Croatia, climbing, and a kitten's best friend

After a few days in Slovenia, the weather proved itself to be the driving force in my decision making. I sadly dropped any ideas of hiking in the Julian Alps, and instead jumped on a train to Croatia. In Zagreb, the capital, I walked my way through the rain to a hostel that was just off the main square.

My hopes of catching some museum/gallery time went down the drain - it was a Monday and most of them were closed. Instead I enacted that favourite pastime of mine. Walking, a lot, or at least until I began to saturate, all around the city. The old city was really beautiful, and could justify a lot more time in better weather. As with so many cities over here, there was a great, indoor market in the centre of town. I had an espresso in a tiny bar in the corner of it. It was all of about 8m2, filled with locals, all of whom were smoking. You can't capture that in a photo.

In the afternoon, a bunch of us from the hostel went to a local brew pub to watch the football. What else to do on a rainy afternoon? The beers were ok, the food hearty, and the company entertaining.

Myself and two Canadians headed to Plitvice lakes the following day. They were quite stunning, but like Iguazu falls, I couldn't help but be put off by the hordes. We chose a longer track, partly to get away from all the people, but found ourselves wondering 'where are these lakes then?'. We were at least following a marked path, but when we finally came over a rise, we were greeted by a view of fields and a few houses rather than any lakes! It ended up being a nice opportunity to stroll amongst some rural Croatian houses; one had their own hams curing outside. It was one of many indicators that people in this part of the world are quite self-sufficient. We made it back to the lakes without too much hassle, and got a bus down to Zadar, on the coast.

The next morning, from where I was staying, I got a local bus to the terminal - but I missed the stop. The bus driver was rather humoured by this, and at the outskirts of town where we had ended up up, pointed out some wartime remnants. A destroyed church there, the tank that most likely did the damage there, bomb shelters there, all amongst peoples houses. He said that though Croatia is now a much improved country, it is only really the youth that are free from the war. Those that were in it, such as himself, who had been injured twice in seven years of service, could not easily forget these things.

After this I managed to make it out to Paklenica national park, where I got a nice view out to the water (and imagined myself overwatching the trade route that went through there in the middle ages, as the sign instructed me to), before heading up to the climbing areas. It was all quite spectacular, steep limestone cliffs rising out of a narrow gorge, and much more to my taste than lakes and cascades. I fell in with a jolly bunch of Bulgarian climbers from Sofia, and got a couple of nice climbs in before hitch hiking back to Zadar.

Back in Zadar, wondering what I would do with myself that evening, I had the pleasant surprise of seeing Adam and Dezarae as I walked out of my room. We had plans of meeting the following day, but they had pushed on through Slovenia to arrive and surprise me that evening.

Never go to Slovenia

I was in a terrible state when I arrived in Ljubljana - whatever throat infection I had had robbed me of my voice. Luckily Branka, a friend I'd met in Argentina, did most of the talking.

My first day there we jumped in the car and drove a whole hour to Trieste, Italy. A 1€ mortadella roll from the supermarket was as enjoyable a lunch one could ask for, and a macchiato afterwards from one of illy's own cafe's (they're based in Trieste) was the best I'd had since leaving Aus. I must confess that the coffee's I was getting in Melbourne before I left, and what I get from my favourite cafe's in Sydney, are far superior to my taste buds to what I've had so far over here. But with this point it must be remembered that where I had been getting coffee's in Aus were the 'crema de la caffe' - the typical coffee's from these places was very rich, syrupy espresso, where as the roasts over here (so far) have been more mellow and rounded. And before anyone feels the need to attack me over the above comments, I think an important difference to note is that you're likely to get crap coffee in an overwhelming majority of cafe's in Aus, where as in Italy the median coffee quality is going to be satisfactorily high. The price of coffee also reflects a more historical, ingrained coffee culture in many of these euro countries, where you can get an espresso for around AU$1.50 - this should be ubiquitous.

We only had a short wander around Trieste. The piazza was quite grand, but the waters edge was mediocre, the city's prominence as an inustrial port city shining through.

Next stop was Koper, back in Slovenia, all of about 10 minutes away. It's another old Venician city, yet distinctly different for all of it's proximity to Italy. Of note was that it used to be an island but is now connected to the mainland. The main, old town consists of three main streets - I walked most of the city in 2 hours - but it's really lovely, all narrow, winding cobblestone lanes.

Only slightly further down the coast, we parked the car and walked around to Piran, another of Slovenia's three coastal towns. It was absolutely beautiful. Of course it was touristy, but only slightly so, it felt very casual and relaxed. We grabbed some take aways and enjoyed a beer up on the hill by an old citadel, with a view to the Italian coast line in one direction and the Croatian coast in the other. Seafood for dinner, right by the water, wasn't exorbidantly priced at all, and it went down well with some local Malvazija.

In Ljubljana, Branka's place was only 10 mins stroll from the city centre, which itself is only 20 mins walk across. It's a beautiful little city, with an extremely laid back casual feel - a rarity amongst European capitals - though it's population is only around 200,000. It just has such a great atmosphere, with plenty of bars lining the river; there are also some wonderful markets that are a fixture every day of the week. I can also say that I have never seen a greater concentration of beautiful women anywhere else in my life.

We went for a short day trip to Bohinj where I refused to pay 2.50€ to see a natural waterfall in a national park, but some barley stew 'with sausages' for lunch - a traditional Slovene alpine dish - was fantastic. Lake Bled was spectacular, but unfortunately the sun was nowhere to be seen. We watched Slovenia play USA in Bled. I particularly noted that noone clapped when USA scored - read what you will into that.

