The Birthday!!

Korcula - Croatia



Day 5

Anyone who knows me well knows I love birthdays.... Mine especially but if you mean something to me then I'll love your birthday too! So it's the brothers 28th birthday.... I get up with him for breaky and sneak off half way through to grab his pressies (I'd been hiding them in the girls room) to return to find he has left breakfast already... I frantically hunt around the boat for him till I find him the the English boy who was also celebrating a birthday - 14 years old!! Exactly half of the brothers age... I gave out my pressies (a striped towel and shorts) and was pleased by the big smiles as he unwrapped them! The shorts went on immediately and didn't come off for the rest of the boat trip!

Not long and we were off sailing again to our swimming spot... it was a tad windy today but still nice and warm!! We stopped a little way off a small island and we all jumped in, it wasn't long till we all got out though as the water was really quiet cold! I basked in the sunshine on the deck while the brother decided to swim to the island with the English birthday boy. As you all know the brother is a good swimmer, wish we could of said the same for the other birthday boy.... his parents weren't aware that he was going until he was already half way there and because of the wind the water looked rather choppy and like it had a bit of a current (it really did look a lot worse then what it was). The brother reached the shore as the other birthday boy struggled behind. At this point I hear the parents starting to panic so I tried to reassure them that the brother was a life guard in Australia for quiet some time and that he was a school teacher also so there isn't anything to worry about as he will be looked after. This didn't ease their worries so instead got crew on the boat to send out the life raft from the boat to go and pick them up. The birthday boys were completely oblivious to this whole situation unfolding back on the boat until they were picked up... woooops! The brother was feeling a tad guilty but everyone re assured them that it wasn't an issue!!

So after this eventful stop we head to our destination for the day Korcula. They call Korcula a mini Dubrovnik... its nice but it isn't that nice! We decide to have a quick look around the town: more old buildings, town walls and shiny stone. It is nice but all of these towns are starting to look the same and the storied of the towns are all very similar so the brother and I decide that we don't need to do the detailed tour and just have a quick look while eating some more ice cream before heading to a bar for afternoon cocktails with the WA girls. A few mojitos later we see an internet cafe so decide to check up on whats been happening.... we did this while the girls went back to the boat to get everyone organised to meet for drinks for the brothers birthday. I stayed and used the internet for a bit before heading off to get ready so I wouldn't get in trouble for being late. I headed off walking up a new street and stopping in a couple of little shops along the way feeling good about being in a foreign country and looking around alone. I kept walking up past what seemed to be a local supermarket slash bottle shop with a lot of old Croatian men outside and kept walking around these winding streets laced with houses. After about 5-6 minutes I realised I had no idea where I was going but thought I couldn't be going in the wrong direction so kept going as the start of the town must be up over the hill.... hmmmm a few more minutes pass and I decide to go back to where I came from as I was feeling very lost and had lost my little buzz about being on my own in a foreign country... I was hoping the brother was still in the Internet cafe otherwise I'd have no idea how to get back to the boat. As I walked back I was getting very worried and very nervous.... What would I do? Where would I go? Who would I ask for help? I get back to the cafe and the brother isn't there: SHIT!!! I panic inside, I get the feeling then your stomach but had to make a decision - I keep walking... as I start walking in the opposite direction of the internet cafe I see our boat. It was literally moored 50 meters from the cafe... PHEW!!! I was sooo relieved, I went back to the boat and got ready really quick and told the brother the story - he laughed at me but said he was a tad concerned when I didn't answer the door to our room! So lucky!!!

About 10 people from the boat decided to come for cocktails on the town wall/castle look alike roof top cocktail bar. We all head over there and when we get there realised that you have to climb up quiet a big ladder to get to the top and then have to climb down it later on when you are a few cocktails in!! Once  we were up it was full of Aussies but we didn't mind as we had a big table for us all to sit at while they had to stand and scrambled around the edges. We all placed our order and watched in amazement how they placed the order then bring them up... basically it looks like a bike basket that is on a very simple pulley - clip the order to the basket and lower it then wait for the basket to be full with drinks and pull it back up.... impressive that they don't spill any!!! Who needs a dumb waiter when you have a bike basket and a piece of rope! We all had a few cocktails and most of them where delicious - my 5 Bloody Marys were delicious and watched the sun set. It was soo beautiful watching the sky turn pink and orange and set over the water behind the boats. We were all tAaking photos of the sunset when we realised that there are huge sections missing around the edges that went all the way to the ground... kinda dangerous considering all the drunk people around!!!

