Day 6: Wakka Wild Flower Garden, Cape Notoro to Lake Tofutsu

Our Plan for the day

Our plan was to drive from Lake Saroma to Wakka Natural Wild Flower Garden then to Cape Notoro. After the cape we planned to visit a fruit farm before proceeding to Lake Tofutsu. The final destination would be our hotel in Kiyosato town where we would stay for two nights. The entire distance was estimated to be about 100 km.

We achieved all our targets!!!

Route for the day

Breakfast at Tsuruga Resort

Buffet breakfast at the Resort was very nice. There was a huge spread of food and we had a huge full breakfast. We would love to try everything but we were not big eaters so we did not do justice to the wide spread of food laid out on the counters.

Wakka Natural Wild Flower Garden (at Lake Saroma)

Immediately after breakfast we drove from our hotel to Wakka Natural Wild Flower Garden visitor centre. The journey was only 1.7 km so we did not take more than 5 minutes to reach the visitor centre carpark. It was about 9.00 am in the morning and there was no other cars around.

Wakka Natural Wild Flower Garden

We were so surprised to see a huge wild eagle standing in the middle of the carpark. For a while we did not know what to do next, as the eagle and us were mutually staring at each other. Before I could whip up my camera the wild eagle flew off. 

This garden was the largest wild flower garden in Japan and was on the Hokkaido Heritage List. This garden grew upon the sandbanks and surrounding grasslands near the seashore, extending approximately 20km in length with a total area of 700 hectares. It was located between the Sea of Okhotsk and Lake Saroma. This esplanade stretched the length of the coast and is called ‘Ryugukaido.’ There were woods, grasslands, sandbanks and swamps existing together all in one area providing the perfect habitat for over 300 kinds of plants, including Ezo-sukashiyuri/candlestick lily and naturalized plants.

Wakka Natural Flower Garden Visitor Center                                         Bike rental @ Y600/day

The garden was too huge to explore on foot yet we were not allowed to drive our car beyond the carpark. To help visitors explore the wild flower garden the center rent out bicycle. The rate was ¥600 a day for a bicycle, there was no hourly rate. We rented two bicycles. Interesting the staff brought out a pink bicycle for me and a blue bicycle for my hubby (girl=pink, boy=blue :-) ) When they saw that we were carrying our Canon DSLR cameras they quickly pulled out two towels and used them to lined the metal wired baskets, so as to protect our camera. We were very impressed with their good service.

Wakka Natural Flower Garden

We cycled along a long "endless" tar road that ran along the entire length of the sandbank where Wakka Natural Flower Garden sat on. I was not a good cyclist so it was great fun cycling on a road where there was no other cyclist as I did not feel any pressure to get out of the way. Along the road we saw many walking paths that branched left and right from the road.

Whenever we felt like coming down for a walk, we would park our bicycles by the side of the road, near the start of a footpath that we wanted to explore. Walking down the path brought us into the bushes giving us a chance to see the flowers and birds up close. Most of these paths would end at the beach fronting the Okhotsk Sea.

Some flora and fauna in the garden

Lake Notoro

Though July was not the best month to visit Lake Notoro as it was too early to see the spectacular red coral grass which would covered a huge area of the lake, we still decided to drive around the circumference of the lake to get to our our target destination, Notoro Cape.

Route around Lake Notoro

The drive around Lake Notoro turned out to be very exciting. It was a huge bonus for us when we encountered two wild life sightings when we least expected them. The first encounter was a group of herons feeding near the shore. We were able to observe them for a short while before they realised our presence and took off.

Heron taking flight on Lake Notoro

The second encounter was an wild eagle hunting for fish on the lake. The eagle was not shy of human, though I was standing very near it, it ignored my presence. It swooped down to the lake a few times before successfully catching its prey.

Eagle in Action

Cape Notoro

Our next destination was Cape Notoro. This cape was one of the most famous scenic spots in the area whole year round. From afar we could already see the cape jutting out into the Okhotsk sea. It looked huge and majestic. We could see a solitary lighthouse sitting on top of it.

Cape Notoru

As I was wondering how we would be able to go up to the cape, the road instead of following the curve of Lake Notoro turned inland and we drove into a tunnel. In the tunnel I could feel that we were driving up a slight slope. The road continued to ascend even after we exit the tunnel. Shortly after we saw a road sign pointing left to Cape Notoro, we turned left into a side road that brought us up to a carpark on top of the cape.

The land on top of the cape was very large. It was rather flat and very easy to walk. Wooden railings were built all round the cape. It allowed us to go near the edge of the cliff and to look out into the Okhotsk sea without worries.

