Smurfy Tjedan Deset: Northern Croatia

Northern Croatia

After a few hours drive north with a look a like Smurfy which was a few years younger tailing us until we both pulled up at Kamp Korana, a few kilometers from the entrance of the Plitvice Lakes National Park. It was our first camping drive-through, as it had windows on both sides of the entrance building, we handed over our passports (NZ ones - need to made a good impression!) and ordered two nights accommodation with an upsize of electricity please. The checkin guy didn't have a ear piece but did then state your friends have arrived. So we did the rounds through the campsite (it was a big one!) and finally found Poo on a nice sunny grassy spot.

After the boys showed off their van skills by turning, reversing, leveling and finally positioning them like show horses we both setup our van camps, Cath & Si with their cool annex which attached to the sliding door of the van and a full camping kitchen inside with room for 4. And ours an Argos picnic mat, our coffee table and two chairs (our third set this holiday!). Once we were all setup we sat down at a cute picnic table which was perfectly positioned for our spot in the woods with the highway sounds beyond and enjoyed a few drinks over a good catchup.

We retired to our van homes to cook our meals and reconvened in the annex for dinner as a few spots of rain had started. After our cuppas of tea we returned to our vans after we were all talked out for the night. The next morning with our first true fellow campers we discovered we were late risers (no surprise there!) we scrambled to breakfast and shower and were all on our bikes by 11am and on a 6km route mostly uphill towards the entrance to Plitvice Lakes. It was hard on the hills, my legs had forgotten Wellington plus two and half months of sunning it on the beach and not a lot else, has taken its toll.

But we all made it, put key to lock and bought our ticket with the other 100 tourists and proceeded to overtake most of the slow tourists (AKA all of them as we weren't tourists of course!) and wandered the boardwalks and admired the turquoise lakes and waterfalls which weren't as bright because of the overcast day. After wandering for a few hours we stopped for lunch with all the other tourists but had brought our lunches as campers always do. Cath and Si introduced us to Rio tuna salads in a can. We had done a rush job at the local store just around the corner from the campsite on route with a few slices of a miscellaneous cheese & salami and the longest, thinnest white roll you could get! Oh and a 4 pack of beer of course strapped to the back of the Brompton a little shaken but not stirred.

With a little beer in the tums we strolled on until we had seen all the blue & lakes to satisfy and hopped on the tourist bustruck (which looked like it was better suited for the ski field) and became at one with the tourist and high tailed it out of the park on our bikes for greener pastures of Grappa & the first chicken we have all had in over 2 months!

We enjoyed the lovely bottle of what we debated as possibly tequila, vodka, raki and finally all decided on grappa as it was a Croatian drink even if it didn't state it on the label. As the night approached a lot earlier these days we took to wearing our head lamps, ours care of Anna & Perry (the best offer thanks guys!) and Si cooked the amazing chicken pieces and pork kebabs on our Le Cruset grill on their portable gas stove with a few courgettes on the side with a couscous lettuce & greek salad to polish an awesome meal off with great company and few more grappas for the road.

With morning upon us, Tom surprisingly still sleeping, as he took a few grappas for the Tang team, I boiled the kettle for a cuppa and joined Si in the annex for a breakfast drink while Cath also attempted to sleep off the grappa of last night. With the motto of something fried is a hangover cure, Tom joined society followed by me with eggs, bread and honey for Tom's french toast to give us the energy to pack up and hit the road. It was a wet pack up with towels on the line soaking wet but Cath & Si packed up in record time like they had done it all before.

We drove through check out and collected our passports followed by Poo a few minutes after us so we hit the road together. Because Cath & Si had come from the north and had just passed through from Slovenia heading South to catch the last of the summer sun and we were heading north to catch the wet winter (well hopefully not the wet part!) we took a detour so we could hit the town in Zadar for another night with Cath, Si and Poo.

After joining a mini convoy of Poo in front and Smurfy coming up the rear and sending a journal photo explaining how cool it is to have a fellow VW'er on the road with us. We briefly pulled over as Poo was secreting a metallic smell, giving Cath & Si a slight headache. With no knowledge to pass on we all crossed the road and bought some cheese from a sleeping cheese table because cheese fixes everything! doesn't it? After setting off again thinking Cath & Si have had over their fair share of bad luck with a replacement engine in London which wasn't cheap and now this! After a few kilometers down the highway and through the tunnel which turned winter rain into sunny summer as we were hit by the rays of sun as we sped out the other end of the tunnel and the temperature jumped more than 10 degrees higher. We then started to hear a strange horrific clunking sound muffled by the Mutton Birds 'Wish I was in Wellington' song on the stereo. After turning down the volume it became apparent this was a serious engine sound and that is where all our mechanical knowledge ends.