The castle wall rooftop cockail bar!

After a few cocktails we all decided we needed some food... The brother wanted pizza (by this point I'm sooooooo over pizza, it's just pizza pizza everywhere!!!) so we weaved our way through the streets of Korcula to a pizzeria... the brother and I had already had a few drinks by this point so were being our usual selves and being quiet silly making fun of things... trying to read Croatian and then pronounce it (I believe it sounded something like raaacaaachhtataaataaa) hahaha it was very humorous....  to us two anyway!!So we had some pizza and more beers then off to another cocktail bar to have more cocktails! While at this bar we were checking out a few of the boats moored in the harbour and we came across Bono's boat and there were rumours that Jay Z may of been there and JLo but who knows.... the boats were definitely big enough - helicopters included!!! So after more cocktails, ice cream and a crappy night club with the brother pole dancing it was only the brother and one of the WA girls and myself left out...  us girls were ready for bed so convinced the brother it was time to sleep - at this point all of the bogan Aussies were out and causing a ruckus so I was well and truly over it, it was bed time!

So off to bed only to wake up in a new paridise on the Adriatic Sea in the morning!





The drink pulley



Climbing the long ladder down to the bathroom



The stripy shorts

Dubrovnik + Trstenik

Day 3
Ahhhh what can I say... I was a tad nervous about going to Dubrovnik, my dad had mentioned it wasn't a safe place at night and a few others sort of flinched when I mentioned I was going there. Well maybe in some parts of Dubrovnik but I didn't notice at all and was very conscious of it! New town Dubrovnik isnt anything special BUT the old town - "it's fake" "it's a movie set just up for summer" are just some of the comments of the fellow passengers on the boat made! You walk down stairs into the old town and you are treated with white shiny stone walkways (they are only shiny now as they have been walked on for so many years and it has rubbed them smooth!) beautiful shop fronts, water drinking fountains with cold cold water spilling out of them, all this while you are surrounded by an amazing wall that wraps around the town. I had hoped that all of the shops running down the main street (they all looked the same but in a beautiful Hollywood way) would be full of hand made arts, crafts and local produce but instead were full of souvenir shops where a lot of the items would of been made in China :( After a little stroll around the brother and I decide to walk around the wall... This was a great idea in theory but in reality it was about 35 degrees and it was the middle of the day. We marched around taking a few photos but by half way we were hot and bothered (considering we were both in a bit of a mood to start with it didn't get any better). Problem being there in only 1 way up and down so u have to do a full lap... Blah!! As we approached the end of the wall, we could hear some screams of joy... We look out over that sapphire blue Adriatic and see people not only swimming in the open ocean but jumping off the small cliffs on the outside of the wall into the water. We scramble off the wall and try to find this spot. 

Winding through the back streets we find a small hole in the wall that leads out onto a cliff side bar (the best bar in the world... Well best view!!) on the other side of the railing we see people jumping! It looks like fun but also very scary. The brother is up for it straight away as I just get my feet wet. He climbs to the middle size rock, sizes up the jump and leaps! I am much more hesitant and decide against it as I was a tad sunburnt from the day before, didn't have my bikini on and didn't like the fact that you had to get washed up on the rocks to get out! But it sure did look fun... We spent some time here watching some crazy people jump from ridiculously high rocks before heading back into town to look around some more!  

As it was getting late In the arvo we decided to meet up with the girls from the boat at the best bar In the world to have a few cold beers and discusse our days. After a few, we decided to all go back to the boat, get changed and go back to old Dubrovnik again for dinner and more drinks! As 2 of the girls had been to Dubrovnik before, we followed them to one of the  back streets to a nice little restaurant with tables out the front. It was here that we had one of the best dinners of our Croatia trip, including these flat oysters that I ordered... Interesting but tasty!! After the best meal we went and had night caps at the worlds best bar and watched the moon set over the sea.... That's when we found out the worlds best bar had the worlds WORST toilet - 2 camping porter loos (little family size ones) in the same outdoor cubical with pee flowing out the bottom and all over the floor all the while overflowing with loo paper - great night ended... Full stop! (it seriously was the worst thing ive ever ever had to experience!) anyhoo off the bathroom subject and back to the beautiful almost full moon setting over the ocean, at this point I realized how truly lucky I am to be able to experience adventures like I'm having, I'm very grateful for the all of the opportunities I've been given! 

