To Hakodate

14/10/14

On route to Hakodate we took a very minor road through the mountains to see more of the sensational autumn colours. We have realised that all of Hokaido must look like this - glowing yellows, oranges, and reds of different shades and intensity. 

The day started out rainy but it cleared towards dusk - just right for a cold night! It was 9 degrees at 4 pm, and that could well be the day's maximum. We have camped early because we are in no hurry to get to the ferry, given that the typhoon is off the coast whipping up the seas. 

So we are camped beside a gravel road amongst coloured trees, with classical music playing, just appropriate to the mood. 42.6589N,  140.656E

15/10/14

And so on to Hakodate. 

We have noticed that the Japanese idea of fast food is often a some vegetable cooked for easy eating. It could be roasted sweat potatoe, roasted potatoe, potatoe balls deep fried, pumpkin is fill pastry, or sweat corn cooked and presented in a plastic bag. 

And I mean SWEAT corn. In fact the corn is so sweat that we thought it must have been boiled in sugar water. But no, the corn cobs bought from the shop are the same! In fact vegetables and fruit here are obviously bred for flavour rather than transportability. The strawberries are the most flavoursome we have ever tasted. They would rather pack each piece of fruit separately than risk damaging it during transport. Hence we see melons individually packed etc. 

16/10/14

We are looking for batteries in Hakodate today, and will probably take the ferry across to Oma tomorrow morning. It is very windy and overcast. We are apprenhensive about the seas but are going to the closest point of Honshu, Oma, which is only a couple of hour's crossing. 

More Autumn colours, battery problems.

We travelled today from Asahikawa towards Saporro. Beie is known for its flowers and although they are past their peak they still were remarkable. 

We continued on towards Saporro. The trip was uneventful except for the autumn colours which adorn all of the places where it was green in the past. The hillsides, river vallies, cliffs. The best way to describe it is to show you photos. 

We camped on an abandoned bridge. There are so many abandoned roads, bridges, hotels, car parks, that finding a camp site is usually not difficult. And often we find spots with great views. 

 42.77121N,   141.764S this area has closed roads and bridges because of a new dam being built. So these are expected to be inundated. 

We are having battery problems at present. The house batteries experienced a severe over- charging episode (or perhaps multiple such episodes before the problem was discovered) very early on after we took delivery of the vehicle. The factory settings for the regulator were wrong. With instructions from Mark at Earthcruiser Joe managed to reset it correctly. Joe thought at the time that this would severely effect the life of the batteries, and we were reassured by Mark that should they fail he will replace them. 

So it seems that they have failed now. It is not because of anything that happened while we're away. The car was parked in the sun, with nothing running, and the batteries were fully charged when we returned. But now the house batteries will not hold enough power to start the stove or the heater in the evenings. Joe runs the vehicle engine while I start the stove or the heater. The heater will not run all night. It starts flashing a code which means "inadequate power". We now realise that this may explain why we had difficulty starting the stove in the last fortnight before we left last time. We thought it was air in the fuel line. 

Yesterday in Saporro we had the start batteries tested and the result was "unstable batteries". However the young man doing the testing didn't seem to understand what he was doing so we don't have a lot of confidence in the result. He couldn't test the house batteries either because they are AGM (absorbed gel matt) and his testing device couldn't test them. He said they do not exist in Japan! That could make things difficult for us! We'll try to get a better answer elsewhere. Maybe marine shops have AGM batteries. 

Typhoon Vongfong is heading up this way but is not predicted to effect most of Hokkaido. We are in the south west and hoping to avoid it. However it raining today, only lightly, probably not related to the storm. We do have to do a ferry crossing to HONSHU in the next few days, so we are hoping that the 9m waves experienced further south are not also seen here! So wish us luck! 

Japan again! At last!

 9/10/14

We have been in Japan for about 24 hours now. This is after travelling for 24 hours straight to get up here to Central Hokkaido! After three flights, a train and a taxi we arrived in Nakuafurano where our vehicle was waiting. John and Stephanie had kindly let us leave it in their yard for the 2.5 months we were away. 

We left Matilda in the sun in order to keep the batteries charged. And she started beautifully. The only evidence that we had been away so long was the fridge seal which had warped, because we had left the door open. Joe managed to relocate the seal and all was well. The cooktop failed to start up first time, but with one squeeze of the hand bulb it started up nicely. 

The very first thing we needed to do was sleep. Then next morning we had to take Matilda to our friend Nakamura San in Asahikawa for replacement of the transfer case. During our last trip up here we had repeated oil leaks from the transfer case. The mechanics said there was a manufacturing fault in the transfer case itself. Back in Australia I spoke with Fuso and asked whether there was anything they could to to help. (The Fuso Australia warranty is a "back-to-base warranty" -meaning that the vehicle is not covered outside of Australia). To their credit they provided us with a new transfer case, all packed up on a pallet ready for us to ship to Japan! The freight cost was $800. It remains to be seen what the labour will cost, so the jury is still out on whether we saved anything by doing it this way. 

