Four Points Day 9: Cosmic Inn Onsen to Sapporo

Distance: 206km

Sunday was a bit of an uneventful day. We rose early, ate Japanese breakfast at the Cosmic Inn in Shosanbetsu, and quickly got on the road as we were worried about making it back to Sapporo in good time to return our car and for Sonomi to make her train back to Aomori. Lindsay took the first shift behind the wheel and wound up driving us all the way back to Ishikari as we made surprisingly good time. Maybe it was all of our experience from having large distances to cover in little time over the past 8 days, or maybe it was Sonomi's hypnotizing soundtrack of This American Life that kept us rolling smoothly and making good time. Or maybe it was the fact that this was the section of the road trip with which Mark, Lindsay, and I were most familiar as we'd driven up this same road last September, then back down it to Sapporo on a similarly perfect Sunday.

We didn't have anything of note planned for the Sunday, and that was a good thing because we didn't seem to run into anything of note on the drive home. There was sun and there was clouds as we drove down the coast and the flat of Sarobetsu from the previous day built back up into the rocky sea cliffs of the south-west, and, over all, it was a good day for driving. We tried to hold on to the last of our holiday and the last of our epic adventure, but as we got closer and closer to Sapporo, Real Life seemed to loom ever larger in our thoughts, pushing out all the carefree and leaving only the promise of Monday. Faced with the prospect of returning to our day-to-days tomorrow, the exhaustion of the last nine days finally caught up with us. When we made ridiculously good time and finally said goodbye in Sapporo just after 1pm, I think all any of us wanted to do was get home, get changed, and get into bed.

Four Points Day 8: Okope to Cosmic Inn Onsen

Distance: 295km

Turning over as I wake up on the floor of Kevin's apartment in Okoppe, I expect to find Lindsay but find only Party Boy Neil Gaiman Jr.

Mark, having to share Sonomi with the monster they created.

Smoking is FUUUNNNNNN!!!

The most northern point in all of Japan. Just as underwhelming as last time. You can see Russia from it (Sakhalin), though--and that's actual Russia, not Sarah-Palin-Mistaking-A-Pod-Of-Orcas-ussia.

Mark: "You know what we should do? We should take that same detour in search of the mythic Tengu Waterfall, and we should walk up that same sketchy road I scouted last time, and we should all get a group photo on that creepy, motion-sensing, automated camera box I found. Whoever's monitoring that thing would LOVE it."

The view over Wakkanai. Pretty, but you're not missing much.

The flat of Sarobetsu, just south of Wakkanai: one of my favourite parts of Hokkaido.

We never suspected just how far the Cosmic Inn that we booked into would take its cosmic theme. The Yukatas were all starred and mooned up, the rooms were named after constellations, our key chains were stars, and there was a rather impressive giant telescope and observatory a short walk from the hotel. Yes, I'm implying that the onsen hotel preceded the observatory and not the other way around.

The glorious sunset that happened on our 20-minute drive from Cosmic in Shosanbetsu to Haboro for a Konbini. Of course, I had left my REAL camera in my room at the onsen hotel >:(

Sunset from Haboro, outside the Seico. Still glorious.

A weird picture of the giant telescope we got to look through.

It should be noted that Mark is not doing anything sketchy in this photo.

Neither are Lindsay and Sonomi in this one. Notice the cosmic yukatas.

Party Boy Neil Gaiman Junior (PBNgJ) and Tengu Man holding up the 2D end of my birthday celebrations.

Birthday Boy and silly hats.

Four Points Day 7: Rausu to Okoppe

Distance: 245km

I had the bright idea for us all to get up at 5am to watch the sun rise over Kunashiri island from Rausu. I'm pretty sure the majority of the car wanted to murder me when I dragged them out of bed...that was until they saw it.

Party Boy Neil Gaiman Jr. was not impressed that we left him in Ben's apartment while we all went and watched the sunrise.

Howdy, pilgrim.

Just Watching. This was in the window of one of the many Shiretoko tour boat operators who told us it was far too wavy for them to tour us along the coast of the peninsula from Utoro. The boats are one of the few ways to see the wildest parts of the peninsula other than if you hike in.

Kevin: our third (fourth? Does Kyle's empty apartment in Nemuro count) and final ALT host for the four points tour, and one more member of our Toronto JET crew that set out for Japan back in August of 2009. He took us out to his favourite Izakaiya in his town of Okoppe, where they bake chickens whole and sling delicious pizza. They also told us that the only way we could see their full menu would be if Kevin recited it to us.

Four Points Day 6: Akan-ko to Rausu

Distance: 290km (there was a lot of turning around needed to cover all the lakes around Akan)

As I'm getting tired of writing, and I took a pile of photos today on the ol iPhoneroonie, here's a Photoblog thing about our drive from Akan to Ben's apartment in Rausu-cho, in the bastion of wilderness that is Shiretoko (the Bed of Wisdom):

Kushy, the sea monster thought to inhabit Lake Kusharo

A slanty look at Nakajima, the central island in Lake Kusharo

Kushy Attacks!

A look inside the Kusharo Onsen...with naked consequences.

More Kusharo Onsen

And more onsen

There's no doubt that the water in the Kusharo Onsen is natural as the steam from it turns all of the faucets a burnished black and rots the mirrors.

Looking slick

The gaseous mountain whose name I can't remember between lakes Kusharo and Mashu

Warning. Exposure will turn you livid yellow-green like the sulfur vents!

The end point of our short hike in Shiretoko

The mountains of Shiretoko

More Shiretoko mountains

The ladies in the park

The number of deer in Shiretoko is ridiculous

And they're almost Miyajima tame

Behold: BEERMAN!

Everything's bigger in Rausu: the ashtrays....

...the beers. This is 1L of beer for 1,000円

Ben, our host in Rausu, telling us what's what at his local Izakaiya

SUPER BEER!