The port is the heart of this town, and my tavel companions took a 2.5 h cruise up the Shiretoko Peninsula which turned out to be one of the highlights of this trip. The sea was calm and they saw many killer whales frolicking in the sea (I’m so jealous but get too seasick to venture onto boats unless absolutely necessary). They also saw a pod of white dolphins which apparently only migrate through this area once a year, so a very special sighting indeed.
I walked back from the harbour area into town and found the tourist centre selling kelp and seafood. A merchant was sorting through his display of king crabs and gave me a piece of leg meat to try; it was deliciously sweet. These crabs get to an enormous size with very long legs.
As I approached this shopping area, I detected the pungent smell of H2S (the bad egg smell) and found it coming from the ‘natural foot spa’. It did not look or smell at all inviting, but it was free unless you needed a towel.
The town of Rausu is in a picturesque location, but it looks like the climate makes life quite hard here. Occassionally there were gardens to brighten up the view, and I came across this tree with very strange red caterpillar-like growths on the leaves.
When you look out to sea from Rausu you see Russia!
The long thin island in the photo above is called Kunashiri and is hotly disputed territory which the Japanese want Russia to return to them. When I searched Google Maps to find places of interest near Rausu, several came up written in Russian, and it was only then that I learnt that these islands of the Northern Territories were not currently Japanese.
Because of territorial disputes in the seas here, the Japanese Coast Guard are permanently stationed here in Rausu.
Here are an assorted collection of photos taken around the port area of Rausu.
My travel companions returned estatic, so I took them to the shops for ice cream! We had sea salt ice cream, pale blue/green in colour, and delicious. Despite the temperature having fallen, we sat outside to eat our ice cream in true British fashion and instantly boosted sales as people saw us and wanted what we had! One guy even wanted to take his photo with us!
Overlooking Rausu is an observatory and a viewing point, so we drove there as our last destination for the day. From the Kunashiri Viewpoint, you get a great view of the town and port to one side and the lush mountains behind.
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