Day Fourteen (and Fifteen) : Homeward Bound

I'm writing the last blog post in the plane on the way home. We are all sad to be heading home, after what has been a great couple of weeks.

I will start with yesterday - we headed out for breakfast in the morning, having googled a place that served Western breakfasts. We all seem to be quite happy eating local food for lunch and dinner, but still prefer breakfasts that we are used too. Whilst the breakfast was okay, everything was a bit cold, so wasn't as delicious as it promised. Today's breakfast at the airport was much nicer, with probably the nicest coffee we had all trip (and to Marg's delight it was hot!)

After breakfast we walked along the Tsim Sha Tsiu promenade which goes along the edge of Victoria Harbour. It was a very pleasant morning for a walk, and the kids took lots of selfies and groupies. There were lots of others out walking and running as well.

We did an hour long harbour cruise on one of the Star Ferries. This was a great way to see the harbour and also learn some of the local history. We even had a snack as part of the ticket. Though no-one ate the seaweed cookies (not even Anhtony) that was the snack. Shortbread and seaweed just do not go together!

We all went our seperate ways for the afternoon, various forms of shopping and more shopping. John and I did a little bit of shopping, then caught the train a few stops to investigate the electrical markets on Aplui Street. What an eye opening experience. We came out of the station to this amazing crowd of people and a street full of market stalls. You could buy almost anything that was electrical or needed to run electrical things. There were even stalls of remotes, old drills, rice cookers, you name it was there. We didn't buy anything but we had a fun time looking.

We had Spanish Tapas for tea, in a Spanish restaurant of course - it was a strip of restaurants along this really interesting alley way/terrace. After tea we headed off to explore the Temple Street night markets - again a street full of market stalls. We were very intrigued by the stall holders who had set up their picnic table and we're having a lovely dinner and a great time (by the number of empty bottles under the table), don't think they cared if they sold anything. We set ourselves the challenge of trying to find the most kitch thing. Marnie came back with Hello Kitty playing cards. Marg found key rings for Astrid, Elsa and Madeline, we found Number 1 Doctor and Number 1 Teacher fridge magnets for Casey and Sheree. 

The girls then headed off to do more shopping (anthony left them after the first shop), and we headed back to the hotel for wine and chips. The four of us had a very pleasant time with our wine and chips until the girls got back, and we shared our shopping purchases for the day.

Up early this morning and off to the airport to fly home. John had done a great job of researching the best way to travel to and from the airport. We walked arou d the corner to the shuttle bus, which took us to Kowloon station (it was a pretty wild bus ride), to catch the Airport express train. We knew we could check our bags in at the airport, however we hadn't realised it was full check-in service. There was no queue, we checked in, got our boarding passes and avoided the horrible airport queues. What a bonus! When we flew into Hong Kong we also used the train to get from the airport into the city. Because our flight was delayed we weren't sure if we were going to make the last train for the evening. We made it with seconds to spare, and literally run into the station as they were shutting the doors for the evening.

We filled the time in prior to boarding spending our last Hong Kong dollars, chocolate, lollies and water. Casey was very disappointed when they checked our bags at the gate lounge and took all our water. She made Anthony skull her water so she could take the empty bottle on the plane (much to the amusement of the security guard).

Back to reality tomorrow. Marnie starts work at 8.00am, so she claimed the window seat so she could sleep! Anthony starts at lunchtime. Casey has one day, before she starts her new job.

It's been a great trip, lots of memories and lots of good times had by all. 

Day Thirteen : The sights and sounds of Hong Kong

A big day out in Hong Kong today, lots and lots of walking and we all ended the day with very tired feet. Hong Kong is a city of 7 million people and they all seem to be out and about on the streets. We:

- found a local restaurant for breakfast that served bacon and eggs ( after Marg, John and I had an early pre-breakfast of coffee and interesting toast)

- went shopping in the many malls and shops

- walked the streets, being asked frequently if we wanted a tailor or a watch or handbag. We all adopted various methods for saying no, depending on our level of frustration and/or persistence of the questioner. 

- found another local restaurant for lunch, it was busy so an indication the food is okay, and it was. Not sure about the lemon water that I ordered (menu didn't add that it was also full of sugar)

- caught the funicular (cable tram) up to the Peak, where you get to see the most amazing views of Hong Kong. We spent quite a considerable amount of time up there, with the recorded commentary to provide history of the city. 

