Dalmatia Photos

Hello All,

weather for much of the cruise with only yesterdays rough winds and rain and high seas causin of Southern Dalmatia for much of the past week. We have been blessed with unseasonal goodWell we are back in Dubrovnik after having worked hard cruising around the islands off the coastg discomfort and sea sickness to many of the passengers, and to the rest of the crews delight poor old Mario the cook who was found feeding the fish over the side of the boat!.

We have added a couple of choice pics of some of the islands we have visited below.

Cruising the Croatian Coast

Hello all

After a few days sailing we have stumbled across an internet cafe so we can bring to you our latest episode of travelling. The bear and I had an argument and it"s now overboard somewhere in the adriatic...stacey somehow made it back...such is life!

We are both enjoying the sailing....not that theres any sails involved...its all motorised....but it has been fantastic and we have another 5 days onboard...today we were swimming in the adriatic in a little cove on a relatively deserted island. The swim required us to dive off the top of the boat...because well, you know you just have to do these things...the water is certainly warmer than Krka National Park and just as clear.

After kilometres of walking and sightseeing each day it has been a nice change to just lay on the deck, relax and catch a few rays of sun. We have been fed 3 course meals for lunches, completely undoing all our good work over the past couple of weeks. We of course then had to wash it down with a gelato once we made it to shore.

Yesterday we visited the Miljet national park.... an island consisting of two large salt water lakes and we docked this afternoon at Hvar. Looking forward to a good night on the town with a few of our shipmates!

Its just about beer o clock so better go..... will add more pics again next time. Dont forget to keep those donations coming!

Crying poor...donations welcome...the woe of the aussie dollar tumble

Contact us for details on how to donate to make sure we get home and can finish the trip. We may take a while to get back to you as we will be sailing the adriatic and being fed like kings *except we have to pay for dinner...so please do not hesitate to donate.....



We are in a little town called Skaradin at the moment enjoying a traditional breakfast as we type this...that being a thick slurry of cocoa called "hot chocolate" and a reconstituted orange juice....all you need to keep going....



The last 2 days we have been in National Parks fighting bears and wild cats...Stacey sacrificed herself for the good of humankind to the brown bear....but alas I am safe...besides it was in Plitivice National Park...and everything there is World Heritage Listed...I wasn't up to breaking the international law on the protection of endangered species!



Both parks were beautiful the second being Krka but Plitivice takes the cake...take a look at some of the photos below....it is an area only recently formed in geological terms and is known as the land of the falling lakes...the lakes are constantly on the move...albeit at an extremely slow pace and fall down the hill through limestone.....



Lisa Grant - we hear there is a Discovery Channel doco on the lakes and if you can get your hands on it we would love to see it...note we are poor and cannot afford Foxtel ...unless of course you want to donate to the cause above.



Here are the photos as promised:

Tommy lives...on Krk Island

Just a quick one...





We have been hearing from our puppy sitter (grandma White....thank you for your efforts) that our little tommy has been eating like a pig (and in her words this stretched to other members of the household....we think she meant abby)....was a typo we suspect....all jokes.





Anyway, it appears that tommy has had enough of eating hotdogs and pies at the local minnamurra shops and has swam out of the heads at minnamurra river and turned left...ending up in Krk Town....a smaller and leaner puppy...maybe he shrank in the wash of the waves......

PS...Not long now Tommy and we"ll be home...so no more hot dogs or pies and "Operation Skinny Tommy" kicks in...

Miss you puppy...

Why travel to Croatia?

A common question we have been asked before our trip and even during it is why are we travelling in croatia? Is it because we have croatian heritage? No...thats not it...Are we Deutschlanders coming back to our previous empire holiday retreat? No ...as we have said a few times on this trip...No...non sprechen de deutsch we are AustrALian (as opposed to Austrians who ran Croatia for a while and do Sprechen de deutsch...thats "speak german")

No we came here for a few reasons...we didnt get here when we lived in the uk...and we heard that the coast was quite an attractive place, the food was good...the vino and pivo just as good, the girls good looking (that was staceys reason for coming here)....and we might pick up a few new words and tennis tips....

To prove a few of these points...take a look at these photos below. T>hey are from the last week of travel...starting in Pula and Opatija and then going across on a ferry from Brestova to Cres and onward to a little town of Velli Losinj where we basically had the hostel to ourselves...on another ferry to Krk Island (thanks for the tip Herbie) and then a big drive to Zagreb where we are today and will be for a few more days...the latter was navigated by stacey who sent us around the world via a little mountain town called samobor...why you ask_ She told Jeff it was a nice place according to the book....what she didnt tell him until we got there was that it had an even nicer cake called kremsnita (like a vanilla slice) and that was the real reason we were there....it was worth the 2 dollars!

