So, yeah. Shimoda. A week and a dream ago. 'Phoontastic indeed. Read on...

Shimoda sits as the bottom of the Izu peninsula - southwest of Tokyo, and depending on the mode of transport you choose, takes between 1.5 to 4 hours to get to - a trip I'll be makin' lots more, no doubt about it. Its a very foreigner friendly town and even in the most out of the way places the locals didn't bat an eyelid as the we strolled around with beers in hand. Noiiiice.

The first night we stayed at a cool little beach out of town on the way to Shirahama beach, called Soto Uraguchi. We found a cheap, nice minshiku called Jinrokuya (ph 0558 22 3066). It was once the only place to stay in the area, but these days it's a very different story with heaps of cheap little places to stay. We shared 2 rooms between 5, at 4200 yen each. No food, and we made our own futons, but we did get green tea and the baths have real onsen water in them. 30 seconds out the door and you're at the beach - which is precisely where we skedaddled as some as the swimmers were on, with beers in hand... my first swim of the season. Now there's something strangely perverse with that picture! Me, a Queensland girl, getting my first - and only - swim of summer on the last weekend of the season.

We had chosen Soto Uraguchi because we heard that Ohama beach, out at Kisami, was closed thanks to the approaching typhoon. We were lucky to get this one swim in at dusk because during the night the wind whipped the ocean up like a slendablender in an eggnog. Crazy white caps. It was great. But the next day all the beaches in the entire area were closed to swimmers (but not to surfers), and all plans of floating around in the ocean were squashed. Anyway, we had some trials finding a place to eat dinner that night, after walking the 30 minutes to Shirahama beach we ended up resorting to Lawson bento's and beers in a vending machine alcove hiding from the wind and drizzle (we found out later that we had just walked in the wrong direction...) - not quite the pleasant Friday night dinner we had intended. So....

Next morning, after checking out, we caught the bus back in to Shimoda station and found the bus for Ohama beach in an effort to find a rumoured pot of gold: cruisy cafes that serve western style breakfasts....

Did we find gold? YOU FREAKIN BET WE DID. Ohama beach is a not-so-secret expat mecca and has at least 3 western style restaurants (Arty Hearty, Marley Cafe and the Paradise Cafe @ Ernest House) 2 of them with real breakfast/brunch menus. The prices sat at around 1100 yen for a good sized "American Breakfast" that included vegetarian options and nice coffee.

Nice coffee. A handy thing in the morning when members of the entourage remain steadfastly silent with glazed eyes, chanting "coffee. coffee. coffee. don't talk to me. coffee. now. p.l.e.a.s.e!" under their breaths... We had bunkered in one of the rooms with beers after dinner and (onsen) baths and yakked till the wee hours the night before, and it took quite a while to get up and combat the howling wind and sand grit in our faces the next morning to get to Ohama. Arty Hearty and its "American Breakfast" was too good to be true. As was the Marley Cafe the following morning.

Anyway, being kinda budget aware, we traipsed around the back lanes all the way past the gorgeous spooky little temple we passed on the way in, and found the cool little Hamakaze Minshiku with one huge tatami room for us to share for a reasonable 3800 yen each. Choice. The day was just getting better and better. The beach, depite being closed for swimming, was where we really wanted to be so we spent most of the day there getting whipped by sand and burned lobster-red in the overcast conditions. I'm still peeling the dead skin off my shoulders as I type....

Late afternoon we wandered back in to Shimoda station and caught the train back up the Izu-Kyuko line to Rendaiji Onsen. Nothing like a good soakin' to truly relax creaking shoulderblades and aching backs... Two hours later we were eating (vegie burger for me, cheese burgers for the carnivores) and watching the well-financed expat scene flirt, schmooze and get messy at the Paradise cafe back in Ohama-Kisami. We didn't stay long. Cute bar staff though. Shame they messed up the order.

The next day the typhoon felt much closer. After breakky, we abandoned beach plans, checked out of the Minshiku and rose the Shimoda cable car to the top of Nesugata-yama. Nice views and a cool little photography museum with some lovely old photos and hundreds of cameras. I had really hoped to check out much more of the peninsula but with the typhoon bearing down we ended up heading back to Tokyo early on Sunday afternoon. Knowing we'd be back make leaving easier. But riding the Izu-Kyuko north we were all pretty subdued. Heading back to the big smoke after a weekend at the beach and onsen is a hard hard thing to do.

The trick to surviving a big city is to get out to nature as often as you can. Next time I start moaning again, please - someone - just tell me to just get the fuck out of dodge. Give me a swift kick up the backside and remind me that I live in a beautiful country, get out and see it. Eliminate those been-in-Tokyo-wayyyy-toooo-long blues.

It works. I'm in love again. Japan rocks. Tokyo rocks. I'm a lucky thing.