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Winter 2025
  • Simon Randfield
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  • Simon Randfield

Winter 2025

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    🇳🇿 Auckland, New Zealand
    Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler
    1

    Auckland

    December 17 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    We returned to Ewen and Antonia's flat in Auckland as some of us had night shifts in ED, some had appraisals, some had interviews and some old git had a birthday.
    We had a lovely relaxed few days exploring locally on foot and by bike. We caught up with Nicola and Chris Coombes who had generously hosted us on each of our previous trips. I had a birthday surprise trip to the All Blacks experience: the skills stations suggested the only thing I have in common with the All Blacks is being a bad loser. Next day Hels and I borrowed the bikes again and headed over to Waiheke on the ferry. What a wonderful place- coffee, vineyards and lovely food, linked by hilly wiggly roads perfect for biking ( apart from some particularly steep hills). We ended up at Batch winery sharing a lovely tasting platter and a Merlot straight from the vines. What a lovely day out rounded off perfectly with dinner at Ragtag and a drink or two dodging the trombone player .
    A bit of Christmas shopping a haircut or two, a bit of life-min and we're ready for South Island adventures🙂    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler
    121

    Back in the Bay of Islands

    December 14 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Just a quick hop across the Tasman and hey! We're back in New Zealand! It almost felt like coming home, but the homecoming was tarnished by long queues through the something to declare queue due to muddy shoes...
    An uber into Auckland and Ewen and Antonia's flat, slap bang in the centre. Toni very kindly russled up some yummy pasta then we had a wander round the corner to the harbour front and a million works Christmas parties!
    Ewen returned from work at some ungodly hour but we were ready to hit the road in the ever reliable Bev ( car) by 8am😳.
    Heading North , Toni had spied a brilliant local market in Matakana, well worth the detour,and I had spotted some famous toilets in Kawakawa, also worth a ( smaller) detour. If you are in to toilets. Or the architect, Hundertwasser. I am one of those, I'll let you decide which.
    This was all a pre-amble to a return to Russell, in the Bay of Islands, where we lived and worked for a few months in 2011.
    It was great for at least 3 of us to wander the streets, past the old school, old medical practice and old house- all within 100yds of each other. The place looked just as quaint, just as lovely, as we remembered. A swim at the town beach in memory of regattas past, and walked the route of the famous flagstaff hill race where I pushed past crowds of barefoot 12 yr olds to storm to victory.
    The next day we drove the long and winding road to Rawhiti ( aren't all roads here long and winding?) to pick up a water taxi out to Deep Water Cove. This allowed us to take 10k off the Cape Brett Trail , making it feasible as a out and back day walk. Or so we thought.
    The route was amazing , snaking through the bush to the ridge line which it then sinuously followed out to the lighthouse with views out to the hole- in- the-rock rock. Spectacular. Then we reversed the route. By the time were back where we started we were beginning to realise we'd underestimated the hardness of the trail- relentless up/ down , up / down and overestimated our meagre rations. We still had another 10k to go. Although Tonis amazing homemade muffins and 100% renewable-electricity-made wriggly worms got us through the feared 3rd quarter and and home, we got to rationing the water to the sip and googling can you drink nz stream water (and other things)
    A cheeky little not- ok diversion at the end across Oki beach threw in a do or die race against the waves. Result: 3-1 to the sea.
    However, as is always the way (think lake matiri hut and many others) and through the perspective of a nice dinner and a beer or two it all seemed like a jolly good adventure later.    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler
    113

    Tasmania- Tasman peninsula

    December 5 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    Tasmania is a small
    Island of the coast of Australia: right? We're only visiting one small part of it: right? So why does it take hours to drive from one bit to another? Hmm...
    Our crack of dawn start transpired into an 11 o'clock start for our hike. Fortunately the vagaries of the Tasmanian weather means that overwhelming 32deg storm force winds one day is breezy and cool 18 deg the next day..
    Cape Huay and views of the iconic Totem Pole sufficed today. We followed this with a visit to Port Arthur - another impressive Victorian era convict site and then some weird "tessellated pavements" before back to "Adrift" at "Flotsam and Jetsam" and some R &R . Well, an hour or so....    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler
    1211