And that was pretty much Slovenia. I would have stayed longer for some hiking in their beautiful alps, but the weather has been incredibly average, so instead I've gone to Zagreb, capital of Croatia, for some culture (yes, I am having beers with a concentration of anglophiles). I am indebted to Branka, for putting my sick self up and showing me such a great side of Slovenia. So - Slovenia in summary? Well, you can't beat it really. An eclectic mix of Mediterranean, Continental and Balkan/Eastern Europe, all of which it borders. It's so nice and quiet compared to everything else 'round here'. So make sure you tell everyone, never go to Slovenia, stay well away, and it may maintain some of it's charm.

Ever the optimist

I flew with Air China from Sydney to Frankfurt. The flight was surprisingly cheap, especially given the time of year, and the fare also included one stopover in Beijing. Arriving in Shanghai, we were lucky enough to spend a substantial amount of time on our feet thanks to a requirement of having to go through customs, rather than simply transferring straight through.

Our good luck streak continued when we were given the opportunity to watch the start of the Socceroos vs Germany game. This came about because rather than jump straight back on the same plane we'd arrived on and set off within the planned hour transfer time, we were delayed by seven hours due to inclement weather in Beijing, our next port of call. I didn't see the whole game, but did get to see the second goal, which will surely be one of the best goals of the Cup.

This delay meant I missed my connecting flight to Frankfurt. Dealing with Air China was a pain. Several of us had been booked through on the same flight to Frankfurt. Your typical airline would notify you before you disembark what you have to do in order to continue on, but not Air China, oh no. I could say though that the headache involved in dealing with the uncommunicative Air China was good preperation for what to expect upon my return to China in August.

Given a further eight hours to wait until the next flight to Frankfurt was a perfect opportunity to really appreciate the architecture of Beijing airport. It really is an incredible space. I got a quite comprensive view of most aspects of it in the hours wandering and sitting. Some congee went down a treat, too.

By the time I got on my flight to Frankfurt I was beginning to realise that 30 hours of air conditioning (and counting) is not good for us humans. I like to think that this observation merely furthered my preference for the natural world over the built environment. I should point out that my time at Beijing airport also gave me a chance to go outside and breathe some, uh, smog.

Not having my own movie screen for the 10 hour leg to Frankfurt provided an opportunity to draft this post. Great.

I won't say anything about the disgusting consumeristic nature of all the airports I went through, because that would just put too negative a spin on this post. Nothing positive I can say about it really. Maybe: "good to see the economy's going strong!"

And then Germany. Ah, familiarity. How easy it was to be here, just another western country where most people speak English. How lazy of me! It's brought back the 'language guilt' though - I hate having to ask everyone if they speak my language, seeing as I don't speak theirs.

I spent the night in Frankfurt. At a comfortable hostel a stones throw from the station. My perception that euro hostels are full of Australian guys who's primary interests whilst travelling are getting drunk and picking up, reinforced while at the reception/bar, was somewhat dispelled when I discovered my room mates to be a South African teacher and a German fella who was jetting off the following morning to St Petersburg for a chess tournament. Out on the street, World Cup fever was evident at all the bars, each one of which had a TV facing onto their outdoor seating. I liked that the Turkish restaurant was broadcasting Turkish commentary, the French hangout French (bien sur!) and I think I saw an Italian joint at one point.

I'm now staying with a friend in Ljubljana (Solvenia) after getting a train here from Frankfurt. It feels good, after three days in transit, to actually feel like I'm at the start of my trip.

A year in a minute or two

Following straight on from my last post: was a period of rest and recuperation. I had two physio appointments a week for around 3 months. I couldn't do much - at all - which I was ok with. In hindsight I didn't read nearly enough books. One highlight was when the scar was healed enough to actually submerge my hand in water and give it a good wash - several weeks without washing a body part is a long time. Now, it's back to more or less normal, albeit with quite a scar. I tried tying my shoe one handed the other day but failed - it's amazing how quickly some things are forgotten.

Being back in Sydney gave me a chance to be inducted to The Epic BBQ. It is an event that has turned into something of a tradition, involving a BBQ at Kim and Lyndal's house where all guests are asked to bring something, be it anything of their choosing from a dish to cocktail ingredients, along for everyone to try. No, it doesn't turn into a day of degustacion, but is much more reminiscent of La Grande Bouffe - minus the hookers.

I've been getting into my beer much more than my food in the last year. I've steadily been working my way through a plethora of interesting craft beers, mostly from Aus and NZ but also abroad, and I have also started home brewing. So far so good - but there's so much more to be learnt, and much improvement to be made. At times I almost wish I could get rid of the beer quicker so that I can justify a new batch (anyone want to share my company and my home brew? I can't just palm the beer off alone....)

Once my hand hit the three month mark, I was given the all clear to get back climbing again. I haven't gotten as much in as I would have liked, but have still had plenty of great outings.Though with all this beer, food, work and travel interest I find it too easy to forget how pleasurable a day on the rock is.

With my hand mostly mended, I had no more excuses to not be working. I picked up a surveying job with an old employer, close to home, a few days a week. The casual roster suited me, as I still had the odd physio appointment, and was partaking in weekly Spanish lessons to boot. My situation wasn't enlightening, however, and when an opportunity arose to get back to mine surveying, I took it.

It was this work that has kept me busy for about the last twelve months. It was a role which was convenient to me: NSW mine sites, using my registration for mostly short-term work, and a flexible roster. I (in my typically unrealistic, dreamy way) foresaw my time divided evenly between work, climbing, and Sydney. I did get a lot of free time in, which I made the most of with climbing trips, Sydney time, Epic BBQ's, a Melbourne visit; but after awhile, whilst working at a mine near Parkes, I decided that rather than take a holiday, I'd resign and take an extended holiday.

Which brings us to now. I jet off this Sunday, first stop Ljubljana - where I intend to learn how to pronounce the name of Slovenia's capital!