Photos - Day 2 - South Hokkaido

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A. Nororibetsu Mahoroba Hotel

B. Ano Kanko Fruit Farm
C. Onuma Quasi National Park
D. Hotel Hanabishi

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Breakfast at Nororibetsu Mahoroba Hotel.

A 5-minute walk from the hotel is Jigokudani (Hell Valley).

Jigokudani (Hell Valley) - A place where clouds of steam, hot water and volcanic gas are given off from the surface giving the whole place a strong smell of sulphur.

The perimeter of Jigokudani (Hell Valley) has a beautiful path lined with trees in rich autumn colours.

After checking out of the hotel we drove to our next destination - Sobetsu town - home to many fruit farms and orchards.

At the Ano Kano Fruit farm, we went orchard picking. For ¥1700 for two adults, we were free to roam, pick and eat as much apples, plums and grapes in their orchard.

We has the juiciest and crunchiest apples, hand picked ourselves from the trees.

Red and green grapes hung at their vineyard. The grapes had a strong winery taste to them.

Lunch time. A small sushi bar in a very local area was recommended to us. Reaching there at 2pm, past the lunch time crowd, we almost had the entire place to ourselves. This young guy hand made the sushi for us.

Fresh sushi.... yummy!

Onuma Quasi National Park. Designated as a "quasi" national park and located about 20 km north of Hakodate.

Onuma Quasi National Park is known for its picturesque island dotted lakes and majestic dormant volcano Mt Komagatake.

The bridges add to the charm of the Onuma Quasi National Park.

Reaching the city of Hakodate, we stopped by the local yatai for a quick bite.

Hakodate Yatai. The charms of yatai are not so much about their food but rather the cosy atmosphere of being in one sitting shoulder to shoulder chatting and laughing with people you don't know.

The elderly husband-wife couple served at one of the yatais where we had mince meat rolled in cabbage and a couple of beers.

Since only I was drinking at the yatai, wifey took to the wheel and drove us to our hotel - the Hotel Hanabishi. There were checked in quickly, donned on our yukatas and joined the rest for a sumptuous Japanese set dinner.

After dinner, we soaked in the hotel's onsen, then retired for the day in a very comfortable Japanese style bedroom.

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