    Tasmania East Coast-Bicheno

    December 4 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 26 °C

    Hit the road, Jack, to get up to the eastern Tassie coast- beaches, coffee and wine were promised. Headed to the Freycinet peninsula to run/walk the iconic Wineglass Bay trail, returning via Hazards beach in increasing heat.
    There's a reason it's (one of) the most popular day hike(s) in Tasmania- the hike takes you through the Hazard mountains, littered with colossal granite boulders to a breathtaking view out over a perfect crescent of unspoilt sand. Dropping down to the beaches the several hundred steps allowed the crowds to thin out somewhat.
    A couple of wallabies , one with a Joey in the pouch. Nice! On the way back I also saw an echinda and became very excited about these weird monotremes.
    Fluids, coffee and ice creams revived and we squeezed another couple of beaches- sleepy and honeymoon- before heading to our motel in Bicheno and a lovely lobster roll at the destination Lobster Shack for tea.
    Pre breakkie car recovery run for me whilst Helen joined the Bicheno Bathers for a morning dip. Breakfast with the school drop off then a short drive to Apsley Gorge, though not before a long chat about snakes, snake packs and shark bands with Hels' swimming buddies 😳.
    We did see a tiger snake, but he was more interested in getting out of our way and actually swam awayelegantly across the river! The walk was an hour or so bushwhacking before an excellent boulder hop down the gorge with beautiful, albeit cold, swimming holes.
    What better way to counter all this activity but some tassie wine tasting then the ashes?    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler
    1

    Tasmania-Hobart

    December 3 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    2 days in Melbourne and we needed to jump on a plane to Tasmania to dry out!!
    Hobart is a satisfyingly small city and easy to navigate. Bus drivers were chummy and in no time we had booked into our historic waterfront hotel and were out again on the water taxi to MONA- the museum of old and new art, a provocative Tasmanian institution. And we certainly had our artistic neurones stimulated in many ways.....
    The next day we caught the tourist bus half way up Mt Wellington- and walked the rest. An amazing 1200 m mountain that looms over the city. What an amazing place to live! We rounded off the day with a visit to the " female factory" and learned some of the horrific ( female) convict history, before wandering down the Hobart Rivulet and back home.    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler

    Melbourne-a family reunion

    December 3 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Overnight flight with Quantas was delayed by a couple of hours- the first inefficiency we have met in Japan! But it meant that those in Melbourne had a few more hours kippage and we arrived to be picked up by Kerry soon to be whisked across Melbourne and out for a yummy brunch with Ewen and Antonia, who'd flown across from NZ for the weekend. How very exciting to all be together- and maybe the only time for quite a while to come....😔
    A wander around the streets and parks of Melbourne dodging showers- and the coldest first day of summer for 40 yrs!!
    So, keen to meet Kerry's boyf James, we arranged an early rendezvous at 5 and put him through The Randfield Test- no colander of death , just vast amounts of beer and wine- which he ably matched. Well done ,James- and welcome!!
    Not surprisingly the next day was a bit of a write off with hangovers dictating a slow pace. But lovely to wander Kerry's Fitzroy.    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler
    21

    Land of the rising sun: reflections?

    November 28 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    What a great holiday! Amazing history sites and activities- but even more so the cultural difference in every walk of life. Made us question so many things about western culture. So many differences with all aspects of life. Supposedly due to / exaggerated by 200 years of closed borders and cultural isolation.
    So polite. So kind! How many times were we greeted with a konnitchiwa and a deferential bow? Try doing it whilst you're jogging!! No crime. An embarrassment to raise your voice or loose your rag.
    Personal space is respected, despite folk living on top of each other.
    Houses seem to be made from cardboard. No insulation. Central heating is sitting under a blanket at a heated table.
    No doors on hinges: everything slides...and don't forget to duck!
    No beds! Futons, tatami mats and weird buckwheat pillows.
    Where do we start with bathrooms?squashed baths. But don't shower in the bath but on the floor beside. Or better still, neither: go to the onsen( public shared baths). And make sure you're clean before going in the bath. And no clothes!
    And, like first love, who will ever forget their first experience of the Japanese toilet? Unfailingly clean , welcome heated seat and an array of cleansing options - even in rural public toilets.
    The beer is good, but let's face it , sake is best left for cleaning paintbrushes.
    Expect to eat anything and everything: its unlikely to be cooked- either you eat it raw or you cook it at the table. I doubt you'll see a knife and fork. But stumbling through a meal with chopsticks slows everything down and increases the enjoyment. The diet is so healthy: obesity rates were something like 3% ( wrt 30% in the uk). Lots of oldies - many still "occupied" with road sweeping/ managing diversions/ driving local buses.
    Don't ever jay walk. And don't walk on escalators ( except in Tokyo). Despite all this, everything works: everything's on time. The only thing that was delayed was our Quanta's flight on departure!
    No bins- take your rubbish home! Yet so much plastic packaging! And who needs so many individually packaged wet wipes?
    Books read backwards- why not? And arguably preferential for a leftie. 3 Japanese alphabets!!
    Loved the minimalist art and architecture- although the zen garden left me thinking... why? Everything is meticulously chosen or placed, yet nothing is quite "perfect"- that's wabi sabi. Perfect imperfection.
    What a great country!    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler

