I'm back!

Yes, thats right after a 18 month hiatus, the on-again, off-again blogger (me) is back!

So I'm finally here in Niseko, Japan after 5 airports, 3 planes, 2 buses and a big delay. One particularly interesting part of the trip was that my flights from Melbourne to KL and KL to Tokyo were on Boeing 777's then from Tokyo to Sapporo on a Boeing 747. Quite an experience - I'd never been on a 747 before. Whats more I got bumped from economy to JAL's J class which is in between economy and business I gather. Its a bit hard to tell when everything is written in Japanese. Not upstairs, but right at the front of the main deck. Very nice. Better seats, legroom and food!

My lodge in Niseko (Base Lodge) is in a great spot right in the middle of town, walking distance to the lifts and just about everything else in town. So far just about everyone i've come across in this place has been Australian. They no doubt are chasing the powder as I am.

Day 1 of skiing...

After a great sleep the body took a bit of a hit this morning coming from 45 degree weather in melbourne, to minus 10 degree with an added 15 degree wind chill. The snow was excellent, not much fresh but still managed to find some clean lines in this one little section that was open today. The wind was a killer, keeping lifts closed and making things very uncomfortable. With all the lifts open the amount of terrain available is mind blowing! Can't wait.
It has been snowing on and off since this morning, so hopefully we wake up to a whole bunch of fresh stuff tomorrow.

Oh, before I forget... The lift ticket system here is very very cool. They give you a card which is your lift ticket, and you just put it in your pocket and leave it there. So when you come up to the lift there is a little turnstile that senses your card and lets you through onto the lift. Automatic. No people checking, no need to get it out of a pocket or flap every time you go past. The Japanese really have their heads screwed on. For those interested the technology used to do it is RFID. And thats my nerd quota for the day... Time for a beer!