Jan 26th is Australia day. Other than two guys and myself all the other gaijin here are Australian. Back home they would celebrate by getting drunk and having a BBQ. We couldn't manage the BBQ but the rest was easy enough. The night before we headed out to Jusco the local supermarket and all stocked up on booze. We had all managed to arrange for the day off and it started early.
We all met at breakfast at 7:30 each with a beer in hand. Some of the guys had flags wrapped around them as cape, Dylan even brought a blow up kangaroo. We wolfed down our breakfast and headed for the gondola. Most of us now working on the second beer of the day for the ride up. We dropped off a few things in our lockers at the top of the gondola before have a few runs before the big event we had planned.
A couple of guys from Iwatake joined us and we worked our way down riesen and trying out a few jumps on the way. We even went up again and ran a few cat tracks from the top. We had arranged to meet more people at 9:30 so only had a few hours. The powder that day was really deep and several times I found myself thigh deep trapped in the snow and had to dig my way out. 9:30 loomed and we met at the bottom of the gondola a little nervous about what we were gonna do. We made are way up on the gondola again and grabbed a lift to the top of skyline. Sadly the last lift was shut so we couldn't get to the peak. We headed in to the virgin café and began to strip.
We had planned that day to board down the mountain in beach wear. I had only a pair of shorts and a vest and the guys were in pretty much the same. James had chosen to wear just a pair of skin tight boxers. With capes tied around necks and kangaroos in hand we all stepped outside. The cold stung when you were in the shade but we were lucky that the sun had come out while we were changing and it took the edge of a little. We had agreed that we all had to have a beer while we boarded so we opened them and set off. As you picked up speed it got colder and every tight turn kicked up powder that stung. But it was fun. People stopped to look and a group of dumb guys in shorts passed them. Everyone else in several layers. We were waved at and laughed at as we rode. We stopped at the café where Marcus and I work, the staff and some customers stopped us for photos before we set off again. Kneeling in the snow for pictures was uncomfortable but at this stage I was starting to numb. We set of again with over half the mountain left. We took the central route which is pretty steep and I think we all stacked it at some point. Falling in the snow was the worst as what parts of you weren't covered in snow were showered in the powder you kicked up. Skidding on ice wasn't fun either. By the time we reached the bottom we were bright red from the cold. I had icicles form on the hairs of my legs. And James's skin tight white boxers were transparent and he ran off to get changed. We all changed and then set off to board some more. We were out for another 2 hours before I headed home. Some injures from the day before were getting worse (possibly cracked a rib) so I headed back to rest up. The others boarded till 5.
Marcus and I had a party to attend for the café staff so at 7 we headed off. It was a Gyoza party and there we 700 Gyoza made for the party for 30 of us to eat. Me and Marcus new that 5 of the Gyoza were filled with wasabi as a prank so eat bite was tentative. There were beers being handed out and soup and fish to eat. One fish was dried out and look gross we each took a bite of the body and not wasn't as bad as it looked. Marcus took the next step and ate the head I wouldn't have. After the party we headed to the local "the pub" they were playing an Australian music count down and the place was packed with ozzies and Australian beer was being served. I heard groups singing Clementine and other drinking songs. I managed to bump into the girls I lived with in Osaka and we hung out for the evening. All the ozzies were hammered and I left knackered at about midnight. The day was good fun and most people spent the next day working off the hangovers.

The following day I went to Nagano with Miguel and his mate Lisa. The main reason was to go see the film Avatar and so we could do some window shopping. Happo and Hakuba don't have much to offer. There are a few boarding shops and supermarkets but no real shops. We spent the day in Nagano looking at clothes and in second hand stores. We ate ramen at a restaurant which was a nice change from cafeteria food. And then saw the film. It was three hours long but I thought it was great. The bus back was at 8:30 so we continued to browse for a couple of hours. The trip back was an hour and we were all beat when we arrived back. At about 10 we got in and went straight to bed. It was a great couple of days off.