On the weekend we went tot he beach. Initially Aiden was a bit scared of the waves (although he loves the sand and the water)...but after a while he didn't mind the waves splashing around his little legs (I found the water cold but he didn't mind).




As usual he threw a tandrum when we pulled him out of the water.



Afterwards we spend some time in the sand and I was teaching him how to build really cool sand castles and he was teaching me how to demolish them.

The other weekend we took Aiden to the swimming pool.

He is really happy with water now and loves splashing around. He is no longer afraid of it and doesn't mind getting his head under water.



Only problem now is that he throws a tandrum every time we have to leave the pool.

This year I didn't get a chance to go to Sculpture by the sea during the daytime, but I did have some time to go there one evening after we had put Aiden to bed.

I had seen some daylight photos from the exhibition from Tamarama beach where they had these 'Easter Island' type statues. I thought I could do some really cool night time Off-Camera-Flash photos using just ordinary flashes.

When I got there it was almost pitch black darkness...perfect.

I got my gear set up and managed to take the following shot which was exactly what I envisioned in my head.



While there I had a look at a couple of the other sculptures in the area...I did shoot the following photo of this 2 meter tall red chinaman sculpture.

This weekend we went with a couple of friends to a place in New South Wales called Mudgee. This place is about 270 kilometres from Sydney on the other side of the mountains and is best known as a wine district.




On the way there we did a quick stop at Lake Windamere, famous for its dead trees in the water.




We arrived to Mudgee after about 5 hours of driving (including a couple of brief stops) and had some lunch with Chris and Yvonne. While in Mudgee we did some jump shots of Chris and I pretending to fight (obviously I did some creative editing to get to this final result).



After lunch we headed to a couple of wineries. We were immediately impressed, some of the local Cab Savs. and some of the whites were excellent and Kim and I walked away with quite a few bottles from the first couple of places we visited. The wines were also more reasonable priced than the Hunter.







Late in the afternoon we headed to the Bed and Breakfast where we staying for the night. This was a place run by an elderly couple with 4 dogs, 7-8 Alpacas, mini horses and some cattle.









Before dinner we did a quick stop to take some sunset photos. It was a very quick stop, because within 5 minutes from us arriving at the location the sun disappeared behind a thick cover of clouds and the good light was gone.



Chris and I had been planning to do some star photography of the Milky Way. The weather forecast wasn't promising, but after dinner is seemed to clear up a bit so we decided to give it a go.
We hadn't scoped out any good location so it was a bit of a trial and error to find a good place. The trick with start photography is to also include an interesting foreground subject into the photo.
The first place we stopped was next to a vineyard and although the Milky Way was reasonably clear the grapes weren't that interesting.



We therefore headed up some of the back streets. On this paddock we found this really old truck parked in an almost perfect position...it was something different.
While we were setting up dogs started barking at the property behind us and after a few minutes all the outside lights came on and a woman came out and asked what we were doing.
Chris said that we were just taking some photos and if she was alright with that.
She went back into the house, but the dogs kept barking at us. After another couple of minutes she returned and asked us to leave because we were disturbing her dogs and parents.

We were on public property so we could have told here that we wouldn't leave and that we were in our rights to be there, but sometimes it is better to not push the issue, especially when you are just visiting the area.

Instead we found an area with some trees...alright, but not that interesting and by that time the Milky Way had started setting in the horizon.

Next morning we met up with Sacha (he's driven up from Sydney in the morning) to go and visit another couple of vineries (We bought more wine).







And Aiden loved all the attention and new locations.




On the way home we were planning to stop at the Blast Furnace Park in Lithgow. As we drive into the city we passed a couple of police cars. I was going a few kilometres over the speed limit and hit the brakes as soon as I saw them. A couple of kilometres further down the road the cars came up behind me with their lights on and I thought..."Damn, I got busted", but I was really surprised when they went past me without stopping...I was even more surprised when they pulled over Chris in front of me.
He was busted for driving his car without a valid registration (he had forgotten to pay it a few weeks earlier), given a fine and they told him that he was not allowed to drive any further without a valid registration.

After the cops left he quickly went on the internet and renewed all the paperwork online so we were able to keep going.

The blast furnace is an old iron smelter dating back to more than 100 years ago when a lot of iron was dug out of the surrounding area and processed here to produce steel. It is interesting walking around the old ruins of which much of the building foundation still exists.







We also used this as an opportunity for some more fighting jump shots.

After this it was back to Sydney...

Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )

Arrival	Silam / Jungle Ops	Repeater Stations	The Competitors	Helicopter	Jungle Around Us	The Village

Away from Headquarters . . .

I managed to explore the villages at Silam.

The people here wore this white stuff on their faces - I guess their form of sunscreen.

These people were refugees from the Philippines.



The kids were fighting to fit into the photo!





The kids here were really cute.

These kids here, had caught a monkey and was trying to sell it at the camp for 5 ringgit (AUD$2.50).

No-one wanted to buy it because they knew if they bought it, and set it loose, the kids would just catch it again, and try to sell it.

