Day 175: Tuesday 9 September – Croatia: Another Quiet Day By The Adriatic, by Ken

After breakfast we drove Smarty into Omis to do a spot of supermarket shopping and found a Konzum on the main street. We had seen billboards by the motorway that read “Konzum, Croatian Word For Supermarket”. Perhaps that in Omis wasn’t representative of all Konzum stores, but I would have reworded the signs to read “Konzum, Croatian Word for cramped shop with antiquated check out system”. It really was disappointing, the aisles were very narrow and the queue for the two checkouts situated one behind the other filled an aisle preventing shoppers getting to the goods they wanted. The bar code scanners must have been Mk 1 models requiring items to be placed exactly over the reader and fruit and vegetables required the operator to look up a code for each item and enter it manually. Unfortunately the book of illustrations of fruit and vegetables didn’t match purchases. And, as we learnt on Saturday, Croatians don’t do queuing, our progress towards the checkout was slowed considerably by people jumping in ahead of us.

We left the Konzum with most of what we needed and drove straight back to Mabel. It was another fine day and we decided to make the most of it. I spent most of the day sitting under Mabel’s awning working on the blog, while Jane read and swam.

A woman passer by stopped and pointed to the front of Mabel. I went to investigate and found her front number plate had fallen off – again!  Both plates fell off while she was parked on Phil and Kerry’s drive within a few days of us taking possession of Mabel. I don’t know what was wrong with the double-sided tape Elite had used, but it didn’t have sufficient stickability for the job. I replaced their tape with Velcro which gripped so fiercely it could have fixed an elephant to a wall. However, while the hooks and eyes held together tenaciously, the Turkish sun melted the adhesive that stuck the Velcro to the plates and Mabel. Whenever Mabel was parked with a number plate facing into sun, the plate would droop. However, moving a plate back into place and applying a bit of pressure once things had cooled down seemed to restore things. This time it seemed the adhesive had done its dash and I strapped the plate back in place with some cable ties. It wasn’t worth doing a proper job because the plates will be redundant once Mabel gets to New Zealand.

Lunch was egg in a bowl.

We played two games of bananagrams over our G and T’s which I won followed by a couple of quizzes on stuff.

For dinner we ate baked potatoes with baked beans.

The evening was spent reading.

Day 174: Monday 8 September – Croatia: Chilling Out By The Adriatic, by Ken

Immediately after breakfast we moved Mabel forward to take up the pitch vacated by the Austrian couple who left first thing.

Our Pitch At Omis

View From Mabel

We decided it was time we had a quiet day and we would spend it in the camping ground. Our laundry was piling up in Mabel’s garage. We took it all down to reception, paid for three machines and were taken over to the locked laundry room to get the washing going. Camping Galeb had good wi-fi coverage, but it was pay as you go so we bought some one day cards to keep us both going for the next two days.

I spent the day publishing more blog while Jane made repeated trips to the laundry in Smarty to collect the washing (it really was a large camping ground). It seemed the wash cycle for each machine was different and all she made five trips before she was able to collect all three loads. A rain shower waited until Jane had gone back for a third time in the hope that washing was finished before dumping its load on the washing that had been hung out to dry. I was able to get most of it in before it got too wet.

Lunch was a Greek salad.

We managed to fit in three games of bananagrams before dinner, Jane won them all. Dinner was he remainder of the risotto.

Day 173: Sunday 7 September – Croatia: From The Cold And Damp To Warm Sunshine, by Ken

This was our 6^th day in Croatia, it had rained every day so far and the skies indicated we could be in for more of the same today. Our original intention was to work our way gradually southwards as far as Split stopping en route for a few nights to explore locally. From Split we were going to point Mabel towards Germany and head there in the shortest possible time. Instead, we decided to head south for Split on the Dalmation coast in the hope of finding better weather and then work our way northwards from there.

Plitvicka Jezera Camping Ground - Grumpy German's Motorhome Foreground With Mabel Behind

We were all ready for the road by 9:00, but first Harry wanted to interview me for a varsity management assignment. He had only three questions that provoked a lot of thought and discussion. Jane listened in on speakerphone and we were both very impressed by the way Harry handled the interview – letting me have my say, probing a bit and finishing by asking if there was anything else I wanted to add. We left it that I would think some more during the day about a metaphor that would describe the culture of the organisation I worked for. After that we had a long chat with Harry and Ella, all was well with them and the menagerie in Wellington. Sometime during the telephone call Jane conjured up a cat from somewhere and brought it into Mabel.

