Today we went to the Symbio Wildlife park together with some of our friends.

They don't have a lot of animals in the park, but the ones they have a pretty cool and it is a good spot to get some nice animal photos (It was especially nice to see that they had polished the glass surrounding some animals).

It was also really cool to have Aiden and Sammi feed some of the more friendly animals.

Today Luke and Alexsandra was married. She is from Serbia so the wedding itself was a beautiful traditional Serbian Orthodox wedding in a small church in Alexandria.










The church was very darkly lit and I was shooting using natural light trying to be as discreet as possible using my old Nikon D50 camera (still waiting for the new D800) but by some miracle I was able to capture the above photos (by setting it to my max 1600 ISO and underexpose 2 stops and then push and noise reduce in post...would have loved to have one more stop).


Luke has some Scotish ancestry so ourside the church there was a guy playing the bag pipe.





Afterwards the reception was in Drumoyne with about 250 guests invited. Lots of very loud Serbian music and traditional Serbian line dancing (Not sure what the correct name is).

Synday we took Dylan to the Easter show at Fox Studios. We had bought him a 5 hour pass as a reward for an assignment we gave him.



Dylan tried a number of rides, but I think his favourite was a dodge'm'cars.



While Dylan was queueing up we had a look around at the other entertainment.

Today we went to High Tea in Audley in the Royal National Park 30 minutes drive from where we live. Kim had bought a 2 for 1 deal and decided to try it.





Verdict was that is wasn't anything special and even with the special deal it was a bit over priced.

Afterwards we decided to go rowing up through the creek.



Aiden was very keen to get to play with the water which was difficult in the rowing boat (next time we will get a Canoe).

Afterwards we let him play a bit on land before heading back.

The island itself is a beautiful place. I took a lot of photos of the lagoon and the beauty of Bora Bora....so many that it would be too many to have in the previous Bora Bora post.

With the risk of creating a post full of Blue photos...I had to separate them out to prevent the other posts from getting too big.

Here they are...I will let them speak for themselves...

One of the days at Bora Bora we went with a boat around the lagoon to go snorkeling and have lunch on one of the Motu's (Islands). Along the way we went snorkeling in spots where we also could see sharks and stingrays.



Our first spot was a snorkeling spot with lots of coral and different fish.

I Even saw a big fat murray eel.



Kim also had a bit of a snorkel in the clear blue water even though the water was deep and there was a slight current.





Aiden was facinated by the fish and wanted to join mummy in the water to say hello to the fish'ies...



After this we went to a more shallow spot on the reef with lots of reef sharks.



Yes, that is me in the water with 12 sharks circling around me (and no safety net in place).These sharks would come swimming towards me and then turn around within a meters reach.

Click here to see a video I uploaded to Facebook with the Sharks getting close














After lunch we stopped to feed the Stingrays in the lagoon.



They are fairly harmless and I was feeding them dead fish. While doing so I was bitten by one of them that mistook the camera I was holding in my other hand as a fish.

Bora Bora is a beautiful island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Kim and I had promised eachother that we one day we will go there.

It is about an hours flight from Tahiti and along the way you pass a number of other Polynesian islands and atolls. When we landed we were met by the stunning blue lagoon and the very characteristic mountain which is an old extinct volcano.







Aiden especially was mesmerised by the view going on the boat from the airport to our hotel.








On arrival we were met by traditional Tahitian music and someone blowing a seashell.



And Aiden immidiately got into the mocktails.





Our hotel was on the main island itself and we had a small hut facing the lagoon and had a beautiful view every morning waking up.




Every morning we had breakfast overlooking the lagoon where Aiden would stuff his face with fruits, bread and youghurt.




We spent a lot of time at the small beach close to the hotel just swimming in the clear water of the lagoon.









The locals were out on the lagoon showing off their skills.






Aiden loved the calm clear water and the beach...it was a pleasant 27-28 degrees. Every time he saw water he would point at it and shout BoBo (Water)...and insist on going swimming.








One evening I did a couple of sunset portraits.






Aiden again insisted on going in the water.




I also went for a swim after we finished the photos, which was absolutely magical as the light was surreal and the water was absolutely calm.




Across the lagoon from the hotel we had a little island (Motu) with beautiful place to go snorkeling. First I went in the water and notices a small reef shark circling around the corals...being kinda shy. I mentioned it to Kim and as soon as she also spotted it later in the day she rushed out of the water (A couple of days later she had a similar experience with a large stingray at the beach).




