biri

correct mama

furano [my way] narita to haneda - 1 hour stop over at haneda excel hotel - 10 hours haneda to asahikawa - 2 hours stop over 2 days asahikawa terminal hotel - 48 hours [ ski / board kamui / asahidake ] asahikawa to furano - 1 and a half hours total = 62.5 hours furano [bogan express way] narita to chitose - 2 hours , drop a tab of crystal meth in flight and wash it down with a good pull on the duty free bundy . on the bus from chitose you hoot and holler like "lightin hopkins" all the way to furano - 3.5 hours get out at furano jr station , find out its the wrong sto

hi robo not much action on this thread , so i will try and kick it along a bit . mate i think niseko is the place for you , they are a bit short on hillbilly ski bums so you will fit in just fine . what they dont like in niseko is "low life thieving intoxicated scumbag bogans , with joe dirt style haircuts" . old pow and the native have assured me these types have moved on , but i will visit niseko hirafu in early march to check they are not tellin pork - pies . should be no trouble teaching english in japan , i suspect some people on this forum are doing the same thing ? have ta

try okinawa , very fond of americans there .

yeah we were at thredbo last year and its a funny place , top of the super trail its like ice skating then the middle parts really good , then at the bottom it turns to water sking [ just near kosie express ]. saw a wombat come out in a blizzard between sponars and antons ? every skier takes one run too many and it happened to me in nz , took a tumble in the harris mts. and a ski came back and belted me in the back of the head ' no helmets those days . i wear one now .

58 years and that first 3 days of learning agony , maybe a broken wrist or thumb [ common boarder injuries ] , no thanks . still japan must be great for beginners ? in both sking and boarding at falls c. my kids instructor was meg or megumie from nagano prefecture . great instructor . i hired wrist guards for the kids but they never used them , said they just get in the way ?

yes if i were young i would give snow boarding a go . if it was'nt for the new carvers and fatter type skies , we skiers might of ended up like the doo doo bird !!!!!!!!!!!! bring back the tellies mama that will stir em up . your pics in niseka are great .

tomamu is a purpose built ski resort for mainly well to do japanese and asian visitors . a furano resident told me " worth a day visit , steep on top , very flat at the bottom , great facilities and hotels . some seasons it can be icy due to the base snow not settling in properly " [ whatever that means? ] . from sahoro you are very close to tomamu , they must do day visits ? we are going to both sahoro and tomamu in mid january , hope to have more details then . snowjapan have some good reviews on both resorts from independent skiers and boarders . my kids [ been skiers for

hi alx good price with the tokyo stopover . if going straight thru to chitose from syd , there is a hotel in the chitose terminal for an overnight stopover . i have stayed here myself . chitose station has good english signage , remember hokkaido gets many millions of tourists per year .

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hi alx very easy to find an agent alx , just go along paramatta road , most use to work as used car salesman before becomming ski/ travel agents . jal itself is a a ski / board travel agent . call themselves jtb travel or somethink like that . check out the ski section . mate old pows an agent , he is in sales , not info . chitose to shintoku [for sahoro ] land at chitose , go to the jr rail station [ at chitose airport ] buy a ticket to shintoku . jump on the train to minami chitose [called sapporo to chitose line ] change there at minami chitose for a train to shintoku [ c

mate of mine from west oz goes here , stays at the sahoro resort hotel , tells me he is the only gaigin in the hotel [ unlike club med ] . tells me nobody about on the ski slopes ? i am going up there in jan so will report back . while in this area will go to tomamu as well .

we are really looking forward to our trip there in late feb early march , would like it longer but the kids have to go to school so its only a week .

pow any news on an extension of the jal sakitoku advance purchase fare into jan / feb / mar ?

hell cancel niseko , go native just wrote in the chat room that bookings are up 49 percent on last year ? you know what happened to pinocchio ? go native !!!!! on a racecourse this is called urging , stockmarket has another name for it ?

true , but if my children were not in school here i would have a home in furano and spend the entire ski season there , i still own a business here on the coast but i let it work for me . the beauty of jetstar is star class on the return journey , we will do that in january . plus for families do a stopover in tokyo and go to disneyland / sea , the adults and kids will love it . in 2008 we did the bris / narita / chitose / furano run , never ever ever again yes scott [ at new furano prince ] told me last year bookings were down 70 percent , the financial crises ? there w

a bit touchy pow , spoken like a man who would never accept a bribe oops commission . i think you will find alx preposed travel dates are late feb. 2010 . if you cannot get on the narita / chitose then fly haneda / chitose . maybe the skiers using jetstar are not going to niseko , ever heard of nagano prefecture , maybe more major ski resorts there then the entire hokkaido prefecture ? the real reason why travel agents hate jetstar is the small commission or no com . at all . dont believe me read the news acticles relating to flight centre and jetstar . since 9/11 the ai

hi alx yes that jetstar fare came on for about 2 days for flights to japan in feb /march . think it was 2pax for the price of one . total = $1512.46 for 4 pax . but i bought the add ons comfort pact / inflight entertainment / all meals , total now = $1916.46 c/c fee included . that jetstar flight starts in sydney / gold coast then onto tokyo or osaka [ ret ] being your first trip to japan i would fly jal - syd to narita then narita onto chitose the same day [ use to be the same price as the tokyo ticket ] . travel straight thru to niseko [ whiteliner bus or special shuttle ] get o

in furano they say , tomamu can be a bit icy ? sahoro gets big wraps . anyone out there not looked at powderhounds website , well then niseko comes out on top in hokkaido .

also have a couple of your pics too mamabear , just brilliant , that one looking down to hirafu , your child / 2 boarders and a skier in the background . as i said i cannot wait to ski niseko .

dont take offence gn or i will let jinxey out of the box . never been to niseko but we have our flights and accommodation booked for niseko hirafu in early march . on my laptop show page i have a pic of a skier in a maroon ski jacket comming down under the ace quad i think , snow is rushing out behind him / her . mate i cannot wait to get there . if you check my reply to gareth from perth i have just about sold him a trip to niseko , well i costed the trip anyway ? in jan we will fly to asahikawa , hire a van and visit kamui / furano / asahidake / sahoro / tomamu / pippu etc . most

after niseko you guys will never go to australia , then on second thoughts norway has a bigger problem with alcohol then us [ oslo experience 70s/80s ] take a look at the powderhounds website , they will give you an unbiased view of hokkaido ski resorts . then hire a van and get going .

the travel agents are thieves , jal are only taking bookings upto the end of december .

yes gareth if traveling one world from perth [ qantas jal cathay ] it might be best to use the "yokosa fare" of 10,000 yen per flight or sector . if any other airline you can use the "welcome to japan fare" for 13,000 yen per sector . now this is important , sometime in march there is a black out period on cheap flights ? must be japanese public holidays ? so check it out . costs haneda / chitose [ret] 20,000 y or 26,000y jal chitose / niseko [ret] 4,600 y goodsports whiteliner bus get out at the welcome centre top car park [ hirafu ] and walk over t

looking at the jal site on sakitoku fare [ fare regulations area ] , it is for everyone i think [online booking] but for limited seats on limited flights . i did a test run on the 10 / 11 / 2009 [ nov ] and jal 503 and jal 507 are the only flights with the 11,400 yen fare , quite a few flights that day have have fares between 12000 yen and 17,000 yen , they are sakitoku fares also . looks like you guys living in japan are in for discount flights [ maybe ] ?