HUBBERS DOT COM BLOG

Woke to appalling weather and settled in for a day of cards. Lasted about an hour before the sun broke through and we spent the afternoon exploring, swimming and sunbathing.

We bought steaks and lamb etc for a big self catered dinner in our apartment. This is the first thing we have cooked since leaving the UK. It was delicious and then some.

Sat around Hvar town all day. Hvar is the island that receives the most sun in all of Croatia. The LP claims that Hvar gets 2724 hours of sun each year. Am suspicious of this claim since the day is overcast and grey. Caught the catamaran to Korchula with Dumby and Belinda. Runty and Belinda spent the entire journey making calls to their friends Ralph and Chuck on the giant porcelain telephone.

Their stomach situation didn’t improve when our bus from the port to Korchula Town was driven by Micheal Schumacher’s crazy uncle, who was on the run from the insane asylum. There is a debate on what the worst part of the drive was. A few of the passengers say it was the high speed driving in dense mountain fog through old village streets with only a foot spare on either side of the bus. Others say it was when the driver deliberately swerved into the path of an oncoming bus to freak the other driver out. It was impossible to get an accurate vote as many passengers were to scared to remove their hands from their eyes to vote.
Dumby did our eleven week Africa overland tour with Greg and I in 2003. Durung that time we literally played thousands of hands of cards. None of us have played since and we are relishing the chance to play again.

It is the end of the season here and all the bars are shutting down. We found an outdoor cafe that was having an end of season closing down sale and over the course of a three hour period we bought all of the alcohol they had left. The final round was a Baileys, Kahlua and milk thing with not much milk. Yummy.

Further telling off from apartment owner this morning. He is not a happy hotelier.

Rented scooters and took in some of the beautiful beaches on gorgeous Hvar island. Had fantastic day playing on bikes around the beautiful beaches of Hvar. Also managed to squeeze in some perving at nudists. Why is it that the people who chose the nudist path in life are never the people you want to see nekked?

Another great session in Hvar old town. This time we crept around the apartment like field mice.

Chilling all day waiting for London buddies, Dumby and Belinda. Walked around Hvar old town and swam a bit. I haven’t swum in the ocean in nearly two years. It was all good.

They arrived later in the day and a late lunch turned into a red wine session which was followed by an evening on the gin and tonics with predictable results. We were told off by the apartment owner for being too noisy.

Rented a car in Zagreb and drove down to Split in what we both reckon was one of the best drives of our lives. The motorway was brand new, had no speed cameras and hardly anyone was on it.

From split we ferried out to an island called Hvar that we have heard is the most beautiful in Croatia.

Breakfast at the gorgeous little port of Portoroz and got to join some school kids drawing outlines of themselves on big sheets of paper. We drew an outline around me and had to use three sheets. Years from now small children in Portoroz will stare up at the massive outline hanging on the wall of their class and marvel at the time the giant came to town.

We saw the much more inaccessible Skocjan caves. The long walks and grand galleries pleased everyone except the Runt who had to hop the whole thing on his one good leg.

Said goodbye to our latest companions and trained to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.

Today I finished Berlin by Antony Bevor. This follows Stalingrad by the same author which I finished a couple of weeks back. These award winning bestsellers tell the horrific story of two of the most significant battles of World War 2. Well worth the read if you think you can stick it out.

Also started and finished ‘A Child Called It ‘ by David Pelzer today (kindly leant by Nicole). This is the autobiography of the early years of Californias third worst ever child abuse case. Well written and moving. My only complaint is that since this 160 page book has two sequels covering the later periods of David’s life, surely the whole story could have been put into one book?

I might try for a cheerier book next.

Everyone is tired because Patrick who finally spent a night a home (instead of chasing skirt) snored his arse off. When he took a brief break Runty usually took over. Tired as ****.

Did the Postojna caves which were cool but with the train ride in and the easy walks were more like the coffin dodgers tour of the Slovenian underworld.

Drove to the costal town of Koper for a swim at the hot pools and a feed.

The pools were nothing on Budapest and Runty, who has struggled with his health on tour, gave himself a massive deep tissue bruise to his calf at the pool. He is not happy.

Hostels all full so bedding down in some wacky old Slovenians guys basement. Each room was a mixture of about twenty different types of decor. Nicole the Aussie describes it as “It’s nice, it’s unusual, it’s different, I like it, it’s nice”.

Did beautiful national parky things and climbed to the top of 106 meter Boka waterfall. It came highly recommended from a couple the night before who said it was only an hour and looked easy on the two dimensional map. In reality it was a technically difficult two hour vertical ascent up a treacherous cliff face that had average views from the top. It was very rewarding to finally have knocked the bastard off though.

We rented what could kindly be called a classic Renault. It costs 24 Euros a day and it goes from zero to the speed limit in just under three minutes so the four of us are stoked.

We stopped at Kranj for no other reason than we thought it sounded like a dirty word… and we saw a down hill ski jump competition in the summer. Who knew they had artificial snow ski jumps? In my opinion any sport that has an ambulance at the bottom of the hill deserves respect. Full credit to the kids jumping.

Arrived at the stunning lake Bled. Walked around it and rowed out to the idyllic island church in the middle. Amateur rowing is a lot like walking home pissed. You get there in the end but you don’t always go in a straight line.

Moved out of the Prison hostel because it was full and into some place miles out of the centre. Hmmm.

We have picked up two other travelers for the Slovenian leg of our tour. An American/Peruvian investment banker, Patrick, who regularly uses Ritalin as a straightener when pissed and who spades every single female who comes within twenty meters of him. So much so that we have called him the CEO of JCB.

NOTES

Straightener: a drug that gives the impression that it reduces the effects of alcohol or other drugs i.e. cocaine, speed etc

CEO of JCB: One who hits on a girl is said to be spading her. One who does a lot of spading is said to be driving a digging machine called a JCB. One who does the spading work of scores of men is the CEO of JCB.

The second is a nice Aussie chick called Nicole with no a. Both very good value and Slovenia has loads of countryside in which to hide their bodies.

Looked around town which is pretty cool with loads of cool little galleries and coffee shops. Went clubbing at Globe which was awesome. Runty is off the piss for a bit as he is struggling with unusual hangovers. Fab night had by all.