Kyushu 2015 Autumn Self Drive Trip - Day 7

Day 7 : Izumi to Kagoshima

Today we went to the Izumi Crane Observation Centre ( about 25 min away from the station ) to see the Cranes that had flew here to avoid the  winter. Every year , between late October to March , there will be more then 10,000 cranes here. English site and a blog from someone who had better pictures. When we got there , it was drizzling a bit and the weather was very cold but still we did saw a lot of cranes there though picture quality is not that good. Here are 3 links of the videos i took when i was there , Video 1 , Video 2 , Video 3

Cranes in the field along the way

In the open field might have some , here and there

It started to rain when we were leaving so we decided to check out the "Samurai House" near the Izumi Station area. There are a total of 3 that is open for visiting , all are free. Think they are free guides but the only do Japanese only so we just visited one and look look see see.
Next , we are wanted to go straight to Kagoshima and visit Senganen Garden (仙巌園) - it's a garden facing the sea and Sakurajima ( one of the "live" volcano in Kyushu ) . Apparently it's once belong to a powerful clan , which the garden was design in a way that the Volcano is the "mountain" and the sea is the "pond" , like how in chinese said "有山有海“. But because it's drizzling and we did not really managed to catch any nice Autumn colours yet , we decided to detour to 曽木の滝公園 , which is one of the Koyo place cos according to the web report , there is still Koyo ( red leaves ) here. There is actually a abandoned factory nearby that is only visible when the water level is low (think in the summer months , link here if you are interested).
This is like a big park with an underground passage tunnel ( think you need to pay to go through , think it will take you from the entrance of the park to near the water basin area , we did not go in ) , there are some shops and a few restaurants (we had our lunch here).

The only red tree left

A glass panel at the end

Another tiny falls on top at the other end

There is a small platform with a part with glass panel , which allows you to see the part where the water was flowing out but as it was raining on n off , it looks very dirty with all the sand. The water here is flowing very fast that is why there like a Dam to drive power from these water nearby. There is a few attractions nearby , like the submerged power plant , a dam and a bridge but due to time constrain and also the weather , we just stayed a while had our lunch and moved on.
We decided to drive to Kannondaki Park (観音滝公園) to try our luck again cos this is another Koyo spot. There is a waterfall here , think some chalets ( like a campsite kind of thing ) and there is a river which think you could go down for activities in summer months. We were lucky then the rain is not that heavy when we are there , but it got bigger when we were about to leave. The pictures will looks even better if the leaves were in better conditions but still this is one of my favourite picture.
After here we actually detour again to another spot , 藺牟田池県立自然公園 , this is actually a big lake which is also a place for sakura viewing other then Koyo but when we are there , it was very cold and most of the trees are already bare ( cannot trust the online reports of koyo too much cos we detour here cos one of the site put that the leaves is just nice for viewing ). We just spot take a look and then move on to Kagoshima city cos the weather is kinda of dark and hope to get out of the mountains road.
It was about 7 pm and was still drizzling when we reached Kagoshima and checked into the hotel. Was very lucky that there is a last carpark lot for us at the hotel ( apparently for Toyoko Inn hotel , some carparks had to be reserved when you do the booking ( else have to call them  if cannot do online , not very sure cos we never know about this) but some is First Come First Served. Do note also most ( if not all ) the carparks for the hotel chain is all on top , meaning they is those auto parking type. You drive into a life and then everything else is automatically controlled by the parking staff. So meaning , best to have everything you want taken with you when you alight as if i am not wrong thought they only charges a flat rate from check in to check out but if you wanna take out your car and park again additional charges will incur.

For dinner we had the famous Kagoshima Kurobuta Pork at Kurokatutei (黑かつ亭), which is also known as "6 white" aka “六白” ( this means that other then the 4 legs , tail and nose  is white, the rest of the pig is black in colour )  also the pigs are fed with sweet potatoes. Quoted online " The Kagoshima Kurobuta pig has black hair throughout its body and six white markings, namely its four limbs, nose and tail. Compared with other types of pork, the fat of the Kagoshima Kurobuta pork has a higher melting point, and is thus non-sticky and has a light, crisp flavour. Having fine muscle fibre and rich in amino acids, the Kagoshima Kurobuta pork, touted as “soft, tender and tasty”, is highly regarded throughout Japan and is also the pride of Kagoshima prefecture. "  The cutlet is really good ! not only the pork does not have the usually "porky" smell/taste , they way they fried it was really good , crispy and non oily. they also sell the black pork bun but it's chill :( so we did not buy to try , Actually wanted to buy and maybe use the hotel microwave the next morning but cos we will leave early so a lot of guest will be having breakfast there ( the microwave is usually at the dinning area too ) , so paiseh lor.

After dinner , we went to the shopping street and did some Omiyagei shopping and also went to try the famous 白熊冰 at the Shirokuma Cafe , It's basically shaved ice with condense milk syrup and topped with fruits . Think someone mentioned that if you were to eat inside , you have to order a portion each , no sharing ( their minimum order i think ) but you can also eat at any of the restaurant in that building think they had a few floor and you can ordered it ( not sure about this but online someone mentioned they had set which is a bit cheaper ? ) Anyway you can choose to take away like us , look at the design of the take away plate in the last picture. It's was about 8 degree and drizzling when I had that ice :P Before going back hotel we went to Don Quijote for some shopping as it was just opposite, the next day is staying near the coast and there is no shops nearby so need to top up some drinks and snacks.