A leisurely start to the day saw us wandering to the railway station some time after 11am. The shopping streets were adorned with brightly coloured decorations that we had seen people preparing the day before - something was up, but we didn't know what! All of the cartoon-like structures had disappeared from the plaza in front of the station, but an inflatable slide and jumping area had been installed closer to the station building. 

We reserved our seats for the train to Beppu, fortunately only having to wait a few minutes before its departure. The 10-minute journey wound its way around the shoreline - nothing spectacular to report on the there. Once we arrived, we consulted the tourist information office to work out our itinerary for the afternoon. I had read about the 'hells' of Beppu - bubbling pools of water and mud oozing up from under the ground - and these clearly were the main attraction. Day bus passes purchased, we stepped outside to catch our first bus. A 10-minute wait and then we were on our way. The bus wound its way through the suburbs of Beppu, dropping us off in the tourist area of Kannawa where we noticed many plumes of steam rising into the air. The whole area must be sitting on top of molten lava not that far below the ground. The entrances to the first two jigoku or 'hells' were just a short walk from the bus stop. We were faced with the dilemma of paying 400 yen to enter one jigoku or 2000 yen for all 7. We had no idea whether they were worth seeing or not, but decided to purchase the package deal when we were offered a 10% discount, given that we had all day bus passes. (About $24 each.) Surprisingly, credit cards were not accepted here, and as we'd been unable to follow the instructions on the ATM at t Beppu Station, we were rather short of cash. However, we had sufficient funds, with just enough left over for an ice cream or bun later in the day.

For over a thousand years, the region of Kannawa has been described as an area of fuming gas expulsions, bubbling mud, and steaming hot water. According to the leaflet we were given, "It was a place that people feared to approach and was said to have been an accursed land. There is no surprise that it came to be known familiarly as a place of "jigoku" ("hells")".

The first hell contained a number of bubbling mud pools, not dissimilar to those we have seen in New Zealand, although much smaller. Here, Michael sat with his feet in the thermal waters - he commented on how hot it was; not at all refreshing. (The weather was again hot, humid and mostly sunny. 

The geyser shot into action over 5 minutes later than predicted, leaving us only minutes to catch the next bus. We stayed just long enough to take a short video and a photo or two, and then we raced off, leaving the other tourists with their selfie sticks, rushing closer to the geyser to make sure they captured some great shots of themselves witnessing this phenomenon...even though they would clearly have their backs to it! 

The bus was only a minute late. The ride back to the station took a different direction from our earlier journey, winding its way in to the grounds of a medical centre and out again, along the foreshore past an uninviting beach area, and past various shopping centres back to the station. We made a quick visit back to the tourist office for information about the cable car ride up the mountain over-looking Beppu. A check of the bus timetable revealed that the next bus might just reach the cable car ticket office 3 minutes before its 4pm closing time...and 20 minutes after the last ride up the mountain! And I had been carrying my hiking stick all day (looped to the water bottle holder around my waist), intending to do some hiking on some of the walking paths at the top of the mountain, or perhaps hike back down from the top! On the bright side, I hadn't overdone the walking for the day, and so the rash on my legs was under control and I was still feeling OK. The tourist officer informed us that there was a big festival being held in Oita, and so it sounded as if it might be time to head back there. We reserved our seats on the next fast train back to Oita and then made a quick excursion to a large supermarket located about 10 minutes by foot from the station. Michael had no luck finding any tonic water, and so we walked back empty-handed. 

Back in Oita, the shopping malls were very busy, with various amusements on offer for the children, including fishing out little items from water-filled paddle pools (I noticed live fish in one of them and small plastic balls in another). On the way back to our hotel, we passed a number of people dressed in similar sporty looking uniforms, giving us the impression that we had missed out on a parade. I was a little disappointed. 

After freshening up and having a drink and some nibbles, we headed back to the shopping malls on our way to a Chinese-style restaurant Michael had seen in the station building. Clearly, the action had only just started - the shopping malls were packed with people! It was bustling and very noisy - and at the end of one street, I could see one of the illuminated cartoon-like floats being carried along above the crowd. My curiosity drew me closer, with Michael reluctantly bringing up the rear! Outside of the covered mall, along a wide main road lined with thousands of spectators, were groups of people wearing different uniforms, dancing and shouting as loud music beefed out of many loud speakers. Every now and again, they would stop whilst the people carrying the floats would twirl around and around. On top of each float were several people shouting out to the crowd through their microphones. And can you guess what dance movements those in the a parade were doing? The very movements I had seen the young group of people rehearsing near the castle ruins on our first evening here! It was as if all the pieces of a mysterious puzzle had finally come together - the strange cartoon-like objects in front of the station, the dancing that I thought might be a form of physical education, and all the decorations we had seen the store keepers finishing off and hanging up the evening before! It was only later that I learned that this summer festival is known as Tanabata or the Star Festival, a celebration that has been a tradition for about 400 years. It is based on an old Chinese myth - the story of two lovers (stars in the Milky Way) who can only connect on the 7th day of the 7th month once every 7 years. The Tanabata is celebrated all over Japan, each area holding it on different dates, commencing in early July. Stores compete as to which can put on the best displays, and people hang their wishes, written on strips of paper, on to a wishing tree. 

I thought we were very fortunate to have seen this event, but Michael just wanted to get away from the hoards of people. And so after I'd seen enough - and it really was very repetitive, almost trance-like - we moved on. Predictably, there were people everywhere...and the Chinese-like restaurant was full. We sat down at a table in the restaurant next door, which seemed to flow on from the first one. The menu appeared to be dominated by steaks, and I really felt disconcerted, as we had just accepted it by default when it hadn't been the menu that had attracted us there at all. The service was understandably slow, and so we decided to move on. We headed back to the shopping mall. The parade was still going, and the shopping streets were packed. Quite a number of women were dressed in their kimonos, as were some of the young girls. Stores had set up tables outside their shops, selling their wares at supposedly discounted prices. People were lining up for snacks and drinks. I was amused to see two young women excitedly take a selfie of themselves - one had a piece of cucumber on a stick, and the other had some pineapple! I doubt that such items would be popular at an Australian festival (can you imagine buying a stick of cucumber at the Royal Show?)! 

Outside the covered shopping malls, we came across an area of food stalls where Michael bought some fried chicken on a skewer (the best he's had so far). My camera battery had died, and as I hadn't brought the spare one with me, I wasn't able to take any more photos. I almost bought some squid on a skewer...wishing I had tried it now. Eventually, we bought some fried prawns in croissants with a little salad (200 yen...or about $2.60 each)- discounted by 50%, as by now the parade was over and people were heading home. We stopped at a Lawson's convenience store, bought a couple of ice creams, and then took our booty back to our hotel room where we feasted, looking out over our million dollar view of the city.