winter honeymoon

The big honeymoon - something I have always dreamed of.  We started thinking about our honeymoon basically the day we got engaged, throwing about ideas of where we would like to go and what we would like to do.  For the longest time we were both set on the idea of a nice beach holiday somewhere hot.  Fiji was looked at, then Australia, and then Thailand.  Finally I put my foot down* and said "nope, we are going for a winter honeymoon in the northern prefecture of Japan, we are going to Hokkaido!" (*note: this may have been more a suggestion than me actually exerting my male dominance, after all I'm only 66kg's!)

It didn't take too much to convince Karen that Hokkaido could be answer we had been looking for.  We wanted to be somewhere that we could be active and doing stuff all day.  Check.  We wanted to be somewhere new and exciting.  Check.  We wanted to be somewhere romantic.  Check.  Yep, Hokkaido fit all the criteria, and as the number one place I had always wanted to visit in Japan, it was sure to be a great trip.  Although, while Karen was on board to the idea, I knew she was a little skeptical.  This wasn't really helped by the fact that prior to going I could never say with a straight face, "I promise, I'm not going to Hokkaido just for the snowboarding..."  Oops...!

The sun was shining for most of the day, the powder was fresh and deep and we were carving it up hard!

After the wedding, and before the honeymoon, we had a three day gap.  The three days were filled with packing, unpacking, and packing again.  We had way too many flights and spent more hours than I care to remember waiting around for and on public transport.  Throw into the mix the emotions we both went through having to say bye to family and friends again, not knowing when we will be back to NZ, a night stop over in Seoul, and late nights and early mornings.  However, regardless of how tired we should have been (especially since we had to get up at 4am to make our 5.20am bus, in order to make our flight to Hokkaido) we were peaking by the time we arrived in the northern most prefecture of Japan!

We had a little scare at the airport train station where, after being dealt with so efficiently by the ANA ski package staff, we were left confused and doubting ourselves by a train station guard who told us to get on a different train to what everyone else had said.  We ignored his advice and stuck with the train we thought was right, but, when that train failed to leave at the scheduled time, fear and panic quickly set in. Ten minutes later and we were still sitting there on board what we had hoped was our correct train, wondering what on earth made us go against a train guards advice (well, actually Karen was slightly unimpressed with me as it had been me who had gone against his advice) and if the train we were on was ever going to leave.  A minute later though, a whistle sounded, and we pulled away bound for our destined transfer stop.  Three minutes later and we jumped off, ran to the other side of the platform for the waiting train, but instead of just jumping on I checked with the nearest guard if it was our connecting train, "next-o", he informed me.  Let me just say that relief has never been sweeter!

When the Tomamu Ski Express train finally pulled up we were happy to see it was a two decker beauty!  The train was very modern inside and even had little flat screen monitors broadcasting live from a camera positioned at the front of the train.  Dad, you would have loved this train, being able to watch the track in front, that was all lined in snow.  A real 'Train simulator' fans dream.

After a pleasant hour and a half ride to Tomamu (our ski resort 'town') we stepped off to take in our settings.  Plenty of snow about?  You betchya!  We were shuttled to our hotel from the train station in a bus along with a few other people and quickly realised that the place was pretty empty by 'resort' standards.

Our hotel, The Tower, was literally that, except in Japan they don't use plurals and it should have maybe been called 'The Towers'.  It's quite a strange thing to look out from the top of a mountain and see some skyscraper towers in the middle of nowhere!

The staff were all super friendly and helped us check in with ease (Japanese language is helpful... but not necessary it turns out!).  We were shown to our room, on the 27th story and given the 'house keeping' instructions.  Once in our room we quickly drew back the curtains to take in the view.  Incredible!  We were bubbling with excitement just standing there looking down onto the mountain, and where were all the people?!  The place was deserted!

We dumped our bags, pulled out our gear and quickly got changed.  Then we raced downstairs to sort out our board/ski's and boots rental.  Then we raced out and into the snow and the crisp fresh air.  Traversing the path to the main gondola/lift area took a fair while as we kept stopping to take in our surroundings and get lots of photos.  Karen was blown away when I informed her that we weren't actually on a ski track like she had thought, just a path usually used for walking.

Our first session was spent exploring some of the mountain and the different trails that were on offer.  Karen stuck mainly to the beginner slopes to find her edges, while I went off hunting out a suitable track for her as I knew she would quickly be too good for the beginner tails.  The snow was so fresh and there was so much of it!  I had fun cruising down different trails, hugging the outside of the track, riding on and off the powder.

We had a great session and although we didn't want it to end we were soon in need of some food and a rest.  So, what did we do?  We boarded/skied across to our hotel back entrance, thats what!

We had a rather early dinner (we were still on NZ time somewhat, plus the fact it got dark just at about 4.30pm) at a nice Italian restaurant.  Pre-arrival our biggest concern had been eating.  How much would it cost and how much food would we find that we actually liked?  Our concern was put to rest that first night as we quickly discovered a variety of options all of which were relatively affordable.  The restaurants were all located one minutes walk away down some tunnels that were definitely not heated!

That night we caught the shuttle bus across to the 'night time' area, so we could check out the Ice Village.  Prepared to pay about $20 entry fee each we were rather taken back when we learned that the Ice Village was in fact free!  We spent a while wandering around the different igloos, each with a theme.  There was the ice chapel, the ice bedroom, the maze, and even an ice bar!  One thing we did splash out on was the chance to have a dog sled ride, I mean seriously who can say no to that?!  It was a quick ride, but damn it was fun, Huskies rule!

