A few hours before departing for our planned 5 days hike behind the Hakuba ridghe we heard froma reliable source about the Green Patrol that would be stations at key points on our hike. Green Patrol = no dogs allowed. Its only for the very busy summer month, before and after which dogs = A-OK (most of the time).

Being my first summer in Hakuba I didn't anticipate just how maniac crowded the hiking routes get in summer. Plus, I hate being controlled and can happily hike with dog 7 months a year anyway. So we spent an hour packing our car and went to Miyazaki. In th 600cc Kei Van campervan conversion we limited our speed to 90kph. It took around 17 hours of driving. On teh way home we took the ferry from Miyazaki to Osaka (and awesome service) and then drove back to Hakuba. Much easier.

Miyazaki is absurdly tropical, I had no idea. The water is too warm to cool you down. It was almost empty and we campervaned our way around snorkelling, fishing, diving of rocks and surfing. Also thinking about making it my 6 months a year home along with Hakuba. We didn't get a typhoon so the surf was rubbish, but I cut my foot really badly on a rock anyway so good surf would have been mostly wasted.

The foot cut was horrific, the best I've ever had and I've had a lot. I doubt it can be stitched shut as I took a 5mm wide flap off the heel. Its about 5mm deep as well - as though I sliced a 4cm long bit of udon out of my heel. So much blood. Hope it doesn't get infected. I still surfed ok and swam and had a good time, but it was a bit of a disability.

The rivers in Miyazaki are also fantastic. Deep narrow gorges and small water falls. We hiked our way up a few of them in water that must have been 25-27C. The dog loved it.

It was great to get some uncontrolled nature. Even saw turtle tracks on the sand from where they lay their eggs in the night.