Breakfast at the Richmond Hotel Cafe and a new toy for Georgia

Western style breakfast for the win. Eggs, sausages, toast and pancakes, not too mention yogurt and fruit. Now that is how I like starting the day. Throw in a slight discount for hotel guests and this cafe is a winner.



They have a bunch of touristy nick knacks and toys at the counter. Georgia noticed a little pink fake computer. It has lots of buttons that play music. Each letter of the alphabet spells out a word - "K. K A N G A R O O, kangaroo". Mostly it says words or phrases in English but inexplicably drops into Japanese occasionally. Yep, now her new favourite toy. Into the treasures bag it goes.

Breakfast and sayonara to Kokuya

It snowed over night so there was a light dusting of snow over our balcony. This bodes well because we had decided to go see the snow monkeys again. Our next stop will be Matsumoto and it's not more than a couple of hours there from Yudanaka so we reckon we have enough time to see the monkeys again. Having said that we still need to give ourselves some time to get to Matsumoto because the last time we did this drive we drove into Matsumoto in near blizzard conditions and struggled to find the car rental drop off before it closed. That time we got to the car rental place within five minutes of closing but the guys were cool enough to drop us back at our hotel. I'm pretty sure they'd have found our frozen corpses in the Spring thaw if we'd attempted getting to our hotel by ourselves. Sometimes the service in Japan can be extraordinary. We're not dropping the car at Matsumoto this time so we won't be as stressed about getting there at certain time.

But before we go off gallivanting over the countryside we had to have our last dip in the onsen, breakfast and then check out of the ryokan. There's never enough time in the mornings for us sleepyheads to have a long soak in the tub. We have to have breakfast over and done by 9 AM and checked out by 10. With the breakfast spreads as they are you do not want to miss breakfast under any circumstances.

Again, breakfast is special. I actually struggle making a reasonable attempt to try everything. I'm usually just a toast and cereal kind of guy and I really have trouble coping with more than that. But you have to try. Michelle has no problems. I think she loves Japanese breakfast more than just about anything.

We thanked our delightful breakfast, and dinner, servers. Those women are extraordinary. They're there first thing in the morning serving us breakfast and still there last thing in the evenings serving us dinner.

After breakfast we finish packing and load the car which has magically appeared in front of the lobby again. Georgia got to say hello to a little doggy that belongs to one of the staff or the ryokan. After a few photos in front of the Ryokan we wave bye bye to our wonderful hostess and drive about 100 metres up the road to a small shrine and stairway for more photos. At this rate it will take us about 3 hours for the 10 minute drive to the snow monkey park. But Georgia in her parka and little red boots is worth a photo or two at every opportunity.

Breakfast at Kokuya and, hey, where'd they hide the car?

Breakfast isn't served in the room. In Ryokans breakfast is generally served in a large buffet or in private tatami mat rooms. Breakfast at Kokuya is in a private tatami mat room and is every bit as good as we remember. All the usual type stuff - fish, rice, pickles and the most delicious onsen eggs. We keep forgetting to get them, but out the front of the Ryokan is a small hot spring fountain. In it they keep a basket of eggs for sale at about 50 yen each.

Breakfast spread

Delicious onsen egg

Surprise Daddy!

Georgia enjoying her breaky

Onsen eggs in the hot spring outside of the ryokan

After breakfast we ask for our car. It was whisked away to car parks unknown when we checked in the night before. Like magic it appears at the front door of the lobby. Within minutes we're off to the Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park which is only about 10 minutes drive from our Ryokan.

The car back where we left it

Breakfast at Osenkaku

The night had been pretty blowy and windy but we were rugged up like the proverbial bugs. I think we had a minor blizzard over night, or at least a big dump. There was plenty of fresh snow on the ground and in the trees. But except for the wind and the creaking of the building you'd never know. The futons were comfy and warm. Georgia loved being on a futon for a while but she became restless and was more comfortable back in her travel cot.