Also while in Australia I discussed the wheel bolt issue with Mark at Earthcruiser. It had cost us $900 to have new wheel bolts fitted and machined to satisfy the Japanese that it was roadworthy for re-registration purposes. Mark agreed to pay $500 towards the cost, since he could have fixed the problem much more cheaply if the vehicle had been in Australia. 

It is autumn here and the weather is cold (by our standards, not by hokkaidoan's). We needed the heater last night. There is snow in the mountains here already, and the autumn colours are everywhere. We came here for the colours and we can already see that we will not be disappointed! 

  

 Nakamura says that the peak of the colours has already passed in Hokkaido! If so then I can't wait for the colours further South! 

10/10/14

We spent the night in a log cabin in the bush. It was cold and raining so we appreciated the gas fire. In the morning it seemed the colours of the forest had intensified. The scenery was simply dazzling! 

 

 We were using words like "astonishing", "WOW", "dazzling", like a painting". If we see no more colours during the next weeks I will still feel satisfied! 

Late in the afternoon we heard that Matilda was ready. The total cost including labour, import duty, other taxes was ¥44792. That's about $448. So it all cost 448 (labour and oil) +800 (freight) = $1248. Given that we were quoted $5000 for the job originally we certainly benefited from Fuso's assistance. One curious fact emerged though. Fuso Australia did NOT contract Nakamura here. So I guess that they knew about the fault in the transfer case (there was a machining error resulting in the seal not fitting the male part it should match) and so gave us a new one without question. 

On leaving the workshop we exchanged gifts as often happens in Japan. NakamuraOs gift to us was a poem he had written! 

"I hope you don't become a trouble anymore.

But you have a adventure

There will be some troubles

The trouble brought you here.

So it was nice to meet you.

You can come back here anytime!"

So here we are camped in the middle of Asahikawa in a park where people walk, run ride bikes. We have autumn colours all around us. (  43.751N  142.371S ) We can hear a flowing river and very little traffic noise. Tomorrow we will head south towards HONSHU seeing the last of Hokkaido as we go. 

Lake Akan

2/7/14

We have come along the coast in a South-westerly direction from Shirotoko peninsular. The coast here is mostly flat and not too visually appealing, except for the occasional gem. 

Then we turned inland towards Lake Akan. On the way we stopped at Mashuko Lake which was in the clouds when we passed by here the first time. Today's view was much better, and well worth having a second look. There is no access to the lake other than viewing platforms on the crater rim. It is said to have the purest water in Hokkaido.

Zef hadn't seen an active volcano so we stopped at the sulphurous fumeroles of Mt. Lo (Akan).

The view from the JR tower in Saporro on our last night in Hokkaido. We are now off to Taiwan without the Earthcruiser. 

Matilda has been left in Furano with friends, but she is not well. The transfer case leak recurred again and now we hear that the problem is thought to be a transfer case manufacturing fault, which allows the seal to move and become damaged. This is estimated to potentially cost us AU$5000! The vehicle has done only 25,000 km and so would ordinarily be covered by Fuso warranty in Australia. But unfortunately the warranty is a "back to base" warranty -so we are not covered outside Australua. What's more Fuso Japan also will not cover the warranty (despite their own mechanic making the diagnosis of the problem). They say it is Australian Fuso's problem.

We ran out of time to solve the issue, so after we get home we will talk to Fuso and a consumer protection body to see whether we have any recourse! 

However we did manage one win -our Qld vehicle registration renewal can be done with the Japanese inspection certificate, which has been approved by inspectors in Qld. This was not before significant problems though. The Japanese did not accept the Earthcruiser modification to the wheel attachments, which left a space between the wheel and the brake drums. The attachment bolts sat proud of the wheel by about 3mm. The Japanese mechanics said it was not safe and insisted on replacing the bolts with new bolts which had been machined to sit flush with the wheel, leaving no space between the wheels and the drums. Not cheap! 

I will stop this blog now and resume when we return to Japan in mid September. 

Shiroto National Park -again.

1/7/14

After we left Asahikawa we headed for Monbetsu on the Okhotsk Sea. This is where the sea ice collects on the coast. We visited the cold simulation room, where the temperature is -20 degrees C. I tried out my snow jacket to see whether it will be enough in Siberian temperatures (summer) next year. And yes it will be fine. 

Also here are the underwater aquarium, (actually just an aquarium, but maybe better when the sea ice is in. 

The seal hospital is great value. Here they rehabilitate seals which have been injured by the sea ice, ans release them back to the ocean. In the meantime they are allowed to entertain tourists, even to the extent of being patted. 

