The trip to an Australian beach in Japan

After a long night of karaoke most people sleep in, but we had to get up at 8AM and ride out to Shin Osaka to catch a bus. Why? Well, we were going to the beach! Shirahama beach to be exact. It's known for having imported Australian sand. We met up with Mr. Rolland who was happy as can be. It was a long four hour ride out to the place with two rest stops for snacks and souvenirs. We finally made it to the hotel and we rejoiced in the lobby as Jamie checked us in.

We hit the beach right after we checked in. The sky was overcast and the temperature was a little cold but we all jumped in. We even managed to convince Monica to jump in. She's from Panama and was used to hot weather and warm waters, but she was a trooper and dove in.

One "tradition" that was started last time the group went to Shirahama was to buy beach toys and Jamie and Lana bought 2 blow-up dolphins named Thor and Odin. Needless to say they were a hit among the revellers.

Even without the toys we enjoyed ourselves. I convinced Lana and Nadine to act like synchronized swimmers and they did pretty well.

As time passed the weather improved and the sun came out. This was an excellent way to end the day at the beach.

Life is always good with sand between your toes and the sun to your back.

When we got back to the hotel we had a feast fit for a king. "Viking" style smorgasbord was on the menu. It was included as part of the package. We stuffed ourselves silly. We needed to wait and rest before hitting the onsens so we ducked into a small karaoke room downstairs and belted out a few before relaxing in the onsens before bed.


We even managed to sneak in some computer time.