Okinawa: Day Two & Three

Day two in Okinawa was a Sunday and a beautiful sunny day, our view from the hotel room. 

Some of the stunning water features around the hotel grounds 

Us at breakfast 

We decided to go to sacrament meeting at one of Clinton's old chapels. Clinton was surprised to see a brand new building in place of the much smaller, older building that used to be there. 

Unfortunately, when we went inside we realised it was general conference videos (and they were all in Japanese!). We had been listening to them in the car that weekend anyway. Clinton then noticed one of his old bishops and his wife. When he spoke to them and mentioned his last name they remembered who he was and were excited to see him! His old bishop was now a stake president and he explained how the area had grown significantly. 

Clint then suggested visiting Okinawa World and the gyokusendo caves. It's the second biggest cave system in Japan, spanning 5km, however only 1km is open to the public. There are thousands of stalactites and stalagmites as well as small waterfalls and pools of water. I regretted my long dress that dragged on the wet floors of the cave - Clint kept having to hold it up for me! 

Many local artists work and display their art at Okinawa World. Okinawa is famous for its ceramics and glass works. 

I got to shuck an oyster with a real pearl inside (it's actually a pretty tricky business)! I gave the pearl to Sienna when I got home. 

Some of their pretty glass work 

Mango ice-cream 

We stopped at another of Clinton's chapels and Clint was surprised to see quite a few familiar faces. He thought he wouldn't remember that many people and he wished he'd been there for a full meeting. If we visit again we'll be sure to go to some church meetings. 

That day we also visited a war museum and learnt about how badly Okinawa was affected in the war. The Okinawans really suffered a great deal during the war and an American air base still exists on the island. 

On our last day we had a few hours in the morning and we used them visiting Shuri Castle. It was interesting learning about the Ryukyu dynasty and how powerful Okinawa was for a time. 

We had one last serving of Japanese curry (a serving I regretted an hour or so after this photo was taken) and flew back to Tokyo. 

On our flight to Tokyo we had a glimpse out the window of Mount Fuji. We would love to see it up closer one day. We stayed in an airport hotel in Tokyo that night and then flew back to Perth first thing the following morning. 

We didn't arrive back in Perth until late that night and stayed at the Crown. As we arrived so late they upgraded us and this was the view from our hotel room in the morning. 

We went to the amazing Epicurian restaurant at the Crown for a buffet breakfast. This is the churros and chocolate fountain station. Hands down the best buffet breakfast we've ever had! 

Our last selfie together before leaving the Crown to fly home to our babies in Karratha. We were desperate to see them by that stage (I'm fairly certain that Mum and Dad were desperate to return our children to us by that stage too!!!)

How can I express how incredible our Japan holiday was? I hope my photos give a glimpse into what a beautiful place it is and what an adventure we had. We enjoyed every minute of it and will treasure our memories of that holiday for a lifetime. We are grateful beyond words for the sacrifice Mum and Dad made to fly from Melbourne to look after ALL FOUR of our children for 12 whole days! They were extremely gracious about it and didn't complain once (and we know it wouldn't have been easy at all). We will be forever thankful to them, it was a gift dreams are made of.