In Utoro we did the short version of the boat trip. Again I recommend the boat trips. Last time we saw wild bears, but this time we saw white tailed sea eagles close up. One had just killed a cormorant and was squabbling with another eagle over the carcass. It was fabulous to watch. Unfortunately I didn't get a good photo. 

We then went up to the rotemburro which we enjoyed with Staurt and Nira. This time there were people there wearing shorts! So we did likewise. I must say it is not nearly as nice an experience if you are dressed! 

Leaving the onsen we saw a wild bear! He was a half-grown youngster, but he was only three meters from us! He didn't stay long, shuffling off into the bush. What a thrill that was! A wild bear! We reported the encounter to the Nature Centre as requested, especially since he was not far from the onsen. Unfortunately we were all so excited we didn't get a photo. 

 But we did get a photo of this stag with his great antlers and his doe. 

This time decided to camp at the Shirotoko Pass. This place was in the clouds as it was last time we were here. It made for interesting camping, although the view camp me a pond went. 

Moving off to the south east side of the peninsula we started to see the Russian occupied Japanese Kurile Islands, which are as close as 6 km from the Japanese coast! These islands were occupied by the Russians within days after the Japanese surrender in WW2. This causes consternation in Japan still and there has never been a declaration of peace between the 2 nations. 

Problems!

30/6/14

The last week has not gone smoothly! We had problems with Zef's flights, and we had car problems! 

When Zef tried to board his flight in Cairns he was told he needed an onwards flight booking. They did not allow him to board! (This is really strange because when they asked us the same question we explained that we would leave Japan by ferry to St. Korea. But they didn't accept that from Zef.) He lost 2 days before another suitable flight came available! That's a lot out of an already short trip! 

But he is here now and we've had some good times already! 

 He had a great time with these fox cubs. They were playing on the track when we came up to them they were very tame, but of course he didn't touch them (foxes here carry echinococcus which is like our hydatid disease, and is often fatal).

 Wildflower season is in full swing. 

We have also glad vehicle problems! The transfer case oil leak which was fixed recently has recurred! We needed to take the vehicle back to Asahikawa to the Tadano OT team for the oil leak and to get our safety inspection certificate for the renewal of our vehicle registration. Nakamura San there speaks excellent English, and this was essential for what was to come. 

In order to complete the safety certificate the mechanics took off the wheels, and they didn't like what they saw! They declared that the method of fixing the wheels to the drums was wrong, and not safe! There was a 3mm gap between the alloy wheels and the brake drums. They consulted with Fuso and their engineers and we consulted with Mark at Earthcruiser but an impass was reached and our certificate was not forthcoming. 

The mechanics said that there was too much stress on the bolts and that they were already damaged. 

The heads of the bolts needed to be machined down flush with the wheel surface so that there was no gap between the wheel and the drums. This cost us ~$1600AU.

The delay also cost 2 of Zefs days here! But Tadano gave us a loan car and we were able to continue to show Zef around. 

 A bear at Bear Mountain. 

 This is a sleeping Hippo at the zoo at Asahikawa! This was quite an amazing way to view such a large animal -from below! 

Now we are off to Shirotoko National Park -and wild bears.....

West coast and Lake Toya

22/6/14

We have been travelling down the west coast of Hokkaido since Stuart and Nira left us. We have taken a couple of lazy days with long stops, a bit of web surfing etc to recover our energy, so we haven't travelled as far as usual but what we have seen has been spectacular (and if you think I over use that word you are mistaken. It is Japan that over uses the scenery!) have a look at some of theses photos...

23/6/14 We are currently camped on Lake Toya. 

Nearby is a large hotel, "Windsor International Toya Resort." It is high up on a mountain overlooking the lake, so we thought we might get a good view. 

We dressed ourselves up a bit and went in for a cup of coffee. The view was spectacular in all directions. There was a harpist giving live music in the lounge area. The cake was sublime...

But the most interesting thing was the modern history. In 2008 there was a G8 meeting here. 

This was a climate change summit, and the papers have been buried in a time capsule to be opened in 2018! Then our kids will know who was a part of the decision process which they must live with. History will judge these world leaders. 

Yesterday we were looking for a suitable camp site on a bush track when we saw this little fellow crawling across the track. 

Our first thought was that he was a bear cub! So Joe got out and picked him up and got back in the truck quick-time in case Mama bear was nearby. Then we looked again and realised he was too small. Eventually we worked out that he was a baby Hokkaido Racoon Dog. He never made a sound, and when we put him back where we found him he immediately crawled into the grass and was undetectable there. We think we must have frightened off his mother when we drove up, so we hoped she was still nearby and would come back for him. 

After another very interesting day we found yet another fabulous camp site with a lake view.

Tomorrow our son Zef flies in to New Chitose airport and we will have company again. We are looking forward to showing him beautiful Hokkaido.