Today when we woke up we had 2 whole breads and lots of different amazing cheeses for breakfast .

After that we played uno while we waited for our family to arrive from the Netherlands. When they came we went to the light art gallery atelier des lumiere

Then we had lunch at a restaurant which was really nice. Now I am here back at the appartement writing this blog post.

By Luuk

Van Sinterklaas had ik een kookcursus gekregen, dus afgelopen week heb ik een vijfdaagse cursus bij ” The Australian Patisserie Academy” gedaan. Wow, wat een week, er waren vooral professionele chefs en het tempo lag hoog.
Super veel geleerd en heerlijke, mooie dingen gemaakt.

Macaron met zelf gemaakte decoratie

Toetjes

Taartjes

En natuurlijk de crocembouche, een soesjes toren met caramel

Het was een uitdaging om het mee naar huis te krijgen maar door de Kids erg gewaardeerd

Bijen!

Vorige week hebben we onze bijen opgehaald. Ik hoop dat ze het naar hun zin hebben bon ons in de tuin.

Waar is de koningin?

The holidays are coming to an end, on Monday we fly back home…
But is has been amazing, especially in the campervan, so much freedom. Today we have a quiet day, paddle boots on the lake in Ueno Park, and maybe a visit to the national museum.

Yesterday we decided that some culture would be good for the kids so we visited the museum for contemporary art.

Food for thought…

Of course we also had to visit a cat cafe, a strange invention where you pay to cuddle cats…

Koen had been asking for cat for ages.

And for the cooking fans, Kappabashi, kitchen town, a whole street dedicated to cooking….. Here you can also buy all the plastic pretend foods that you see in restaurants to help you choose your meal.

All fake…

(I restrained myself, only one knife and two beautiful ceramic casseroles)…

Written by Koen the totally awesome guy who is the best.

This is a photo of Mount Fuji. Two days ago we visited this volcano but unfortunately we could not climb it because it was to dangerous with all the snow and ice.

We went on a walk instead. Here is a photo of a skull we found.

We think it was a little goat.

Before the walk we went to the ice caves, they were formed by lava and fill up with water which freezes and forms a year round freezer.

See you next time, I hope you have enjoyed reading this.

Written by Luuk the Great

We went to the amazing ninja museum

We learnt a lot of things we didn’t know like the old ninja script

We also saw a short show on the hidden features of a old ninja house. A feature was that two floors weren’t visible on the outside. And a cupboard
that had a hidden ladder to the next floor . And under a floorboard was a secret weapon stash. It was very fascinating to learn about ninjas.

More stories coming soon

After another morning in Nikko, admiring some more temples and snow we drove to our next destination.

Offers to the temple.

Our next stop was Numata, a hot spring town. The down side of a campervan is that there are no shower facilities so we use hot spas as fancy showers . After a lovely hot bath we went to sleep, the temperature had dropped below zero and the next morning we woke up in beautiful white snow!

The little town was amazing, there was a natural hot spring creating a streaming hot river through the middle of town,

And when your feet get cold you just warm them in the hot water. When we went in the hot spa here it was very special, while we were in the water, a very large outdoor bath, it actually started to snow, is there a better way the chill when the water gets to hot?

From here we went to Matsumoto, there was an beautiful old castle, also called the crow castle because it was black. And on the inside you could see all the tricks to keep the enemy out, making it look like the two levels outside but in reality they are three levels inside, the small windows to drop things on people trying to climb up etcetera.

And a samurai fighter

A beautiful town and castle but very very cold, with ice on the van windows, I was very glad we had our own sleeping bags as well as the ones supplied by the van rental.

It has been two weeks now. I can’t believe how much we have seen and done. Luuk and Koen have shared some of their highlights. But I thought that I should give you a bit of an overview of what we have done so far. We stayed the first two days in Tokyo, the start of the cherry blossom season and my first impressions of Japan.

Heating under your table, what an invention.

When exploring Ueno Park we saw the start of the cherry blossoms and of course the zoo with a Panda!!!!

Our first experience with ordering from vending machines, even in restaurants you often buy a ticket for your meal from a vending machine. And not understanding Japanese makes every meal a surprise.
The next day we went to the science museum, lots of hands on things with a lot of trial and error as none of the explanations where in English, nevertheless a lot of fun.

And then it was time to pick up or campervan, an old and large van with enough sleeping space for all of us.
Kids on top and we slept at the bottom.