Cape Notoro (Co-ordinates: 44.110807 144.240872)

The place felt serene and peaceful and the wind very refreshing. Unlike the day before the sun was not very hot and we had a great time roaming and exploring the cape.

On Cape Notoro

We walked from the carpark to the lighthouse which was not opened. We walk further along the edge of the cape and came upon a patch of wild beautiful flower. There was also a little garden with a statue of a fisherman.

Light House and Statue at Cape Notoro

Cape Notoro

Abashiri Fruit Farms

July in Hokkaido was a season for cherry, my favorite fruit. So it was definitely in our plan to stop at at least one fruit farm. Abashiri had a number of fruit farms it was just a matter of finding them. In my previous trips out of Singapore I had always found that fruits bought at fruit farms tasted many times better than the imported ones bought from supermarket back home. So whenever I had a chance I would stop at fruit farm to buy a few days of fruit supply.

Fruit farms location at Abashiri

There were some fruit farms on the north eastern side of Lake Abashiri. From Cape Notoro we drove to the nearest fruit farm Abashiri Sightseeing Fruit Orchard. It looked deserted but as we approached we saw a middle age woman standing in a shed selling cherries. We bought some, it cost ¥700 for 500 gram which was not very cheap. The farm lady invited us to go into her farm to pluck and eat as many cherries as we like for a fee of ¥1000 per adult (¥500 for a child). Takeaway would be charged separately. We declined and moved on.
I was not contended with the small bag of cherries, so we decided to drive further down the same road to search for Yokoyama fruit farm. I did not have the mapcode or the latitude/longtitude of Yokoyama Fruit farm so I just surfed the internet to get whatever information I could get in such a short notice. We drove around until we came to a x-junction and saw the signboard to the farm.

Large signboard of fruit farm

We went into the farm and saw a couple paying for two huge bags of cherries. The cherries looked so transparent so pinkish, so delicious. We enquired about the price and was told by the lady owner that she did not do direct sale of cherries. We had to pay an entrance fee of ¥700 (for an adult) to go into her farm to pluck cherries. We were welcome to eat as much as we could in the farm as for those cherries that we would like to take home we would need to pay ¥100 for each 100 gram.

I tried to persuade her to just sell me some cherries but she just said no. We were very disappointed so we left the farm. I really did not understand the rationale of no direct sale of cherry, could it be that she did not have workers to pluck cherry?

Just outside Yokoyama fruit farm, across the road was a beautiful paddy field. The paddy grass had turned golden and the sight was absolutely stunning. We could see golden glow coming from the stems of the padi.

Paddy land just outside Yokoyama Fruit farm

Lake Tofutsu

From Yokoyama fruit farm we drove another 15 km to the start (west end) of Lake Tofutsu. Around Lake Tofutsu there were several places of interest and we intended to visit only three.

1. The Waterfowl and Wetland Center, 
2. Koshimizu Wild Flower Garden and the 
3. Furetoi Observation Platform. 

Tofutsu Waterfowl and Wetland Centre

By the time we reached the center it was already 4.00 pm which was near closing time so it was not surprising to see no other people at the center. The staff at the centre brought us to a video room where she put on a video on the birds of Lake Tofutsu. We had no idea that Lake Tofutsu was such a prominent migratory bird sanctuary. In the video show we saw thousands and thousands of birds flying to Lake Tofutsu in spring and in autumn. Unfortunately in July (summer), most of them flew away to somewhere else.

Waterfowl and Wetland Center 

Well we did see some interesting resident birds. There were three particular birds (two spoonbills and one heron) that seemed to always stay together. Even when we looked at the various many photo blowouts that were displayed in the center we kept noticing the three birds staying near each other regardless of whether it was spring, summer, autumn or winter.

In the main hall of the centre the windows stretched from ceiling to floor to provide visitors with an unobstructed view of the lake. Several telescopes were also set up near the windows for visitors' use. Far away in the lake we could see several birds and the staff pointed out two of their three resident birds, those two spoonbills that we kept seeing in the photo blowouts. 

Spoonbills (resident birds)

Koshimizu Wild Flower Garden (at Lake Tofutsu)

This wild flower garden was sandwiched between the Sea of Okhotsk and Tofutsu Lake. We parked our car at a huge carpark just in front of the garden. From the carpark we could see a quaint little wooden house. On walking closer to the wooden house we realised that it was actually a train station, Genseikaen Train Station.

Genseikaen Train Station

Beside the station were steps that lead up to the garden. We did not spend much time in the garden, because it looked ordinary just like a well kept garden. This garden was considered one of the most beautiful spots in Japan and designated as part of Abashiri National Park. The best time to visit the garden was between June and August when some 40 species of flower colored the ground by blossoming separately. We could see mainly yellow flowers probably yellow lilies among the greenery. In fact we saw more green leaves than flowers. Somehow the garden did not seen interesting and we left shortly. 

