location, less than 50 minutes north of Canberra.  All three of us ordered the delicious Shakshuka; a classic Mediterranean dish of baked eggs cooked over a tomato and capsicum base.

We began our tour of Canberra with a tradition stop at Mt Anslie.  I always take visitors here first as the view down constitutional axis is an unforgettable introduction to Canberra's carefully crafted landscape. From here it was on the the Capital Exhibition Centre to learn more about the city's design and development before joining a guided tour of Parliament Hill.  .

We finished the day with a brief driving tour of the diplomatic zone before visiting the National Gallery. Our touring route naturally included a brief stop to photograph the colourful corrugated iron cows outside the New Zealand High Commission. 

The National Gallery currently has an exhibition of artwork by Turner, the British landscape artist. While we were at the gallery I also took my guests down to the Sidney Nolan gallery to see his famous silhouette depiction of Ned Kelly on horseback.  Auntie Pam later told me the Turner exhibition was a personal highlight of her Canberra weekend.

Our final day in Canberra began with a visit to the National Archives. As part of the city's centennial celebrations, original documents from the town plan design competition were on display. It was fascinating to see Walter Burley Griffins original drawing for the city.  Today's layout remains surprisingly true to his original vision.

 We then made our way to the Australian Museum for a little Australiana before making our way to the National Carillon to listen to a rousing bell recital.  The complex has a video screen at its base where you can watch the Carilloneer playing a rather daunting wooden peg keyboard. The 50 metre tall carillon tower was a gift from the British Government in celebration of Canberra's 50th anniversary.

Our next stop was Old Parliament House for lunch in its popular cafe, before making our way to the National War Memorial Museum. The sight of the infamous Japanese mini-sub was made all the more poignant given the tour of Fort Denison a few days earlier.  You'll recall that during this tour we learnt about the American "attack" on the fort that was triggered by the discovery of Japanese mini-subs in Sydney harbour.  At this point, with all of the classic sights now under our belt, it was time to head for home.

Fort Denison

Where do you take a regular international visitor for new and interesting experience of Sydney harbour?  As the years pass, this challenge grows each time my mother comes into town.  Over the years we’ve taken scenic luncheon cruises, climbed the Harbour Bridge and enjoyed lunch at Aria, on the edge of Circular Quay. However, there’s one spectacular venue, I’ve never tried.
 
Fort Denison is an island fort situationed in the middle of Sydney Harbour.  It offers unrivaled views of the harbour from its battlements, most notably an elegant Martello Tower.   I booked lunch for Mum and my Auntie Pam, taking a chance that the weather would be suitably warm and sunny on Friday afternoon.
 

My gamble paid off.  We awoke to clearing skies and increasingly bouts of sunshine.  A short harbour ferry ride took us directly to the island.  We arrived shortly before noon, just in time to join the daily Park Ranger’s tour.  As luck would have it, there was only one other couple on the tour, making for a intimate experience.  The ranger regaled us with a series of amusing anecdotes, including the only time the fort was fired upon in war.
 
This anecdote is best told once you understand the fort’s origins.  In 1839, two American warships entered the harbour at night and dropped anchor.  The fledging colony was stunned that vessels, even those of a friendly nation, could enter the harbour undetected.  The Government reviewed the inner harbour’s defenses and decided to fortify Pinchgut Island, a rocky outcrop off midway between Garden Island and the North Shore. 
 

Fortification of the island began in 1841 but stalled when funds ran out. Construction resumed in 1855 during the Crimean War as the nation feared a Russian naval attack.  The fort was completed in late-1857.  However, it never saw action until the Second World War. 
 
In 1942, three Japanese mini-submarines ventured into the harbour.  One was sighted by an American warship berthed a nearby Garden Island.  The Americans fired on the sub.  One charge skipped across the water’s surface and slammed into Fort Denison, exploding on impact.  The irony wasn’t lost on the locals.  A century after friendly American warships prompted the fort’s construction; the same friendly nation became the first and only one to attack the fort itself.
 

Our Ranger’s Tour ended with a firing of the 1:00pm gun.  We then ventured to the fort’s restaurant for a magnificent meal, dining on succulent fresh fish and chips while basking in the afternoon sun.  The service was impeccable and the menu was sublime.  I’ll definitely be returning to Fort Denison soon.

Marmaggedon is over!

A small miracle appeared in the mail this week.  My sister-in-law has sent me a "care package" from Auckland.  I'm now the proud owner of two jars of New Zealand's Sanitarium Marmite! More than a year since it disappeared from Supermarket shelves my favourite childhood spread is back. I made myself toast this evening just so I could have a quick salty hit.  Delicious.

ANZAC Day at Bundeena

 

After more than two decades living in Sydney I've finally made it to Bundeena.  It's a quaint riverside town on the fringe of Royal National Park. It can be reached by driving for an hour, roughly 32km, around the eastern reaches of the Hacking River.  Alternatively, you can take a 20-minute ferry from Cronulla long picturesque Gannamatta Bay and across the river. 

No prize for guessing which route my friend Michelle; her son, Zeke and I took today. The weather was warm and sunny. The ferry crossing was simply delightful.  It was the perfect day to be on the water or enjoying one of the many arcs of golden sand that line Bundeena's shoreline. We sat in a park by the ferry wharf for more than hour dining out on fish and chips, watching the world (and occasional Ibis) go by.