Dinner Plain alpine village, Victoria, Australia

Just imagine an alpine high plain within 6 hours' drive from Melbourne. Snow Gum tree-lined tracks covered with 1 metre of fresh powder snow, unlike any ordinary snowscape elsewhere on Earth. That was our dream come true last week when we decided to do a winter ski holiday up on Dinner Plain, Victoria high country with Calvin, who's currently studying design & architecture in Melbourne's RMIT.

Daryl, our second son took a week off work (in insurance/financial planning) to bond with us in the snow. We had mandatory snowball fights, snowman & snow sculptures while Theresa was game enough to join the 2 brothers in learning how to ski, further up on Mt Hotham.

Renting our 3 nights' accommodation in a cosy chalet house at Peppers Rundells Alpine Lodge was value-for-money. It came with a wood-burning fireplace, full-fledged kitchen, washer & dryer, plus ample room and privacy for everyone. We even had snow shovelling equipment, reminiscent of our first white Christmas, 20 over years ago in Boston.

Mount Hotham, Australia

In life, we can plot and plan for success but there's always serendipity and a silver lining behind every dark cloud (pun intended!). Booking the hotel 6 months ahead was the easy part. However guaranteeing snow is really 90% serendipity. As luck would have it, a powerful blizzard piled on the best snow for Mt Hotham in decades.

We were initially complacent about booking ski lessons ahead of time, so when Dinner Plain's schedule was completely sold-out, we decided to hop on the 10-minute bus up the mountain and check out private beginners' class at Hotham Central.

So the silver lining was a special private session for the boys while Mum joined in for no extra charge! Our ski instructor, Jarrad, was ever-patient with us first-timers and at the end of 4 hours' coaching, each boy was confident enough to take to the higher slopes via chairlift.

Springtime in Kyoto, Japan & Hanami

Spring anywhere is always a season for celebration. But especially in Japan, "Hanami" or the happy ritual of cherry blossom viewing is unique and Theresa was ecstatic from Day 1 when we started chasing the blossoms from the valleys of Kyoto and Nara to the mountain regions of Honshu; namely Yoshinoyama, Takayama and finally, the alpine lake region around Mt Fuji, basing ourselves at Kawaguchiko.

This year, tourists and locals alike were relieved to observe that the sakura blooming season was right on schedule, unlike 2013 when it started a fortnight too early (and blooms usually last only 10 days!).

Theresa chose Kyoto over Tokyo for the simple fact that the old capital has lots more history and old architecture. This was all the more poignant when she did her geisha make-over in the historic quarter of Gion district, and was able to stroll alongside the old canal and narrow streets of yore.

Nara and Osaka

 

Although most visitors to Nara take home memories of the cute and not-so-docile deer (they can head-butt & bite!), the city is most significant in keeping alive its past heritage , both in politics as well as religion.

The Todaiji Temple for example is reputedly the largest known wooden structure in Japan, housing the biggest bronze statue of the Buddha. Intrepid tourists of course will take up the challenge of crawling through a tiny hole in a temple support pillar, hoping to succeed & reach nirvana. Theresa just had to prove that she could squeeze through and have me document her achievement.

We only planned a daytrip to see Osaka Castle and chose to join the many Japanese families having their hanami parties on a cool, bright & sunny weekend. It was a day well spent as the somei yoshino cherry trees around the castle grounds were in full bloom.

Mt Yoshinoyama, in Nara prefecture

Imagine, a whole mountainside planted with more than 30,000 yamazakura cherry trees, blossoming in various stages. No wonder it has been voted the best cherry blossom viewing spot in all of Japan. Even so, you'd find very few tourists flocking here from overseas for the simple reason that it's relatively inaccessible.

Luckily for us, we managed to book accommodations in nearby Kashihara and travel on the Kintetsu rail system that mandates a train change at Kashiharajingumae Station for the dedicated Yoshino Line. Logistics aside, we had to prepare our gear beforehand as the fickle mountain weather tested our ability to dress in layers and read the hourly weather forecast in order to dodge the rain (mostly in the afternoons). We also visited the famous Kinpusenji Temple on Yoshinoyama, an UNESCO world heritage site. Dark pink cherry blossoms were on display, much to Theresa's delight.

Takayama, Northern Japanese Alps

They say that Takayama is famous for its sense of history, being timber-rich and known for its gastronomic specialty of Hida beef. We found it both to be true by wandering through its old town streets (thus called Little Kyoto) lined with quaint soot-blackened cedar wood shops, and restaurants selling delicious Hida beef in all its various presentations. Over 5 days and 5 nights, we tried grilled, hot-pot and dumpling styles, all heavenly in taste.

It was also easy to take daytrips by local bus to iconic places like the Shirakawa-go farmhouse region (UNESCO world heritage site). In the Ogimachi Village we entered historic Wada House which has been the residence of the Wada family for 300 years. These village houses are constructed in the architectural style known as Gasshō-zukuri, characterized by a thatched and steeply slanting roof resembling two hands joined in prayer, to withstand the heavy snowfalls in winter.

Another day was spent on the snowfields of Mt Hotaka. This entailed a 2-hour bus ride from Takayama Station to the base of the Shinhotaka Ropeway, Japan's only double-storey cable-car. We had enormous fun trekking through thick fresh snow under a startlingly blue sky.

Lake Kawaguchiko in the Mt Fuji five-lake region

This is the best-known lake amongst the five (Saiko, Motosuko, Shojiko, and Yamanakako making up the rest). By train, Kawaguchiko is easily reached by the local Fujikyu Rail system, as well as seasonal express bus services during sakura and "moss phlox" viewing.

We hired a car after hopping off the train at Kawaguchiko Station. This allowed us to change our driving plans according to the weather and compare / contrast all 5 lakes nestled at the foot of Mt Fuji. Each lake had a unique flavor, even as we visited on consecutive days, ever-changing with the mountain weather system.

Some area highlights include the scenic 400-step climb up to Chureito Pagoda with Mt Fuji in the background. Theresa was also enthralled by the late-blooming pink yaebeni weeping cherry blossoms along the lakeshore of Kawaguchiko.

Great Ocean Road & the Grampians

 

Last December, we decided to do a family vacation over 2 weeks in Victoria, Australia. This time our itinerary took in the famous penguin parade on Phillip Island to the south of Melbourne, then connected to the Great Ocean Road (GOR) by way of a remarkably efficient (and safe) car ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff.

Along the GOR, we went as far as the seaside town of Warrnambool before turning inland into the mountain region called the Grampians. The beauty about self-drive holidays is the ability to stop anywhere along the way to take in the wonders of Nature. Thus, we were lucky enough to spot wild koalas in the tree canopy on the Otway Cape and a koala mother & baby(on piggy-back) crossing a country road en route to Halls Gap, Grampians.

After hiking the Grampians, we had an interesting one-night stopover in Ballarat on our way back to Melbourne. 30 years ago on our honeymoon, we had no luck panning for gold. This round, we learnt the right technique and caught gold fever in the old mining town on Sovereign Hill. We also had time to gawk at real gold artefacts in the amazing Gold Museum.