It is finally our short attempt at half term, and it feels like along time since Christmas! We were originally thinking we would like to go away overnight to Gunma or somewhere similar, to an onsen resort like we did in October '07. As it turned out though, now is a very expensive time and we don't have as much spare money as we did then. So instead we decided to hire a car for the day and go back out towards Fuji, to see the Fuji five lakes (Fuji-go-ko) and other bits and pieces we liked the sound of. The day before was gorgeous so we had high hopes, but on Friday morning it was windy and rainy and dark.

We set off along the Tomei expressway when we eventually found it (driving in Tokyo can be difficult at the best of times - possibly leaving during the morning rush hour wasn't our best idea) and the spray made the visibility horrible. We were heading towards lake Yamanakako, the closest of the five lakes. There is an onsen place right at the foot of Mt Fuji which we wanted to try. I love onsen, but Will is not so keen on the whole nudity thing, so when I read about Tenkei I was quite excited. It has the usual single sex onsen, but it also has lots of different temperature small pools in a mixed area where you can wear swimsuits. As it is so close to the mountain, the outside baths look right up to the snow-capped cone, but obviously the weather didn't allow for that. Even so, sitting outside in a hot natural spring bath while cold rain came down and bounced on the water all around was fantastic. Will even seemed to enjoy it! Although he did get bored long before me. I love coming out of nice onsen too, as there are lots of pots and potions in the dressing room to try, and you feel all clean and warm. There was also a relaxation room with big chair/bed combinations and blankets for when you didn't want to bathe (which also faced the mountain), a massage centre and restaurants etc. We spent a couple of hours there and got wrinkly, then moved on to the lake itself. If anyone else comes over to visit, we will definitely take them there. This is what it would have looked like if the weather was better!

We drove around the four closest lakes, and had a quick look at the visitor centre. We were driving around the northern edge of mt Fuji but we couldn't see a thing! Even when the clouds started to lift in other directions, there was still a big dense pile around the cone itself. We stopped for lunch at the most remote lake, Motosuko, and at in a restaurant above the edge. For the last 2 years we have been skiing in this holiday, so we had food we would probably have been eating up in Hokkaido if we had gone, Katsu Kare (pork cutlet with rice and curry and salad) and Flatted Ramen in miso with lots of japanese mushrooms. Mmm.

When we got back outside we looked around and it seemed much brighter than before. Will wandered up to the edge of the carpark to see if Fuji had cleared. I was so busy watching him I walked straight into the drinks machine I was headed for. So I didn't find out that it had cleared, and when we got back into the car and drove out, there was Fuji, right in front of me and perfect. A little further up the road we came to a straight section with no buildings obstructing the view, so we stopped to take some photos. That's right, my camera is finally fixed! Yay!! (Well yay again). As we rounded the north western section of the loop around Fuji, we crossed into Shizuoka prefecture. We were heading for a waterfall which again I had read about and wanted to see. They reminded me of a sort of mini Niagara, as they fell all around a horse-shoe shaped lake, although obviously on a much smaller scale. It was a lot cooler down there, and a long walk back up to the car! But it was all worth it. I had spent ages getting sorted when we left the onsen, using the hairdryer and all the other bits and pieces on offer. The spray from the falls meant that by the time I got back to the car I was a big wavy frizz ball again, but i was just happy to have seen Fuji and cool water falls all in one day!

As we came back up the road towards Fuji again the mist started to lift, but it was cloudier again than it had been before we stopped. We saw Fuji for another few minutes and then the cloud obscured everything. It was a very strange feeling - in the space of two hours Fuji had gone from being completely covered by cloud on a generally sunny day, to being out in glorious sunshine and visible for miles, to dense fog that meant we couldn't see further than the edge of our current valley. Because we were driving around Fuji in a circuit we knew exactly where it was, we just couldn't see it.

And then as we got further away it lifted once more as the sun was starting to set. We were half way back to Tokyo and the view out of the back window was Fuji all pink and glowing from the setting sun. It was a lovely last view!

We had booked the car until late at night, but we were tired and felt we had already been lucky with the things we had seen that day, so we went right back into the city. We gave the car back at 6.30pm, and were amazed to find they gave us a refund for the hours we didn't use! I can't imagine that happening anywhere else in the world.We had a brilliant day!