Japan – Bunny Island

So following on from Miyajima Island Olga and I figured the next place worth a visit would be another famous island near Hiroshima, Okunoshima, or more commonly (and cutely) known as Bunny Island. A great decision this was!

It didn’t start off great. I’ve come to find a few of my stories start off that way. We left Hiroshima  on the Shinkansen around 10.30 and that was the most successful we were for 4 hours. It began when we missed a transfer by seconds, then another, then couldn’t connect to the WiFi in time to find where we were meant to be, and eventually after much frustration we found ourselves on a conductor-less train bound Tadanoumi station which is where you catch the most commonly caught ferry over to Bunny Island.

We met a lovely Australian lady who was an etymologist and we shared stories about travel while we waited for the ferry to arrive. It wasn’t as long a journey as the Miyajima trip and it was a tad warmer as we didn’t bother brave the outdoors this time.

Upon arrival you are almost instantly face to face with BUNNIES

We wanted to get away from the crowd a little so we made our way a little deeper into the island before setting down to be swarmed by bunnies, and what a cute hike it was.

Eventually after being swarmed constantly by bunnies we found a stunning little outcrop overlooking the beach and we made it our home for the next hour or so. This is where we became well acquainted with Brunhilde. Brunhilde (full name is Brunhilde Von Shaft) became our favourite almost instantly and she was ADORABLE!!!!!

After feeding her, and her friends feeding on my boots, we kept on a-walking around until for some foolish reason we decided to climb stairs, again, not 24 hours removed from Miyajima. It was a bit taxing, especially on my now very sore knee, but the view at the end was worth every step

The sunlight waned and we knew we needed to high tail it back to the barge before nightfall and with our sore and kinda injured legs that wasn’t the funniest part of the day. The constant appearances of bunnies definitely made it better!

We hopped on a smaller ferry this time and the trip back was quick and pleasant but neither of us could stop thinking about those bunnies. It was a pretty cheap day, the JR Passes worked their magic again with only the ferry to and from the island costing us 640 yen. I mean you also get to hop on these whenever is convenient…

I was lucky to catch that it and trust me it was way faster in person.

If you have the chance make your way to Okunoshima while you’re in Hiroshima, you won’t regret your decision

And for my German friends: