Traveling to Hokkaido with JR Pass

Hi, we plan to go Hokkaido for 7 days near the end of October. I'm flying via Tokyo, take JR train (JR PASS) to Hokkaido.
What is the best route to take that fully covered by JR Pass? Help really appreciated.
Tokyo-Hakodate-Noboribetsu-Sapporo-Otaru?
Is it still possible to see autumn colors in end of October? where's the best place?

Why not fly directly into Hokkaido?

We are returning Sapporo to Tokyo in September after flying up from Tokyo.
We found the JR East Pass will save about half on rail fares when we use the 3 day special
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/eastpass_sp/index.html.
We plan to use rented cars along the way too.
Look at the JR East website for much help in the region

Is it still possible to see autumn colors in end of October? where's the best place?

It is somewhat late. But maybe some colors are left around the southern tip, e.g. Onuma Park:
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5356.html

How much does the flight ticket cost from Tokyo to Hokkaido?? We booked returned ticket from Melbourne-Tokyo, so we are thinking to buy 7 days JR Pass and travel to Hokkaido by JR train. Stop in Hakodate and Noboribetsu, before we go to Sapporo.

If flight ticket is cheaper than 7 days JR Pass, we probably consider to fly instead of taking train.

lia,

The cost of air pass return could be similar to or cheaper than 7 day JR Pass :


http://www.traveljapan.com.au/jal-pass.html

lia,

The cost of Japan air pass return can be cheaper than 7 day JR Pass. It depends which airline you are flying :


http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2364.html

We are flying with Skymark for Y11000 in Sept. and travelling back to Tokyo by train (JREast 3 day pass) and rented cars.