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Published: October 22nd 2008
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My squashed crab
I chucked it back into the sea and slipped over and landed on my butt. 17th October by Blake
We stayed in Labin in Croatia. It was really windy and really cold. We didn’t have any electricity at the camp ground. We didn’t have hot showers and no lights in the toilet. There was a straight down hill what we was biking down. I went so fast that I fell off. I didn’t hurt myself. There were heaps of olive trees everywhere. Dad picked some and tasted it. He said it was disgusting. Then we went for a walk to look at the place. We went to a beach I saw two crabs. Mason killed one by accident. We went home after that and Mum and Anton made gnocchi and fudge cake for dinner. We played loser (card game) and I was the champion for most of the game. In the last game Mason bet me.
The next day we had electric but we didn’t want to stay so we drove to Pula.
18th October by Anton
We left the electric free campground (which cost as much as electric campgrounds) and headed for Pula. Pula is right down the bottom of Istria in Croatia. We had a choice of two campgrounds. We checked out both of
them and the 2nd one was the nicest. The campground was in Stoja which is like its own little island.
When Dad and I were walking around some people asked us if we spoke English. They told us that they had been robbed and that the campground wasn’t very good because they didn’t really care about it. They said that the police were very good. We stayed there anyway but we parked close to other campervans.
We went to the beach and swam in the afternoon. Then we went out for dinner. We went to a place that was recommended in our travel guide but Mum said after going inside that they wouldn’t let us in. It was so flash. Dad was in jandals, shorts and hadn’t shaved for some time. We were in second day or maybe third day clothes. So we found one that looked nice right on the beach front.
We all ordered fish that had been caught in the bay. I didn’t like mine at all. Dad and Mason loved their dinner. So did Blake. Mum had squid - it was ok. Everything came out with spinach and potatoes and surprisingly Mason ate his without any
Pula
The boys let out on their own. fuss. Then we got a dessert menu but we decided to leave. Instead we had hot chocolate and fudge cake back in Hugo.
The next morning we got up and biked into town. We went to the local market. There was fruit and vegetables everywhere; fish and meat as well. There were pomegranates, bell peppers, almonds, persimmons, craisins and roasted hazelnuts. We bought two backpacks full of food and headed for more site seeing.
We went to the amphitheatre and Mum and Dad let us go in on our own. It was amazing. There was like a stone grand stand. Around the outside of the walls it looked like windows with no glass on them. We saw the pen were the animals came out of and the gladiators. Now days they hold rock concerts in there.
On the way back we found a bakery that sold the cheapest, biggest and scrumptious chocolate filled sweet breads. Blake ended up with more chocolate around his face than you get in a bar. We ate them down at the beach and then we had to swim to wash off the chocolate that we spilt everywhere. Even Mum went swimming this time.
I got
Rovinj
Mason doing the haka to navigate us to Rovinj.
19th - 20th October by Mason
We left Pula and headed off to Rovinj. It wasn’t a long drive and it didn’t matter anyway because we have our iPods and tic tacs (if we behave). We drove around looking for a camp ground; lots of them are shut now because it’s the end of the season. We eventually found one that was open but they didn’t have a washing machine.
The first thing we did was that Mum and Dad hand washed heaps of our clothes. Mum said the water was disgusting after she washed my socks. Then we went down to the beach. The beach is amazing place. The water is so clear you can see about 6ft down. It’s clean and nice to swim in. Anton dared me to jump into the water off the pier. I did what he said after about 10 minutes wait and I cut my foot open when I hit the bottom. Dad whacked my bum with a jandal really hard, I thought it was unnecessary. But I won’t tell you what I did to Dad to get the whack. Mum went back with me to fix my
foot up. I think she should be a doctor because my foot hasn’t fallen off.
On the 20th we got up and Mum and Dad said we had to do school work. Dad promised us if we did a good job of our school work he would take us to a pizzeria for lunch. We did our school work and then headed into town on our bikes. Another town that we have no idea where we’re going.
We wandered around the town in these tiny tiny streets. It’s quite amazing because you don’t really know where you are going. It’s like a maze. The houses look unreal, they’re just so old. In New Zealand you don’t get houses this old. Some of the houses are built onto the side of the sea. Your backyard is the sea. You could fish from the table in the morning.
Lunch was delicious. We sat outside under the sun by the sea. Music was playing in the background. Dad was happy because he could drink a beer because he didn’t have to drive. In Croatia you aren’t allowed any alcohol if you are driving. I had a shrimp pizza and on the top were butter, garlic and parsley. Yum. Blake and Anton had a seafood pizza.
We went shopping on the way home. I bought a C. Ronaldo soccer shirt, he’s my favourite player. Anton bought new jandals because he lost his last pair down a river in Germany. Since the water was so clear Dad bought us a mask and snorkel.
The afternoon was spent down at the beach in the sunshine looking at fish. I forgot my togs so I swam in my boxers, the fish didn’t mind.
21st October
We got up early this morning and headed off on a bike ride/run that looked about 8kms. The map we got from the tourist information had the tracks going clockwise. But all the signs are going anti clockwise and then there were hardly any of them. Luckily Gareth had gone last night to check it out and had worked this out before we left. The 8kms took about 1 ½ hours, this also included a flat tyre. We ran through olive orchards and vineyards. The soil here is bright red so the boy’s bikes a now a lovely shade of red. Interesting morning really - probably the worst track we’ve been on for directions but we got back to the campground fine.
Packed up and left Rovinj - we all really enjoyed it here. We had planned to stay in Porec for the next two nights but after a visit to the tourist information we found out that there was only one campground open - the biker’s campground. The boys weren’t too keen on that because it wasn’t by the beach. Porec is an interesting place. We went to the beach for a swim by a huge hotel which is completely shut. The town is really geared for the summer and the tourists. So we decided to head for Trieste on the border of Italy. We hoped that we’d find a campground open there. And not a ghost town.
To get to Trieste we had to pass through Slovenia; three countries in one afternoon. Got to Trieste easily and plugged in Amy. It was her responsibility to get us to a campground. She did take us an interesting way. Straight up a huge hill, cobbled and extremely narrow. We realised why a guy was waving to us once we were able to turn off that road - there was a sign saying vehicles over 2m are not allowed. But we did get to an open campground!!!
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Johnny , Olina and Zofie
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You guys are having fun
Hi there you wordly travellers. WOW it sure sounds like you are keeping that fun barometer running high...........what great reading. Who is going to write a book when you get back(it wouldbe a super idea). All good here in Czech, you know just the usual, horse riding, bbq, gardening, biking.............well not so much the bbq anymore, Autumn is well and truly here, the trees are bearer and bearer, the colours less and less, and they say this weekend the clocks go back, so there goes an hour for being outside..................All good though, just trying to find where we can get a Braeburn apple tree for the garden. Ok, keep up the fun and sight seeing and keep warm. Hi to you all. John