Day 2 - Niseko
Today was planned as a Freeride day for everyone to get their ski legs on. What an enjoyable day it was. Everyone cruised and took off into their little groups. There are 3 main parts to Niseko; Annapuri, Niseko Village and Hirafu, the latter being the main centre of Niseko and where most of the bars, restaurants and shops are. There are a lot of Australian’s in Niseko. Only an 10 hour flight away from Australia, the slopes of Japan are closer to them than the European slopes.
After exploring the 3 ski areas, we stopped off for a traditional Japanese lunch in Hirafu. It took a frustratingly long time to decide where to eat as there were so many restaurants – one of the Academy coaches, Tom, was on the lookout for a burger or pizza. Not readily found in any of the Japanese restaurants. After traipsing around for half an hour trying to find a Sushi restaurant that sold pizza, we decided it was a lost cause and Tom and James would have to settle for rice and noodles before we all starved.
We found a great traditional restaurant, nothing flash but it was the real deal. We had to get our ski boots off to sit cross legged or on our knees on the floor around the table in the restaurant. Green tea was served and it was the best green tea any of us had ever tasted. The food was fantastic and a great lunch was had by all.
We decided to get the bus back instead of getting ski lifts back. We stopped off in the newly renovated Hilton for a beer and then got back to our hotel, the Annapuri Northern Resort in Annapuri. Dinner was an amazing Japanese buffet. Tom and James had rice and noodles again….no not really!! There is actually a lot of Japanese food that doesn’t involve seafood! It started to snow this evening so everyone got to bed early excited about tomorrow.
May 2nd, 2009 at 8:22 am
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September 7th, 2009 at 6:49 am
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