- explored the mid-level escalators, which take you up the streets of Hong Kong without having to walk up the hills, you do have to walk back down though. In the mornings (till 10.00am) the escalators go in the opposite direction, so the workers can travel down the hills. Hong Kong Island is a very steep mountainous island.

- found another local restaurant for tea, this time Vietnamese, a challenge with seven hungry people with tired feet and not really sure where to go. The food was nice luckily and we all enjoyed our meal. 

- caught the train across the harbour and back again at various times during the day.

Walked down to the water front to watch the light show, 'Symphony of Lights' that happens every night at 8.00pm. Lots of laser lights, lights on different buildings, lighting up in time to music and of course lots of people watching. 

- sent the girls off to do more late night shopping (and we are heading out to do more tomorrow of course), Marg, Anthony, John and I came home to rest our weary feet and of course had a glass of wine and a packet of chips. We found a supermarket on the way home to buy snacks and fruit so we could wait till 9.00am for breakfast in the morning. Nothing opens till 11.00am or later so there is no point heading out to early anyway.

- we learnt that if you are polite and stand back to let someone through, then you could stand there all day while people push through and if you open a door, someone will always take advantage and push through. 

I'm sure I have left some things out ... the others will no doubt remind me so I can add them in later.

Highlight of the day : John using the hotel door key to go through the ticket machine at the station, he thought it worked on his second try .. it was actually Anthony who was standing behind him and presented his ticket that let john through. John had to then give Anthony his real train ticket so he could through. Gave us much joy all day laughing about that. Then last night Marnie gave Anhtony her train ticket so he could get back into the room when she went shopping. He had to go to the front desk and get an extra room key so he could get back in. (Like father like daughter). 

Day Twelve : A travel day

Today was our travel day, Niseko to Sapporo (the airport) and then flight to Hong Kong. The bus left Niseko on time and despite it snowing pretty much all the way, the roads were clear and we had no trouble getting to the airport on time.

Queuing to check-in was interesting, especially when we discovered yesterday's passengers were also queuing to check-in. Yesterday's flight had been cancelled due to the bad weather. 

This meant our flight was delayed 2 and 1/2 hours. And we had the joy of handling around the airport for about 6 hours. We did get a 1000 yen voucher from Cathay to use on food purchases. 

We went and found a restaurant that sold tempura and Marnie, Sheree and Anthony went to the sandwich bar. We had a very boring afternoon sitting at New Chitose Airport, Sapporo waiting for our plane. He worst part - the wifi is really poor! Not sure how we ever lived before wifi! 

We won't arrive in Hong Kong till about 11.00 pm, so hopefully we make the train before they stop running for the night or we will have to rethink our plans to get to our hotel.

Day Eleven : Blizzard conditions

Woke up for our last day to blizzard conditions, snow falling heavily and really strong winds. I had used up all my days skiing on my ticket, so decided not to go out (wasn't worth buying a ticket for one very windy run). The others promised they would let me know if the conditions were okay and I would come out. I received a message saying I would hate it, so didn't bother to go out. They were out for about four hours and only did four runs. Lift queues were really long because not much was open, lifts were slow (windy) and the runs were really windy. The snow was pretty good by all reports.

I walked up to meet Marg at Rhythm so she could return her skis and boots (I took her snow boots up). Waited ages for the local bus which didn't come, so had to walk. At least with all the snow it wasn't icy!

We just hung around for the afternoon, worrying about road closures and whether we would be able to get to the airport tomorrow. 

Had tea at Yummi's again - the conditions were so bad we didn't want to venture out any further.

Hong Kong tomorrow .... We hope!

Day 10 : Rain, lifts on wind hold and hot chocolate

We woke up to a day that was more like Victorian conditions - rain, slushy snow, fog, lifts on wind hold ......

Nevertheless we ventured out, it was our second last day and we didn't want to waste it sitting inside. The gondola was on wind hold so basically the only chairlift running was the King Quad. Marg made it as far as the chairlift, took one look at the weather and pulled the pin. A good decision, we told her later.

We went up the chairlift, the first part of the ride was deceptive .... not much wind, a bit wet, reasonable visibility and then we hit the wind, and whiteout conditions. By the time we get to the top of the lift, we decided to head straight in for hot chocolate. And that was where we stayed. Until lunchtime. We then ventured out and skied back down the hill. We had about 50 metres of fresh powder ... stopped and said this isn't too bad and then hit the wind. The snow lower down was slushy and not really fresh powder, and the wind almost blew you backwards and sandblasted every inch of exposed skin. Great for exfoliation, not so good for an enjoyable day's skiing. 

