Still on tender hooks

15 March 2015

Well we still are on tender  hooks about our departure from Japan. The expiry date for our carnet is 1st April (yes April fools day) which is the anniversary of the issuing of the carnet, -not the anniversary of our arrival here! So time is even shorter than we expected.

But the good news is that our shipping agent in Brusbane (Jim Cliffin of Colles-Young) has ascertained from the Korean agents that if we have a carnet then we can enter Sth Korea. Trouble is -our carnet expires 1st April. So we need an extension. 

I made a call to RACQ Brisbane today and it appears we can get an extension to the carnet by going to a JAF (Japanese Automobile Federation). They will check with RACQ, and all will be well. We can find a JAF  office in the next couple of days. 

So we are still going to Sth Korea.

In the interim we are camped on a small lake. 

20/3/15

Well so much for getting the carnet extended! Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) has refused to extend the carnet. This is in violation of the International Automobile Association rules. All member countries are supposed to do the extensions! But in spite of Australian Automobile Association (AAA) mediation JAF still will not do it! 

And Sth Korea will not allow us in without the carnet! 

So we have been booked onto the next available ship out of here -To Antwerp, Belgium. We still don't know how much this will cost but we have no choise! The vehicle will be "stuffed" into a container on Monday or Tuesday. We have not yet decided our own movements. 

So here are a few wildlife photos while we wait for the "stuffing" to take place. 

And one non-wildlife character..thus us a water sprite -mythological Japanese figure, who plays tricks on people near water. You can see how popular they are by the number of them on sale apt this one pottery. And there were many more potteries with similar displays in this area.