Japan Part 11 - Saynora to Ant... :-(

We woke up even earlier than the day before (recurring theme for our holidays) as Ant had to catch the bus to Sapporo for his flight(s) back to Australia. After a hearty breakfast of bacon (Japanese mini-size... "so small!"), eggs and sugar-ery Japanese breakfast cereal with pink coloured bits (with Sleeping with the Enemy blaring on the TV)... Hokkaido Tracks (the place that runs these apartments) arrived at our front door step (earlier than planned) to pick Ant up. We all said our goodbyes before Ant went on his merry way back to Australia. Even Taeko got out of her usual slumbering coma to offer to take Ant out to the bus stop.

Unfortunately - my Mum organised the flights where they were originally booked from mid-week to mid-week... where you had to take the maximum amount of leave in order to come... As Ant doesn't have the public service "flex" luxury as I do - he could only come for a couple of days in Niseko, and thus was leaving home early. My mum is currently holding down a full time job of being a full time Bridge (aka the card game) nutter - so she doesn't care about leave and such stuff - hence the crazy dates...

The "Skiing Master" (aka my Mum) and the Master Guide (aka me) headed back out to the slopes - this time - we checked out Hanazono (aka the ski resort to the right of Hirafu). My mum told me that Australians had developed Hanazono and it was pretty obvious that this was so... as all of the lifts were a bit more modern than the other areas in Niseko, also there was heaps more signage around the mountain (complete with Australian Airlines ads)... plus the mountain wasn't groomed very well (sure fire sign of Australians developing the mountain). Hanazono felt a hell of a lot newer than the other three - but it was fairly small compared to the rest of the resorts (...so small!) although Hanazono had a few interesting twists (or should I say bumps?!). On the flat sections of the runs - there were a few man-made bumps in the track - I think they are designed to keep snowboarders cruising along flat sections (where they lose a lot of speed). I checked out the easiest black run of all time (Downhill A) whereas my Mum chose to stick on the red and green runs...

The weather today was the best so far on our holiday - blue skies (with minus 17 degree temperatures)... We made tracks over to the 1000 meter hut for lunch were Mum had remembered that this place made the best noodles in Hirafu.... Unfortunately - they were also the "smallest" noodle servings in Hirafu - where a bowl was probably smaller than a bowl of entree short soup at your local chinese restaurant.

Upon exiting the 1000 meter hut - the blue skies of the morning had been replaced with blowing hurricane / snow weather action.... aggh!!! My mum had a h##d on to go and ski An'nupuri in the afternoon (aka fourth resort - furthest to the left), but the weather was so bad - I gave up at Higashiyama and wanted to go back home. In my hissy fit - I did my first crash of the holiday (in a very unspectacular - fall back on my arse - sort of way). Getting across back to Hirafu - I took my mum off a black run (called the "Large" run) but my mum freeked out (her first big freek of the holiday) and I had subsequently lost her down the mountain. Feeling a little bit guilty about losing her in zero visibility conditions - I hanged around for 10 minutes and went back up the lift in an attempt to find her... alas the mountain was "sin Mum".

I met up with Sacha and Taeko at the midstation at Hirafu - who were having their first run of the day... at 3:45pm... Niseko is renowned for its night skiing - and I've had a friend of ours rave about it. Instead of a pi$$ weak effort of "Perisher Blue" night skiing (aka opening up front valley for a couple of hours once a week for night skiing) - Niseko has night skiing seven days a week. And it doesn't just open up its front area for night skiing - it opens up most of the mountain (including advanced runs). As an added plus - the mountain during the night is completely empty. Unfortunately - I wasn't feeling motivated enough for night skiing. When you ski for most of the day - you would prefer to have a warm bath and a cold beer instead...

When I returned to the apartment - I found my mum - who had some really convoluted way of going home which I have now forgot. After chilling out with a couple of beers - the whole family settled down to watch (I hate to admit it) - "Bird on a Wire" where Mel Gibson's arse has a starring role (unfortunately... ugghh! :-S ). We got up to watching the part where the baddie (aka "Kill Bill's Bill) gets eaten by piranhas at a zoo (...whatever) when we decided that we should go to dinner before everything shuts (aka 9pm in Niseko).

After being rejected from a couple of restaurants (...all the restaurants in Niseko seem to have a brain explosion if you ask for a table for either 5 or 6 pax) - we found a Izabuya restaurant that Mum and Dad had previously went to. It was good and interesting... and just about everything on the menu claimed to be a "world famous Hokkaido dish" - but I sort of went home a bit hungry.

Back at the apartment - we watched the last two seconds of "The Fly" (with Geena Davis shotgunning Jelf Goldblum in the face) before watching the first 25 minutes of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (much better than the silly remake because all of those nasty kids die!) before crashing for the night.