A few days relaxing and sightseeing was all we'd planned on, since we didn't want to out-stay our welcome. 
We boarded the ferry in Hakodate on 8/6 and arrived in Oma shortly after. The winding coastal road, much improved since my last visit, took us past Hotokegaura, pictured right. We arrived at the campsite pretty late, and the campsite manager was overjoyed that I'd kept my promise, made over a year ago, to return with my girlfriend on our trip round Japan. Lovely bloke.
Actually too many great pictures and cool stuff going on this summer, and I'm far too lazy to keep up with blogging it all. Meantime here's the lake created by Torizaki dam, and the nicely hidden waterfall further down the valley.
The remarkable statue that stands in the middle of a totally overgrown courtyard, with nothing and no-one around to appreciate it aside from the shrubbery. The shuttered and boarded-up temple nearby is inaccessible unless you scramble through bushes too. It's just weird because it looks like major tourist attractions look like in my head, but obviously something didn't work out from the local point of view.
While blindy stumbling through clouds looking for the noisy sulphuric vents on Mt. Esan I eventually wandered all the way to the summit. The dense cloud cover gave the whole place a very spooky feel, which was enhanced by the total absence of anyone else for the entire hike. The not-appearing-on-my-full-memory-card vents were pretty special too.
This hot spring bubbles out into the sea, and to my surprise didn't taste the least bit salty. One of the more interesting onsen I've been to.
I felt sorry for this geyser, trapped behind walls and capped to prevent people rubber-necking from the road. It would have been cool to see it before it was caged, but at least the foot-bath was nice.
The first time I have ever ridden on public roads... the first time I've been in sole charge of a motorised vehicle, even. Well, aside from getting the bike home from the dealer, but hey. The Matsumae blossoms were pretty, but even better was the seaside view while riding, which I can't reproduce here unfortunately.
Last year took place in the village gym, but this year we had a much better location in the grounds of a shrine since it didn't rain, though it was bloody cold at times. Twelve foreign contestants and a lively audience to cheer everyone on, including a bunch of grannies who had brought a 3ft diameter drum and weren't shy of pounding it. Everyone did well, either competing in the 'A' block and inevitably losing to the three experienced champions pictured here or getting high ranks in the 'B' block. Angela even came first in the 'B' block and received the heap of goodies on the left. Hope she found some way to transport it all back home!
Yay, bike! It's an '89 Yamaha Virago with only 1500km on the clock and in very good condition for its age. I rode it home today, and it has a good throaty feel to it and a relaxed seating position very different from the bikes I'm used to. It'll take some getting used to the lack of any visible gear indicator, fuel gauge or other idiot lights, but all that should make it a more entertaining ride in the long run!
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