Furetou Observation Platform

After the garden our next destination at Lake Tofutsu was The Furetoi Observation Platform. We drove past the lake and still could not find the Observation Platform. We felt that we could have missed a turn so we backtracked. Then we saw a tall triangular structure on a high ground on the seaward side which we thought could be the observation platform.

We drove toward it and found a side road that seemed to lead up to the platform. We crossed a railway track and came to an empty land where we parked our car. We had to walk up some steep steps to reach the observation platform. From the platform we could see the lake on one side and the sea on the other. In between them was a stretch of land which was the natural flower garden. Nothing spectacular.

Eagles Sighting

After Furetoi Observation Platform, we drove on and came upon an interesting sight. A couple of eagles was circulating in the sky. They would occasionally stop and land on a particular lamppost. After a while one eagle would flew off and another eagle would fly in and land on the same lamp post again. It was very exciting to see wild eagles at such proximity.

Eagle sighting

BBQ Dinner

We drove to Kiyosato Town where we had booked a room, the drive was about 24 km from Lake Tofutsu.

Route to Kiyosato Town 

As usual after we dropped our luggage and backpacks in our room, we asked the hotel staff to recommend a nice place for dinner. There were a number of restaurants just a couple of streets away (about 500 metres).

We drove in the direction that was given to us and ended up at a BBQ restaurant. We went in and saw that the place was partition into several small rooms, each room had a half height curtain at its doorway, its wooden floor was raised and the room had a low table and several square sitting cushions.

The setup was so Japanese. We took off our shoes and got into a room and ordered a bbq dinner. The evening air was very cool, it went nicely with hot bbq which we ate leisurely. While eating I could see though the half height curtains the people in the next room, there were 3 men and woman (all locals), they were dressed very casually and were eating and laughing. The atmosphere made us felt very local too. The dinner costed us ¥2268.

BBQ Dinner

Accommodation for the Night (two nights)

Kiyosato town was not my first preference. I would have preferred to stay in the town of Utoronishi for two nights, as it will be nearer to Shiretoko National Park, our destination for the next day. Unfortunately all the hotels in that town that met my minimum standard were too costly. So I settled for Kiyosato Onsen Hotel Ryokuseisou in the town of Kiyosato (50km away).

I booked a double room at Kiyosato Onsen Hotel Ryokuseisou, the cost was ¥13600 ( about $150 SGD ) a nite. It came with ensuite bathroom and breakfast in the morning.

The room was big and the ensuite bathroom was also big. The hotel looked new, bright and spacious. Our stay at this hotel would have been perfect if not for a pungent ammonia smell. The smell was quite obvious in the big hallway near the staircase and elevator that lead to the rooms on the second level. I had to walk past that hallway several times a day and I always smelled that pungent smell.

Our Twin Room

My husband was not very conscious of that smell, though he did confirm that he smelled the same thing whenever I mentioned to him about it. On the first night, I was woken up by the same smell in my room, it did not have any impact on my husband though because he slept through. The smell was gone the next morning. I did not tell the hotel staff about the smell because of language barrier, so I just bear with it and walked away quickly.

Wifi was only available at common area like reception, dining area and hall.

Day 5: Going Eastward Sounkyo & Lake Saroma

Our Plan for the day

Our plan was to drive from Asahikawa City to Sounkyo Onsen and then to Lake Saroma. The complete journey would be about 200km. It would be a long drive and based on google map the estimated duration would be about 3.5 hr.

I had planned for two stops for sightseeing to break the boring journey. One is the famous twin waterfalls at Sounkyo and the other an onsen ( Onneyu ) town midway between Sounkyo and our final destination.

Route for the day

Sounkyo 

Sounkyo is situated at the foot of Mt. Kurodake, it is one of the largest canyons in Japan. It was formed by Ishikari River digging through the Daisetsuzan Mountains. Sounkyo Onsen is a touristy hot spring resort town in the north of Daisetsuzan National Park. It is located in a scenic narrow gorge that is flanked by 100 meter high, forested cliffs. Sounkyo Onsen offers a pleasant village center, onsen baths and two beautiful waterfalls nearby. This village is also a good base for walks and hiking tours into the national park with ropeway access to Mt. Kurodake.

Sounkyo Ropeway

We took about 1.25 hour to drive from Asahikawa City to Sounkyo Onsen. At the onsen we drove passed several big nice looking hotels, we were looking for a nice cafe where we could have our morning break. None of the place looked interesting so we kept driving up the road and ended up in the driveway of the Sounkyo ropeway station.

