2019-01-14 Day 125 Mon

It was raining gently so maybe we will get the salt washed off EC. John did give her a bit of a brush down in the rain. And I did my bit by driving through all the puddles I could find.

We used our last little bit of cash (we thought) and bought fuel, I thought we had more cash but hadn't had a proper look. The plan was to cross the border down near Prevlaka, an orange on this side a white in Montenegro but we came across road closed sign at road works so 14km back out. We crossed on Jadranska magistrala very easily and quickly. Bought fuel with euro’s and did a shop for more food. We seem to shop but don't buy much for the fridge. However I did get a hock for soup 8€, our first beef 8€ in a while for stew and a chunk of pork loin 3€. So at least we wont starve. Then of course I found the rest of our Croatian currency.

Amazing views along the coast but lots of traffic. We stopped for lunch with a view of “Our lady of the rocks” a church on a man made island. A drive through Perast the road right on the sea with very little passing room. Quaint town.

We are now in a twice land locked bay!

In Kotor I walked to the police station to find that I could not register today as closed come back tomorrow. We continued around the coast looking for a camp. Very narrow street with no where to get off. There are little solid jetties out into the bay every now and again with garden or parking or seating on them. We came across a couple of guys chatting on one and they waved I got out to ask if we could stay on it for the night “yeah no problems”. We chatted to Franco and Michael then Micheal's wife came who had good English. We were invited back home for coffee. Just 3 houses away. Before our coffee was even made the Raki came out along with red wind. Both were very good for home made.

We chatted for a while learning that they are happy with the tourists as they have an apartment upstairs. Winter gets boring and towards the end of summer they want the tourists to leave!!

We had dinner at Franco’s brothers restaurant. Fried squid.

110km

Camp site

2019-01-13 Day 124 Sun

Back to Croatia, border crossing fast and easy. We had a great view looking down on Dubrovnik from Srd Hill top of cable car.

Then down to a car park in Dubrovnik. We bought tickets about A$25 each and walked the old town wall. Fascinating and in such great repair. took us a couple of hours to wonder the 2 km.

 

 

Next a quick walk to Fort Lovrijenac which is featured in Game of Thrones and the Black water battle.

We escaped Dubrovnik and john found us a very secluded camp 2km down a track in between rocks and olive trees. Quite a good track so maybe a house at the end. We did think of going down to ask but it would have taken a while.

A quiet night.

55km

Camp site

2019-01-05 Day 116 Sat

Had a WhatsApp message from our visitor in the night. He was concerned that he had scared us in the night and that he came to take some time lapse photography but didn’t want to disturb us with his engine running. Amazingly thoughtful. 
 

John took some photos of an amazing sunrise bumped the camp up to a 5 star our first in Europe!!!

Some walkers came up and we chatted for a while. Then we left for Bosnia.

The region is very rocky and the fences are created just to get the rocks off the ground as olives trees don’t run away.

The exit of Croatia was quick and straight forward but the entry into Bosnia was a little slower. First off, the official would not accept the photocopy of our green card (3rd party insurance) so went and retrieved it. First time we have used the original. Next he was not satisfied with the copy of EC’s Rego. So dug around and found that, but it was last years with march 2018 on it. So went back into EC and finally found the 2019 one. He checked the date and was satisfied. Each time I went to get the original I ensured I took the copy back to EC with me.The customs had a quick look in the door and we were through.

The Australian gov smart-traveller website indicated we needed to register within 48hrs of arrival. We, not surprisingly are still a little touchie on this topic.

Stopped at a frozen over lake, Busko jezero, for lunch.

John found some tight contours on the map and wanted to investigate, so we would camp there. 
 

As we were closing in on the turn off, we stopped to chat to 3 young guys who couldn’t make it up the hill. They, didn’t have winter tires on. We didn’t really want to tow them as the sun had already sank and we would be camping close to dark as it is. Had finally decided to help when another vehicle arrived, John gave them a chunk of rope he’d picked up south of Punta Natales in southern Patagonian….

Our little white road through the villages had been cleared of snow so we felt OK driving along it. Space on the side of the hill was hard to find but finally a small spot loomed out of the dark. We turned around and set up camp. Gently snowing.

128 km

Camp site

2019-01-04 Day 115 Fri

Even tucked away in the trees we started to feel the effects of the rising winds. We checked the website for road closures and tried to find all the roads but they are named differently on our OSM map and google. We think we nutted it out and the road still open for all but double decker buses and bikes. And yes there were trucks on the road going north and south. 

We are on the coast looking for marina’s and boat shops. Found a few of both, but no luck on pumps they seem to use Jabsco as their water pumps and Whales as bilge pumps. Behind this boat winter storage facility were these stone walls. The stones had been picked up and formed into walls so an olive tree or grapevine could be planted!!

We stopped in Trogir and wondered around the old town which is on a tiny island. All the houses are higgeldy piggeldy places with just walk ways between. Reminded us of Venice but on solid ground. Most places had been turned into apartments or at least accommodation for tourists. There were one or two places to eat/drink open but all else was closed. The fort in disrepair had been built in the 1400’s.

