Cape Arutori campground and a visit to Noboribetsu

Heading out from Onuma, the next spot on our Hokkaido roadtrip was Cape Arutori where we planned to make use of their free campsite for two nights. After our free camping experience at Mt Yotei where we thought a bear was going to pop out of the woods at any second, I’ll admit I was rather dubious at the thought of staying at yet another dodgy campsite. However this was supposed to be a hiking + camping roadtrip, and yet we had spent the last 4 nights in a hotel… So I was glad to be getting the opportunity to even out our average spend per night. With my husband driving, I started scoping out any places worth stopping along our 2-hour route. A wine glass-shaped port caught my eye. And admittedly this was partially just because someone had reviewed it 5 years ago and attached pictures of a fox. Of course, you can’t actually see the wine-shaped-ness of the port unless you happen to be in a plane. No foxes here, but it did turn out to be a lovely spot for some birding! First up were some…