That was our one run for the day. We had managed to message Marg - Facebook and wireless at the hot chocolate stop. She went and bought Gyoza's and potatoes and we came home and cooked a lunch of Gyozas and wedges. 

John, Casey, Marnie, Sheree and I went up to the Hotel Alpen for a spa and a swim in the afternoon - didn't brave the Onsen. We had Mexican for tea at a local place. 

They had mood lighting, we almost had to read the menu by candle light and a very flash ladies bathroom, with lots of added extras. Had to take a photo for Anthony and John as the men's bathroom was not quite so luxurious. 

It was really cold and windy walking there and home ... so not sure what ski conditions will be like for tomorrow. They are forecasting strong winds and blizzard conditions and possible lift closures. We will see - we did discuss going to Sapporo a day earlier if that is the case, but that would take a bit of organising, changing bus transfers and finding accomodation. 

Day Ten : Annupuri again

Today was very similar to yesterday, we had all enjoyed Annupuri so much we headed there again. Marg by bus and the rest of us by chairlifts. You could see where you were going today and the view was great. There was no fresh snow overnight, this meant that most of the powder in the trees had been tracked out and the runs were starting to get hard packed and icy in the afternoon. Icy by Niseko standards but not icy by Mt Buller standards. We have been very spoiled up until now with the snow conditions.

(View at lunch)

We went to a different place for lunch - a buffet lunch so of course everyone ate plenty. Casey must have eaten too much rich food and spent the afternoon feeling average, a small vomit on the side of a run helped to make her feel better. This might help to explain why, when she called out HELP in the middle of the night I was out of bed like a rocket. Marg and John said I levitated out of bed and they had never seen me move so fast. I did think that she was sick again and I might have to find a bucket. It turns out she was talking in her sleep and didn't even remember calling out.

Marnie has been struggling for days with one very sore, light sensitive, bloodshot eye - lots of Doctor Google has been undertaken to make sure we shouldn't be too worried. She was feeling much better today and her eye wasn't light sensitive, so we all breathed a sigh of relief - that we didn't need to find medical help in a country where we struggle with the language. 

We went out for tea again .... Will be looking forward to some home cooked meals when we get home. Had Sukiyaki and Shabu Shabu - both hotpots - that you cook yourself. They were very nice and fun to cook. We also had Tempura which was good too. Two days left here and the weather forecast is not looking that promising, no new snow on the horizon and very windy on Wednesday. We will wait and see what the weather brings. 

Day Nine : To Annupuri and back

OWe decided to spend the day at the fourth of the ski areas today - Annupuri. This meant Marg caught the bus there and we headed up three chair lifts, including the meat hook (a single person chair) which then meant we could ski down into Annupuri. We had organised a lunch meeting time and place before we headed out ... The Nook at Annupurni at 12.30. 

We all had a great time there today, didn't see the others at all, they went out the gate ... off-piste chasing powder. I chased powder in the trees on the side of the runs and Marg just enjoyed the wide open green runs. 

It snowed most of the day, though cleared in the afternoon, in time for some great scenery shots.

We stopped off at the Milk Kobe on the way back this afternoon, an ice cream place. The ice creams were yummy and then we tried the cream puffs and cheese tarts .... Yummmmmmm! 

Day Eight : A rest day

We had our rest day today, and kept telling ourselves it would have been horrible out skiing .... not sure if that was correct, as it absolutely dumped snow all day, however it would have been cold and very snowy out on the hill! Everytime we stepped outside, we were covered in snow very quickly. 

We all headed to Kutchan this morning - the closest large town. Marg, John and I caught an earlier bus than the children. Marnie was making French toast for breakfast, so they took a bit longer to get organised. 

Our most difficult decision of the day - do we catch the 11.10 bus back from Kutchan or wait until the next bus (at 1.00 pm). Once we saw Kutchan - slightly more alive than a ghost town - we decided we would rush through our shopping and catch the 11.10 bus. Part of the reason for going to Kutchan was to check out the 100 yen shop (equivalent of $2.00 shop in Oz). However we didn't find it until we were on the bus on the way home. The only consolation was the others did the same thing - didn't find  it until they saw it on the bus on the way back to Hirafu. Marnie and the others did manage to find many interesting treats at the supermarket - including tubes of condensed milk! 

Once we got back, Marg, John and I headed out for lunch in Hirafu. we found a great little cafe, where you paid for your meal via a vending machine. The tempura was yum - wish john and I weren't sharing and I could have eaten it all myself. The staff were very friendly and we even got free green tea and Japanese oranges to finish our meal.