Day 4
The next morning I had to rush back out to old Dubrovnik to buy the brother his birthday presents. There are these nautical stripy shops all over Croatia (the quality of their products was high) and got him the white with navy stripe towel and boardies he had been eyeing off everytime we passed a shop... (i even went the extra mile and purchased nautical paper and sticky tape!!) Can I say that I also LOVED this shop (I also got the girls loving this shop) but I showed self control and didn't buy myself a thing!!! I did this while he washed clothes... Sucker ;) 

We set sail again about 1pm as we had lunch on the boat before stopping for more swimming and an afternoon of relaxation and napping before pulling into another beautiful harbour town to moor for the night!!

The captains dinner was that night so we all dressed for dinner on the boat but we were a tad unimpressed as it was the same as lunch and the captain didnt spend much time with us over dinner... Ahh well tomorrow will be another beautiful day of swimming and relaxing!!! 

Rewind to Rome

A little bit of information for you on Vatican City - Smallest Country in world - Lowest Birthrate - Highest earning church!

 The brother wanted me to point out just how much money the Vatican earns not only daily but yearly!!

Its 15 Euro to enter and over 20,000 people enter a day that makes it about 300,000 Euro a day.

So if my calculations are correct that makes it well over 2 million Euro a week so on average over one hundred million Euro a year! Now that's some serious income!

Also that the Vatican cities population is 85% men and the birth rate is only 0-3 births a year! Crazy!!

Croatia...

Let's just say wow! On my first day I had started writing my Croatia update about our arrival and boarding our boat, soon after I became so relaxed that I couldn't write anymore! So instead you will get an overview of the amazing week we had in Croatia!

Day 1
Split - Makarska
We arrived in Split to find the place packed with Aussies (very noticeable with their loud accents, guys in singlets, girls with ratty blonde hair, havi's etc.) I was a tad worried the brother had booked a part boat and we would be surrounded by Aussies on the booze the whole week!
We did a little bit of beach shopping: towel (or what I thought was a towel, instead was a kids hood towel), sunnies as the brother had left his on the plane, li lows, captains hat and then we stumbled across the fruit and veg market... Full of all the fruit you could want - fresh berries, peaches, bananas, nectarines etc. All of which were so so delicious!!  We finally found our boat after putting out luggage on the wrong boat for a few hours, but as we were walking towards it I again became concerned as I could see only grey hair on the boat! Lucky when we boarded we found a lovely mix of people (mainly Australian, some from England and NZ) and of all ages! We checked in and went to lunch, in total there were 38 people on our boat + a chef, waiter, captain and 2 crew. Ages from about 9 to 80ish!

We sat at Lunch with 2 girls from W.A in their early 20s and 2 friends one from Sydney and one from Bris-Vegas in their mid 30s. We cruise out of split as we all discuss our holidays so far and where we off to next! After our delicious 3 course lunch (which we get everyday!) we drop some people off for white water rafting and headed off to find a nice blue haven for an afternoon of swimming. We stop off a few hundred meters from a beach, drop anchor and jump for all levels of the boat to cool off! This is when I realized I was in heaven... Beautiful sapphire blue water that is so clear u can see the bottom even though it's about 50 meters deep. There were not a lot of fish or anything in particular to see (just the way I like it, means no sharks, no eels, no sea weed!!!) just vast amounts of beautiful blue warm water and to top it off 30+• heat, not a cloud in the sky or a thing to do for the next 7 days!

After swimming the boat sails down the coast for a few hours for first stop for the week - Markaska! As we are sailing past the beaches we see Para sailors hear loud music from the beaches, big slippery dips into the beach and as we come around into the harbour we see boys jumping off rocks into the water and a beautiful town!