The pick up of the van took much longer then expected so our first stop was a Road Station

The next morning our trip continued to Nikko, an old town from the Edo time with an amazing temple complex in the mountains.
The kids loved it, especially because there was some left over snow.

We found a beautiful parking spot next to the river.

What a place to have your morning coffee…

By Luuk the Great.

In this recap of the holiday you will see my head in peculiar places.
Like this one for instance.

This was in a Tokyo food court.
There were lots of other ones there.

This was in the amazing science museum. It was amazing there.

This was at our second onsen. It was amazingly hot. It was impressive that it came from the ground.

This was on a street of a village we passed.

We found this at a tourist information
Center.

This is all for now.
Next edition coming soon !

Written by Koen the totally awesome guy.

On the holidays we have seen lots of temples




We have seen many temples and these are only photos of a few.

Written by Luuk the Great
Yesterday we opened the curtains and outside we saw a big fresh layer of snow. So we ran outside in our pyjamas to feel the snow.

It felt like supercold fairy floss, it was amazing. Later in the morning we worked together to make a snow man, but it broke.

Then we hopped into the car and drove to Kusatsu Onsen. For those who don’t know what an onsen is, it is a naturally heated water source that comes out of the ground. The temperature was under zero, luckily the onsen was nice and warm. While we were there it started snowing. The snow looked beautiful.

Here you can see the river from which the onsen water comes.

More coming soon

Written by Koen the totally awesome guy.

We woke up in our van for the first time and we drank random drinks out of a vending machine. Our first try was not a success, it was yellow milky and odd tasting. Luuk got a hot chocolate which was much better tasting.

We went to Nikko, a world heritage listed temple complex. There was snow!

One of the temples was under repair so we couldn’t see the whole thing. This is a picture of another temple there.

We went to shinkyo, sacred bridge as well.

Written by Koen the totally awesome guy.

When we woke up we got dressed, had breakfast and said goodbye to our little house in Tokyo.

We walked to the train station and went in the train for more than an hour.

We waited for hours and hours an finally we got our campervan and drove away.

It had for foldable beds, refrigerator, bunk bed which also is foldupable.

In bed I have had better nights but it was an ok bed.

Luuk was very happy with his new warm pyjamas, he picked it himself.

Written by Luuk

Yesterday we went to the zoo and met lots of animals including The Panda.

We also met polar bears, monkeys, seals, otters and bears.
At the end of our visit we went to the petting zoo and there were a couple of animals including mice, chickens and guinea pigs. Here are some photos.

When we were finished in the zoo we strolled through Uono Park and saw the first cherry blossoms opening.

Follow this space and hear more about our exciting Japan trip

By Koen the totally awesome guy.

We woke up at the crack of dawn and ate chocolate, because we had not bought breakfast yet.

We arrived in Japan late last night and brought to our house by a kind guy. In the house we have two stories. The first level has two beds, a bath and a dining room. Also it has this nice table with heating under it.

And upstairs there are another two beds and an empty room.

Other houses are very close to our house so we can’t talk loudly.

Wow, eindelijk is het zo ver, onze Japan vakantie! vanmorgen werden we om 4 uur opgehaald om naar het vliegveld te gaan en inmiddels zijn we bijna in Tokio, de Kids, met hun korte koppies, zijn de vlucht inmiddels wel beu.

Hier in Australië wordt veel geld ingezameld voor het goede doel en Luuk en Koen hebben zich laten scheren om geld in te zamelen voor de leukemia foundation!

Ze hebben al over de $1300.00 ingezameld en je kan nog steeds geld geven voor deze heldendaad.

http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/luukandkoenkreijkamp

En natuurlijk moesten er ook mutsen komen om die koppies warm te houden

Begin deze maand had ik cursus aan de Gold Coast en de hotel kamer kost hetzelfde voor een als voor vier mensen de de hele familie was mee. Koen had veel plezier met zijn ninja badjas.

En ook dit jaar is sinterklaas weer helemaal naar Australië gekomen!
Alleen het paardje kon niet mee vanwege de quarantaine.

We hadden ze dit jaar toch eindelijk maar eens verteld dat sinterklaas niet bestaat maar dat maakte het niet minder leuk.

En tot mijn verbazing was het nog een hele echte zwarte piet, geen zwarte vegen, geen stroopwafelruitjes, gewoon zwart met gouden oorringen.

En nog onze ikea keuken, dat was onze vorige vakantie….. Op zich niet heel moeilijk maar het kost wel veel tijd.

Eerst de tegels eruit, en de gipsplaten vervangen.

Ziet er al een stuk beter uit

De eerste kastjes