Day 192 - Weds 16th Sept: 192 Days Later

USA & New Zealand

Australia & Japan
What a trip! Countless memories, a ton of great experiences and a load of new friends (plus some 12,000 photos to sift through).

192 Days Later: done.

Day 191 - Tues 15th Sept: Capsule Hotel, Tokyo

Well, while in Tokyo do as the Tokyonians/Tokyoites (?) do. So I thought I'd spend my last night in one of these capsule hotels.

Day 190 - Mon 14th Sept: Ryōgoku Kokugikan Arena, Tokyo

Sumo! Sumo! Sumo! One of this year's six tournaments is taking place in Tokyo in September. The guys in the photo may look big, but they're two of the smaller amateur wrestlers - the pros are even bigger.

Day 189 - Sun 13th Sept: Mori Tower, Tokyo

Here's the view of Tokyo 52 stories up. The Mori Tower has 360 degree views of the city via their massive floor to ceiling windows.

Day 188 - Sat 12th Sept: Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, Kyoto

This shrine has hundreds of these red torii that line the route up the mountainside to the shrine. Great for fans of repetition in their photos. Great for fans of repetition in their photos.

Day 187 - Fri 11th Sept: Iwatayama Monkey Park, Kyoto

Did some temple hopping around Kyoto and also visited the Iwatayama Monkey Park today (where they have over 200 macaque monkeys living there). I know that technically this is not picture of the day. But hey, it's my blog and I can do what I want.

Day 186 - Thurs 10th Sept: Gion District, Kyoto

For the third day in a row, I'm spoilt for choice for today's pic. Got some good ones of all the lanterns on display in this alley way, a rickshaw driver and some temple pics - but today's pic of the day is this one of two geishas waiting for their afternoon appointments.

Day 185 - Weds 9th Sept: The Shinkansen, en route to Kyoto

Another great day for pics, highlights included: the bullet train zooming past, the architecture of Kyoto's rail station, the general hustle and bustle of the station, a dragon fountain and quite possibly the world's shortest pedestrian crossing (it had only three zebra stripes. Three!) But here's a good symmetrical one of the Shinkansen from the inside.

As today is 09/09/09 I thought about putting together nine pics...but these computers don't have any good software.

Day 184 - Tues 8th Sept: Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo

There were a load of good pics that could've been pic of the day today (gift lanterns, views from the top of the Govt. Buildings or the bright neon lights of the city), but I've gone for this one of all the people walking at the Shibuya Crossing.

Day 183 - Mon 7th Sept: An Arcade in Tokyo Bay

Saw quite a few things today as I roamed around the city with a few people from the hostel. The Japanese love their computer games and it appears that they love their little toys too - here's one of Mario at a retro games arcade.

Day 182 - Sun 6th Sept: Harajuku, Tokyo

Every Sunday the local eccentrics head down to Harajuka to dress up and pose for the tourists. Some kind of extreme projection of the extended self via social tribal groups methinks.

Day 181 - Sat 5th Sept: Sensoji Temple, Asakusa, Tokyo

On to the last stop: Japan. I'm staying in the Asakusa area of Tokyo and this temple is down the road from the hostel. Also, the temple's name is a close anagram of my surname.

Day 180 - Fri 4th Sept: The Sydney Harbour Bridge

It's the last day in Australia! I realised this morning that I still hadn't walked across the Harbour Bridge. I have now.

Day 179 - Thurs 3rd Sept: The Monorail, Sydney

The monorail makes another 192DL appearance (see Day 89), this time by night.

Day 178 - Weds 2nd Sept: Queen Victoria Building, Sydney

Here's some shoppers going shopping down at the QVB

Day 177 - Tues 1st Sept: Back to Sydney

The Oz trip is coming to an end, with an 11 hour bus ride to Sydney. Rather than show a pic of the back of the coach seat in front of me here's some pelicans that we fed back in Yamba.

Day 176 - Mon 31st Aug: Yamba Golf Club

They have a load of kangaroos milling around at the local golf club (before anyone gets in there with the question....no....they don't play golf. They just eat the grass there).

Day 175 - Sun 30th Aug: Yamba

Here's a crashing wave and therefore another coastline picture (well, I am travelling down the east coast) from the little town of Yamba. They have a lighthouse here too, but I thought I'd spare you a pic of that.

Day 174 - Sat 29th Aug: Somewhere between Byron Bay and Yamba

A day lacking in photos. But rather than dip into the back catalogue, I thought I'd take a pic of the mundane. Here's a big model of a prawn on top of a restaurant. Bonus points for anyone that can guess the name of the place.

Day 173 - Fri 28th Aug: Clarkes Beach, Byron Bay

I'm gonna give this picture description the 'Ronseal treatment': it's some guy surfing.

Day 172 - Thurs 27th Aug: Cape Byron Lighthouse

Hands up if you want (yet) another picture of a lighthouse on the blog?

Tough - you're getting one anyway. It's either that, or a picture of my massive lunchtime falafel.

From this lighthouse you can walk to the most easterly point of mainland Australia. Oooh!

Day 171 - Weds 26th Aug: Brisbane River

Not much happening today, so went for a cruise around the Brisbane River on a CityCat Ferry. Here's some hard working folk heading home for the day.

Day 170 - Tues 25th Aug: Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane

Went for a bit of a browse at the GoMA in Brisbane...didn't really see much there that I liked, except this sculpture made from a couple of Vespas. It's called 'The Stags' and it's by Patricia Piccinini. There was some artsy description about all the multi-level meanings it represents. Blah, blah, blah. I just thought it looked good!