We head off board and explore the town! By day it looks like a big tourist destination for Europeans with not even any sitting room on the white pebble. By night it had turned into a very euro trash area with plenty of girls in short dresses, high heels and bad hair! The brother and I went for a quick dip and went to have drinks while the sun set. After we headed to dinner (mind you dinner in these parts of the world are at like 10pm!) but got sidetracked by a big fancy dress party: nuns, men in full ski gear despite the heat, gladiators and our fav the boys with big fake doodles squirting everyone walking by with some liquid out of them! Hahaha to funny!

After a bite to eat I headed to bed as I was still full of the flu and Mitch went to look around at the clubs. It was a noisy night on the boat as there were plenty of drunken Australians around the boats near ours!

Day 2
I'm awaken by the anchor being lifted and the engine starting it's about 7 am and we are heading off to our next swimming spot. At 8am every morning Demer (our waiter) rings a bell and we all stumble to breakfast with pillow creases on our faces. We eat simple breakfast everyday - cereal, bread, meats, jams, coffee, juice and occasionally we get spoilt with scrambled eggs. We sit at our usual table with the girls we met the day before and have breakfast before mooring at another beautiful blue watered swimming bay! We all scramble to get in as by 10am the sun is in full force tanning our white bodies! This place would have to be my favourite swim of the week... Again the deep clear water, as smooth as oil (this is the term in the Mediterranean) and warm! We swim to shore which is a white pebble beach but as we approach the edge there are hundreds of sea urchins. We carefully get out and sit on the pebbles in the sunshine before heading back to the boat.

After swimming more sunbaking while the boat cruises to Mljet. As we are arriving into Mljet the water is clearer then even and it is a beautiful quiet port! We have the opportunity to hire scooters so we do but much to the hire mans disgust. He had 3 rules:
1. You must have a the license
2. You musta have a the money
3. You must know how to ride

He was so rude and kept repeating this, if we would ask the slightest question he would snap "are u sure u know how to ridea the scooter??" we didn't but we weren't going to let on! We scooted 40km to the other end of the island and back passing through beautiful green villages and past salt lakes!

After riding for hours we returned to port for drinks and dinner watching the sunset! Over dinner we had a live performer playing guitar and singing and reminded me so so much of a dear taffy friend!!

Off to bed it was and to be awoken by the anchor lifting and the boat cursing to the next beautiful location... Dubrovnik (or Du Bu as the brother has nick named it!)

When in Rome

Rome wasnt built in a day but we seen it all in a day! 

Arriving in Rome at 5:30am and it already being 24 degrees I knew it was going to be a hot one! After being waved through customs without as much as a look at our passports we were off to get the train to Rome!

Stepping out of the train station we both almost get hit by a car looking left instead of right... It's at about this point we decide the roads in Rome are far to dangerous to hire scooters and ride the streets of Rome! We were both amazed by Rome as we were taken by taxi to our hotel. Winding through back cobble stone streets past beautiful monuments and ancient ruins! 

As we are early we can't check in so instead get changed and head out to explore Rome... Stopping firstly at a little cafe I had my first Italian coffee (delicious!) and a chocolate crossant (even more delicious!) We area both amazed by the grandature of everything they build in Rome! We walk towards the Colloseum and pass many amazing buildings and ruins along the way. The Colloseum is showing it's age but is still amazing to think about men fighting such animals as bears, lions and cheetahs inside this amphitheater! A hot and sweaty walk through Colloseum looking and imagining many different things before we head for the Trevi Fountana. A small but amazingly busy square filled by a beautiful sculpture of male gods and horses around the running water. My favorite man/god would have to be the the one blowing really hard into the sea shell... Then there is this loud screeching, looking around we see what we have labeled "the fountain police" blowing their whistles stopping people getting to close to the fountain. I throw 3 coins in and make 3 wishes for my future, I'm hoping the Trevi will bring me luck!! 

Continuing our stroll through Rome we wind through street and get back to our hotel to shower, after all it had been now about 40 hrs without one! Fresh and changed I definantly feel like a new women as we walk towards the Vatican stopping along the way at the Pantheon (which we soon realize is only a block over from our hotel!) the first thing we notice is how big and grand the pillars are - mind u everything in Rome is huge! I try to wrap my arms around it and don't even reach a third of the way round and they are at least 10 x my hight, of not more! Neither of us were even remotely prepared for what laid within! As we enter my eyes were drawn up to this massive dome which is the roof. In the center of the dome is a hole shining a stream of light within the building - breathtaking is the only word I can think that describes this! It os 45 meters in diameter to give u a rough idea! I have never seen anything as grand or beautiful in my life! It seems like it would almost work as a sun dial... The rest of the room was pretty with alters around the edges but this dome - OMG! I still think is was my favorite thing in Rome! 

