First stop today was the Bear Refugein Kuterevo! We had a short tour from one of their volunteers who showed us the three young bears there Marko Kralj (7 years), Mlada Gora and Mlad Dol (both 9 years) & also a new comer, a 7 month old cub who had just arrived from a zoo - literally, he was still in his crate when we arrived! Very cute, but sadly we are not allowed to share his photos. She had to go an help with the cub but pointed us towards further enclosures where the big bears are! We only say two of them - one of them very close! - but apparently there are five bears in there. We also heard a bit about the ethos of the place, very much a back to nature ... read more

The beds were very uncomfortable so none of us slept well but we had a lazy start to the day as our first stop - 10am tour of Postojna caves - was just down the road. Again LOADS of people. The caves felt a lot more touristy - especially with the twee train ride to start it off! It was also a lot colder than the Škocjan Caves & I was glad I'd brought a jumper. The caves were beautiful & we saw olms!!! Such awesome animals! I love that people used to think they were baby dragons!!!! After the cold caves we were for once glad to get back into the sun. Vicky & I did a bit of shopping then joined Chavaunne for lunch - wraps with roasted veg & pine nuts with optional ... read more

Today was our day of adrenaline-filled activities! We started the day with some white-water rafting with TOP rafting (conveniently where we were staying!).The three of us were joined by three lads, also travelling around on their holidays & we got two instructors as one was in training. After getting kitted out & being shown the basics on dry land we carried the boat down the stream by the TOP base and into the Soča river. I managed to bagsie one of the "tiger" spots at the front of the raft! After some practice in calm water and a bit of a swim in the river (to practice pulling mates back into the boat!) we tried our hands at the rapids (up to grade III)! With a couple of stops, once to paddle up a stream & ... read more

We got up to get the first cable car down just after 8:30am, first stop was the store to pick up food then headed west to the Julian Alps. Our planned first stop was the Goreljek Bog nature trail but unfortunately we encountered a road closure that meant a long detour that took us past Lake Bled and along the main road. This took us past the Vodnik Viewpoint so we stopped there for lunch first. There was a lovely view down the valley to Lake Bohinj & a beautiful cat that followed us up there! From here we headed over to Goreljek Bog, it took a little while to find where the nature trail started but then it was a lovely short walk around the peat bog, although Chavaunne was unimpressed & there were rather ... read more

My flight out on Sunday was at lunchtime so thankfully not an early start this time & plenty of time to get the pets all sorted before heading to Standstead for 10:30am to meet up with Chavaunne. We got our bags checked in early & went through security, got a tasty early lunch at Giraffe - aubergine tagine & burger. Once at the gate the notice said "boarding", then "final call" & finally "gate closed" with all passengers still standing in the queue at the gate! We finally got on & up in the air slightly behind schedule. It was very cloudy for most of the flight but it cleared as we flew over the alps. We made up some time and landed only 20min late and met up with Vicky in the tiny arrival area! ... read more