28th

Niseko can be a range of weather in one day, one hour, etc

So Niseko 360 said there was 17.5cms of snow overnight - sounded and felt like more than that - first big blizzard apparently. But this morning it was very sunny - and check out swinging monkey - i had to ski down - not sure my carve turns were as perfect as these ...

we then headed down to hanazono and Luke and Paddy did strawberry fields - again. I did a bit of everything and then had to scoot back on holiday to get Tom from the Welcome centre

Heading down Holiday

Waiting at the Welcome Centre i had a very good coffee and spotted this tree ...... 

By the time Tom and i dumped his bag at the apartment, got skis, found the others on the mountain etc - I was hungry - and in memory of Charlie and Jeremy I had a curry bun and it was FANTASTIC. got it from the Hana 1 van - delicious ....

and then to show how the weather can change - we headed in as the weather came in and you can see how much it snowed ...

as a PS - what is the below ordered by Paddy at Raku? (scene of 8 people sitting around a 1 person table last year)

So last night we met Ludo aka ludicrous, and Alex and  had dinner out. They wanted steak but it was really expensive - so we had stuff they probably didn't want like Edamane beans, octopus etc. Alex (Australian is in the green) and Ludo is in the jumper - and cam and Ludo are just being very cool in jumpers, no parkas. I of course was wearing lots of clothes! Alex can drive so had a van and drove the boys home.

It snowed a bit last night and we got out this am and headed to Strawberry Fields. I left the boys to it - then decided I would give it a go. It was fun til i ended up buried - this is a pic of my skis - the little round hole is the tip of my left ski - just in the deep!

my tracks

Luke and Paddy had some real fun - hopefully these will load - 

And how is this for a funny story - this am when Paddy was getting his skis out of the valet - there were some Nac people in the room - and they came out saying to each other -" did you see that boy in there? he looked so like Cameron"  so we had to say - yes he was Cam's brother. 

We also saw Cam having a lesson with his little fellow from HK - he seemed to be having a great time - and today gave Cam a present  - a Gangnam model. nice!

I tried out the Onsen at the Prince this afternoon - very nice. A rooftop outdoor onsen with a view of Mt Yotei (had it been clear) - and the Family run. Very Japanese.

we are not seeing Cam tonight - they have secret Santa in the house ....

Boxing Day in Niseko

so a bit of a catch up  - last night was Christmas night and we met Cam at NAC and met some of his colleagues -who seemed very pleased to meet us! We then came up to the apartment and did chrissy presents

this was taken right next to NAC looking up the mountain - very pretty. The next one with a bit of movement looks pretty Christmassy to me

For those who know Niseko we went to Bang Bang for dinner - whee we had lots of japanese things - and we didn't try the Christmas chicken.

It was quite lovely and again we ran into a colleague of Cam's who was quick to tell us how well Cam was going. Cam had a little HK boy for a few days and he gave him some of those animal cards (yes the free Woollies ones). Well the little fellow was so pleased he told Cam that he was going to bring Cam a present and wanted to know whether Cam wanted a big, medium or small present! they are a large extended family from what Cam can work out and they have booked 10 NAC instructors for the week - and Cam has this little fellow each day.

Today didn't start sunny - but got that way. We did as our first rn that one where you get off the gondola and hike up the hill and then ski through powder til you drop into holiday. Pretty cool (well actually very sweaty way to start the morning hiking up a hill carrying skis)

View from the top of the hike and then below just as you drop onto holiday - you can see the snow ...scrumptious

And this one is for Michael - and to warm Tom up - Strawberry Fields was open so we went right on in. And it was us and newly laid tracks. Luke and Paddy went down a steep face and I decided just to cruise on through ...or so I thought until I stacked it.I actually had to dig my ski out of the snow so I could stand up

looking down and thinking - o oh - how do I get out of here - but straight down is the answer always 

What an afternoon ...

Last run of the day and safely home. 

cam is bringing Ludo (aka ludicrous - but really Ludovic) and Alex (Australian i think) - both his room mates -  for dinner tonight. I have bought some beers and we are are going to a little BBQ place around the corner ( Rob and Lucy - remember the one where we sat at a 1 person table? yep that is the one!)