The ropeway station was a three storey building so we went in to search of a cafe. It was not in our itinerary to go up the ropeway, but since we were at the station we thought we might as well go up. Unlike yesterday there was no rain today so the sight up the mountain should be great.

At the ticketing counter we saw a a sign board stating that the ropeway was closed due to strong wind. Many tourists looked disappointed as they would not be able to go up the Mt. Kurodake. It was pretty ironic that when the weather was good the wind condition was no good. We weren't really disappointed as the thought of going up the ropeway was an impulsive decision that was okay to discard.

No Taki (Waterfall) 

To get to the waterfalls, we drove for about 3 km from Sounkyo Onsen to a turn off from the main road which lead us to a huge car park. From the car park, the two falls could already be seen. Ginga no Taki could be seen at the inner end of the car park whereas Ryusei no Taki at the start of the car park. The falls were also referred to as Otoko Taki (male waterfall) and Onnna Taki (female waterfall) for their contrasting appearance, and also jointly as Meotodaki (meaning "husband and wife waterfalls").

Getting to the twin waterfalls of Sounkyo (Mapcode 623 177 892)

From the car park we walked a few steps down to a boardwalk that bordered a river carrying the water from the two falls downstream. The waterfalls faced slightly away from each other so it was not possible for us to see both falls at the same time when standing at the car park level.

Twin waterfalls of Sounkyo

We knew that the only way to photograph the two waterfalls together was to go up the "Twin Falls Observation Deck"

We found a stairs that led up to the observation deck just behind the information centre that sat in the center of the car park. We had to go into the information centre and exit a doorway that led to the back to get to the staircase. At the base of the wooden stairs was a signboard stating that it would take 20 minutes to reach the observation deck.

Stairs to Observation Deck

The steps were rather uneven and steep and not easy to walk on. After about 25 minutes of tough climbing we reached an observation deck. From the deck we could already see both the falls clearly. The steps did not end at the deck, it went further up to another deck above. My legs were tired and I did not feel like going up. So we checked with those people coming down from the upper deck whether the view from above was better than that seen at the lower deck.

We were told that at the upper deck the two falls looked smaller and the view was not better at all. So we decided not to go up further.

Ginga no Taki & Ryusei no Taki 

We stayed at the lower deck for about half an hour, taking many beautiful shots. The deck platform was not very huge and there were a couple of people on the deck so we had to be careful not to get into each other way when taking the photos of the falls. It was cooling at the deck and we were reluctant to leave and face the long journey down. 

I found going down more strenuous than going up. The steps were high so I needed to step down carefully to avoid twisting my feet. I had my camera tripod with me and it became my "walking cane". After another 20 minutes we were back at the car park. It was about noon and the sun was high up in the sky and the weather was turning hot. 

Onneyu Onsen 

Onneyu Onsen was a hot-spring resort located in the northwest of Kitami city, midway between Sounkyo and Lake Saroma. My purpose of making a stop at Onneyu Onsen was to give my hubby a driving break and to visit the world largest cuckoo clock, the "Kamurin". 

We drove for about an hour from Sounkyo to Onneyu Onsen, by the time we reached the Kamurin it was coming to 1 pm in the afternoon. 

Route from Sounkyo to Onneyu Onsen

We parked at a car park just in front of a square. The Kamurin was a huge and high structure that sat at the center of the square There were several buildings at the sides of the square and they were mainly souvenir shops, eateries, a woodcraft souvenir shop and an information centre. The sky was very clear and blue and the weather was very hot. Walking out of the car we felt as though we were entering into an oven.

We were just in time to hear the chiming of the clock at 1pm. A blue mechanical cuckoo bird came out of one of the doors on the tall structure. On the lower level, several mechanical little figures in yellow robes came out of another door and twirl around. Like the other tourists we were standing under the hot sun staring at the clock structure and appreciating the blue sky in its background. 

Kamurin (mapcode 402 600 222)

We walked into the Kamurin and in it were some amusing games. No charges at all. 

After the Kamurin we walked into a building behind the Kamurin that housed a wood craft souvenir shop. It had a huge collection of handcraft wood products. Unfortunately all the handcraft products were rather expensive so we did not buy anything. Basically the cheaper ones were not worth bringing home as for the better ones they were too costly. 

We went into one of the cafeterias to buy two Hokkaido Milk Ice creams and went into the air-conditioned Information center to enjoy our treats. I was getting very addicted to Hokkaido Milk Ice Cream! 

