Tottori

Apologies. I know it's been a while since I've written anything, but don't worry, I'm still spending every waking moment taking opportunities given to me and thoroughly enjoying myself!

So next wild weekend on the list - sandboarding and paragliding in Tottori!

Tottori is a good 5 hours drive from Tokushima, but is renowned for its sand dunes, and especially the sandboarding you can do. So why the hell not?

On Friday 8th myself and 6 other friends began the long drive up to Tottori in the pouring rain. Not a great outlook to our weekend as we were planning on spending all of it outside on the dunes but everyone (apart from the pessimistic Brit *cough cough*Liz*cough cough*) kept fairly positive about the rain stopping so we would be able to do all the activities planned on the Saturday. We managed to get safely up to Tottori and checked into our rather nice hotel - definitely an upgrade from the hostels we usually stay in, so much so that I felt distinctly underdressed when we rocked up in the hotel foyer, dripping wet in our casual travelling clothes whilst guests were mingling around us in suits and cocktail dresses. Hohum. So because we had had such a long drive (with a big thanks to Todd and Dinah who were the designated drivers for the trip) we got up to our rooms and separated quickly ready to slip off to sleep and get our energy up ready for the next day.

So to my surprise we woke up on Saturday to drizzle and not the torrential rain which I was forecasting. We headed down to our breakfast before setting off for the day. And what a breakfast it was!! Buffet style with many different options of food - mainly Japanese but there was the addition of scrambled eggs and sausages. For me though the best part was undoubtedly the yummy pieces of pumpkin just chilling on the side! I lost no time in adding pieces of this to my already overflowing breakfast plate. After breakfast (with me already looking forward to breakfast the following morning) we got into the cars and headed towards the sand dunes with patches of blue skies getting more and more pronounced (much to my amazement!).

First up - paragliding! Well it wasn't called off for a start so we each signed our lives away, shouldered a parachute and began the short walk over to the dunes and walked the (very) steep walk up to the top. Here we were given some very brief instructions as to how to start off and how to control the thing and then how to pack it up when you landed, and that was it, we were asked who was up first (of course I volunteered!) and we were off! And it was brilliant!! There is nothing quite like the feeling of floating high in the air above the sand right next to the sea and just glide side to side with the smallest of movements in the arms! My first turn was a complete success, managing to do a few turns before landing (on my feet) at the bottom of the dune. My only complaint about paragliding was the long walk back up the dune dragging the heavy paraglide with harness in tow. Everyone else had a successful first flight and we were all pretty stoked to have another go. Unfortunately my second go wasn't as successful - not only did my harness give me a full blown (and painful) wedgie, I also managed to get a full front wedgie too! Sorry to share so much detail but needless to say I was focusing more on the pain at that point than on the flying so didn't quite control the chute as much as I should have done making for a very swift landing, taking off one more time but landing on my side when I finally landed at the bottom. rubbish! Everyone else seemed to enjoy their second go better though so that's good.

walking to the jump off point!

Getting strapped in after a very brief lesson

Catching the air

Ready to go

Dani's in the air

Bleuch... treking back up the hill

Paragliding is awesome!

So what with the wind, the trek back up the hill, and the amount of people there, we only got to have the two flights, which was a shame really as I could have done with one more turn to redeem myself. However, still happy with our morning, we packed up and headed back to the centre ready to spend a few hours looking around the omiyage shops waiting for 4 o'clock to come round so we could head back out for our sandboarding adventure.

Todd battling against wind and sand

Running down the dune

Actually, whilst we were waiting, everyone decided that they wanted to go back and spend some time on the dunes again (*enter negative Brit stage right*) which I thought was a pretty bad idea as the wind had picked up further and it had started to rain. Never the less, I dutifully followed my friends back onto the sand and immediately started regretting it! It was horrible! The wind was picking up the sand and launching it at us with all its might - it felt like my legs we being ripped to shreds! It was worse the further up we got and I took a great picture of Todd and Dani battling against the sand and wind determined to get to the top. Once at the top my crazy friends decided that it would be great fun to run back down the dune. I realised that this could be fun, but I also thought ahead to the non-fun effort of having to then climb back up! So I opted out of this little venture and instead decided to stay up top and take photos of the crazy fools running down! I then got beaten a bit more by the sand and wind so gave up and went back to clean off and wait for everyone back at the centre.

The fools!

So time quickly went by and it was time to head out again to do a bit of sandboarding (the rain had finally let up by this point, thank god!). So once again we signed our lives away and headed back to a different part of the dunes - a rather steep part which we were all pretty surprised about. Once again we got a very quick introduction and a few instructions and then we were helmeted up and given the go-ahead! Now I was pretty annoyed as I was told that sandboarding was nothing like snowboarding, but I beg to differ! Once again I was first up and made my way to the point of no return. Keeping in mind all the instructions the guides had given us I tipped my board over the edge..... and my snowboarding instincts kicked it. And it was great!!! I just wish the slope was a bit longer but it was still a really good time and so much easier to carry a sandboard up the slope rather than a huge paraglide! The weather held out for the afternoon and we all had a great time going up and down the slopes - by the end of it, everyone was able to get down the slope without falling over. It was great fun!

The sandboarding crew!

standard jump photo!

Ok so that was Saturday's line up done and dusted. What a great day, despite the weather. That evening we experienced a little of the nightlife that Tottori had to offer but seeing as we had had such an active day, we didn't experience it for long. The next morning (after another divine breakfast) we headed out to the local sand museum to see what that was all about. Now I didn't know what to expect from this museum, but as soon as we turned up I realised that it should be called an exhibition and not a museum as it had sand sculpture filling a large room. And the theme of these sculptures this year?? None other than the lovely UK! It was a very surreal experience seeing all these famous UK landmarks and icons made out of sand, but it was great to see and definitely a good end to a brilliant weekend.

Black cab, bobby on the beat, and Harry Potter....

This is completely carved out of sand!

Long live the Queen!

This thing was HUGE!