Futons: so comfy

Breakfast at Osenkaku is almost as good as Dinner. Again, too much food if anything. We had a choice of western or Japanese breakfast and a kids breakie for Georgia. Way too much for one little girl - sausages, omelette, salad, cereal, jelly and a banana. I think I want hers tomorrow. The Japanese breakfast is very good, Michelle loves her Japanese breakfasts, but sometimes I just need a bit of cereal and toast.

Breakfast

I know I keep saying it but you will not go hungry at a ryokan like Osenkaku.

Fish

Egg, salad and rice

After breakfast the most important thing we have to do is relax and relax hard. So it is back to the onsen for a leisurely dip before we think about lunch.

Family of 3 with one in the oven

The stroll to the rotenburo

Some of the eclectic... um... art you'll find on your way down to the rotenburo.

Starbucks... again

There is apparently so little street crime in Japan it really wasn't something we even thought about. We'd see people in Starbucks leave their phone on a table to reserve the table while they bought their coffee. Imagine doing that in Sydney? We'd just leave Georgia at the table to save our spot (kidding).

Anyway, another coffee and doughnut stop at Starbucks to start the day.

Man those sugar donuts are good.

Breakfast at Starbucks and getting my phone to work

If Japan has one failing for tourists it is the ready availability of decent coffee. We did some research and there are a few independent coffee shops around that do serve a decent cappuccino or espresso but none within "oh my god I've just woken up give me coffee now" distance.  There are, however, plenty of Starbucks. Almost on every block in fact.  Starbucks, we found last time we came, does do a reasonable approximation of a decent cappuccino. You can even get it a ceramic mug and not one of those god awful paper cups. They also have great sugar donuts.

So I was set for breakfast. In Tokyo at least. Michelle is eating for two and Georgia needs a more balanced diet than donuts, so we'd also drop into Dotour on the way to Starbucks and pick up a Milano Sandwich A, a ham and salad roll, and something like and egg sandwich or ham and cheese sandwich for Georgia. And sometimes toast for me. Dotour's toast is pretty good too.

As soon as we step into Dotour or Starbucks the friendly servers pull out their English language menu cards and thrust them at us even though they have the same pictures as the Japanese menus. We usually just point and gesticulate. The service in Japan usually extraordinarily good. Even in Starbucks every customer that walks in the door is greeted with the Japanese welcome shout of "irashaimase".

We'd also duck into the Family Mart or Lawson Station across the road from the hotel for their delicious fresh sandwiches and yoghurt (for Georgia).

Last night I was too knackered to be bothered loading the data SIM from b-mobile into my phone so I did it at Starbucks this morning. Goddammit, but I got a SIM locked message when I put the new SIM in the phone. The phone was supposed to have been unlocked. I had never checked because I'd assumed I done it when I bought it. I phoned Vodafone in Australia, stressing the whole time because how long the call was taking and speculating how much Vodafone would charge me for the call, and stressing that they wouldn't or couldn't unlock the SIM. In the end the lady I spoke to texted the unlock code to me. The phone accepted the code and I was able to load the b-mobile SIM and configure it to connect. Squeeeee, I'm back on-line baby. This data SIM doesn't have phone call ability but I have Skype and use WhatsApp for messaging so I don't need SMS and cell phone connectivity. Mate, the Facebook App loads data fast. Back home the mobile phone networks are touting their "new" 4G speeds but this 2 year old 3G smart phone is getting download speeds comparable to the advertised 4G speeds at home. Another reason to hate the big 3 mobile phone companies in Australia. I'm actually able to load 5 photos on to Facebook faster than it takes to load one at home. The speed seems comparable to my WiFi network at home amazingly.

If you're travelling to Japan the data SIM I got, and recommend, is the 14 day 1GB SIM for 3980 yen (about $40) from b-Mobile. As I mentioned, use Skype to make phone calls and WhatsApp for messaging. The cost of roaming in Japan with Vodafone is horrendous. About $30 per MB! Having my phone on this morning and phoning Vodafone ended up costing about $40. Using my phone as I usually would could cost hundreds of dollars a day when roaming. Fuck that for a joke. Thank you b-Mobile for your $40 SIM. Just make sure your mobile is unlocked before you leave.

Coffee and donuts done it was time to look for lunch. Seriously, we came here to eat.