    Nara

    November 27 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Fantastic Ryokan in Ki-katsuura. The best food ( dinner and breakfast, both virtually interchangeable) and all sorts of onsens, including one a boat trip away in a cave where I think thunderbird 2 used to park.
    Then an effortless 4 hours of trains back north to Nara.
    Nara used to be the capital of Japan, before Kyoto, before Tokyo. Therefore it has a fair smattering of old temples and a more relaxed town atmosphere on the edge of parkland and countryside. We elected for a dawn visit to the must-see great Buddha- we were actually there before they opened!- but beat the crowds. Then a wander round a load more parkland, temples of every shape and size perused by the omnipresent sicka deer.    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler
    11

    Kumano Kodo day 4

    November 25 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    Accommodation last night was very different from the previous nights home stays -a big lux hotel with an onsen- shared natural hot baths. Once we had negotiated the dos and donts of onsen behaviour - mainly revolving around soap, slippers and ( lack of) clothing, we were able to come to a slow simmer in a pit dug in the side of the riverbed outside the hotel.
    Later I was like a kid at Christmas in the all you can eat Japanese buffet, and felt quite the part in my kimono/yukata combo, apparent from trying not to flash the waitress.
    All this led to a good nights sleep ( for me) and a pre dawn start. We decided to rip up the agenda/ route set to finish or trek in style and took a bus to kogechi, allowing us to complete the trip as we started it- on foot. This did mean traversing the " body breaking slope" and "abode of the dead", but allowed us to drop down into Nachi Taisha, a fitting end to our odyssey. What we hadnt planned for was dreich cold weather , and thick cloud, so a different vibe today. Though I'd be happy for the sunny weather we'd had so far to have continued, the misty clag gave a spooky ethereal feel: abode of the dead indeed. This section of trail was remote but a combination of Japanese infrastructure and technology meant there was one of the ubiquitous vending machines at 800m half way, where we discovered they dispensed hot coffee and hot soup!
    A long descent through the cloud base at the end was frustrated by the lack of gaps in the trees so we could only imagine the fantastic views of vertiginous mountain slopes, swirling clouds and distant Pacific Ocean... some price for trees!
    Arriving at Nachisen/Nachi Taisha was arriving in a different world- bus tours and folk everywhere. But another sacred Buddhist / Shinto space. Here is the highest waterfall in Japan- the Nachi Taisha, so beautiful that it became an object of worship itself. Deification of natural objects is a common feature of the kumano Shintoism and what makes walking through this landscape more special.
    A bus down to the coast and we were back in a fancy hotel with a flurry of slippers, kimonos, tatami and onsens. Dinner was a veritable feast- the best meal yet, multiple courses, served either raw or cooked at the table, all served in intricate pottery .God help the washer- up.    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler
    11111

    Kumano Kodo day 3

    November 24 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    Another stunning day on the Kumamo. In just a few km we reached the end of our pilgrimage, the Hongu Taisha. It was really quite impressive and lively with the sound of chanting, drumming and the thrum of tourists. We spent a wee while ringing bells, bowing and clapping with the peaceful crowds, and once fully spiritually awakened, went for a coffee. At this point we decided we wanted to walk on to our nights accomodation rather than the planned series of buses, so up and over to the first onsen ( hot springs) where we boiled some eggs then on down the valley across bridges and through tunnels to our hotel.hotel tonight was somewhat more glamorous than the rustic home stays to date and we swanned around in our kimonos for a while. Our hotel is built around an onsen , so instead of immersing eggs we immersed ourselves and had a lovely soak as dusk fell watching red kites fly up and down the valley and the moon rise over the trees.Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler
    111

    Kumano Kodo day 1

    November 22 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    So begins 4 days trekking in the remote mountains of the Kii peninsula: the Kumano Kodo. This route follows one of the ancient pilgrimage routes dating back more than than 1000 years linking 3 grand shrines where Shinto and Buddhism have intertwined with the local geography.
    From the 11th century pilgrims have visited the Kumano to train their souls to reach paradise.
    Let's see how we get on.    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler
    Tsunami defences

    Tanabe

    November 21 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    Several hours of easy train rides, feasting on our Eki-Ben and craft beer, and we're at the bottom of the Kii peninsula to start the Kumano Kodo- along with the Camino, the only UNESCO protected pilgrimage.Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler
    1

