Dean

Thanks for the info, it is much appreciated! I was thinking, we are all nuts! People travelling half way round the world to chuck themselves down steep cold hillsides in the middle of winter!!!! Wouldnt have it any other way!

Ok so I will bite. I havent been skiing for over 12 months now and I cant stand it. My mate is flying from the UK to come skiing with me late August in NZ. Unfortunately, living in the most isolated city in the world does not allow me to fly direct to Christchurch. So I want to know: There is always the Mount Hutt/Queenstown debate. Which is the better place to go for some pow a little back country? Not too fussed on the apres ski thing. How far is Queenstown airport from the town and then the mountain? Seriously, for those that have been there, how much of a pain in the ass is the dail

I did the container thing too. I bought my trusty car back and as the container is sealed, you dont have to worry about people going through your car on the car ship to Oz! I agree, I could put so much into the container, I basically had my house set up for me when I came back. I used a company in Kobe and they did the pick up thing. I asked all of the majors advertising in the Gaijin papers and they were soo expensive! If you are not really attached to it, sell it and buy it again back here as it will probably cost you the same and a lot less hassle. Half of the crap I took to Japan came ba

Is it just me, or the lighting. But does the last 'Dream" pic have a hell of a lot of yellow on the snow???? wondering if someone after a night in susukino maybe needed relief on the stumble home??

I have seen in quite a few places in Japan the urinals that have a red target right in the spot where there will be no splashback or leakage. Im sure I have seen some at the rest stops on the highways. On that. Gees I miss the toilets where you dont actually have to touch any of the fixtures and all the soap and water have sensors on it!

I have had why do you have such hairy arms? You look like a Gorrilla, and I am not that hairy. Just the Japanese have no hair at all.

Can only agree. Get your stuff sent up mate. Its worth every yen. I have done the ferry thing in winter too, but on the sea of Japan side. Do it if you have a strong stomach. I happen to go when there was a lovely cold front going across and I spent half a day throwing up, and I dont get sea sick. Also take some food for the trip, the food on the ship was pretty average and expensive.

I didnt live there, but I went hiking on Rebun island off the north west coast of Hokkaido a couple of years ago. There were a couple of Gaijin English teachers there. Only way there is via ferry from Wakanai. God help if you want to go on holidays somewhere!

continuing the Subaru theme...thought about a turbo forester?? I found gave you that little extra height over the legacy and they still can move when you put your foot down. They go round corners sideways very nicely when you feel like being 17 again I bought my forester back to Oz with me and has been great. But funnily enough the boots at the front recently went and it has 80k on the clock.

Wow 1.85%? Man I should of organised a loan when I lived there. The current rate here at most banks for a home loan is about 8.8%.

I am sure mama bear would agree with this. Living on the West coast of Oz, it is actually cheaper for us to fly all the way to NZ for skiing than to ski on the unreliable snow in Oz! I have never been skiing here, never will as I would rather spend a little more $$ (and its not that much more as no kids) and go where there is much better snow and onsens!

I am sure mama bear would agree with this! Living on

Was speaking to my friend about this topic and he was saying the French are famous for pushing through the lift line using their poles to undo bindings and before you know what has happened they push in front. ANybody had that happen to them?

Answered my question everyone...cheers! Asked the question really because I have just been to Europe and seen just how disgraceful my fellow countrymen and women can act.

Dont know if I am opening up a can of worms or not. Now I am a proud Aussie as most are. However I have heard pretty bad stories about how the Aussies act especially in Niseko. I am quite keen to head up there maybe next season, but if the stories are half true, I would hate to have to put up with them, as I am sure the locals do. So are they really as bad as I hear? I also heard the Japanese dont go there so much now due to the influx of gaijin, is that true? Maybe I should just head up to Nozawa instead!

WE went from KIX to London via Hong Kong (bought return tickets from No 1 travel. We hooked up with our friends and then down to Bulgaria. Our friends bought a package from an online agency in the UK. You can get them very cheap outside the UK school holidays. WE bought return airfares to KIX from Perth and then on the way home basically we 'discarded' extra tickets we didnt need and came home. That was the cheapest way to do it by far. It was great taking all the gear to Europe but such a pain in the a%$ (between the 2 of us we have about 23kg of gear) WE dont think we will be going to Europe

For someone who gets 3 weeks a year I got 10 days in 2 countries in 2 weeks (Japan and Bulgaria). Snow in Bulgaria was awesome! Hey Mamabear, maybe Bluff Knoll counts as the home mountain. They get snow on it sometimes. I mean sure you have to hike for 3 hours to get to the top and by that time it has melted but hey gotta hang onto something!

For someone else who is in Perth, the nearest home mountain is 3000km away.

If you have a car, defo Hachi Kita from Osaka. Went to Takasu myself about a month ago and was worth the trip. But dont know if I would want to be making the hike all the way up there on a regular basis.

The wife has organised the overnight bus trip to Happo-one. Not sure where we are staying but will be there on the Monday morning for 4 glorious days!! And most importantly, I will be getting away from the 40 degree weather we are having in this part of the world. Roll on Friday night and pray for some good snow for the weekend!

I had a boarder hit me about 3 years ago and I ended up with 25 stitches in my face and have a 5 cm scar that will never fade. I wasnt going slow or carving across the whole run either, just a di*@^%!# going too fast. The guy kept going. Lucky my mates didnt get him. needless to say what I think about the whole issue. What is it with people sitting in the middle of the slope???? I take great delight in covering them in wet snow!

Keep praying as I am up there from Tuesday for 10 days and if I pay all that money to ski crud I am going to be pissed! Roll on the snow next weekend!!!..........PPPLLLEEEAAASSSEEE

I havent posted for a long time and the main reason is, I couldnt face seeing how much snow there was! So I am going up there at the beginning of March and although the main reason is to see the in laws, I will be off to Nagano for a day or two. I saw Arai has heaps of snow at the moment, but some of the others like Shiga kogen are a little low for this time of year I think. Any suggestions?? I am thinking of doing the night bus thing there from Osaka or the JTB pack thing. ANy suggestions on where is good in 2006? Fattwins, I think from memory, you have moved up that way is that right

That does suck, but if you havent had a good day at Zao yet, maybe you havent been going enough

Said to my friend as she fell of the lift before it even got to the top. "MATT DAMON" (see Team America movie) Its quite an appropriate quote for any type of less than skillful event!