Some of you may not know that almost 10 years ago, I lived in Japan teaching English. I was living in Oyama, Tochigi prefecture, which is just over an hour north of Tokyo on the train. It was one of the best times in my life. I had always wanted to live in Japan, and eventually decided to finally make the move. I applied for a teaching English job through NOVA, which was the biggest eikawa at the time, and within 2 months was living in Japan. I was lucky to make some amazing lifelong friends while I was there (some of who have even visited me in Okinawa last year!) and I will always look back fondly on my time on the mainland.

Recently I logged into my old flickr account that I had totally forgotten about and discovered a whole bunch of forgotten photos of that time, so I thought I would share some with you all.

Lake Chuzenji a bit further past Nikko, Tochigi prefecture. I look so young!

Kamakura - I am a giant compared to my Japanese friend Yuri!

Random Tokyo. I highly recommend going to see a sumo tournament if you are in Japan when they are on!

Oyama, where I used to live. Bottom left is my old mamachari bike that I used to ride everywhere. We also used to do A LOT of karaoke

Tokyo Disney

More Tokyo Disney

New Years Eve was our last night in Australia, and we were lucky enough to spend it with my sister, her husband and kids, my dad and step-mother, my brother and his wife (who were over from Korea). Because there was lots of young kids involved, we all went to the Tallebudgera Surf club for dinner, and when we finished there we got some bottles of bubbles and headed over to the beach to wait for the early (kid friendly) fireworks. It was lovely and G LOVED watching the fireworks so close.

Watching fireworks on Tallebudgera Beach, Gold Coast

On New Years morning, we all headed down to the beach to try out Griff's new kite and let the dogs have a run around. It was such a gorgeous day (although the beach was much too windy and rough - nothing like our calm Okinawa beaches) and it was great being able to fly the kite! On the way back to the car we decided to have a quick swim at Tallebudgera Creek, which was packed with people, and absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately it was the only beach swim I managed to get in while I was in Australia, but it was a great way to end the holiday.

Tallebudgera Creek, gorgeous

Kite flying on the beach

Tango, Mia and Teddy

I really loved our time in Melbourne because it was so relaxing. We got up on our third morning there and went to the zoo to meet up with little G and his dad. G LOVES the butterfly house at Melbourne Zoo, which is where we headed straight for. He was so desperate for a butterfly to land on him and it was hard to get him to leave. After the zoo, G went back home with his dad, and H and I headed back into the city to do some more shopping before going out to Lygon Street for some more tasty food. First we went to Milk the Cow, a cheese and wine bar for, you guessed it - Cheese and wine! After that we went over the road to DOC for a pasta dinner.

Melbourne Zoo

Carlton Gardens

Milk the Cow wine and cheese followed by DOC Espresso for dinner

Hanging at our old house. I miss this place

EC - Ewok Cat

Pet shop kitties

Brunswick Street Art

Vegan double down at the Cornish Arms

Home cooked vegan lasagne, salad and garlic bread

I had been looking forward to the Melbourne part of our trip so much. It was the first time in what seems like forever that we would be able to have a bunch of couple time and date nights! H and my Christmas present to each other was a night at the Park Hyatt in Melbourne. After we dropped G with his dad, we headed to the hotel and got ready for our date night dinner at one of our favourite restaurants, Moon Under Water. If people are looking for a romantic dinner, this is the place. They have four courses for $75 and their vegetarian menu is just as good as the meat version, which is why we have been there at least 3 times now. Dinner was great, as was the amazing Shiraz we had that was recommended by the waitress!

Moon Under Water - clockwise from top left - baby vegetables, amazingly delicious shiraz, aged duck, snapper

The next day we checked out of the hotel and in to our next one, Punt Hill Apartments on Little Bourke and headed to one of our favourite breakfast places, DOC Espresso on Lygon St. I LOVE their caprese focaccia, which is full of amazing mozzarella. Yum! After breakfast we went into their deli next door, where they have heaps of food samples to taste. I ate some cheese as well as the most delicious salami i've ever tried!

Breakfast at DOC - Caprese focaccia and soy flat white

DOC

All the cheese in the DOC deli

More deli goods at DOC

After some shopping on the north side we went into the city to emporium and had pho for lunch as well as shopping up a storm and buying clothes that actually fit (try shopping for pants in Japan as a normal sized non-Japanese person! Impossible!).

Pho (top one vegetarian, bottom one beef)

After a rest in our hotel we headed out for dinner and drinks (many many drinks) with some friends. We went to Lucy Liu for dinner, which was lots of tasty asian food, then went to Madame Brussels for some jugs of cocktails. After that we went to the Supper Club for more drinks. All of this lead to an atrocious hangover for me the next day. Ugh. Still, it was a fun night.

Lucy Liu with friends

Madame Brussels

Cocktails!

Out of the two hotels we stayed at (The Park Hyatt and the Punt Hill Apartments), i've got to say that I really loved the Punt Hill choice for us. The Park Hyatt was lovely for a splurge, but for the price, I was expecting perfection, which it wasn't really. The Punt Hill Apartments that we stayed in the following 2 nights was fantastic. No as fancy, but HUGE room, HUGE spa, comfy beds and a great location. I would definitely stay there again and recommend it to anyone wanting a good affordable place to stay in Melbourne.

Most years, my family celebrates Christmas Day down at my Aunt and Uncles gorgeous place in Coorabell, a tiny country town in northern New South Wales. It is one of my favourite places in the world. This year we drove down there from my mum's house on Christmas eve and stayed until boxing day (26th December). Christmas eve was spent having some drinks, snacking on cheese and dips and catching up with everyone.

Coorabell

I love these rolling green hills.

Delicious snacks

Exploring

Cousins <3

Oh Christmas morning everyone was awake and waiting to open presents, except for little G! He was so tired and we couldn't bear to wake him, so we did the present opening and then G opened his when he finally woke up! We were also lucky enough to have a little wallaby come on to the property for a morning visit, which was so Australian!

Morning wallaby visitor

After a chilled out morning, we all took turns making different things in the kitchen, which meant a lunch full of heaps of different, delicious salads, cold meats, summer fruits and champagne! It rained pretty much all day, which was actually lovely and we could sit outside on the deck and watch the rain while eating. After lunch, even though it was still raining on and off, the kids got on the slip and slide and had an awesome time.
Because there were so many people staying on Christmas night, we got to sleep in a tent. G was so excited as it was his first time sleeping in a tent. It was really cute, and made me think that we really should give camping a go while we're living in Okinawa.

Christmas setting

My perfect Christmas lunch. Salads and Veuve

Slip and slide

First time sleeping in a tent