 
A shop in split gave me the name of a shop which could order a Whale pump for me, but they are closed till Monday.

This church had amazing detail carved around it's stone entrance way.

We stopped by at a Lidel and bought some more drinking water and a few other items.
 

Camp time I drove while John navigated us to the top of a 500m hill overlooking the Adriatic and Dugi Rat. Lots of lights all below.

To our surprise a vehicle drove up while we were still awake, stayed a few minutes, and went away. We assumed work on the tower. Another visitor came up in the night and didn’t stay long either.

173km

Camp site

2019-01-03 Day 114 Thu

Still windy in the morning. Continuing down the mountain we were amazed at the wind patterns on the sea. In places the wind was hitting the surface vertically and spreading out in a circle! The wind was also whipping water off the flat surface. Quite lovely to sit and watch from a warm vehicle.

At the bottom of the hill we turned Left in a little town called Karlobag and headed south down the Adriatic coast towards Split. We hadn’t gone far when a policeman signaled us to park. Car papers and license was handed over. The road was closed at the flashy orange light with a no entry sign and some writing. John said he saw the light not the sign. Cars were still driving past but open for private cars not trucks. He took the paperwork to boss man in the car.

Came back and said needed to charge us 450Kuna A$100 for disobeying signs But if we pay immediately then it is only half. We asked how come and if it is not paid immediately then it has to go to court to settle and that is expensive so you pay double.

He went back to police car and spoke with Boss and came back asking how long we’d been here we said 4 days but had been here before. He was looking at wrong stamp. Anyway they asked if we knew we had to register we said no. So another fine. We followed him back to the station got a receipt for the first lot of money then had to take the other fine to the back or post office to pay. Bank was closed but post office was open. She checked with her boss if we could pay by card all good Another 800 kuna or close to A$200. Now all we had to do was register. 
 

After a long talk with the tourist office lady it was decided we should try Split as they can not register us without an address. We need to book into camp ground or hotel. Camp grounds are mostly closed.

We had lunch and john got his printing done and by the time our conversations were all over the road was open to trucks. So off we went.

John found a lovely little camp tuck away in some fir trees close to the ocean. We felt we needed the invisibility tonight.

133km

Camp site

2019-01-02 Day 113 Wed

The forecast does not look so good for going to Sarajevo; 25cm of snow over the next 36 hours and down to -12℃.

Decision made - head back to coast and warmth to look for a water pump. But first the lakes 
 

When we arrived at the car-park, and there are a few to choose from, we ended up parking close to the French camper that we saw on the island. 
 

First though a walk down to the waterfalls. Entry to the national park Plitvice Lakes was only about A$10 each which included the boat ride across the lake and the “train” ride back to the entrance. 
 

It was very cold, icy and treacherous. I did fall once - very gracefully though. The sun was shinning and it was very beautiful. Well worth the trip. After the boat ride we walked back on the opposite side of the lake then retraced our footsteps. Nice to get out in the sunshine.

After a quick sandwich we retraced our path south for a while then headed West towards the coast.

 

 

John found us a nice camp above the main road's tunnel at 900m altitude. We were on the west side looking at the Adriatic and just found the right spot when the storm hit - wind and a little snow.

Slept with the lid at half height. Was like sleeping on a lively sea, EC bounced around all night. 
 

At one stage a vehicle came up past us turned and went back down. Someone was checking us out. Snow plows went past below us a few times as well.

144km

Camp site

2019-01-01 Day 112 Tue

New Years day spoke to muff and puff and caught up with the news. Then rang Chris for a new years chat. A nice morning a little cold but it will be a nice day. Noticed some white stuff in the hollows. John pulled the water pump out, and although the motor runs nothing much happens. Time for a new wet end.

 
Continued our drive towards the lake national park. The road if possible got narrower but was still sealed. 

Oh and we saw these signs... lots of them. Will not be leaving the road...
There was only one small section that was unsealed. More and more snow on the road, arrived late near twilight. We stopped at a bridge just above the big waterfall that was signed as 3 ton. Time to reroute!. Oh but hang on doesn’t a Mercedes coach weigh more that 3 ton…. So across we went. No where to park so drove on. I think we went up a road that we maybe shouldn’t have. A no entry sign some words then a 7 ton limit sign. Other vehicles had been up. A very windy beautiful sealed track. Very narrow and thankfully no one coming the other way. Was dark by now and just nowhere to get off the road. We found a few empty houses and after few more km’s up the main road we came back and drove down and parked by the house.

 
About 19:30 a cop car stopped on the road in front of us….. But no they drove on. May have been that we were a little outside the center of the park or on private property,

157km

Campsite

2018-12-31 Day 111 Mon

Up and off to get in line for the 08:30 Krk ferry. Slightly longer trip by  1km than the last ferry. One of the crew had a chat to John about the rig. Had thought to take another ferry form Krk down south to Rab island and then another to Pag then a drive to Split. However the Rab island ferry only ran morning and evening and we didn’t want to wait.

