Rausu: 25th Feb 2015

So the alarm clock rang at 4am and I woke up with a tinge of reluctance as I didnt have good sleep for the past few days.. we woke up..got prepared..stacked tons of heatpads into our clothes..to brace the cold wind while on board the boat.

It was a first time experience for many of us. A short drive away from the hotel and we arrived at the port. We put on life jackets in addition to the layers of clothes which we already had. Armed with a tripod, we selected strategic positions, hopefully to capture some good shots of the eagles that were about to arrive as we ventured out to the sea..

And then, we saw the beautiful sun and the huge slabs of frozen sea ice..it's just a WOW in my freezing brain! I have never imagined seeing all these appearing in front of me. There were many sea gulls, Stellar eagles, white-tailed sea eagles flying in all directions, trying to snap fish and fighting food with one another. Sometimes, it was just interesting to stop looking at all these through the eyepiece of the camera, but just look at them with our own eyes to appreciate what the wild and nature has to offer.

White-tailed sea eagle trying to defend against the surrounding crows.

Steller's sea eagle in anti-parallel orientation

Fight between the Seagulls

The beautiful mountains which encompassed the sea where all the action were taking place.

Ferocious Tear to exhibit its hunger

A crab feast for the seagull.

I really appreciated the moment to observe how eagles fight for food, how crows try to be a "pest" and snatch some fish meat while the eagles were feasting away, how eagles got irritated by the crows and shoo-ed them off!

All these are moments that could not be witnessed in the boundaries of a zoo/birdpark. So it was pretty amazing to most of us although the biting cold was unbearable after an hour or so. I loved the majestic mountain that formed the backdrop, together with the drift ice in the foreground, as well as the subjects..

A 3h session passed on quickly and we arrived back to land.. trying to gain some composure without having any cold feet. Some of us were complaining we could no longer feel our hands and feet! Hard to believe but it was the cold fact!

We rested back at hotel for our well-deserved breakfast..and we drove out to spot any wild life along the way. We took a rest at some restaurant for lunch and recollected memories that we saw while at the cruise. 

Kuma-san, the dog at the hotel

The landscape that we saw along the drive was spectacular, no doubt all was white. . we tried spotting around, hoping to see some wildlife..if not dogs/cats..then we suddenly saw a cat-like creature, or rather it was me who shouted cat! when...it was actually a fox haha...

I mistook this as a cat!

The Japanese Red Fox contributing some stuff to the snow. Talking about natural process in nature!

A very dreamy feeling about this fox. It seemed that our dream had came true. 

nonetheless, many of us got really excited and we hopped out of the car, trying not to scare the fox away and took multiple shots of the fox as it crossed the road to climb up the mountain haha!

Crossing the road in a steadily manner.

One last look at the human population (us) before it disappeared into the woods.

Beware of foxes in the woods!

 and then, some of us saw the most magical thing..we saw three male deers moving on top of the hill that had beautiful trees..that was too fast to capture with our camera unfortunately..if you could allow me to image..it look somewhat like this..it was like a scene taken from a magical fairytale! And having to spot them during sunset made the moment even special.. that's why I love to travel..it is such unexpected moments that will live forever in your memory even after years have passed :)

So a fox was spotted..and we hoped for more wildlife to appear in front of our eyes. but there was none haha..so we called it a day..returned back to hotel for some onsen before dinner again.

It was a pity we did not get to experience the crab feast that night but was treated to a different type of meal... which was either you like it or you dont like it although the locals said to us that was a popular dish haha...well it was subjective!

Time for a good rest before our second boat trip early tomorrow morning!

The only pain in this trip was to wake up early almost every day.. but the reward we got back was usually immensely satisfying.. you live only once!

Rausu: 24th Feb 2015

This morning had a perfect sunny weather, imagine wispy clouds in a vibrant blue sky. That was in stark contrast as compared to the weather the day before! This morning, some of the participants will be going for a ride with the ponies together with the host of this farm to some very beautiful landscapes around the farm.

I was orginally planned to go as well, if not due to a fall on the icy ground with a huge bump on my hand :( Both hands are required to hold on to the pony as you ride along. In view of safety, I had no choice but to skip this opportunity. So the rest started to get prepared for their memorable pony ride..I was snapping away with my functional right hand haha

My friend with her "hubby"

One of the ponies getting ready for some action!

The instructor with the riders

Some warm up session

I took a quick picture with one of the ponies before they set off!

And off they went happily! I wished I was a Go-Pro camera tagged to one of them haha

It was interesting to see these ponies getting ready and the riders getting prepared! Having a Go-Pro camera bound to your helmet or shoulder would be ideal for the action to be captured while enjoying the ride. It was a 45min ride priced at 4500yen, no doubt expensive, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience! Unless you come to Kushiro very often haha

Fell in love with this scene

After the horse ride, we took some group photos around the farm with the lovely backdrop. It was really an awesome visit for us to discover this Tsurui Dosanko Farm. I hope to visit in the near future during autumn time...you could imagine the autumn foliage welcoming you while you ride ponies through the trail :)

So we set off, dragging luggage to the car where Takashi-san was patiently waiting for us haha..and we went to a nearby eating place to have some delicious and hot seafood ramen. 

Fresh oyster!!

There were some souvenir and seafood shops below the eating place..and we purchased some dried scallops for folks at home to cook some delicious porridge! I must emphasize here the cost price is so much lower than what you paid for in Singapore! 

We drove about 1.5hours to our next accomodation at Rausu Marumi Hotel. The sky had already darkened at 4pm. There was nothing much to do after check-in as weather was not great for shooting. 

So what should we do while waiting for dinner? It's time to check out the onsen! As I was craving for onsen after being in Hokkaido for past 6 days, I immediately prep myself and chiong for the onsen once we settled down. It was just....awesome! Having to "steam" myself in the hot water after so many days in the cold when I was suffering from some backache and an injured hand! I was hesitating whether to go for the onsen experience as I was afraid to slip again. But, with precautions taken, everything went fine and it probably helped in the healing haha :)

It was then R&R before our dinner time arrived and yes, we were greeted with huge variety of food during the buffet. I almost stuffed myself to max before we called it a day and enjoyed some icecream in the room before resting early. 

It's going to be early wakeup days for the upcoming 2 days as we will be going onboard the boat to catch some Stellar Eagles action on Drift Ice!