Christmas and New Year in Australia

 I enjoy traveling and want to visit most countries in the world but Australia had never been on my list of countries to visit. However, when my youngest brother moved there I decided to visit him for Christmas. My mind was completely changed and I fell in love with Australia because it is such an exciting country. It is unique but also very similar to the UK.

The Twelve Apostles

My brother and I at the Twelve Apostles

I flew to Melbourne and spent the day shopping and getting to know the city a little. The next day my brother and I traveled along the Great Ocean to the Twelve Apostles. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to stop much along the way, but I’d love to go back and visit all the lovely little towns along the road. The Twelve Apostles were stunning, and the beaches near there were beautiful.

The next day was Christmas Eve and we had booked to have Christmas dinner with some friends in Sydney that evening. So it was a very long, hot car journey to Sydney. The Christmas dinner was great though.

 Over the next few days I relaxed with friends and explored the city. I went to see Sydney Harbor and the Opera House which was so beautiful, even close up.

Close up I amazed that it was made of lots of little tiles

My brother and I in front of Harbor Bridge

Aborigines playing the Didgeridoo to dance music

View of the whole Harbor

 I caught the boat to Manly, which has many beautiful beaches. I visited a friend there and played bowls with some of her friends. The boat ride was very great and it was amazing to think that it was some peoples morning commute. 

When I got back to the city I visited Hyde Park, which was very beautiful. It had great walkways lined with amazing arching tree and a lovely fountain.

Entertainer in Hyde Park making huge bubbles

These weird birds were everywhere, I thought they were funny.

Before I knew it was New Years Eve and we were of to celebrate the end of 2012 at Sydney Harbor. We all gathered together and spent the day enjoying the sun in Mort Park on the harbor waiting for the evening’s fireworks entertainment. They didn’t disappoint and the show was spectacular!

Happy 2013!!

On New Years day I spent the morning swimming at Coogee beach and in the afternoon I went to my cousins house. His apartment complex had a pool so we relaxed there and played in the pool. 

The next day we decided to go to Taronga Zoo because I really wanted to see some Australian animals. I loved seeing the Kangaroos but my favourite was the Kola bears. They were very energetic when we saw them and were jumping between branches as well as fighting.

The Tasmanian Devil

The view from the Zoo over the Harbor was amazing

On my second to last day we took a trip to the Blue Mountains. We visited the Three Sister, which is an unusual rock formation there. We walked through the forest and climbed down to the Three Sister.

These trees looked like they were silver

People carved their names into the rocks which were very smooth

On my last day the weather was marvellous so we all went to Bondi Beach. It was a great last day in Australia, we went swimming in the sea and relaxed and chatted in the sunshine. It was a perfect end to a great holiday and I hope I can visit Australia again some day. 

Koyasan and Kyoto

Last week, for the long weekend I went to Koyasan in Wakayama Prefecture. Koyasan is a home to an active community of Buddhist monks who study and practice Esoteric Buddhism. It was founded twelve centuries ago by Kobo Daishi on the top of Mount Koya which is surrounded by eight other mountains, symbolizing a lotus flower.  It is a very peaceful and serene place.

It is difficult to get to Koyasan so I decided to stay overnight. I stayed in Eokin Temple which was build 1200 years ago. Above is a picture of the garden that my room lead off to. The temple was very beautiful and the monks were so friendly and interesting to talk to.  

There are many shrines and temples to walk around. My favorite was this Tori-gate shrine (below), it was quite dilapidated but I think that added character and it led to a beautiful cedar forest.

After dinner on my first day, I walked through the cemetery which is the final resting place for many famous Japanese Lords, Lady's, Monks, Priest and poets. It was very eerie but spiritual. The cemetery is set among an ancient ceder forest and the trees are hundreds of years old which creates a mystical feeling.

The next day I attended a fire ceremony at Eokin Temple, it was a very unique experience.

After breakfast in my room, which was a delicious vegetarian feast with tofu I went to see the other Temples. I walked through the cemetery again to the Mausoleum of Kobo Daishi which is the most sacred place in Koyasan because this is where his body is enshrined. I couldn't take picture there but it was a very beautiful temple. Below shows the Buddha statues at the entrance, people throw water from the river on the statues to pray for the dead.

I viewed a lot of the other temples but couldn't take many pictures.

The next day I went to Kyoto to see the Maple leaves at Tofuku-ji Temple. The weather was perfect and the colours of the leaves were breathtaking. This was the first time I'd gone to Kyoto for Maple viewing and it was worth it.

Daidogei World Cup

Sorry I haven't been able to post in a few weeks. However, I would like to tell you about the Daidogei World Cup in Shizuoka city. It is an event held in Shizuoka every year to promote performance art and street performers. There are many crazy things happening over the four days that the event is held. I attended only one day but I got to see a lot.

This first act I watched was this French couple who were doing acrobatics on roller-skates. It actually made me nervous watching them because I thought she would fall, but it all went well. They were probably one of my favourite acts.

Then I watched this guy in the crazy costume walk on a tight rope while doing tricks. His partner also did tricks lots of hula hoops and one giant hoop but unfortunately there is a problem uploading her video.

The last event I watched was these two brothers who I enjoyed a lot. They were very playful with the audience and had a lot of charisma. Most of their tricks were balancing one another and acrobatics, but they also had a storyline to their act. They played the rolls of bank robbers who'd fallen out after their robbery. Apparently they won last year.