In general, there were lots of great photos at Silam village.





One of the helicopter pilots was driving through the jungle roads, took a corner too fast, and had a minor mishap.



We headed into Lahad Datu to get some seafood!

An escape from camp food. Camp food was disgusting. There were live worms in the vegetables (yes, after cooked). Most of the food was not fresh, and was pretty boring. The seafood was fantastic here. Whenever we had the chance, we ate lots of seafood.

Yum... Paul did not get to eat all of the crabs - all of us had a portion of it.



Yummm... they were huge, but we did not eat them. They were too big for us to eat, pretty impressive though. They were the biggest lobsters I have seen in my life. We saw these at the same place we ate our seafood and frogs (below).




We had this frog for dinner about 2 min after I took the photo.

This was actually when I went out with Glen in Kota Kinabalu - he asked me to pick some food and to surprise him.

I did not tell him till a year later that he ate frog meat. He asked me what it was, because he reckoned it tasted funny, but I did not tell him at the time.

I think he will only eat it again. Only if he really had to.





Petronis Towers - the tallest twin towers in the world.

Actually, they are the tallest buildings in the world, followed by the Sears Towers in Chicago.

The towers are joined by some sort pedestrian platform.

These towers are located in Kuala Lumpur.

I went to Kuala Lumpur to pick up my Permanent Residency for Australia.

Woohoo!!! After 2 years of lots of paperwork, and correspondence back and forth with Berlin, I finally managed to get it!

The inconvenience of it all, was that I actually had to leave Australia ie collect my PR before re-entering Australia.









Below, is the only photo I have of the Lateral Linking Team that I worked with during the race.



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Created: 7 Dec 2001

Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )

Arrival	Silam / Jungle Ops	Repeater Stations	The Competitors	Helicopter	Jungle Around Us	The Village

Helicopters . . .
The radio communications team had to arrive a few days before that because we had to hand out over 2,000 pieces of radio equipment. We had problems getting the necessary approvals for helicopters so they were grounded! I ended having to hand out most of the equipment as Glen and Paul had to sort out our use of the helicopters.

We had to fly all the equipment to Silam before the start of the race, and our team managed to fly to Silam the day before the race started.

Do you believe that Paul managed to take a photo of me whilst I was flying the chopper? He was standing to the side of me, and took the photo at night time, with the door open ...



Just kidding.

A couple of days before the race started, I was at the airport most of the day. We had some problems with the radios in the helicopters... I must have been in and out of those helicopters at least 200 times.

I did manage to get someone to take some photos of me in a helicopter, looking very much like the pilot!

I had hoped that I had the time to explore Kota Kinabalue, but we were so busy, it had to wait.



Here is the 212 or "Huey" - a twin-turbine Vietnam helicopter taking off. It is a hell a lot more powerful than some of the other helicopters we were using, which were 206s.


Here are the medical guys practising abseiling out of the helicopters (Aussie style)!

At the start of the race, I was sitting there listening to the first rescue on the radio.

3 hours after the start, four boats had capsized... helicopters and boats were very busy!

The competitors were due to arrive at Silam (another checkpoint) the next day (21st Aug).

For the first few days after the race started, I had to help organise to get the fuel to the top of the mountain.

After that the helicopter came in useful. It brought up 100 litres of fuel on the 4th day so I did not have to ferry fuel anymore!



At the end of the race, we had to sling-load the repeaters, to get them off the mountain. That means we had to strap them onto the helicopters, and pull them off the mountains that way - quite effective really.






Repeater station finally airborne!


You can see a pole in the right photo.
My girlfriend asked me what it was for - it helps balance the load so that it does not keep swinging whilst airborne.


Below, you will see some pretty good photos from the chopper.



Towards the end of the race, we had to scan the rivers for the last competitors coming in - to make sure they had completed this section of the race course. It was low-altitude flying of the river-bed.

The photo on the left shows the chopper approaching Silam Village. This village was located just outside of Silam HQ.



Glen liked wanted to have a photo of the back of my head - and I ruined the photo by turning my head as he took it...

Here's a sunset shot of the helicopters flying around.

I had to put in this fantastic photo - the lighting gives a really nice feel to the photo.



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Created: 7 Dec 2001

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The Wildlife in Borneo . . .

The jungles in Borneo are really dense, dark and humid.

You will find that some of the photos look as though they have been over-exposed, but in reality, it is just the humidity in the air.






I have a photo of this at home - Glen enlarged it for me, and framed it!

Don't ask me why - I think I look rather wasted there.

Glen and I tried to race through the jungle.

The climb to the top of the mountain is rated as a 1.5 hour climb... Glen and I have done it in 26 minutes... actually I was confident that I could do it in less than 20 and so I did!

I held the record of taking 17 minutes to race to the top of Mt Silam, covering a distance of approx 4 kilometres through the jungle, up a mountain.

I was getting really fit (My girlfriend was proud of me).



This photo shows how dense and dark the jungle can be. It was so humid there... no, not because I hadn't cleaned my lenses.