It was hard to leave all this beauty behind

I took a lot of photos of flowers...enough to warrant a separate blog entry..

If you are not a flower person then just scroll down the page past these...lots of other good stuff there.


Anyhow...I will let them speak for themselves...

This Easter we decided to go to Tahiti and Bora Bora in French Polynesia in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

We were supposed to have been going to Japan, but we decided that we instead wanted a more relaxing holiday and changed it to an Island holiday enjoying the sun, sand, water and sunsets.



Tahiti is the main island of French Polynesia and is not larger than it is possible to drive around the entire island in a couple of hours (appx 120 km).



On one of the days we rented a car and did just that. We could have joined a day tour, but I am not very keen on the 5min photo stop kind of tours and much prefer to be able to travel independently and take time to see what we would like to see.

It is reasonably easy to find your way around the island. There really is just one road and the entire road is marked by kilometer markers and we had the distances for most of the sights we wanted to see. We didn;t go too much into the interior because of time restraints and some of these roads are only accessible by 4WD.


First we stopped at one of the old Tahitian temples which was interesting





After that we headed to some large caves full of freshwater (would have been convenient in the old days)...very damp and very dark.



After this we tried to find the road up to a lake and supposedly large waterfall. Some of the locals were very helpful with assisting us with directions but unfortunately the road was closed.

Fortunately we did find the nearby gardens which Kim wanted to visit (I will do a separate flower blog posting).



We did find some waterfallson the island (and saw several from a long distance away high on the mountains).





After this we headed to Point Venus where Captain Cook in 1769 supposedly saw the passing of Venus ...now this houses the only lighthouse in French Polynesia.

The next passing will be 6th June this year...243 years after the previos passing (can be seen as a shadow against the sun).




We decided to skip the museums as we would rather experience the outsde rather than objects behind glass.

The other days we spent around the hotel and the marina, just relaxing, swimming and dining. Aiden loved spending most of the time in the pool at the hotel.

Yesterday I did another photo project. I wanted to do something different with composition.

I had this idea of a guy being attacked by hand-spiders (I hate spiders) and thought that the garage would be a good location for it. I had an old T-shirt and some tomato paste to add some drama.




It turned out to be a lot harder than expected as it was almost impossible to get the right composition, focus etc. when I both had to appear in the photo as well as take it (my head was cropped off on the first series which meant that I had to reposition the camera and then either re-shoot the series or try and stitch them up in post production...I chose the latter because of time constraints).

I could definitely have done a better job if I didn't have to be two places at once, but I don't think it is a total disaster.

On the last day in Denmark our flight wasn't leaving from Copenhagen to Milan until early evening, we therefore decided to head into the capital a bit earlier in the day and spend a couple of hours sightseeing with my parents.

We went to a place called Rosenborg (Rose Castle) which is where the Danish royals keep their crown jewels.



It is also the place where they train the soldiers that protect the royals.



Some of the jewels are absolutely stunning. There is lots of ivory, old weapons, saddles, gold etc. everything coverved with diamonds, perls, emeralds, rubys and other jewels.















My mum and dad was waiting outside (half asleep) while we were inside looking at all the awsomeness.

While we were in Denmark we went to the local zoo called Knuthenborg. It was created by the owner of one of the big farms who had a vision to create one of Europes larges open air zoos. What is so special about this particular zoo is that you drive around amongst the animals and in certain areas are allowed to leave the car and interact with the animals.

The first place we went was the monkey area. Here we were able to walk around some of the Lemurs (Half monkeys) from Madagascar.





Driving around we also saw a number of other animals such as the asian water buffalo (which loves mud), zebras, Zobel Antelopes, Goats










Kim even found a horse her own size



We had a bit of fun with the camels. I don't know what they were thinking but they kept eating my hair and I think one of them was in love with me.







They also have some more exotic animals there such as tigers and rhinos (The wouldn't allow us to get out of our car to pet these).

Not far from where my parent live there is an open air museum displaying how people lived in the medieval time which in Denmark was the late 14th century.

For Kim and I it felt like we suddenly were a princess and a knight from that time.











Besides from houses, ships and other buildings the place also displays various handicraft, weaponry and how people battles in those times.

