day 4 in japan...

...was basically a journey from sapporo to the sounkyo gorge area with stops along the way for lessons in jam and butter-making, to see the famous farm tomita and to tour a winery...weather started off fairly well, but we were being chased by the rainclouds almost all the way...

1. on our way again...departing sapporo in the morning...someone looks quite nice and comfy
2. what is she taking with her camera?
3. starting off the jam-making at the jam factory...the raw ingredients are basically just sugar and the fruit (in this case strawberries)
4. two of the students were more interested in play
5. the end product
6. bottling the jam to keep
7. lil and her two instant best friends
8. moi
9. nice blue skies to start off with
10. autumn trees
11. a river runs through it...how picturesque
12. butter-making: the manual way involves a lot of vigourous shaking
13. the yellow stuff is butter...
14. taking a short rest outside the butter factory after all the "exercise"
15. at the furano winery...note the ominous clouds
16. the view from the winery across the countryside
17. stained glass in the winery building
18. the farm tomita's main building
19. in the greenhouse
20. lil taking pix of the flowers
21. lavender flowers...
22. not sure what these flowers are but they are gorgeous...the colours are so rich and vibrant
23. lavender ice-cream anyone?
24. the view of the autumn foliage outside farm tomita
25. dinner at the sounkyo onsen hotel
26. all dressed up in the yukata