You can see how muddy it is in the jungle - I became quite dirty after many trips into the jungle.



I think these trees are just as big as the Californian Redwoods. They might not be as old, but definitely just as big.



This was taken with a 300mm lens, from 1.5 metres.

The most amazing thing about them, is when they are scared, the curl up into little "marbles".

It looks like a small bug, but it is actually at least 7cm long, which is actually quite big.




I noticed in Borneo, most of the insects there were huge.

The wingspan of the brown moth was about 15cm wide - huge!

They are mostly active at night, which is quite common for creatures in the jungle.

A couple of the girls stationed in the jungles, was stationed here. Not a wise decision, considering these girls were paranoid about the insects.

(Note: in the photo below, I still had conjunctivitis) I had the red eyes for most of the trip.


Big and beautiful, don't you think? You can see how big the black moth is compared to the size of the telephone.





These plants were kind of special because each branch split into two, so by the end of it, they formed a hexagonal pattern.

Below, are plants known as the "pitcher" plant.

The pitcher plants are meat-eating plants - you have watch out not to fall into them because they will swallow you whole.



If you just believed that, you are very gullible! *laugh*

The pitcher plant, like other carnivorous plants, feed on insects.

They have sweet-smelling nectar that attract the unsuspecting insect to it.

When the insect lands, it finds the surface slippery and fall straight into the “pitcher”, where the plants juices drowns it and is digested by the plant.

You may have heard of other type of carnivorous plants such as the Venus Fly Trap, and the Sundew plants.



Yes, you see me holding the snake with a leaf.

It was a poisonous snake, and I was worried about it's venom getting on my skin.

For example a puff adder, contact with the venom numbs the skin.

I was not familiar with the snakes in Borneo, and was not about to risk it.


The tarantella was sitting inside the catering tent hunting.

Everyone was looking at it and admiring it, which was pretty amazing, considering I know many people who would willingly kill a spider in sight.

My mum and dad spent some time in Sydney over christmas and New Year.

While they were here I raught my dad how to absail.



And for Christmas I gave my parents some tickets for the Sydney Harbour bridge walk (they gave Arumi a ticket too).

My brother passed away in the end of 2002. He had been suffering badly from his disease for almost a decade and eventually it got the better of him.

I still miss him a lot even though we weren't close when he was alive....but I still feel him close to me to this day!



I still light a candle for him once in a while.



His two biggest wishes in life was to become a professional tennis player...he was a pretty damn good player and I never played against him because I didn't have a chance.



His second biggest wish was to get himself a girlfriend. This is one of the last photos that was taken of him.



I still blame the psychiatric system in Denmark for what happened. They were too focused on treating his disease with medication and never paid any attention on teaching him to live with his disease and provide quality in life.


I still love him very much and I really miss him. I also regret that I wasn't there more for him.



He always looked after me and he has never hurt anyone.





This is the last family photo that was taken.



I would appreciate if you click here to see some of the photos from my brothers life: May he not be forgotten

Before Claus became ill, he was a rising star in the world of tennis. He was featured in the local newspaper as Amtsmester - he came first in the local "Amst" - level similar to state-level.

Claus loved being out in the wind and the sun. He was also prone to seasickness.

Claus and my family came to visit me in Australia in 1999. I think he liked it here - warmer winters and friendly people. I really like the top middle photo, of Claus eating oysters. He looked very happy. They did a lot of sightseeing here, and even visited my apartment on Narrabeen beach.

The following are the last photos that were taken of Claus, on one of our sailing trips.

My brother had schizophrenia, and he passed away not long after his 33rd birthday.

I love my brother, and I regret not telling him this. My girlfriend tells me that Claus knew I loved him.
I am not convinced of this, so I wrote him a letter, in the hope that he will read this, wherever he is.

There is so much I wanted to say to him.

I want to remember him when he was not sick, when he was happy, and when I was last in Denmark in June 2002. I want to remember him, as you will see him in these photos.

My Big Brother . . .








Created: 8 Oct 2002 Last Updated: 24 Oct 2002

On the way back from Denmark we made a stopover in Singapore to have a look as well as do some shopping.

Here a photo from Little India in Singapore.

We surprised my Mum by turning up in Denmark before her 60th Birthday.

She had a big party where a lot of her friends and family turned up.



While we were there we also got to visit some of my friends and family as well as do a bit of Sightseeing in Copenhagen and Legoland. Click here to see more photos from: Mums 60th Birthday/Slideshow

Over the Christmas holidays we went for a drive through some of the most scenic parts of Australia.

First we drive down to Melbourne and then along the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide.



The sunsets were spectacular.



We then continued up to the Flinders Ranges and along the way had a look at cave paintings.



In Broken hill we went down into the old Daydream silvermine.



We also had a look at some of the Desert Sculptures



Along the way we saw some Australian Wildlife. Here a wombat.



And here a possum.



Lots of Koalas



And here one very angry Lizard.



And of course some Emus.



We were camping along the way.



Click here to see more photos from Driving in Australia / Slideshow

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.