They have working Trebuchets there to throw massive stones (or dead animals and burning tar) accurately for distances of more than several hundred metres.



Every day they show people how they work and hurl massive stones into the water.


We tried some of the weapons. I used to be fairly alright with a bow and arrow when I was a kid. I tried the bow and arrow here and it was a total disaster.





Obviously Kim went straigh for the shoes and the furs (I am not a fur person myself):





They also had a knights tournament on while we were there. Two knights would fight using their lances which would shatter on the impact against the shields.

On one of the days in Denmark we had a really nice and relatively calm day. This was perfect for us to go sailing and bring my mum along.



First we had to get my mum onboard. The Sailing clum has a crane for removing masts from the boats. This is perfect for lifting her in a specially designed harness from her wheelchair to the boat.







The water between the two islands (Lolland and Falster...the island I grew up on) is fairly narrow and long and we spent time sailing north for a couple of hours, had some lunch whereafter we turned back again. It was a beautiful day and my mum really enjoyed it as well.

We managed to take some really nice family photos on the trip.








On the same evening we had a beautiful sunset.

When Kim and i got married last year we promised my mum that we would come to Denmark this summer (European) and have a little party with her as she was unable to attend.

Our journey there didn't start well. A five hour delay from Sydney meant that we missed our flight in London. British Airways told us that we wouldn't be able to get on a flight until next day but we insisted that they get get on us a flight the same day. They waitlisted us on a couple of flight and eventually we managed to get to Copenhagen late the same evening. Thanks to modern technology my parents were updated with the flight details so they didn't have to wait around and they arrived to the airport just before we arrived.
It took our luggage another two days to catch up with us, this meant that we had to do some essential clothes shopping.


The first couple of day we spent with my parent, cooking for them, taking my mum to the forest, the beach as well as going sailing. It is summer time in Denmark at the moment, so the weather was a lot more pleasant than the last time we were there and there was more people at the beach etc.





It was a bit weird visiting this time. My mum and dad are no longer living together and they had sold the house week before we arrived. This meant that we were staying in my dads apartment (Which used to be my brothers) and visiting my mum during the day. My mum has got a really nice little apartment in a facility where there are people around to assist her whenever she needs help.



My mum has also still got the car, so it is easier to take her to places as it has got a lift and special belts to secure the wheelchair.



At the end of the week my dad had organised a party for my family and friends. It was in the middle of the holiday season, so a lot of cousins and other family members were unable to join.







It was especially good to see my grandma (who is 89).



We were in Denmark a total of 10 days before then heading to Italy.

Kim likes to have a lot of parties (Pre-Party, Party and Post Party) when it is her birthday. This weekend we had a big group of her friends over for a BBQ.

It is currently winter here, but it was nice and sunny, so the backyard was still warm in the mid twenty degrees so we were able to sit outside.



Kim had baked cupcakes the night before and used the cupcake stand from our wedding to present them and it looked fantastic.

Last year I took Kim to Hunter Valley for her birthday. This year we decided to head up to the cold Blue Mountains.

We hired a cabin that we stayed in a couple of years ago. It is a nice little self contained cottage in the Blue Mountains...loads of privacy and a nice little woodfire and spa.





It was cold up there so the wood fire was very convenient.

Saturday morning we had booked a round of golf at Leura golf course. The first thing you notice here is that everyone plays really slowly. We got let through two groups but still managed to complete the round in less than 4 hours. It is a beautiful course and it was one of the most enjoyable rounds of golf I'd played for a long time.



And as you can tell Kim was very relaxed too.



And here showing the latest in golf fashion.



In the afternoon we had a look at Leura (Kim had the munchies for scones) and we had a look at the local shops.


In the evening it was time to celebrate her Birthday so I took her out to dinner at Echos Point Restaurant. Food was ok, but overprices compared to many really good Sydney restaurants. But there was plenty of food so we skipped the desert...and had a really nice and romantic evening, so Kim was very happy.



Next morning we woke up early to have a look at a few shops and gardens around the place. First we went to a garden called Everglades...nice, but would have been nicer once the flowers are out in late winter (It is winter here in Oz now) . After that we went to Mount Tomah botanical gardens. These are very nice, there was plenty of flowers and the layout of the gardens is really nice.









I bought a new tripod for photography last week so we decided to have some fun around the place with jump shots.