Anyway...we"ve had a request for more photos....so here they finally are...we will give a commentary in our next post tomorrow...the lack of internet access in the off peak season has caused our delays in posting....enjoy and dovejena (goodbye)

Above: Brestova Beach...well a little beach at the ferry port.....

Below: A happy but not yet fed for the day Jeff with Kalamar stuffed with pršut...or squid stuffed with ham. Not to mention the yum grilled vegetables.

Above: Stacey in the little town of Velli Losinj where we spent 2 nights...a colour coordinated effort by all. Not to mention staceys efforts at looking like shes in a mirror

Below: Eating like a local (either that or a tourist)...a big seafood lunch, beer and wine next to the water....we didnt finish it all.

Below (L to R): Krk Town on the island of Krk (original name) and Jeff protecting the local Pletnix girl"s modesty on the island of Krk (again...thanks for the tip herbie)..

On driving on the Right (and Wrong) side of the Road

Hi there Again,

Well our adventure in Croatia continues as it began..... interesting, exciting and full of challenges. The most notable challenge being that of mastering the roads. Our last entry left off with us going off to hire a car to begin our explorations further afield. We thought we were doing well as we got into the car, orientated ourselves to steering wheel, gear stick etc on the other side and used both sets of eyes to check before making turns. We have discovered that turning right is fine...its turning left that can be a bit hairy! Not to worry, at least we didnt reverse into a police car on our way out of the car park after picking up the car unlike the lovely lady at the boomgate in front of us who then waved us through ans proceeded to tailgate us out and away from the scene of the crime!..

First stop was Opatija, an opulent seaside town the playground for rich Austrians and Germans. Enroute the right side mirror mysteriously fell off (strange I know). We explored the town and had a lovely conversation with the car rental dude aftre we reported the damaged mirror as he decided to charge us for one day, close the rental agreement and then reopen it a higher rate. Then onto the beautiful islands of Cres and Losinj where we stayed for a couple of nights. Stace even had her first attempt at driving. Excerpt from conversation post stacey drive..

Stace: "now i know why you found it hard to judge the right side of the car"

Jeff: Now "I know why you were shitting yourself" (explain damaged side mirror!) The joys of it all!

We have experienced the whole range of driving conditions here in Croatia. From EU funded motorways, magnificent engineering feats of tunnels through mountains, rugged maintain goat tracks (mind you without barriers against the side of cliffs), driving on and off passenger ferries full of german holiday makers, winebagos and coaches to the confusing streets of inner city Zagreb. So far so good.... The adventure continues....

From Hostel to Manor...then onto a bus station! Greetings from Croatia

Hello again

We have been offline for a while - travelling and all that jazz...we are now in Pula, the capital of Istria in Croatia....beautiful place...and hopefully a snapshot of what is to come. Spent today at the Roman Amphitheatre in town and then walking along the harbour and in and around town....not to mention the 3 kilometre walk from the hostel to town that we turned into something more like 10 kilometres! (one would think you could spot an amphitheatre for miles...but Jeff is shortsighted after all!)

The last few days have been a blur...saturday morning we ventured into unknown territory of London...east of Brick Lane and Liverpool Street....an adventure in itself...watched Josh play hockey and score 5 goals...his reward being to shout the whole team. Went back to the pub with the crew from the East London Hockey club including the manager Nick who was meant to be working for Royal Mail...posties around the world must all be the same hey??...at least he had his uniform on still to make it look like he was on official duties...they were a great gang of people and have promised to use their contacts in immigration to let us into the country so we can play with them since we are apparently very talented...still waiting for an offer from their pakistani community team opposition.

Checked out Joshs pad and met his flatmates...a cool bunch of people..we then headed off to Brick Lane for a curry on our way to Sheperds bush - Tram was throwing a farewell party (she said it was because she had to move from the flat but we think it was more likely in honour of us...since we left london the next day). Once we ordered a curry got the word from Tram that she had cooked up a storm...alway the way. Curry good...thanks for the shout josh..much appreciated. Went to Trams and met a great crew...not least tony who is partially deaf and totally blind...and a great comedian to boot...for some reqason he rates NZ higher than Australia...


Finished up at 2.30am and somehow made it back to the hostel. Next day picked up the car and spent 2 hours trying to navigate our way out of London....a few stressful moments (read hours) later...we were heading towards canterbury. On the way Jeff asked for his glasses so he could see where he was driving only to be informed by stacey they were obviously lost.....she just doesnćt look hard enough.....not the last time on this trip she has sent Jeff crazy telling him things arent where they are meant to be...but thats another story.

Made it to canterbury in time for the end of the kent food fair festival...lots of drunk and happy english around...so we thought wed join them and ended up at a pub...old gate inn where we bunked down for the night....the remaining jet lag ensured we didnt get to savour the sunday roast on offer.

