ausi ski bum

I am booked from 28 Dec to 17 Jan and I am not worried in the least. Robbo the worst posible conditions for Japan in January will still be better than the 2000 season in Australia. Oh I did hear however that if you vote ALP at the election it will rain the whole week your there.

keba we do have a GPS in the vehicle and as you say it is Japanese speaking, I am assuming that it will be usefull to a point, we were planning on a number of trips but I may get lake Tomu (i think its called ) and Oturu added to the favourites list. Hokkaido is pretty easy to drive compared to the main island, as long as the GPS has a home function I will always be able to point the vehicle back to home when I get hopelessly lost. Some of the best places I have visited were totally by accident when I go lost.

I got emails from the major map suppliers and the makers of a number of GPS and it appears that there are no maps of the detail that you get in Australia and the US and Europe, that supprises me considering how tech savy the japanese are, I would have thought GPS would have been amazing in Japan especially considering how difficult navigating Tokyo can be. Oh well I guess a good map will be the go.

:-) Pretty Please

Come on someone must have a GPS, who makes the maps over there ?

Hi I have a Garmin Nuvi 300 GPS and I want to buy Hokkaido map top load so I can use it on my holiday, english speaking and written of course. Anyone know where I can buy the chip for this, having trouble finding it.

The phone number method sounds good, I got a book on Hokkaido from the Japanese Tourist Information Centre and Australia Square and every picture had these 9 digit Mapcodes on them and at the begining of the book it explaines what they were, I havent used a GPS before but thought these were an excellent idea and thise was the first tourist brochure I had seen so well presented with them.

Not sure what your talking about Thursday, driving is not the issue, I do drive 65000km a year. The Mapcodes are a nine digit number you enter for key sites, for example Lake Toya is 321 518 596. You enter the number into your GPS and it then directs you to that site, its very clever.

I have a GPS in the vehicle I am hiring in January however it only speaks japanese, I doubt this will be a major problem as when it speaks I will at least know it wants me to do something, i suspect after a few days I will start to understand it anyway. What I do want is a list of GPS Mapcodes for Hokkaido that way once I enter the code the GPS will do its job. I have found one excellet site on the net but its all in Japanese, anyone know where I can find or buy the codes I am after . Thanks

Snow is good, I like snow

I am in the US in a few weeks time on business, its funny how us aussies become more Australian when we are over seas

Sheilas is of course one of those real Aussie terms no one actually uses any more.

But Actually its all true

Looks a bit of fun, very steady camera, wonder how they did that.

I want a external lens that I can strap to my Goggeles strap so I dont have to carry the camera to film a run.

A bad season in Japan is still better than the best ever season in Australia

Wow not long now, I don't care as long as there is heaps by Dec 28 at Niseko

I bought AU$6000 for my trip months ago when it was over 100yen. But I would say watch it for the next two weeks and you may see another peak. You cann get a great price online with Travelex http://www.travelex.com/au/default.asp

I hope they do run this January, I have a vehicle and would definatly make the trip and look around Iwanai township.

Never heard of Iwanai, looks interesting and worth a day trip if its still open

I am planning on checking a few of these out this year hence hiring a vehicle, Kiroro looks nice might have to check out some of those other ones you mention GN I am also looking for snowmobile tours we can do, we went to a place in a town beyond Niseko town last year at a Potato farm, had a great time but would love to do ahalf day or longer tour with lunch stops etc, any sugestions. My daughter is so it cant require a drivers licence.

I saw the latest Bourne movie tonight, the camera work ruined it, was so bad it made you feel over powered watching it. The camera seems to move all over the place and much of it is way to close up.

I can't believe he got a second term, mind you its not like he had anyone in particular competing against him then.

Very much so I stay out of town between Hirafu and Higashiyama and personally we spend more time at Higashiyama and Annupuri then Hirafu which may have the larger town but not nessesarily the best ski area. This trip I have also hired a vehicle to head out to the other resorts in the area. As for Hirafu itself I like some of the hot spots so to speak but there are many nice restraunts in Kutchan and Niseko towns as well. There is a free bus from Hirafu each night to Kutchan and its well worth exploring the quieter streets off the main road to find some excellent eateries. Hir