This year Sydney has put on a fantastic lightshow in the city centre. Purpose is to draw people into the city here at winter time.

One evening after having dinner with a couple of friends, Kim and I went in there to take some photos of some of the light shows....and here are the results.

Yesterday on the 11th June Adam was born by Kim's sister Dao. He is an impatient little bugger and decided to arrive two weeks early and later at night while all the other boys in the family were out watching the soccer match between Australia and Bahrain.

Suddenly Wednesday evening Dao called saying that she'd started going into labour. Normally Wednesday is my climbing night but luckily I was home this evening. Kim and I quickly picked up KC (Kims other sister) and they took the car (while I stayed with KC's kids) to go and pick up Dao and bring her to the hospital.



She was in labour until after midnight and in the early hours Thursday arrived.

We all went there yesterday to have a look and both mother and child is doing fine. And Dylan (on the left in the photo) is excited to have a baby brother.

Today Andy and I went climbing at a place called Cathedral at Bangor in the southern part of Sydney.

None of us has been there before but according to the description we should park at the end of this street and then it would be a 5 minute scramble from there.

We found the start of the track ok, but 15 minutes later we were still bush bashing out way trying to spot markers that would indicate where the cliffs were.



Half way down I dropped my water bottle out of my backpack and it disappeared between some rocks. I went down to retrieve it and then we continued down the gully into dense rain forest full of impenetratable bamboo. After taking a couple of turns with dead-ends we could see glimses of the river. and after about a 25 minute walk we suddenly found ourselves on this really nice little beach.



Andy mumbled that there was no way that he was going to go back the same way and he'd rather walk a big detour along the river. We could now see the cliffline and walked down to the end of the beach where we went back into the forest along a track that let us to the cliffs.

We could see why it was called The Cathedral.



The cliffs are massive, intimidating and completely blank of any features that lend themselves to climbing. We had a hard time finding the various routes and started scrambling along the base at the cliffs. We got to the end of the cliffline and I shoulted "I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE!". Andy looked at me confused and asked "You've climbed here before". I replied..."No, I have been here before...This is where I dropped my waterbottle". DOOOHHH...we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble if we had turned left here instead of going straight...and suddenly then way back out didn't look so bad.

Anyway we couldn't figure out the climbs so I decided to jump onto a grade 21 climb called Imogen. I got to the first bolt and started moving up on really bad feet (small pebbles) going for a very long reach. Eventually my foothold broke and I slid down the side of the rock getting a sandpaper cut on my arm and leg. We decided to bail the climb and find something that was more suitable for warming up on.



We scrambled down to the other end and found a number of grade 16...but eventually I settled for a climb called "Ozone Action (17 ***)" which is what is a mixed climb (part bolted and geared climbing).

This was a really good one. It was sustained at the grade and had everything in it...laybacks, chimney, mantel, overhang, slab, face climbing etc. If anyone does it then follow the advise and bring cams/slings....is it desperately run-out unless protected.




I set up a belay at the top and Andy followed me up...with a big smile on his face. After this we absailed down to the grade 16's. All good fun...and I toproped something that I'm sure is harder.

After this it was time to pack up and head back.

Driving to Slovenia we again chose to take the scenic route rather than take the highway to Zagreb and then to Slovenia from there. Instead we took the scenic road to Karlovac and then straight north across the border from there.

The was a very small road through a hilly landscape consisting mostly of farms and forests. A great and very enjoyable drive.

When we arrived to Karlovac I noticed a field just outside the city limits where they had deposited a lot of military hardware such as tanks, planes and artilery.

We decided to stop and have a look and it was almost like a museum, but there didn't seem to be anyone taking and entrance fee. There were also a number of bombed out buildings surrounding the field.

Karlovac was badly damaged during the war. Especially the southern part where this field was was totally destroyed. It was pretty much on the frontline between the croats and the serbs. The United nations tried to keep the parties apart, but the croats detroyed the UN observation posts.




The serbs responded with a heavy bombardment of Karlovac firing 5-6,000 grenades into the city every day (that is a lot) as well as by firing missiles into Zagreb.

One of the things on display was one very much shot up and crashed Mig 21...I would assume from the Yugoslav/Serbian Army based on the markings.




The Croatian markings were different on the other Mig21 on display.