The next few days were spent in much the same vain.  Each morning we were pretty early at getting up, the mountain being the main motivation... that and the fact we didn't want to miss out on our free buffet breakfast!  Each morning after breakfast we would gear up and hit the slopes for a few hours before stopping for a lunch break.  Then it would be back out for some more runs down the empty tracks.  The snow fell lightly on many occasions and thus made for some awesome powder throughout our whole trip.

The last day of boarding was probably our best.  It was a Saturday, but still a very quiet day.  The mountain was littered in powder and Karen and I spent a good couple of hours in the morning cruising up and down lift one.  We were the only people on the run!  The sun was shining for most of the day, the powder was fresh and deep and we were carving it up hard!

Each night after the days session, and having had a little rest, we suited up and hit the slopes for some night boarding/skiing.  Tomamu was my first experience of night time boarding and not knowing what to expect I was pleasantly surprised to find how good it was.  The lights really lit up the trails well, better than an overcast day in fact.  While it was a bit colder, the chair lifts had covers which dropped down to shield us from the cold wind while riding up the mountain.  Some of our best sessions were actually at night and I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to give a night session a go, do it!

In total the four days boarding at Tomamu were my favourite ever (followed by the awesome Treble Cone in NZ).  The runs were varied and awesome fun.  The powder was mint and plentiful, but, for me, the highlight of the boarding was having one of my dreams fulfilled.  I finally got to board through trees!

For as long as I can remember I have always dreamt of the day when I would finally get to board through powder and dodge in and out of trees.  Let me just say that when that day finally arrived in Tomamu it was INCREDIBLE!  Boarding off course through the trees was just too much fun.  I was literally in heaven.  I just couldn't stop cheering and yelling out with excitement.  At one stage I dropped off the trail and headed into some trees expecting to drop back onto the trial I thought cut back any moment.  However, I continued to drop further and further down, and as I went the trees became thicker and the powder deeped.  Eventually I was so thick in the trees I had to take it very slowly trying to weave my way in and out of the trunks and low branches.  I gave myself another fifty meters before I would strap off and begin the long hike up to the path again, when I noticed a clearing, went for it and dropped out of the ledge onto a trail below!  Oh yeah, now that was snowboarding!  Whakapapa on a weekend eat your heart out!

As for off the slopes activities, on our second night we headed back to the Ice Village to make a drinking glass out of ice.  It took about 20 minutes but once we had finished (I think we did ok considering the instructions were all in Japanese and I kind of gave the impression I knew what he was saying to us even though I didn't have a clue and so we made it up as we went) we took our glasses next door to the ice bar.  There we selected a drink each and proceeded to enjoy it from our respective glasses, having definitely 'earned our drinks'!

On our third afternoon we decided to go for a swim at the VIZ.  The VIZ is a massive building, heated to what feels like the tropics, and has an 80m swimming pool with wave machine.  The place is huge and rocks, hard!  If a kick ass pool, some deck chairs and small spa's surrounding the pool isn't enough there is also a massive spa house located down a tunnel that you can only get to by wading through waist deep water.  On the other side of the complex is an onsen - girls and guys separate of course - of which the 'pool' is actually located outdoors.  We had been given a voucher upon arrival and had saved it until we really had the urge for a swim.  However, we soon found out that it wasn't a 'one off' voucher like we had thought, but was in fact a 'VIZ passport' which meant we were able to come and go as much as we wanted during our stay at Tomamu!  If only we had known!  Still, at least we found out when we did cause we definitely made sure we visited a number of times before we left.  The onsen was the highlight though, sitting outside, hair freezing, body hot from the water, snow flakes falling and melting all around me, beautiful view to look out at... in japanese it really was "kimochii yoka" (a good feeling).  I even made friends with some random guy who I got to take some photos of me (all above the waist I must add).  Though, it was slightly random having him standing there, butt naked, asking me to say "cheese-u"!

One night after a late swim, while waiting for the shuttle bus, I inquired at the ice skating shack to see how much a skate cost.  "Free desu" was the reply from our bar tender of the previous night.  Why was everything free?!  We don't know, but, it's not like we're going to complain!  So, Kaz and I strapped on some hockey skates, chucked our things in a waterproof bag and proceeded to have our first outdoor skate on the little rink.  The whole rink was covered in freshly fallen powder, and with the snow still falling thick and fast around us, it really was a very romantic moment.  Having recently been for an ice skate (karen's birthday in November) we were pretty quick to get off the mark and fly around the rink, much to the amazement of the Japanese couples around us.  We foreigners rock!

As much as we wanted to prevent it happening, the inevitable did, and before we knew it we were taking our gear back to the hire people and packing our bags to head back home as our trip was almost over.  We reluctantly handed everything over and vowed to definitely return to Hokkaido in the future.

Our last day was a mission and a half.  It took us ten and a half hours to travel from the hotel back to our apartment in Takeo.  In that time we could basically have flown to NZ, but all we were doing was moving from one end of Japan to another!  We took a bus, two trains, two planes, another bus and then drove our car, before we finally arrived back to our cold apartment.

It was a very strange feeling to be back 'home' again, knowing I had school in the morning, but, at the same time I was really looking forward to seeing everyone again and showing off the many photos of Karen, the most beautiful bride I have ever seen ;-)