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Category: Queensland

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AVANI coming to Queensland …

04/03/201622/11/2017sarahnicho

Brisbane’s new Styles …

04/03/201622/11/2017sarahnicho

Airport fare …

02/01/201611/03/2018sarahnicho

Private islands …

23/09/201428/08/2017sarahnicho

Street-art stay …

27/07/201404/03/2018sarahnicho

Which Queensland island is right …

About me …

My name is Sarah and I’m a travel journalist writing features and news for a swag of Australian newspapers, magazines and websites.

This is my website, the place I post words and pictures gathered as I gallivant around the globe.

So enjoy the news, reviews, updates, random thinking and regular snapping – photos, that is – assembled here.

And hopefully you will find inspiration for your next trip far, near or here …

© Sarah Nicholson 2018

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... Japan is famous for its big, bustling cities but there are also some delightful wilderness areas including the mountains surrounding Nikko which is a two-hour journey by train from Tokyo. This is the Kanmangafuchi Abyss, a section of the river that flows through Nikko with rapids, waterfalls, and plunge pools. Tobu Railway run regular passenger services to Nikko City - as well as the other settlements in this peaceful corner of the country - and then it was a 10-minute walk to the Abyss. #toburailway || @tobu_japan_trip #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau

Walking to the Kanmangafuchi Abyss - which appears to be a series of waterfalls and rapids in the river that runs through Nikko - and there are lots of jolly little statues to mark the waterside path. #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau

... Roof tiles as art in Nikko. #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau

... Today’s culinary discover is yuba. When tofu is made a thin skin appears on top of the mixture when it’s boiled - like a film that appears on the surface of cooking custard - but rather than throwing it away it becomes yuba which is a Nikko specialty. Today the skin is used to wrap sushi, rather than the traditional seaweed, but it comes in a variety of presentations and is a regular part of a meal in Nikko. We’re dining at Zen, a restaurant in Nikko’s main drag between the train stations and Shinkyo Bridge, which is a smart family-run restaurant I can recommend to travellers. #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau #toburailway || @tobu_japan_trip

... Toshogu Shrine is tucked into the forest high on a Nikko mountain top making it cool, calm and quiet during summer when the trees are heavy with green. The locals tell me it’s beautiful here in autumn when all these trees change colour and carpet the hillside in vibrant shades of red, brown, orange and yellow. #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau #toburailway || @tobu_japan_trip

... window and door porn at Nikko’s Toshogu Shrine. #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau

... Nikko’s Toshogu Temple. #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau

... Lanterns donated by a local nobleman centuries ago still stand in place welcoming visitors to Nikko’s Toshogu Shrine. #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau #toburailway || @tobu_japan_trip

... Nikko’s famous Shinkyo Bridge. Local legend says the original bridge was built for the first monk that set out to climb the nearby mountain. When he came to this location he couldn’t cross the river so the resident God threw his two pet snakes across the valley and they twisted around each other to make a bridge for the monk. It’s now the first stop for most visitors to Nikko who pass by on their way to visit the temples and shrines that now dot the mountain. #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau #toburailway || @tobu_japan_trip

Leaving the big smoke behind and climbing into the mountains a couple of hours from Tokyo to spend some time in Nikko. #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau #toburailway || @tobu_japan_trip

Love the fabric combinations used when Japanese ladies don traditional garb, like this kimono and obi combination on sale at the Tobu department store in the Tokyo suburb Ikebukuro. #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau

... There’s a garden of more than 500 stone statues in the grounds of Kawagoe’s Kita-In Temple. These are the disciples of Buddha and were put in place to cheer to locals up after yet another destructive blaze wiped out almost the whole settlement. #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau

Door porn at Kawagoe’s Kita-In Temple... #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau

Japanese garden love at Kawagoe’s Kita -In Temple. A few centuries ago, after another one of Kawagoe’s big fires, half the city was turned to ashes and the emperor at the time decided to cheer the locals up by giving the town a few buildings from the original Edo Period Imperial Castle then standing in Tokyo. The pavilions were relocated by water and placed in the grounds of the Kita-In Temple. A few years later the Edo-era palace in Tokyo was lost to a fire which means Kawagoe is now the only place you can see a section of Japan’s original royal accommodations. This is the view of the garden from the room occupied by the Shogun’s wet nurses, not a bad view to gaze at while filling up a royal baby. #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau

... Admiring architecture in Kawagoe’s Old Town. This settlement - about 90 minutes by train from downtown Tokyo via Tobu’s Tojo Line - is called Little Edo because so many structures from that stretch in Japanese history still stand. And while all the houses along this street burnt down in a big 18th-century fire the structures were rebuilt in the original style. And created to be fireproof with clay mud covering the walls and shutters that could be secured should another blaze break out. #japanrevealed || @visitjapanau #toburailway || @tobu_japan_trip

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