Besides from this there were a lot of other hardware such as tanks and artilery as well as one russian missile launcher. I am pretty sure the first tank is an M84 and I think the other ones are Russian T55's.


















It was obvious that most of the equipment here had been used in action and some of the equipment was improvised and was also badly shot up such as this armoured personel car.



Afterwards we drove through the city itself and it was obvious that the scars of the war on the buildings were very visible just like in Mostar.

Ironically the main industry in Kardovac today is Arms production and they are a major producer and exporter of handguns.

Driving north from Karlovac we entered a mountain range leading us across the border. On the top we found the Slovenian border and crossed it easily.

It was now lunch time and coming down on the other side we started looking for a place to have eat. We found a restaurant at the foorhills and decided to order todays special having no idea what the price was. We decided to skip the initial soup that was part of the menu and went straight to some very solid mains. The waiter then brought us deserts as well. In total the bill came to 18 Euros including drinks...Kim called this the greatest bargain on our trip.

Not far from there we again joined up with the highway that would take us to Bled. After a while we came to the check for Road Tolls. Not knowing how it worked and not sure which lane I was supposed to be in I had to just go through the gates without paying. After another 30 kilometers we encountered we came to another toll gate and this time I decided to go through the truck/bus lane as it seemed like this one had a cashier. I asked him how the system worked and he said that I had to purchase a weekly pass (so we did). I also asked him what would happen if I didn't have a pass and he told me that I would get a 300 Euro fine...Oouch!!! But he also said that the controls were manual controls, so unless I was stopped I would be ok.....Whewww!!!

The rest of the drive to Bled was a breeze from there on. During our whole trip we used my GPS navigator extensively. Although it wasn't totally accurate all the time for these countries it would still get us most of the way and the driving would definitely have been a lot less enjoyable if we had to use a map all the time.

We had heard a lot about Plitvice Lakes before we arrived to Croatia. One of the travel shows went as far as saying 'You haven't been to Croatia is you haven't been to Plitvice'. It is also one of the first natural sites that was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.



Some of the photos/footage we had seen from there was stunning.







When we arrived to the villa we were staying in the girl who checked us it provided us with a map of the national park and said that we should go there in the afternoon and get the big waterfalls out of the way. I asked her about Aiden and how easy it would be with his pram. She said that there were some steps, that once you were down at the lakes then it was mainly flat. She also said that on the second day we should do the other waterfalls. This route was longer but flat most of the way.



We arrived to the park and sorted out the park entrace fee and figured out how the parking worked. The decent down to the lakes was a long ramp...easy with the pram.
Once we arrived to the bottom this turned into a wooden walkway. The planks used hadn't been levelled but were just raw pieces of timber and it was very difficult and very bumpy for Aiden in the pram. The narrow walkway (without railing) was full of busloads of japanese tourists whick made it even harder to get through it. We were so busy strugling with getting through the crowds that it was very hard to enjoy and take in the scenery. The walkway was constructed only a few metres from some of the smaller but more scenic waterfalls and with all the people even without the pram it would have been not so as enjoyable as it could have been.

Fortunately the walkway was fairly short and once we hit gravel walkways the going became a lot easier. By this time the busloads had also turned back the same way they came so less crowds. At the end of the circuit we came to this little picturesque lake that had these small tour boats running on it to transport people from one side of the lakes to the other.



We took the boat across to the other side and found the dreaded 200 steps (I think Kim counted 211) from the lake shore back up to the busstop for the bus that would take us back to the carpark. At this point stairs were easy as long as there were no wooden logs or crowds.

Dinner tasted extra good this evening...a massive trout.

Next morning we went back to the park and started on the second circut that had been suggested to us. Again we encountered the wooden log walkways and this time they just kept going. we saw other people with prams who were also struggling. I did have a carrying harness with me, but it was fairly hot and Aiden doesn't like sitting in it for very long so I only carried him in it for short periods of time.



The walks themselves were not that crowded, but every time there was a waterfall it was really crowded and hard to get an unobstructed view.







The walk itself was really nice and the water in the lakes has this amazing turquiose blue colour from the limestone deposits in the water.

And the water is so clear that you can see all the fish swimming around.







It is these deposits that form the lakes and the waterfalls.




The track ended up at the same lake as the day before so we had to take the tourboat across. One of the families with a pram tried to jump the queue by carrying their pram down the hill and he dropped their baby out of the pram...what a chaos, but fortunately the baby was ok.