As we leave we stroll the back streets past beautiful old buildings and through many character filled squares! The beauty of Rome and the taste of their gelato will be etched in my mind forever! (gelato is consumed about once every 2 hrs - the brother wonders why his belly has grown!) we stop at a little cafe and eat lunch - bruscetta, antipasto, pizza and gnocchi! Pizza in Rome is Sooo much better the Australia but 1 thing we cant figure out: why dont they cut it for you?? 

After stuffing ourselves we jump in a taxi (by this point we are far to full and hot to continue walking) and head to the smallest country in the world - The Vatican! 

The piazza is buzzin with a line up of about a bagillion people, we get convinced by a girl to take a guided tour through the Vatican so we can avoid the one hour line up in the direct sunlight! Taking in so much infomation as we pass though cortyards, museums, across marble and mosaic floors, looking at sculptures and learning about how Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel! Inside the chapel they have a silence rule as the vibrations from our voices damage the art... Also no photography as it's all copyright but I got a cheeky few before being told by the guard to put my camera away! The chapel was soo full and it was beautiful but after all of the talk up I was left a tad dissapointed! Then there was the dome above St Peters Cathedral and it's 320 stairs to the top with very little windows or air on the way up or down... The stairwells tightening and resembling something from Alice in wonderland as the walls begin to curve as we climb higher up the tower! Then fresh air and thigh burn as we reach the top and look out from the highest point in Rome overlooking this amazing city!  The trip back down was much easier the the hike up! 

As we exit the stairs from the tower we try to enter St Peters cathedral but as I'm in a singlet and shorts I'm not allowed to enter and I'm ushered out - what we did see of it was also quiet breathtaking! 

Leaving the Vatican exhausted and hot we can't help but send some post cards for the Vatican post office before catching a cab back to the hotel for roof top beers and dinner (oh and more gelato) before hitting the sack and sleeping heavily throughout the night.... BEEP BEEP BEEP - it's 4:30am and time to catch a taxi back to the airport to fly to Split, Croatia to board an 8 day boat cruise on the Adriatic Sea... Very exciting but TIRED! 

NOTE: to drive in Rome means that the lines of the road should be either driven on or runnin down he 
Idle of ur car! For some reason nobody sticks to lanes, the roads there are MENTAL! 

** please excuse spelling and grammar, I'm writing this on my iPhone - much more difficult then I expected!

Long haul...

So most of you would of experienced "the stop over" before. This is my first one and I'm HATING it... If a nine hour flight wasn't enough a 4 HR stop over in Malaysia before another 11 hrs to Rome is going to push me over the edge... Door to door it's well into 30 hrs! What I would give to be laying next to the snoring lover... No matter how loud the snoring is ;) actually just having his shoulder to rest on would be a god send at this point!!! (clearly missing him) Hopefully the sleeping tablets will work and I'll get at least 8hrs sleep on the plane, if not arriving in Rome for only 24hrs from 6am is going to be one emotional day!!

The only things keeping me sain at this point:
1. Rio the movie, makes me want to be at carnival! 
2. The glass elevators in Kuala Lumpur - very charlie and the chocolate factory
3. This smelly Lounge im on with heaps of rubbish in the cracks I'm semi lying on (so not puttin my face anywhere near that filth)
4. Laughing at the toilets with hoses - not an actual bedit...
Here just a garden hose and a tap next to each toilet!  

Finally they are calling our flight to board... I'm out to take some dozile and be grumpy to anyone who may touch me on the plane! 


WE HAVE ARRIVED! 
Good morning Rome, 11 hrs later (I got 9 hrs sleep) and we are
Here and I'm feeling good! Mind you it's 24 degrees at 6am! Think its going to be a hot one while we visit the Trevi Fountain, Colloseum and Vatican City... I'm most excited about the gelato, pizza, pasta and coffee!

I'll let u know how the gelato goes!!