    Kyoto

    November 19 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 9 °C

    What trip to Japan could not include Kyoto? The historical capital and cultural centre of the country is stacked full of imperial palaces, Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples ,Shoguns, Samurai and Geisha. What's less clear on the packaging is that its a city of 1.5 million, and all the above are scattered around this metropolis , making it a bit overwhelming to find your way around. Added to this every corner shop is a UNESCO world heritage site and is called something-ji.
    so we elected to take a bike tour to suss the place out . Inauspiciously, our guide was the unlikely "only Argentinian in town", Alex. However living in Japan for 10 years with a Japanese wife his outside/ inside perspective was fascinating.
    We've lucked out and the ephemeral autumn colours are at their peak- we never thought we'd get so excited about gardens! But Japan nails the imperfect perfection or wabi sabi of everything being just right in these amazing spaces.
    Day 2 and 3 in Kyoto saw us exploring more shrines and temples, gardens and coffee shops. We hit some of the blue riband sites and with that the crowds!! Whoa! So busy!! We took solace in Japanese food which continued to surprise and stimulate.    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler
    2
    2112We❤️shinanami!

    Shimanami Kaido

    November 17 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    We had a second, leisurely day on Naoshima mooching around coffee shops and "art houses". Japanese minimalism at its best. Then back to Okayama for the night and an early morning Shinkansen to Onomichi, the start of the shimanami Kaido- a " must do" bike ride linking multiple islands in the Seto Inland Sea. Very well developed in as much as there are brilliant cycle specific lanes winding up ( and down) from each bridge - never more than 3% and 80m- but the islands themselves are a mix of bucolic orange orchards above crisp sandy beaches and industrial units and ship building. Sort of like the Clyde once was, maybe? With citrus instead of Irn Bru..
    And continuing the Scottish analogy , it makes you realise the 5 ferries could put Scotland on the international cycling map if the ferries were reliable. Or there were bridges. And it was sunny. And no midges. And drivers weren't trying to to kill you.
    Any which way, it was great to be on the bike again.
    We got to our Ryokan just as the clouds rolled in, the rain started and it went dark. Time for a quick splash in the onsen then a magnificent feast on all sorts of unrecognisable seafood.
    After the best nights sleep on futons and tatami and a magnificent Japanese breakfast we were off early on our return journey. Expecting biting cold and horrific head winds we lucked out by taking a circuitous detour which all but kept out of the wind. This time we had a bridge , a ferry, 3 bridges, a ferry, a bridge and a final ferry back to Onamichi. Brilliant , well recommended!!    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler
    111

    Naoshima

    November 15 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    An hour from Okayama, by multiple local trains and a ferry, lies Naoshima. Previously a run down backwater- a mix of rural depopulation and a copper mine denuding the local nature- it was transformed into an "Art Island" with the establishment of the brutalist concrete Benesse museum and a couple of Yayoi Kusama pumpkins. Since then it continues to flourish with more installations, sculptures , art houses and galleries.
    Apart from the melee getting off the ferry and picking up one of the electric bikes to get you around the island, it's been a perfect antidote to the frenetic urban cacophony we've experienced so far in Japan    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler

    Okayama

    November 14 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Phew! Out of Tokyo and 3hrs on the Shinkansen, effortless travelling, to Okayama.
    Here as a stop off for Naoshima, but found some rickety old bikes to follow the Kibiji cycle path out of town. A bit like cycling out of Falkirk on the forth and Clyde canal, but with some Shintō shrines at the end. You're not going to find those in Bonnybridge!
    Back to base then a dusk walk down to the castle and gardens. Tonight's the night they put the winter lights on!    Read more

  • Simon RandfieldWinter 2025Traveler

    Toky-oh

    November 14 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    And they're off! A whirlwind few days in Tokyo as an abrupt and deep-dive into Japan and Japanese culture. Fantastically bewildering!!
    So what have we learned?
    Tokyo is very large: our central hotel was the best part of an hours commute from the .... centre.
    There's lots of people here. 14 million, 11% of Japan's population- and all on the Shinjuku subway every morning.
    Folk here have learned to live close together. Apart from cramming onto the subway, everyone respects each others space.
    Follow the rules. Don't jay-walk.
    Shintō shrines vs Buddhist temples...
    The fish market isn't a fish market anymore. Unless you go to the fish market.
    Very polite and helpful folk.
    Food has not disappointed- although haven't tried the pork rectum yet..
    Cycle where you wish and don't bother looking! You can actually relie on drivers looking out for you. ( please don't take this literally..)
    I want an all singing all scrubbing all dancing Japanese toilet !!    Read more

    Trip start
    November 10, 2025
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