Marg headed off to find the local Onsen this afternoon, John and I put our feet up, read books and sorted all the washing. The children headed off to the spa, rather than the Onsen, so they could wear their bathers. 

We are having tea in tonight, Marnie cooked Gyozas again - she has perfected the art and John is cooking laksa. Marg is having a lesson on cooking laksa, I guess I will be doing the dishes.

Today's adventures, captured in photos - none of which show how much it actually snowed today!

Day Seven: Do we have enough energy?

We headed out today, because there was 35cms of fresh powder and we couldn't miss out on that. However everyone's bodies needed psyching into actually moving after five big days of skiing. It was worth it though. We have declared tomorrow a rest day (the powder hounds may change their mind if there is a big dump of snow). 

The skies were relatively clear until lunchtime and then we sat inside at lunch and watched it absolutely dump down. The air was so thick with snow you could hardly see. This meant we all got more fresh powder after lunch, even Marg. The green runs were empty because everyone was in the trees so she came back very excited that she had been able to make fresh tracks. It was a great day skiing, even though I had to will my body into it. We stuck to the known runs in the morning, as the snow was beautiful on all of them. In the afternoon we went and explored Strawberry Fields - an off piste run through the trees. It was good fun and the others went back for more .... I was very considerate though and didn't go with them. John can ski much faster when he doesn't have to make sure I get safely down the mountain. Having dodgy knees means it is really hard to get up when I fall, especially falling in powder, as there is no leverage. Anthony had a good fall, actually it was more like hitting a wall of powder, and had to work very hard to get out. The best John could do to help him was to keep filming, so we could all see it. Marnie has been taking her go-pro out everyday so she has lots of footage too. She managed to film Sheree stacking, when she was celebrating that she had been through the off- piste area without falling, hands raised as she hit the run and .... then she hit the ground!

The lights at night are always pretty, especially the lights of the night skiing runs. (Not that you can see the runs in this photo)

We didn't venture far for tea last night, just to the pizza bar behind the lodge - lucky because I'm not sure we could have walked any further. We are planning to head into Kutchan tomorrow morning to do some shopping and then to an Onsen. Tomorrow night we will probably cook at home - hopefully we can buy meat in Kutchan to add to the veggies we already have. We should be able to whip up a good meal of meat, veg and noodles. 

Day Six : An awesome start to 2015

After an early night last night (for those of us over the age of 30 anyway), we woke up this morning to blue skies, sunshine and awesome views. A great day to be out skiing, and given that many people would have woken up with sore heads, the ski runs were not quite as crowded as usual - certainly less Aussies around! 

We left the young ones at home, they were a bit later starting the day than us, but had tentative plans to meet up at lunchtime. Anth and Marnie had made it home at a reasonable hour, just after midnight, Casey and Sheree staggered in about 3.00am. They did suggest they had used stealth, I'm not convinced - was a bit noisier than stealth! Being the good mum that I am, I slept really well from 10.00 to midnight and then slept with one eye open till all were home safe and sound!

John and I skied together this morning, he didn't have any powder hounds to ski with so I was the best option. I had swapped skis over yesterday afternoon - to some more suited to powder - so I spent the morning testing them out. They work well. The skis are called Tantrums - I did say to John this morning that I hoped they didn't cause a tantrum - all good though. Despite the fact I claim that I usually only have one black run, moguls or powder through the trees in me per day - I somehow managed to survive a few black runs today. Legs must be getting stronger!

We ran into Marg a few times this morning - everytime we saw her she was taking photos, apparently she did ski as well! It was a great day for taking photos. 

When we stopped for lunch, they were offering free Sake, from a keg, a New Years tradition. Of course we had to try some. It was nicer than the sake the girls and Anth tried the other night. The others ended up going somewhere else for lunch - that meant we had lots of room to eat our lunch as we had saved a large table for all of us ... and turned a few people away from taking the other half of our table. They did Facebook message us, of course it was the only day we weren't getting messages. With the wonders of modern technology, Instagram photos and iMessage we did eventually get the message they were over in the next ski area.

All seven of us managed to arrive back at the lodge within about 30 minutes of each other, even though we had all pretty much ended up separated for the afternoon. We are off to Teppanyaki cooked by our own personal chef tonight - sounds like fun! That is if we all still manage to be awake at 7.00pm. A late afternoon nap might be called for!

Wishing all our family and friends back home a safe and happy 2015.