Wellington Airport

After work, we got an Uber to the airport and checked in to the Rydges hotel. After settling into our room we went for a walk and watched the planes. We had dinner in the hotel before bed.
Wellington to Auckland

We had an early start BUT around an extra hour and a half in bed because we were already at the airport! The hotel wasn’t too expensive either. We caught the 6am flight to Auckland.
Auckland to Singapore

After transferring from the domestic to international terminal we cleared immigration pretty quickly and got some breakfast before getting the 10 hour flight to Singapore. As it was a daytime flight Czytaj więcej
Singapore to Tokyo

After a lengthy wait in Singapore (fortunately I had booked a lounge to pass the time in) we found our gate and boarded the flight to Tokyo. A night full after all the travel meant we slept pretty Czytaj więcej
Tokyo to Morioka

After a bit of a fuss to get Simon in to Japan, we caught the monorail to Tokyo station. We found a cafe and had toast and coffee and made a plan - we were running about an hour earlier than the Czytaj więcej
Morioka to Aomori

After a good night’s sleep we got up and had the hotel breakfast which was a mixture of western and Japanese.
We checked out and caught the Hayabusa another hour north to Aomori, starting to see Czytaj więcej
Aomori to Oirase Gorge

After room breakfast we packed up and headed to collect the hire car an hour early. After some multi language discussions we changed the rental hours and drop off location and somehow managed to make Czytaj więcej
Oirase Gorge to Hakodate

Up early to heavy rain so decided not to go to the outdoor onsen. We went down for the buffet breakfast and tried another range of different foods but I didn’t pluck up the courage to try the salted Czytaj więcej
Hakodate to Lake Toya

We got up very early and walked around the morning market which sells different seafoods for breakfast. Simon wasn’t keen so we went back to the hotel for eggs and bread in our room.
Around 7.30 we Czytaj więcej
Lake Toya to Lake Akan

Not a bad night’s sleep considering the futon situation. We got up early for the sunrise over the lake.
We went down for breakfast which was really busy, full of tourists groups, but we managed to Czytaj więcej
Lake Akan

We got up and watched the sunrise over the lake and then had the buffet breakfast.
After getting well wrapped up we went to visit the ecological centre and saw the Marimo, green moss balls found in Czytaj więcej
Lake Akan to Wakkanai

We got up early and had breakfast before checking out and heading north across Hokkaido. It was raining and the toy car wasn’t a great drive in the rain. Fortunately the roads weren’t too busy due Czytaj więcej
Wakkanai to Sapporo

We were up and out on the road really early. The weather was a little better so driving was a bit easier. We took the coastal road all the way and went through some very remote and abandoned Czytaj więcej
Sapporo Day 1

After a leisurely start we got up and went for the buffet breakfast. We then caught the train to Otaru and spent the morning walking around the town.
We caught the train back to Sapporo and went to Czytaj więcej
Sapporo Day 2

A day of Japanese frivolity (by my standard)! After breakfast we set out walking to BIC camera. We decided to see what was going on underground and found an extensive mall. One of the first shops we Czytaj więcej
Sapporo to Tokyo

An early start and a very expensive taxi ride to the airport for our early flight to Tokyo. We took off on time and had a 1 hour 20 minute flight arriving at Haneda.
After collecting our bags and Czytaj więcej
Tokyo to Hong Kong

We were up, packed and checked out by 5.30am. We caught the inter terminal bus to terminal 2 and checked in for our flight to Hong Kong.
We took off on time and arrived to rain in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong to Auckland

We had a 8 hour wait in Hong Kong but I’d booked a lounge so it was semi comfortable. We had some food and a very welcome shower.
Our flight left on time and arrived in Auckland after 10 hours.
Auckland to home

We made it through the airport quickly and managed a quick snack in the domestic koru lounge before our final flight to Wellington.