Day Five : Part Two - #Japow

Japan Powder - this is what we came for. It snowed all night last night and all day today and it is still snowing. I think they had about half a metre of fresh snow over night. As John says there are no friends on a powder day, so it was each to their own today. We did meet up at various points, at the bottom of chairlifts and even on the runs sometimes. And we had our usual lunchtime meeting place and time organised. Powder is fun, but it is really hard work.

Sheree, Casey and I stopped for a mid morning hot chocolate to rest our legs, Anthony joined us - John and Marnie refused to leave the powder until they had used up every bit of it! Marg had headed off to Hanazono for the morning and had a plan to meet us at lunchtime by coming across the top. The wind was so bad up high that she ended up catching the bus back to the Hirafu chairlift and meeting us that way. 

After lunch we went our separate ways, as it was still snowing we kept getting fresh snow. I explored some runs I hadn't been on before and found some nice places along the edges of the runs. After a few runs - I did my usual early afternoon finish and ran into Marg at the bus stop. We stopped off at the ski shop on the way home to change our skis over. I have some fatter powder skis to try out tomorrow and Marg has skis that she can get into without getting help. She was having lots of trouble with her bindings. John also changed his skis over as the powder skis he picked up this morning were too short and he had lots of trouble with them all day.

We are all very weary tonight - not sure how close to midnight we will get before we crash and burn. The young ones might have more hope than us. We are going out for tea and then not sure what we will do after that. 

Happy new year everyone - will be back in 2015

Day Five : Part One (things not to be forgotten)

There are many funny things that have happened (well they were funny at the time), that we decided we should list them so we don't forget ....

Casey asking in a restaurant ... Do you think we could order some food and drink? (Not sure what else she thought we were doing there)

Marg ... It's so cold all the unplucked hairs on my chin will have icicles on them.

Jeff the snowboard .... The ski place we hired our gear from puts a label on your skis/boards with your names on it. Sheree's snowboard had Jeff on it rather than Sheree. So John's Dad joke of the day - when Sheree falls over she just looks down at her board and says 'wake up Jeff'. 

Anthony spending hours on the phone setting up his PIN number - then promptly forgetting it. 

Stay tuned there are more to come - just have to remember them. 

Day Four : Venturing off piste

There was a little bit of fresh snow when we woke up this morning, however it snowed on and off all day. We headed of to explore Annupuri, the last of the four ski areas and arranged to meet Marg for lunch at 1.00. Getting to Annapuri involved riding a single person chair, we affectionately called the meat hook. Lucky there was a pole to hang on to as there was no safety bar. The sun came out for a short while during this ride and the view was spectacular. 

Sheree experienced what happens when you blindly follow the Edgar's, through gates and into the trees - her first experience off-piste. Neither her nor I overly enjoyed it, however we did make it to the bottom and were very happy to see the gondola. John, Marnie and Anthony headed back to do that run again and Casey, Sheree and I explored the rest of Annupuri. By this stage it was extremely foggy and we blindly followed Casey, hoping that we wouldn't lose her. We all agreed it would be a really nice place to ski when there was fresh powder, wide open runs and lots of open tree areas to duck in and out of. 

We ran into the others as we were heading back for lunch and met up with Marg for lunch. She had been exploring the Hirafu area again and had done quite a few runs. Only stopping when it got so foggy you couldn't see where you were going.

It was washing night, three loads later and our room is looking like a Chinese laundry. 

We had bought some frozen Gyoza at the Seicomart, so after Marnie googled how to cook them, her and John cooked up the best batch of Gyoza. It was so good they had to cook a second lot. We will be sourcing where to buy these back in Melbourne. A new family favourite.

Marg and I were very keen for a meal of veggies, so we went and bought a whole lot and cooked up a stir fry, the others wanted to try out the pizza place we can see out the bathroom window of our lodge. After we ate our veggies, we all headed out so the rest could eat pizza. It was a very nice place and we may well go back there again. 

It is still snowing so we are heading off to bed feeling very excited about the possibilities tomorrow might bring. 

Highlight of the day : definitely the Gyoza, closely followed by the many stacks we had off-piste.

Day Three : Time to explore

We headed out this morning with a plan to meet at lunch time, that way when we got separated we at least had a plan. Niseko is actually four different mountains. Yesterday we skied Grand Hirafu, which is the area closest to where we are staying. Today we decided to explore further afield and ski at Hanazono. Marg caught the bus there. The rest of us went up the gondola and skied across to Hanazono from the top of the mountain. We explored the runs over there, gradually losing the crowd on the way. This time John, Casey and Marnie, successfully ditched Sheree, Anthony and me (Margo) at various points in the morning. 