The Cat That Jane Found

Afterwards we drove Smarty to the camping grounds café to use the wi-fi. That was the only place there was a signal which we thought pretty poor. Surely, in this day and age free wi-fi throughout a camping ground should be a given? On our way back to Mabel we called in at the camping ground shop for some supplies, then we hitched up Smarty and got on the road. By then it was 11:00.

It was still damp, grey and overcast, but at least it wasn’t raining as we passed the entrance to the Plitvice Lakes National Park. We definitely picked the wrong day to visit yesterday. We followed the two lane A1 road for about 50km before heading south east on the A1 motorway that runs inland parallel to the coast. While still grey, the sky started to brighten as we drove south. It was still grey when we entered a 5.7km long tunnel but we emerged to blue skies and sunshine. The outside temperature climbed from the mid teens to the high twenties.

Grey Sky Before Tunnel

About To Enter 5.7km Tunnel

Blue Skies After Leaving Tunnel

We stopped at a service area for lunch in Mabel of Bulgarian cheese on toast topped with Croatian baked beans twice the size that Watties put in cans. 

Bulgarian Cheese Topped With Croatian Beans

After lunch I spotted a caravan towed by a German registered Land Rover parked nearby. Sitting next to the Land Rover was a chocolate Lab. We went over and had a long chat with its owners, they and their dog were very friendly.

Chocolate Lab

It was my turn to drive after lunch. About an hour after setting off the sun was still shining. We entered another long tunnel and emerged into pouring rain! It was quite clear the weather in Croatia is influenced by tunnels and in future we will look for places to stay that are situated between tunnels.

Wonder If Their Parents Knew What They Were Up To?

The rain didn’t last long and we were back into sunshine again. We left the motorway north east of Split and drove down towards the coast skirting round east of the city. Jane had selected a camping ground just to the south by a beach. I went to check in only to find it was full but we could park in the car park where there was electricity. I turned the offer down and was told there was another camping ground about 15km along the coast.

It was a very pleasant drive with the road hugging the coast for much of the way. There were numerous apartments, each with a small beach. Some were advertising camping grounds. We stopped at a couple which were not much more than the camping ground’s gardens and very cramped. We pushed on until we got to Camp Galeb, just outside the town of Omis. The camping ground was enormous and we no trouble getting a pitch near the beach. As usual, Smarty attracted a lot of attention, particularly from an Austrian couple in a caravan set up between us and the beach. They told us they were leaving in the morning and we should take their pitch.

For the first time in a long while we were able to set up our large table and chairs outside under Mabel’s awning. We played a game of bananagrams over a G and T that I won again. I didn’t know it was Father’s Day until Harry mentioned it earlier in the day. We went to the camping ground’s restaurant where we had some very good food. I ate a steak filled with ham and cheese, while Jane had chicken kebabs.

Today's Trip (284km)

Day 172: Saturday 6 September – Croatia: Plitvićka Jezera National Park, by Ken

There was heavy rain overnight that that improved marginally to a heavy drizzle and dark overcast at daybreak. The drizzle persisted as we set off in Smarty for the Plitvice Lakes National Park, about 7km from the camping ground. Half-way there the drizzle turned to heavy rain and we seriously considered turning back. However, our guide book described the park as Croatia’s biggest single attraction with an 8km string of sixteen lakes with water cascading down waterfalls between them. We had our waterproof jackets and tramping boots with us as well as the free Auto Trail umbrella that came with Mabel (or was it a very expensive umbrella that came with a free motorhome?). We decided to press on.

It was quite miserable as we left Smarty at the car park to Entrance 1 at the lower end of the falls and made our way through the rain to the ticket office where we paid our entrance charge of 55Kn each. 

A Reflective Smarty In The Car Park

We followed a path that took us down to a lookout from where we could just make out through the mist and rain Veliki Slap, literally ‘the big waterfall’ on the other side of the valley with water cascading 78 metres into the Korana river. We could also just see the much lower Sastavci falls where water flowed from the lowest lake into the river.

Veliki Slap Seen Through The Rain (Just!)

Veliki Slap and Sastavci Falls

We took a track down to river level and then a boardwalk across the lower lake. At the end we had the choice of turning left or right. We opted for the boardwalk to the right that would take us to the foot of the Veliki Slap. It didn’t! We managed to progress about 100 metres to a point where water was cascading over the boardwalk. 