Hit canterbury the next day but didnt go to the cathedral...was not going to pay 7 quid each on our aussie dollar budget...so hit roman museum and chaucers canterbury tales...the latter is highly recommended even has jeff wanting to read the book ...reading fiction is not one of his general desires....

Afew laneway and seaside stop later we found ourselves at a pub in a little town in sussex called the queens head where we chatted to the local publican and hairdresser/crackpot (being 2 different people)...unfortunately they only had fish n chips on offer that night and we were stuck with it...it was nice enough though....all the people in the town are called rob by the way....

Noting we needed a place to stay the publican rang his mate Kerry (judging by his wealth i think he may be related to the packers)...who agreed to put us up in his bandb...claverston house for a mere 60 quid....enjoyed living the high life briefly but have since come crashing back to earth and reclaimed our rightful status staying at the local youth hostel

Tomorrow we pick up the car and hopefully remember to stay on the right side of the road.....

Jeff is happy that he started getting into shape before leaving- the croatian girls are kicking stacey out of the way to get to him....its been a hassle but one we can live with (this last sentence could also be interpreted as BS...you decide)

Ciao

We've made it....well to London anyway

Hi all

We left Sydney at 2pm on Thursday after enjoying a great dinner at a Lebanese restaurant in Cleve land Street with Lisa grant who put us up for the night - thanks lisa and tj.

The less said about the flight the better - be it the time taken to get here - thought we were going to be stuck in there forever - the 7hrs to KL was enough let alone the 13 hrs from there over to \LHR. We hit the gym and showers at \kl followed by a massage where the masseuse followed us out begging "sir - you give me t ip" \hopefully he is now being good to his mother. On the 2nd leg we were paged as we settled into our seats - we were hoping this may be the malaysians trying to thank us for our custom by putting us up into business class - and away from the packed rabble of economy...alas all they wanted was a copy of our ticket!

Must say as we write this from an easy internet cafe in Kensington High St its like we have never left the place - all very familiar....just unlocked my phone so we can hook up a prepaid SIM card with o2. Feel free to text us on +447594062928.....wait tell i get back to oz and give 3 a bit of a gee up - fancy locking my phone i've been off c ontract for 2 yrs!!

Yesterday we took the tube from heathrow to earls court...and we were too early for check in to the hostel - they wouldn't even let us in with our bags - so we hit a pub and sat there on one gass of wine each at 8am for a couple of hours - someone has to do it....

We then walked bac k to where we used to live by our favourite tescos - bought a cheap lun ch and hiked up to Kensington \gardens and hyde park before trying to seem interested at churchills cabinet rooms - it was interesting but by 4pm we were stuffed thanks to jet lag and being awake all the way for 36 hours or so.

We hit the hay at 5pm and didn't surface until 8am today....no we're off to watch \jo sh play hockey in the east end and have a pint before going to a farewell party at sheperds bus h tonight - should be good...will try and upload som photos now too.

For those of you who used to frequent the fox at west ken - it's still closed down but be ing refurbished into a classy bar - lap dancers and all!! There ya go Greg Moore - not once mentioned the weather and introduced some wollongong style scandal into it as well...

Till next time

4 days to go - Croatia here we come

Welcome to the first post (hopefully of many) on our blog! Beware - we don't know how to drive this blog but we will work it out over time. Only 4 more days and we will be flying out of the Country. It's been over 9 mths since we booked the tickets - can't believe it's so close. For those of you who don't know we are off to Croatia via the UK and back by Kuala Lumpur (a good place for people with small feet to buy shoes apparently - luckily they also sell electronics!). Luckily unlike our expectations of Murphy's Law might apply, both of our teams diodn't get close to the semis so we won't be missing any football of interest

We have been booking all kinds of things today - arranging travel insurance, hiring a car for the UK and Croatia and accommodation in London...all at a time that the aussie dollar took a dive - such is life. We will be staying in Earls (aka Kangaroo) Court in London - nice and close to wherewe used to live....a trip down memory lane - not to mention it's a part of the trip dedicated to honouring our backpacking roots. If anyone knows what's on in London for this weekend coming up please let us know....keen to get to the theatre...have a few drinks with friends over there as well before heading off to Canterbury for a couple of nights. If you're in town that weekend leave us a message on here or facebook.

Till then it's time to juggle packing with work, uni assignments and packing Tommy away...his airfare was too expensive for us to afford. Surely he will enjoy his holidays with Grandma and Grandpa down at Minnamurra - daily walks to the shop for a sausage roll - or so he hopes.

Oh well Dancing with the Stars is coming up - better be off - hope Charli's still on the show.....