Out And About, And Up and Down!

The sun did shine the day after our last blog but, boy, did the wind blow!!  We had a gale come through the marina hitting us with 30-35 knots, gusting over 40 which kept us on our toes monitoring Tweed's lines.  Of course, she was ok, it was just the silly crew who thought there could be a problem!

 It doesn't look so bad, but here Tweed pulls taught on her mooring lines

 

Then it was the weekend and we had an invitation from Mr Shimose, who has a 30-ft yacht in the marina, to have dinner at his house and to stay the night.  His wife, Kyoko, had prepared make-it-yourself sushi and had invited along three other ladies who meet regularly to practice their English at Mr and Mrs Shimose's house. 

 Mrs Shimose, Hiroko, Keiko,

Jon, Mr Shimose and Kuma

  

It was a very relaxed meal with lots of choice in what to put in the sushi - all of it tasty.  We talked about all sorts of things including our travels and the next morning Kuma and Keiko, two of the visitors, arrived to pick us up and take us for a tour of the old temples in Hakata. 

 A chilly morning at the Shimose house

 

Hakata was a separate town until 1889 when it was merged with Fukuoka town.  We visited the Jotenji Temple, built in 1242, which houses monuments to the soba and udon noodles, and manju bean-jam buns (red beans)...

The Shofukuji Zen Temple, built in 1195 by Zen master Yosai, who introduced Zen to Japan as well as tea plants.  It is the oldest Zen temple in Japan.  

 

(these spaces just won't go away!)

The main gate may only be used by  the imperial family when they visit Fukuoka.  The five lines on the wall indicate it is a temple of the highest order.

 

The third in this ancient group was the Tochoji Temple, where we saw the largest wooden Buddha in Japan which we weren't able to photograph so here are some gravestones.

 

 Colourful pagoda at

the Tochoji Temple

Along the walking trail we stopped off at a small shop front where a young man was weaving Hakata-ori, a high-quality silk textile used for obis and worn with kimonos.  This traditional local craft is over 750 years old and while the textile is still used for obis it is also utilised in other more 'touristy' products.

 

 

As we were near the Hakata Folk Museum we looked in there as well and found a local craftsman who makes and hand-paints beautiful Hakata Dolls.  

Hakata doll ready for firing - it was
cast in separate pieces and then joined

 

Next door a Shamisen group were getting ready to play their 3-stringed instruments accompanied by a couple of percussionists and a singer who could hardly be heard above the music.  

 

 

Next stop was the Kushida Shrine, home of the Hakata-Gion Yamakasa Festival, which is held over two weeks each July.  During the festival huge floats weighing up to one tonne are carried by men for five kilometers as they race through the town watched by up to a million people.  Needless to say, the men can only bear the weight for a short period so there is a constant changing of men during the race.

Jon by an old example of a Yamakasa float - nowadays they are nowhere near as tall because of the power lines!

Whew!  That was a long day and by the time we arrived back at Meinohama Station and walked back to the marina it was 5 o'clock.  But we thoroughly enjoyed the tour as our guides were able to explain a lot of things to us in English.  By ourselves we find it difficult as there is usually no English interpretation available.

Pam outside Kushida Shrine with Keiko and Kuma, our excellent guides!

Now back to business.  Monday morning we were all prepared to motor around to the hardstand area and haul out.  Unfortunately, there was a bit of delay while another boat went up before us but it was before lunch when we finally came out.  It was our first time on a cradle rather than a travel-lift which uses slings.  It was a smooth ride as we slowly rose out of the water and came onto the dock.  Yes, quite a few barnacles and other encrustrations visible on the hull and fittings.  We wouldn't be going very fast with that lot hanging off us.







The boys did a good job cleaning them off and then a high-pressure wash before we were moved along the rail to our home for the next week.

Hmmm... great braking system, but it works

Although it was more expensive to haul out here in Japan than elsewhere in SE Asia, we found it was not too bad considering that the price included their labour, the paint, and the Japanese version of PropSpeed.  They used a Chugoku product called Peller Clean to coat our prop, p-bracket and prop-shaft, which we notice is now available in Australia.  The shade of red for that particular brand of anti-foul turned out to be more of a pink but hopefully it will only be seen when we are on a reach and showing beneath our skirts!

 Yes, it's snow!

Wednesday night we had another gale with winds 30-35 knots again gusting over 40.  Just before dawn we had thunder and rain and much to our astonishment, it actually snowed on the mountains to the south of Fukuoka!!

 

While on the hard, Jon fitted in a few jobs: installed a new breather outlet for the forward water tank (this one won't let in salt water!); re-installed the generator starter motor which had been overhauled; fitted a new bonding strap for the generator; and then just as we were about to return to the water, he found two leaking ball valves in the heads - one to the handbasin and one to the toilet.  This delayed our splash by a day which meant Saturday.  Saturday we had another gale come through and it was far to windy for the helmswoman to consider returning to a berth where she had to reverse in!!  We would be there until Monday.  But then Sunday came and Mr Hamada, the owner of Marine Tech who runs the hardstand, arrived about 9:30 to put us back in!!  It was a calm morning - one of the lads who came with him touched up the few remaining areas of anti-fouling, we climbed aboard, and then slowly descended back to water level.  The wind was kind and didn't blow us onto the marina wall and we made our way back to our berth for a successful reverse entry into our berth. 

 We aren't the only ones wearing beanies!