Tuesday 15th September

Got up about 8ish, packed up, few people still asleep so we went as quietly as we could. Quick stop at the post office to send those discs, keeping our fingers crossed. It only takes about a week to send them, was surprised at how fast they could be delivered.
Hakuba was a lot further away then we expected, I mean it is in the Japanese Alps, so about as high up as we would go, but didn't expect it to take so long. Four trains later (lots of sleeping, reading, watching films, writing diaries etc) we finally arrived at just after 6pm, a long day. It was dark outside and we called the hostel for our free pickup. Whilst wandering the station we found 2 extremely large spiders, fascinating to look at, but didn't want to get too close, they didn't look too friendly.
A lovely lady picked us up from the station and very kindly took us too supermarket before going to hostel as it is about a 15min walk away and she assumed we would want to just relax tonight. Grabbed some bits for dinner tonight and brekky for the next couple of mornings, of course I got some snacks, can't go a day without a snack or two te he.
The hostel was the best yet, I mean all the K's hostels are like hotels but this one was particularly nice, plus as this area is only busy in the winter for skiing, it was very quiet, there was only Ad and I and two other guys staying there, so we got a dorm to ourselves, so nice and they even had a video cam for skype so we could see those who we were talking to at home BRILLIANT!!
Little bit chillier up here, but was perfectly cosy in the hostel, plus tea was free, so I snuggled up in my fleece and drank tea into the night whilst emailing and sorting my photos into order on facebook, was time well spent me thinks.

Wednesday 16th September

Up at our usual 8ish, egg on toast to start the day mmmmmmmmmm (reminded us of our first morning in Tokyo when the hostel offered us egg on toast for free), with a tea of course. Was a little cloudy outside, but we hoped once up the mountain it wouldn't be too bad. The couple running the hostel said it would have probably been better if we had gone up in the early morning, but oh well.

Was given basic directions to the cable car, but nope couldn't find it, some Ozzie guy pointed us in the right direction and once through the woods on a dirt track we found it. Lovely grassy mountain sides which were used as ski slopes in the winter- looked pretty steep in some places though. We caught the cable car up to the Alps restaurant on the top, was lovely views from there. Walked around the top where there were lots of flower beds and little walk ways, benches to rest and look out over the other mountains, was gorgeous, I can imagine it is really nice in the winter as well.

Walked for hours over the tops of these mountatins, there were many steps and some fairly steep parts but we were on a mission, not sure how high we were about 3000 meters I think, but it was high enough, was quite puffed out. For about 30mins or so we were in the clouds and couldn't see a thing, so we opted to turn back and make our way back to the cable car. Felt really good, lots of exercise and fresh air, really enjoyed it. Always enjoy mountains and walking a lot, especially when you can see for miles, just feels like you have exerted yourself a bit and where it was a little chilly it was a refreshing experience, really woke us up.

Made up some silly songs on the way down, was like a juke box, although Ad did join in and I think we could def make up the next number one hit te he.

A bright green spider decided to try and walk up the sleeve of my top, Ad wasn't quite sure what I was up to when I started stripping on top of the mountatin, think he thought the altitude had gone to my head. Never did find that spider, it's probably still travelling with me.

Cable car back to the bottom and got back to hostel about 4ish. Was going to cycle around the lake, but once we'd settled with a cuppa and sorted some more pics on facebook, we were hooked.

Took time out to have a delious noodle dinner that Ad had cooked and relax a little with a beer or two. Perfect way to rest after our long day of exercise.

Was really nice to see mum and dad later, as it was just going into the the early hours here, which was mum's birthday, we say happy birthday to her, how perfect to have a web cam for that, was really chuffed. Spoke them for ages while Ad was chatting to his fam and then briefly caught my friend Claire online as well, was so strange to be chatting like we were in the same room, but so far apart, cool though, hopefully we'll find a web cam on our route again.

Time for bed now.....