In the afternoon when we returned to the villa we put Aiden to bed and rushed back down to the park to re-do part of the walk from the day before. It was later in the afternoon so it wasn't as crowded and we found it a lot more pleasurable.

Kim kept asking about a partucular viewpoint of the waterfalls. We were unable to find this viewpoint, but there was a particular track that was closed for maintenance and I am sure that the viewpoint is from this track.



Anyway...in terms of expectations we found that Plitvice under delivered. we found that Krka National Park was amazing, less crowded (or a least more of a local Croatian crowd) and more pram friendly.

Driving to the Lakes we decided to take the old road rather than the highway.This road crosses the mountain range and then catches up with one of the larger roads further inland. We were told that after the highway was built there was less traffic on this road, but when we got onto it, it was completely empty of any traffic whatso ever.

The drive across the range was very different. It was very scenic and the road was in great condition. The landscape was very rocky and very dry, almost dessert like with low scrubs and there were many old farms and houses that had been left probably because life was too hard up here. I would have thought it would be the typical place to have goats roaming around, but we didn't see a single goat up on the high plateau. The farms looked like they were several hundred years old. It was the typical farms you see in these areas where the farmers every year pick up the stones they see in their fields and put them to the side to eventually form a type of fence line/walls around the field. Some of these walls were several metres high for even very small fields meaning that they were very old and that it would have taken a lot of really backbreaking work to be able to grow anything up here.

After about seventy kilometres we were across the plateau and one of the first larger town we arrived to was Knin. We decided to stop here to pick up a few supplies and site down and have some lunch. Not far from the supermarket was the trainstation and here was the very nice old steam locomotive. It was built in Budapest (possibly in 1955) and was now just sitting there rusting.







Knin was also the only place on our trip where we saw a significant military presence. I later found out that this was one of the Serbian strongholds during the was and they tried to break free of the newly independent croatia in 1991 as the Republic of Serbian Krajina. As it attempted to break off from Croatia in 1991 they ethnically cleansed the area of non-Serbs and set up their own local government. In 1995, the Croatian army retook the region and the majority of the Serb population fled or was displaced. There are today still some tension in the area and there are not a lot of opportunities. It is also close to the border and strategically located so hence the large military presence.

Just outside Knin we passed this weird structure on one of the farms. It was liks a big silo, but with a large chimney on top. Next to it there was a a wooden structure with some hoisting structure in it. I have no idea what this structure was for. It could be some sort of a furnace for melting something, but to be honest I have no idea...I would love to find out what this structure was for?? Today it looks like the building is used to store cow manure. There are some vineyards in the area so this could possible provide a clue. My guess is that it was for burning limestone (plenty of that around) to produce cement or mortar.






The remainder of the drive was on a much more busy road with large trucks. We managed to get to the lakes early afternoon. Just in time to have a quick visit to the lakes...but more about that in the next post.

The coastal drive from Dubrovnik back up to Trogir just north of Split is absolutely amazing. It follows the coastline closely all the way and it is both a fun drive and incredibly scenic. I found it better than the Great Ocean Road here in Australia.

One minute the road is really close to the water and you can see all these little bays with crystal clear water and sometimes with small beaches and people swimming. Next minute the road is up high and you get an incredible view of all the high mountains and islands off the coast. The whole route is dotted with small towns and beautiful little churches.



The road is really winding and does not have too much traffic on it, so it is a very pleasant and never boring. To complete the drive we also had to cross back into to Bosnia only to cross the border back into Croatia a few kilometers later.


Unfortunately both Kim and Aiden missed out on much of the scenery as they were sleeping most of the way.

Along the way we stopped in Markarska to get a bite to eat. It is an incredible little natural harbour with a steep backdrop to the mountains behind.





We stopped for the night in a small island town called Trogir. It is a charming little town with narrow passageways and very nice little restaurants. It is very popular with the rich in their 150 foot motor boats.







Kim had found a hotel right in the centre of the old town so we had to park outside the city and then walk in. We were only staying for one night, so it was easy for us to just pack one bag and leave the rest of our things in the boot of the car.

Arriving to the hotel we found that the Aircon and TV wasn't working...we complained to the reception desk and they came to have a look at it. It turned out to have been turned off at the fuse box. We turned on the Aircon and it was quite noisy but at least it was somewhat working.

