What stunningly beautiful and warm weather for our final day of painting on the Hokkaidō Horizons tour.  Our tour bus delivered us to the Kushiro Shitsugen (釧路湿原) where the group remained for several hours painting in the wetlands.

Everyone had visited a convenience store for lunch supplies before leaving the hotel and rest rooms were just 200 metres away at the little railway station (two trains a day), so the artists were all set.

John, Graham and I set off for a 6 km walk to the wetlands visitors’ “lounge” where we had a cup of coffee, bought some souvenirs and had a grape flavoured soft cream before trekking to the lookout — narrowly missing stepping on this:

Obviously the bright sunshine had enticed this long reptile out of hibernation.

The view from the lookout took in the vast wetlands, the snowy mountains and we could even see Kushiro city in the distance.

Back to the group for a wrap-up and  to watch some paddlers in a canoe before returning to Kushiro and our sayonara dinner at a robata-yaki restaurant.

A final critique session in the morning and then to the airport.