Boardwalk

Water Halts Progress To Veliki Slap

The water wasn’t too deep and we pressed on a short way. But then the boardwalk descended via a series of steps that were completely under water. Everyone else was turning around at that point and we followed suit continuing past the boardwalk across the lake where we came to a series of steps alongside a waterfall. Here the water was flowing down the steps. We managed to get past the falls without getting water in our boots.

But We Managed To Get Up Here OK

A bit further on the boardwalk gave way to a path, at least we assumed it was usually a path, today it was under water. Again, it wasn’t deep enough to get into our boots and we pressed on joining a boardwalk that was above the water level and took us across the base of some falls. 

Singing In The Rain (On A Path That Was Under Water)

Jane At Boardwalk At Base Of Falls

A flight of steps took us up the side of the falls, this too was partially under water but we got to the top OK. From there the boardwalk was partially submerged, but the water wasn’t too deep. The boardwalk gave way to a path that was under water that got deeper as we moved along it. We were very keen to press on and get to Lake Kozak, the largest of the lakes, where there was a ferry that would take us further south. However, the water suddenly got deeper and inundated our boots. Ahead we could see the water was even deeper and cascading across the path.  Further ahead still were the next falls and people were climbing the steps alongside knee deep in water.

It was still raining hard and presumably water levels would rise still further. It all began to feel dangerous and we made the decision to turn back walking through water that by then was well over the tops of our boots. We wondered why the park people were allowing people down there at all, it wouldn’t take much of an error for someone to fall off the paths or boardwalks into fast flowing water and over falls. We retraced our steps back over the boardwalks and up the side of the valley. 

This Is Where we Decided To Turn Back

Because Our Boots Were Full Of Water!

When we reached the top there was a length of red bunting tied across the track, presumably signifying it was closed, and rightly so. However, there were no park staff there and people were ducking under the bunting and heading on down.

We Thought This Meant The Track Was Now Closed - Not That Anyone Was Taking Any Notice

Boardwalk We Had Crossed Below Falls Shortly Before we Turned Back

We took a path southwards along the top of the valley cliffs to the terminus of a land train that ran to the southern end of the lake system at Labudovac falls. There was quite a queue waiting for the next train. Inured to finding our right place in the queue we checked which was the front and then made our way to the back. The train arrived – a  large Mercedes 4WD ‘bus’ towing two covered trailers fitted with passenger seats. As the train stopped there was a mad free-for-all to get on. It was then we learnt that Croatians don’t queue, it was every man (and woman) for themselves. Fortunately we were considerably bigger than most of the people in the queue and had no problem getting on board once we realised what the rules (or lack of them) were.

'Trains'

It was quiet a steamy ride with everyone on board having been out in the rain for a while. We took the train to the end of the road where we found the rain was even heavier. Jane was feeling peckish and we stopped at a café for her to get a ham and cheese roll. The rain was no lighter when we emerged, but we decided to take a circular walk around the falls at the upper lake. Even on a grey and very wet afternoon it was an impressive sight. But how much nicer it would have been if the sun was shining.

One Of The Upper Falls

At Least The Boardwalks Weren't Under Water At The Top Of The Falls

Jane Impressed By My Arty Shot Of Falls

With A Knotted Handkerchief On His Head This Guy Had To Be British

By the time we arrived back at the land train stop we were beginning to feel cold. We were very wet in spite of our jackets and umbrella and our wet feet weren’t helping any. We decided to call it a day and took the train back to its northern terminus from where we walked back to Smarty.

Back at Mabel we fired up her heating, got out of our wet clothes and warmed up gradually. I passed on my mother’s trick of filling wet shoes with newspaper to help them dry out which Jane replicated with kitchen roll. We ate Bulgarian cheese on toast spread with Vegemite to impart some flavor and settled down for what remained of the afternoon. Jane started knitting me a pair of thick socks in purple (bit gay I thought) in anticipation of colder weather to come. I was rather hoping the cold, wet weather we had experienced in Croatia to date was unusual.

The camping ground was becoming rather cramped with camper vans beginning to fill the available spaces by parking, like us, at 90 degrees to the camping ground internal road. A German registered motorhome was parked alongside us. On his other side was room more than wide enough to accommodate a motorhome. We watched and listened with interest as a succession of German registered new arrivals tried to park next to him. No sooner had they turned off their engines than our next door neighbour jumped up and went outside to talk. Sometimes the exchanges were quite loud and sounded acrimonious. Each time the outcome was the new arrival moved on. We couldn’t understand what was bugging the man, but no-one got to park next to him.

We ate the remainder of the risotto for dinner after which we played a game of Bananagrams that I won.