Kim went to have a shower and suddenly I heard a very loud vacumm cleaner type sound and then Kim started screaming. I went out to the bathroom and there was water and soap everywhere...the walls, the doors (even the outside of the door) and the floor. The Jacuzzi in the bathroom had suddenly automatically turned itself on in the middle of her shower and the off switch wasn't working. The only way we could turn it off was on the fuse box...so now we knew why it was off when we arrived.

This turned out to be probably the worst of the hotels (Hotel Fontana) that we stayed in...it was really unbearable hot in the room, we couldn't open the window because we would be attacked my moscitoes, and if we wanted to turn on the noisy aircondition then the jacuzzi would automatically start every 10 minutes and disrupt our sleep. And the included breakfast was also not worth writing home about.

But besides from that Trogir was very nice. We spent a fair bit of time getting lost in the small alleys. Kim would ask if I had any idea where we were or where we were going...and I'd say "No, we are definitely lost" (Trogir is a very small island so you are never truly lost).

After the Peljesac Peninsular we thought we'd drive to Montenegro for dinner.

The border to Montenegro is about 30 kilometers from Dubrovnik and Herzeg Novi a coastal town is just on the other side of the border.

Crossing the border we saw a 2 kilometer long queue of cars trying to get back to Croatia. Every car was being stopped and checked for how many cigarettes they were bringing across. We though "Oh My...we have to get back through this is a couple of hours time". Fortunately by the time we returned the queue had cleared and we were processed really fast at the border.

It was a pleasant evening in the city and we had dinner along the seashore. People were really very friendly as well.





The food was very nice and especially the Tiramisu and chocolate pancakes were indulgent.







It was very hot so we used the opportunity to do some funny photos of Aiden.

While in Dubrovnik we went for a drive up along the Peljesac Peninsular.

It has some really nice litte beaches and the town of Ston has the most amazing fortres defence line running across the mountain tops. It is almost like the great wall of China. In total the town has 6km of defensive walls around it.




We also came across this beautiful little abandoned church.



We spent the afternoon at one of the beaches just dazing in the sun and letting Aiden play in the water.



Some of the bay have small picturesque islands and there are lots of oyster and mussel farms that have been in operation since roman times.

After Bosnia we headed back to Croatia (and we then quickly had to cross back through Bosnia on the way to get there because of the geography) to Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik was founded in the 7th Century as a refugee camp after the fall of the roman empire. A Slavic invation forced the romans to seek further south and eventually barricaded themselves on a rocky outcrop at Dubrovnik buy using a natual channel and building big walls as a defence.


Dubrovnik as such prospered and became a powerful trading port in the adriatic sea. Now it is probably one of the largest tourist attactions on the the eastern side of the adriatic sea.








As usual Kim had done a great job finding accomidation in an apartment only 100 metres from one of the main gates to the city, so it was a easy stroll to the old town.


My first impression of Dubrovnik was something along the lines of 'Holy @#@$@%...there are so many stairs here" (tough job carrying Aiden up and down stairs with a pram).



Fortunately we found an easier way that did involve very little more walking, but no carrying...so all a happy family.



The main street through the middle of Dubrovnik is very nice and full of nice places to eat and shop. There are a lot of people everywhere and in general everything is really expensive compared to elsewhere is Croatia. Parking for example was equivalent to $48 per day for street parking...and again considering it is a big tourist destination people are not that helpful with advise and guidance.




There are also several churces that are very nice. Our favourite one (by far) was the St. Ignatius Church.








Inclucing some museums such as the national archives which used to be the Sponza palace.




This is the handrailing for the stairs






As well as some great little Franciscan and Dominican monesteries. These both had some great little courtyard garden with palm and orange trees.










As well as some cool water fountains (Aiden was very happy with these) and really likes a cool splash whenever he could get the chance.




In more modern times, Dubrovnik was under heavy shelling by Serbian and Montenegro forces during the Yugoslav war in 1991 although it had absolutely no strategic value whatsoever.

Click here to see a video of the shelling of Dubrovnik

Today It is hard see any scars of this conflict as most of the buildings have been repaired although there are some signs of the shelling.





And again I managed to sneak out for a couple of evening photos. Evening shots were really hard to take as they were usually around the time where we either had to have dinner or get Aiden ready for bed.

