Kagoshima

This past 3 day weekend we took a trip to Kagoshima, one of Kyushu's southernmost cities. It was the furthest we've been from Sasebo and it was quite the road trip. We took toll roads the whole way down and it took us about 6 hours and $90 to get there. We were happily surprised that the tolls weren't more than that.

 

Our first stop once we got to Kagoshima was a ferris wheel that the boys loved. They really partied on it!  It offered some pretty cool views of the city and of the volcano across the bay, Sakurajima.

 

 

 

Early on Sunday, we hopped aboard a car ferry that took us to the volcano. It was Leo's first ferry ride and he was a bit nervous. 

 

 

He warmed up to the idea and the boys scoped out the volcano we were headed to. 

  

 

Sakurajima was pretty awesome with tons of stuff to do once we got there. There were lookout towers, foot baths, hiking trails, parks and more. About 5,000 people live on the volcano year round and it's constantly billowing out ash, so everything is covered in it. The last major eruption was in 1914 and there is a shrine you can visit that is half buried in lava because of it.

 

Here was one of the viewing platforms.

 

 

We spent a lot of time at an awesome dinosaur park. The boys LOVED it!
 



 

 

 

 

Besides dinosaurs, there was the longest roller slide we'd ever seen and some pretty neat jungle gyms. And great views of course!

 

 

 

After the volcano, we drove about 3 more hours south to the southernmost point of Kyushu Island. Cape Sata was amazing! You drive as far as you can and then...

 

...hike through a tunnel to the other side of the mountain...

 

 

...through the woods...

 

 

...past a shrine...

 

 

...past some amazing views...

 

  

 

...past an abandoned restaurant that your mom will tell you to stay away from and your dad will tell you to go have fun in...

 

 

...then you're there!

 

 

It was a really neat walk - we were so glad we made the long drive down to the cape.  On the way back, we found this shrine on a beach alongside the road. The boys had fun playing in the water a bit and I just thought the Torii arch looked so cool on the beach.

 

 

 

The view of Sakurajima as we headed back was pretty neat.

 

Leo got brave on our last ferry of the day!

 

 

The next day we spent mostly in the car enjoying a beautiful drive up the western coast of Kyushu. It was all very mountainous with tons of rocky beaches and beautiful views. We took our third and final ferry from Kumamoto to Shimabara on our way home. We had a great time on this trip and are really starting to feel like we know a lot about our island. We've yet to find a spot that isn't breathtakingly beautiful and we've found tons of spots (especially on this trip!) that we're sure to go back to.