Christmas in Niseko

Started with pannetone, cereal, toast and hitting the slopes!! Paddy got to open a gift at Breakfast - and is very pleased with a new GShock watch

Yesterday there was 35cm of snow and another 7 this morning -  and more throughout the day. Still a  little bit of sun at times and the sky now is blue in patches.

Paddy in the gondola. The 50th gondola is still gold inside. We missed it yesterday by one gondola. Seemed rude to push a family over to get in first

Charlie and Jem - the guy at Hana cafe 1 must be missing you - he had heaps of pork buns. Didn't have his dog there this year - too many people fed it and she got sick last year he told me. Abbey couldn't be a snow dog either - as she would just raid everyone's pockets, Christmas trees etc looking for food .....

Paddy skiing in the trees. 

About to head down to NAC to meet up with Cam  - not sure about dinner. I might be cooking ....

Day one of skiing - and we saw Cam!!

It turned into a bluebird clear day today - with snow pouring out of the sky as we woke up - how good is that? Paddy and me at the top of swinging monkey - and just as the photo got taken a cloud descended on Mt Yotei.
We skied Gondola; Swinging Monkey; Hanazono - including a couple of sensational tree runs; early lunch - Charlie and Jem - guess what Paddy had? Pork cutlet curry, then back to the top - up the pizza box and over to Annapuri. I had 2 stacks - one I just went into a powder clump and the only part Paddy saw of me was my head ... and the other I lost a ski when i hit a hidden tree and spent some time digging it out - with help from luke and Paddy (sort of).

And then we finally heard from Cameron -even better and we had a plan to meet him at his work at 4pm. He had 6 hours of lessons today and so had no time to see us at all - until 4. He had a 6 year old boy today and again tomorrow - todays lesson was based on Iron man - tomorrow they are doing Transformers and then Hot wheels task force 5 (no - i have no idea).
We have just had dinner in the apartment and Luke and the boys have walked down to the Seico mart to buy ice-cream before Cam needs to be back at NAC to get a lift to his house which is 15 minutes out of Niseko - and Luke is down in the bottom village

so this is Mt Yotei with the setting sun illuminating it. It was visible most of the day. Cam and his mates plan to hike to the top ( a seven hour hike), then ski the crater and then ski down. best not to think about it too much i suppose.

Cam and paddy - Cam already seems so much older. We have heard a few interesting stories. He is mainly teaching kids and loving it - and has earned a couple of extra 500yen for repeat requests. He says that a house with 18 people and one bathroom is fine ....although no time to shave -  we did tell him that we had 2 toilets here! we are going to have Ludo and Alex for dinner as well and apparently they would like steak .....

These are our apartments - they are really nice and in a great location. Ours is on the second floor and faces the slope - but one of the balconies you see is ours.  Haven't been into the ice bar - tonight is its first night - and it looks cool. literally. The door is like bear fur. Brrrr

me and the gorgeous boys

Paddy Chilling (well listening into some hilarious ski instructor stories ....)

The boys and Luke

Cam holding onto one of his early Christmas presents - we opened a couple tonight - this is a box of nutrigrain and snake lollies - thanks Liv, Jem, Charlie, Rob andLucy.

PS - Rob - bought myself a new lens at the airport and it is great - portrait lens f1.8/45m. Loving its work

Tomorrow is Christmas. We will start with panettone and then ski until we see Cam at 4 again!

Merry christmas all.

Meg

In Niseko - and Paddy and I are in  a very nice apartment at the top of the village - and the Christmas gifts and table dressings are out ....

From the lounge room window you can see the slops - so tonight it is lit up for night skiing

view of the lounge room

and the question on everyone's' lips - how is cam? well we don't know as we haven't heard from him!!

hopefully all will be revealed in the morning and we will have a great plan for Christmas Eve and some skiing

We are back ...

Well we are back - almost. Currently sitting in Tokyo airport waiting for the Sapporo flight.
How cool is this though - when you have to fill in that pesky paperwork to get through customs, here is a little box with a range of free to borrow reading glasses ...



There was also a great display of Christmas trees decorated by local schools from what we could work out. Interestingly there was also lots of Japanese flags being displayed as decorations



Hoping to see Cam tonight - he says he is booked solid - which is great.

Will check in later once we are organised
meg