 

We drove down south to Baska had a coffee in a very smoky cafe and strolled the empty waterfront. Quiet cold. Back to EC and we saw a french camper with a couple and a dog.

We drove up a windy narrow road to the church on top of the hill. Amazing how they pack the graves in, must be 4 or 5 deep by now. Some of the graves had 3 names on them. But what a view they have!!!

Back up north towards the bridge that has the second longest concrete span in the world.

Had lunch just south of the bridge looking at it. Pretty impressive.

There was this painting and an old  poem here. We understand the "lady" is mother Croatia and the poem about "her".

We crossed the bridge and wended our way up hill and onto a very narrow track. One lane but sealed.

A lovely early camp (1400hr) over looking Krk Island and the bridge. A nice place for new years eve.

Were woken at midnight when someone close by let of some fire works, we had a great view form our bed's window. The islands were also covered in flashes of light but too far away to see properly.

115km

Camp site

2018-12-30 Day 110 Sun

As people arrived in the car park we got lots of attention. Ended up talking to two couples that have holiday apartments side by side in a near by village. Spoke for well over an hour. We ended up with home grown apples, cheese from where they live and some local pastrami. Very generous and friendly.

We finally parted company an we headed south to the lake. The second biggest in Croatia. However the track we were on for 15min had a no entry sign on a gate. All other tracks were also blocked. No way down to the lake.

We turned back for the ferry that leaves from the east coast across to Krk Island.

 
We stopped and did a quick shop for some necessities and missed the ferry by 20mins. Not that we knew what time it left.

A hunt for a camp site. We drove to the top of a hill on a very narrow track and popped out at a fire look out tower but no where flat with a view so back down again. The local Cres Island sheep came to say hello. Very straggly looking.

Ended up 15m off the road on a wide flat spot. With a view of Krk island.

80km

Camp site

2018-12-29 Day 109 Sat

We have had some busy mornings so we sat and enjoyed the sun this morning. It has been a bit shy lately. But today was gorgeous with a great view back into Slovinia and the salt lakes with lots of little villages perched on hill tops. It was already 5℃. Finally at 11am we made tracks; oh there is a ferry to the island of Cres. OK lets take it.

 

We stopped in to see this castle. The castle had had some work done with supports holding up floors etc. It had been abandoned for a while but there were still people living within it's walls.  

The story these building s could tell. 

The steps were stapled together as were the balustrades.

So I drove for 2.5 hours and drove straight onto the ferry; second last vehicle; 1 minute to spare. Sometimes things just work out.

Parked on the road side for a late lunch and gazed at the Adriatic sea so quiet and still. Drove south to find a camp. Turned up a road that said no campervans but we aren't one of those. A narrow  road hemmed in by rock walls. 

Found the church and village and had a quick look around. Asked a couple of elderly lady’s if we could stay the night they said no but they did not understand. As I walked back to EC a ute with firewood drove up. I stopped and asked him all good. 
 

We parked and watched a fantastic sunset. John had a bad headache and went to bed.

135km

Camp site

2018-12-28 Day 108 Fri

A nice warm morning so did a few jobs outside. Also there was a wall we could stand on and do a few roof jobs. Re-stuck the rubber seal on the back right hand corner of roof. Sprayed the section where the rubber seals with silicon to stop it freezing onto the rubber.

We then continued on to Predjama castle which is a cave castle and was really quite fascinating. Still in habitable condition. But would be terribly cold

 It was hard to distinguish between the natural walls and the man made. Except the man natural had moss  growing on it. The natural rock had drains channeled in to bring water from the cave down to the lower levels.

 

When we left we detoured down a dirt road to a well. There was a guy there who, with waves, indicated we could not go one. I just said we are here for water so he opened the gate and told us to get drinking water from inside not outside. John told him about our trip, a happy farmer. We were able to fill EC some by hose and some by container. A great spot.

Then a long drive to the Adriatic sea and Pirano - which is an old town and fort. We parked to the south and had a 2km walk along the foreshore to the old town. Had a look at the church which again was quite mind boggling and walked around the point. By this time it was 15:30 and we were going to be camping in the dark so we had a quick bite to eat and walked back to the car. 

 

We were 20km from the Italian border and 7km from the Croatian border crossing. John drove to the Croatia crossing and I did the paperwork. It was now after 16:00 on a Friday night but we had the fastest crossing ever - no cars in front.

 

Our first cat hostel. We did not realize till we looked at the photo that there was a kitty inside.

As we drove up the hill it got foggy so now we were looking for a camp in the dark and fog. Found one off to the side of a side road. Just got level and there was a call. John went to chat to the guy who lived in the house just up hill from us. All OK.

However, not long after we’d got to sleep a car stopped shined their lights on us then left …. back to sleep. Then another car stopped and called out. John got up and dressed and went out. Police. 
 

A local had called us in. One of teh police had good English and ended up joking with John so all good. Checked our passports and wanted to know why we are camped within 1km of border.Johns reply: "Lovely view".

119km
 

Camp site