Lake Saroma 

The distance from Onneyu Onsen to Lake Saroma was only 110 km and yet the journey took us slightly more than 2 hours to complete. It might sound incredulous but in Hokkaido the speed limit was really low (50 km/hr) if not driving on an express way. Unfortunately there was no express way that would take us to the lake.

Route from Onneyu Onsen to Lake Saroma

Driving at a such a slow speed in a hot day under the bright glare of the sun made my hubby very sleepy. He had a hard time staying awake, so just about 45 minutes into the drive we started looking out for suitable stop for coffee break. We did not find one. Along the way we saw houses but no cafe. In the end I took over the wheel to give Yat Thong a break for a nap as I drove on. 

I must say I had a really hard time driving at 50 km/hr. No matter how lightly I stepped on the fuel pedal the car just went above 50 km/hr. I had to lock my ankle and tilted my foot upward when stepping on the pedal. This constant lifting gave my right foot cramps. I managed to drive for only 30 minutes before giving up and passing back the wheel back to my hubby. 

We arrived at Lake Saroma by about 4 pm and felt that it was too early to check in at the hotel. Our hotel was on the east end of the lake so upon reaching the lake we turn left to drive to the west end of the lake before looping back to the east end. Along the way we stuck to the roads that bordered the lake, passing villages and ports. We did not see anybody outdoor, there were no activities so there was no reason to stop, in less than 30 minutes we reached our hotel.

Tsuruga Resort

Our hotel was Lake Saroma Tsuruga Resort. I had booked and paid ‎¥22680 (about $262) for a night. The online reservation was done two months earlier so that we could get a twin room facing the sea at that "discounted price". This price came with dinner and breakfast.

We decided to pay a bit more and pampered ourselves at this hotel. Since Lake Saroma was one of the most famous places in Japan for scallops and oyster, we were looking forward to eating them during the two meals at this hotel. The online reservation for this hotel was done directly at the Tsuruga Resort website and payment was made at the time of placing the reservation.

Tsuruga Resort 

We arrived at the hotel at 4.45 pm and was informed that the air conditioning that served the rooms had broken down. So till sun down the rooms facing the sea would be very hot. When we walked into our room we felt like we walked into a warm furnace. There was one miserable fan blowing but it was quite useless as it was circulating only warm air in the room. The room came with full ceiling to floor window facing the sea. The view from our window was spectacular. The huge lake reflected the vast sky and the golden sun above. I would have been wonderful if the air-con was working and we could enjoy the sunset on the two low chairs that was placed in front window with a coffee table and a telescope.

View from our room window

Except for the "failed" aircon, the room was very huge and lovely and toilet was huge too. Too bad we could not stay in our room as the heat was very uncomfortable. So after we settled our bags we left our room to explore the hotel and its surrounding area. 

Twin room at Tsuruga Resort

Sunset at the Beach

Tsuruga Resort was on the eastern end of Lake Saroma. This was the biggest lake in Hokkaido, and the third biggest in Japan after Lake Biwa and Lake Kasumigaura. The lake was divided from the sea by a spit of sand deposited by the waves, but a depression in the bay makes a gap in the spit, letting sea water into the lake at low tide. The water mixed with the fresh water from the river, making it a brackish water lake.

We walked along the lake to view the sun set. The air was much cooler than that in our room. We strolled for about 500 metre round the lake away from our hotel and looped back.

Views at Lake Saroma 

The sunset view along the beach was even better than the view seen from our room. So in a way it was a good thing that we were forced out off our room or we would be too lazy to come and walked on the beach and would had missed such a beautiful sunset.

I found a huge log on the beach and went to sit on its to enjoy the sunset. Unfortunately I could have sat too close to some beach grass/vegetation and ended up getting a lot of insect bites on my feet. I regretted changing into my sandals for this beach walk. The bites were very itch and the insects were probably sand flies.

Hubby had fun composing this photo

Dinner at the Hotel

After the sun set we went back to the hotel for the dinner. The buffet dinner was fantastic, there were sashimi, fresh scallop, oyster, escargot, there were pasta, lasagne, salad, ice cream, gelato, cakes, fruit, roast beef etc etc. The dinner looked even better than all the pictures I had seen when at the hotel websites.

Buffet dinner at Tsuruga Resort

In the dining room we had a great time sitting at a table just beside a full length window facing the sea. Our dinner came with the sea view. 

After the main meal, for desert I kept going back for ice cream. I loved the creamy ice cream very much and I ate ice cream with all kinds of toppings and I even topped my bitter expresso with Ice cream. 

Considering the huge buffet spread for dinner and hopefully an equally impressive buffet breakfast the price of ¥22680 (about $262) for our room package seemed pretty worth it.