After Split we headed across the border into Bosnia to a town called Mostar. Some will remember Mostar from the terrible fighting that took place here during the war in Yugoslavia in 1992 and 1993. The town has this beautiful river running through it with this anciant bridge running across it. During the war this bridge was blown up by the Bosnian Croat forces but has now been re-built thanks to the United Nations and especially Spain. The original bridge was built during the ottoman empire during the 16th Century.





The Bridge looks even more stunning at night and especially with all the mosques in the surrounding area.











Mostar is only a few hours drive from the border up through this beautiful valley. Today a fair number of tourists go to Mostar to see the bridge, but most of them only stay for one night and then move on. We decided to stay for two nights because it was easier with Aiden. Again Kim had done a good job finding accomodation in at Old museum (more like a beautiful old house really)...the was also the only house that was left more or less intact after the war (only a few mortar shells through the top floor).







During the day we spent a few hours on the river going for a swim. The water was quite cool coming from the mountains and there was a lot of current so Kim and Aiden stayed at the edge, but I jumped in a few times and let the current take me a couple of meters before heading back to shore.





The locals jump off the bridge and into the river...and it is a fairly high jump from the bridge to the water (24 metres apparently). Every year there is a special festival where they do it, but now they mainly do it to entertain the tourists for a bit of money in return.







People were very friendly in Bosnia, of all the places we travelled through we probably found the croats the least approachable and helpful.


During the war the town was surrounded by Bosnian Croat forces and the population consisting mainly of muslims decided to defend themselves. The city was hammered to pieces by Croat artiliry fire and even today it is hard to find a house without scars from bulletholes and grenades.

It is worthwhile to have a look at the following video to see what happened here in 1993: Mostar in 1993







Mostar is surrounded by steaphills and it would have been almost impossible to find cover from snipers and artiliery from above.


Now almost 20 years later there are still many ruins right in the centre of east Mostar where we were staying and there are lots of house that are full of bulletholes and people are still living in these houses.In the houses that have not been repaired it is almost impossible to find a 30 by 30cm patch that does not have a bullet hole or grenade fragments in it. It would have been a hell on earth living or fighting here during these times.






Inside the city limites there are three cemeteries and they are all full of victims killed in 1993...all mixed with Muslim, Christian and Orthodox. It is a very sobering experience to see that every grave is marked with the exact same year and that almost every victim was born at about the same time as Kim and myself.





Today the population seems to be getting along regardless of background and religion.



The surrounding hills in the valley driving in from Croatia also have old castles and ruins on them. It is a very scenic drive and highly recommended.




We have a very nice time in Bosnia and we can highly recommend that people go there to visit.



People should not forget Mostar and especially not forget what happened here in 1992 and 1993.

We spent a day driving to a National Park along the Krka river.This park has the most amazing waterfalls and clear blue water to swim in.





Kim and I both agree that this park is much better and less overcrowded than Plitvice National Park. There are also fewer steps and better tracks whick made it more pram friendly.








The park is full of small waterfalls.



Back in time the water from the river was used to drive a watermill, which is still functioning to this day.



The lower falls you can swim in. We all went for a swim and the water was beautiful...Aiden didn't want to leave.

After Denmark we went to Croatia. Our first stop was Split arriving late at night into Split Airport, picking up the rental car and baby seat and then navigating our way to the apartment we had rented for a few days.

The apartment was very nice (Kim is good at finding accomodation) and they had provided a baby cot for Aiden to sleep in (all the places we stayed provided a cot for us), next to the best beach in town and it was about a kilometers walk from the central part of the city.



Split is famous because of the Diocletians Palace, which is an enormous and fairly well preserved palace in the middle of the city. The Palace was built for the retirement of the Roman emperor Diocletian at around 300AD. There are still a lot of well preserved buildings and cellars within the palace walls, but there is also a lot of more 'modern' houses, shops, restaurants etc.









Walking around and getting lost in the small alleys was really pleasant.


Just outside the Gold gate there is an enormous status, and it is said that if you touch the toe of the statue then it brings you luck and guarantees your return to Split (We did drive past Split a week later....maybe that counts).







In the evenings it was pleasant walking along the shore and take in the views of the city.







And all the locals were out stretching their legs too...



And we really enjoyed the fresh seafood.





Aiden loved the food and the decor of some of the restaurants.