Myrtleford Butter Factory

Long weekends don't seem so long when you're on your way back home. Before heading off on a 7 hour drive you need to have a good breakfast and that is why we stop in Myrtleford at The Butter Factory. Coffee, toast, pancakes with butter and Canadian maple syrup, bacon and eggs and eggs benedict.
The Butter Factory is pretty popular so we weren't able get a seat inside but they eventually managed to get a heater started up on the verandah which made sitting outside marginally less freezing. It had been cold enough that their cold water pipes had frozen earlier that morning. When I was growing up here as a kid our water pipes froze on a regular basis in Winter. Many a morning we'd have no cold water till midday when the sun had a chance to thaw out the pipes.








After brekky team Nixon split up. Moira went south to Melbourne and home and we set a course north for Sydney.
Only one more incident of note for the weekend before we got home. I seemed to be pissing people off this weekend. We stopped for petrol in Albury about an hour into the trip. I filled it up, paid and went to the dunny. I thought I'd better wash the windscreen because it was spattered with bugs and it was pretty messy. I'd just started doing the windscreen when I realised that a 4 wheel drive was parked in behind the Cressida in the queue to get petrol. The woman in the car leaned out and said "You've been there a while. Move out of the way so I can fill up." I thought, give me a break I won't be that long but I said "I won't be long. How about I move forward a bit?"
She said "No move over there," she gestured to the car park about 50 metres away, "You've been there a while." I noticed now that she was quite cranky.
Rude bitch I thought and I picked up the water bucket and squeegee again and went back to my windscreen. I was going to move the car a bit so she could get closer to the fuel pump but she blew it by being rude. She got out of her car to give me another serve. I think fucking dick was mentioned. I ignored her and kept meticulously cleaning all my windows. I had intended to clean all the windows from the get go but now I thought she was really going to be annoyed. And she was. "Now you're just being a fucking prick," she said.
"A bit," I said.
She kept jumping into and out of her car to say a few choice words to me. I told her if she stopped annoying me I could get it done quicker.
By now Michelle had returned from the dunny and I filled her in on what had been happening. Michelle said something to me and the woman jumped out of her car again and started towards us saying "What did you call me?"
Michelle just said "I wasn't talking to you" and the woman sized up Michelle and she got back into her car. She kept mouthing off at us though. I finished the windows and we got into the car and drove off, slowly. The woman rolled her car forward with her head out the window spouting shit at us. I wound down my window and told her to relax and have a good day. Bitch.
I think I just attract/provoke the wrong sort of crowd. Maybe I am a prick.

Gigi's of Beechworth

Ah yes Gigi's. We came here last year for breakfast and had issues with the service. We should have taken note. This year it wasn't the service so much as the bottle neck in the kitchen. Over an hour from the time we sat down till we got our food. At least I got my coffee in 30 minutes. Overall it wasn't too bad. Maybe a little expensive. The girls essentially had a version of eggs florentine and I had pancakes with maple syrup and bacon and a poached egg.

Breakfast at Beechworth Provender

Muesli, coffee and sourdough toast in the sunshine.


Beechworth Provender is at 18 Camp St Beechworth.

Leaving on a prop plane...

After the complimentary breakfast at the cafe in the Richmond Hotel of pancakes, bacon and eggs where the waitress seemed mighty interested in the fact we weren't Japanese ( Australia? Oooooh) we rolled out into the snow and caught a taxi to the airport. The taxi driver didn't seem convinced we'd be flying today. I wasn't convinced the taxi driver would get us to the airport. We'd also asked the hotel receptionist to call the airport to see if our flight would be flying too. She found out that no decision would be made till 9.30AM. Very reassuring.
After a little confusion at the airport as to what and when the flight we were on (there's like two flights a day) we actually took off on time. They get the military out to clear the airport of snow I think. Just before we boarded though we were told that depending on the weather in Sapporo we may have to return to Matsumoto. Sweet.
After an hour and a half of relatively bump free propeller action at 23,000 feet we arrived on time in Sapporo. Almost as much snow in Sapporo as Matsumoto. Hokkaido, the island that Sapporo is the capitol, is known for its cold winters though.