John, Casey and Marnie went tree skiing and through the gates into the ungroomed areas. I explored the red (blue) runs and the others did similar.

We all met up for lunch, so that plan worked and then headed out in various directions for the afternoon.  

Today's photo is Marg ringing the bells at Hanazono for good luck. You can see the view in the background, there were sunny patches on and off all day, which made it easier to see which way we were going.

There was even fresh snow that fell over lunch time, which made the snow up the top very pleasant for skiing. 

After lunch Sheree and Casey headed back to the tree runs, Marg explored Hanazono a bit more. John, Marnie, Anthony and I headed off to trek across to the third of the ski areas - Niseko Village. We found some lovely runs and of course unlike skiing in Vic, they are very long! So I caught a bus back from there - conserving my energy and my knees. Only one of the four ski areas left to explore. 

Highlight for toady for me, would have to be buying a real coffee at lunchtime. The first one I have had since we arrived - it tasted good.

Day Two : First day on the snow

Where to start .... We had a slow start to the day, hiring skis and queuing for tickets. We finally made it onto the gondola about 11.30. We did the first ski run together to get the lie of the land, interesting when we all ski and board and different levels. Proved to be very interesting when we actually managed to lose Sheree on the first run (or did she ditch us ... ). The only problem was we had lost her before we had actually worked out a plan for what to do if you get lost. 

So after a bit of searching with no luck, we decided the best thing to do was to just keep skiing. 

The mums in the group (marg & margo) did a small amount of worrying, even found out where ski patrol was and how to contact them, in case we wanted to check if she had been carted off the mountain in a stretcher. 

Sheree finally appeared again after lunch, as we were heading off to do more skiing. 

Not sure if there is a theme happening, however after lunch, the Edgar's did manage to lose the others we were skiing with, or did they chose to lose us? One does wonder? So it ended up being the four of us exploring the mountain together, and Marg, Sheree and Anthony off on their own. 

Once again the mums in the group, were happy to see everyone turn up safely back at Lodge Bamboo at the end of the day.

The view (when you could see was amazing), the day was reasonably clear most of the time, you could see where you were going. There was even snow at some stages. The snow was soft and forgiving - certainly not like victorian snow .... the locals tell us it was icy! They haven't seen icy! 

Highlight of the day : would have to be losing one of our group before we had even completed the first run. Good one Sheree!

Day One : Travelling (cars, planes and buses)

FWe arrived after a long day of travel, our flights went well, connections worked, no luggage lost and a nice cosy place to stay at the end of it. Lodge Bamboo - our home away from home for the next 11 days is very cosy, we are in the dormitory room and as long as we can all negotiate the stairs we should be fine. 

Last night we ventured out for tea, not realising that Saturday night in Grand Hirafu (Niseko) would be busy and all the restaurants would be full unless we had a reservation. Oops! Seven hungry people makes for challenging times negotiating what and how to eat. We ended up getting takeaway and shopping at the Seicomart for snacks and beer. We did find one very interesting potato chip snack that we won't be eating again. 

We all slept well (to varying degrees), I think related to how much sleep we had had on the planes and bus to get here. Currently eating breakfast, before we head out to hire skis and test out the mountain.

Update : we have decided we need to add a highlight of the day .... So the highlight for today has to be the octopus balls that Marnie and Sheree at for lunch at Sapporo airport. Possibly an acquired taste ....

Day Zero : At the airport

Sitting at the airport, with the crew - drinking a glass of wine. It was a very long day packing, taking down the Christmas decorations and twiddling our thumbs until it was time to go to the airport.
All feeling very excited and anticipating the powder and the adventures in Niseko. Hope the flight is uneventful and we all sleep! Probably wishful thinking re the sleeping.

I think this is called an ussie (as opposed to a selfie)

Following the Snow: Take Two ..... Japan here we come

I can't believe it's twelve months since we started this blog, it was great to spend some time today looking back over our adventures from 12 months ago. 

I decided it was time to start up the blog again as we get ready to head off to Niseko, Japan (on the island of Hokkaido) for 10 days and then Hong Kong on the way home for a few days of R&R (or maybe shopping). 

We leave very late on the evening of Boxing Day, fly to Tokoyo, catch a flight to Sapporo and then a bus to Niseko. We should be skiing on the 28th of December. John of course has been very busy watching the Niseko snow fall and forecast, we believe it has been the best start to the season for years, as you can imagine he is very excited. 

There are seven of us travelling together and we are sharing a nine-bed dormitory room at the Bamboo Lodge in Niseko. That might make for some interesting stories - I pity the two other people that have to share with us. John and I, our girls, Marnie's partner, our third daughter (school friend of Casey's) and a family friend - a very eclectic group that promises fun times and much laughter.