037

Today I returned from an overnight trip with my Host Family to a place called Lake Toya which is here...

It's super pretty. Definitely added to my list of favourite places in Hokkaido. We stayed in a hotel right on the water's edge, with uninterrupted views of the lake as well as the mountain in the distance (Mt Youtei, aka "Hokkaido's Fuji").

There were 12 of us all up that went; my host mum, host dad, host sister, host brother and his girlfriend, the grandpa and grandma, me, and kimberly and her three boys (they're staying in this house for 3 months too, because Kimberly stayed here 20 years ago).

Anyway, it was pretty good. We arrived in the afternoon and went to the pool! Second time swimming since I left Australia. It's hard to believe I've only been swimming twice in 10 months. I can't wait to get back in the ocean.

Anyway, we hung out there for about an hour and a half (there were waterslides and a wave pool, yay), and after an all-you-can-eat buffet for dinner, we went back to our hotel and chilled out, mostly in my/my host sibling's room. We all sat around drinking red wine and listening to stories from my host parents which were hilarious.

Everyone had gone to the onsen earlier, but I was adamant and said NO NO NO ONSEN NO but of course I went in the end lol. It was my best onsen experience yet; I had the whole place to myself. It must be the quiet season. But it was awesome; I stayed in there from 10:00-10:30pm because I didn't have to freak out about other people being there. So, I love onsen, but only when I have it to myself haha. Like a giant bath pool. Yum.

Anyway... we woke up early this morning and ate breakfast and then just chilled out again until it was time to check out and go home. Snow had fallen overnight so we had a mini snowball fight, but it hadn't fallen back here in Megumino/Eniwa :( soon, maybe.