One of the must-do activities while in Miyazaki is to visit the Takachiho Gorge. I had mentioned this to Ryoko-san when we checked into our place where she mentioned that the boats needed to be reserved ahead of time. This totally saved our butts because Thursday was a local holiday so naturally all of the boat reservations were taken from 9am-5pm for this entire week except ONE at 11am. SO LUCKY!
We woke up early to make the 2.5 hour drive north to Takachiho Gorge. Ryoko-san was gracious enough to make us an extra early breakfast so we could make it there with enough time to find parking. She knocked on our door with breakfast at exactly 7am. I remarked that she was so on time, she replied back “Of course, I am Japanese”.
This is my third time renting a car in Japan but the first time I’ve driven such long distances. It’s interesting to see the similarities and differences between driving back home and abroad. I feel like I’m the most aggressive driver on the road, everyone is so polite and willing to let you in, and it seems like no one is in a hurry. Instead of waiving to you, they bow. I’m used to seeing deer crossings at home but here there are rabbit, raccoon, and wild boar crossing signs. I think I mentioned this earlier but when you do a toll road, you pay for the distance you drive instead of the flat rate to use the road itself. Because of how far we drove today, we paid about $30 in tolls. Also, I needed to fill up gas which came out to be about $5 a gallon, similar to California prices. The gas station had a sink to wash your hands after you pump gas, which I thought was a neat feature.
About an hour into our drive we were redirected off the main highway and over to a local road. Unfortunately, this added an extra 45 minutes to our drive with an arrival time of 11:20. Since we’d be late just arriving exactly at 11, I was prepared to arrive with them telling us that we forfeited the reservation. To add to my stress, there were period of time where we were at a dead stop because the mountain roads were under construction and they alternated lanes of traffic through.
Finally arrived, parked, and to our relief, they allowed us to jump in a boat for 30 minutes instead of the full hour. I didn’t have time to appreciate the scenery until we were settled in the rowboat and WOW, dare I say that this was Gorge-ous?
The rowing was a bit awkward at first especially with so many people congesting the entry. There was a group there that spoke Cantonese and were kind enough to take our photo. This would have been a great opportunity to fly a drone to get some cool shots. I had an absolutely great time, would highly recommend checking Takachiho Gorge if you’re in the area despite the long drive.
There were a number of other sight seeing opportunities that were on my list but we only had so much time. On the way back down to the inn, we drove along the coast and stopped to see the Devil’s Washboard or Ogre’s Washboard. The formation of the rocks happened millions of years ago due to erosion on the hydrothermal rocks leaving the sandstone behind.
Got some great pictures but the wind knocked my camera and tripod over even though I had weighed it down. The LCD screen is toast but at least I can see through the viewfinder. I think I’d be freaking out a lot more if this were the beginning of the trip but since I can still take photos, this is a minor inconvenience and could have been a lot worse. I got this camera to film our wedding almost 6 years ago so it’s lived a good life. Guess it’s time for an upgrade?
There wasn’t enough time to do another onsen just with how much driving I had to do today nor did I have the energy for potential awkward encounters with naked strangers. Ryoko-san prepared another delicious meal for us.
We also bought desserts at the dairy farm yesterday which were absolutely delicious but tasted like pure butter for better or worse (need to go back on our nutrition plan when we get back home). We got like a flan-like custard pudding and a butter cream layered cake.
Not to sound ungrateful but I’m feeling a bit tired from the amount of moving around and traveling. Would be nice to have a day to veg out and do nothing then I can do another 2 weeks in Japan 😊
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