We wandered down our goat-track to Gora Station, which boasts both a standard railway line as well as a funicular line (cable-railway up a steep incline - thanks Google) up to Sounzan Station. From here, we transferred to a Ropeway - this one stretched delightfully over the top of a vast gorge crammed full of sulfurous vents (I'm pretty sure I saw a sign saying Hades this way down there somewhere). We got out at Owakudani Station, with Lily gleefully enquiring whether I enjoyed that last section.
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| Suspended above a valley of erupting sulfurous vapour? Sign me up. |
We popped out onto the western balcony of Owakudani Station and managed to catch a glimpse of Mt Fuji (or part thereof). Not bad considering the day was reasonably cloudy.
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| Mt Fuji - well, a bit of it. |
After displaying some embarrassing levels of enthusiasm over this partial-sighting, we made our way up the stinky mountain-side to the east of the station. There was a reasonably-sized kiosk/restaurant perched there that we temporarily sated Joshies desire for pancakes in. Outside - in the icy, sulfurous winds racing across the mountain-top was a Hello Kitty dressed as a black-boiled egg.
Obviously.
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| Even Hello Kitty loves sulfur-vent boiled eggs. |
We boarded the next Ropeway to make our way down to the shores of Lake Ashi - where we were greeted by some rather unique ferries. If Disney was looking for some completely over-the-top-cheerful Pirate ships, they would have found them on Lake Ashi. The wide expanse of water conveniently allowed the icy winds to blast us in an uninterrupted fashion, leaving us with a rather tousled look.
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| I'm pretty sure I saw Mickey Mouse at the wheel. |
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| Our vessel - a fearsome mint-green with gold trimmings. |
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| Random Torii on the shore of Lake Ashi. |
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| Our ever-so subtle Ferry. |
We disembarked at Hakone Machi-ko, and took a 20 minute walk to Moto Hakone-ko (essentially the next bay along), before jumping on an even more flamboyant Pirate-ferry for the return leg.
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| Hakone-jinja Shrine |
Mt Fuji remained just as elusive on our way back over the mountain, but we managed to strike up a conversation with a gentleman from the Kansai region (captive audience I guess).
The bigger kids had their first Onsen tonight (we booked a private, family room - prudes that we are) and I got to watch In the Nightgarden with Joshie... They came back looking very pink and enthused. We set off for Mt Fuji in the morning, and then on to Matsumoto in the afternoon.