We pulled over, sent a text to Poo so they pulled over to rest smelly Poo while we stood in a SOS bay fingers crossed that when we started Smurf again the sound had gone away - magically of course. It hadn't. But one should always live in a little piece of fantasy world every so often. We decided the best course was to drive it to a service station, we were in a need of diesel and maybe four heads were better than two. After checking the oil, looking at the engine with no idea what to look at, a dirty tea towel and brief talk to a tourist lady later we decided to get it back on the road and get it to Zadar, where we might be able to have someone look at it. Only a few kilometers down the road the sound got worse, the noise would go away when the clutch was in so we tried that until the engine died and scared the shit out of both of us (thoughts of brakes don't work after a while when the engine isn't on!). Is this how we go out? It was like an old TV show until next time folks… does their engine start? or do they meet their end! it started but it was enough for us to pull over. Tom got to put on the fluro reflectant jacket and place the triangle which all motorers in the EU have to carry out on the road and left me and the Smurf to run to an SOS telephone booth a few kilometers down the road and stick his head into a speaker with earphones on either side and speak 'hello? our car has broken down' which was followed up with a response of muffled words with 20 at the end of it so Tom ran back to where we were all sad and shaking at every passing car or truck to wait.

Roughly 20 minutes later, a orange truck with three goons but friendly looking goons jump out, all with cigs hanging out of their mouths and pidgin English at best (not that we were complaining we only had a handful of Croatian and it was their country!) after pulling off the bikes, followed by the bike rack and all three pointed to a broken wire, thinking it was an easy issue (if only!) but not fixing it in the slightest called for a tow truck which we understood as Red in 20 minutes and they left with a few cones and an arrow sign stating we were a breakdown, it was final - Smurfy's first breakdown in the hot sun half an hour from Zadar in Croatia.

The wait was hard, the unknown ahead, waiting in what felt like a desert of rock surrounding us in the hot sun. Chain smoking became a hobby as we waited and waited. Finally a red tow truck arrived with a big guy with little english to follow. He quickly had smurfy aboard and us in the cabin on the road towards Zadar. After we passed through the toll, only paying 2 euro as our toll ticket was somewhere above in the sulking Smurf - the cheapest Croatian toll yet or was it? We sat silently with sweaty palms and I panicking at every low bridge with a 4.5m high restriction elbowing Tom to pass it on to the Croatian tow guy, which he only laughed in response. We didn't know how high off the ground Smurf was but he was 2.5m high so I thought it was very much justified.

We got to Zadar in one piece if you can call it that. Two other Croatians were waiting at a garage with a VW & BMW sign above. The Croatian mechanic who we came to know as Marin (probably never pronounced it correctly) got Tom to turn on the engine, he listened, felt the exhaust and then stated in english 'your engine is kaput' 'gone' 'dead'. We both immediately launched into plan B, how much for a new one was asked. After a phone call and a few brief details like it is diesel and 1.6 engine, Marin had another second hand engine and the cost would be £1500 with a guarantee. I tried to push him down on price, but he held tight and we gave them the go ahead. After a few minutes we had striped the van of the necessities, tent, sleeping bags, clothes, laptops, cameras anything of value too. Cath & Si rocked up in Poo 10 minutes later and tried to get some help on their smell problem with an unhelpful outcome. We boarded Poo with all our mismatch plastic & material bags and sat in the back, happy and grateful to have such great friends who would help and come to the rescue in a time of need.

With camp half setup with their annex in position we for the first time put up Paul & Lauren's old tent together ready to give old school tenting a go in Zadar. After setup was concluded, dining attire transformation in a tent complete we more than the others were in need of a few drinks and a dinner as previously planned. After wandering down the restaurant street which felt like suburbia and no luck with fish on the menu we headed for Niko on the waterfront for lovely wine followed by green noodles and spaghetti pasta and finished with a fish platter for four. With conversations flowing in and out of Smurfy's troubles we called it a night and retired for our first night in a tent. I'm not sure if it was night or the next morning but a thunder storm hit at some point which was exciting and scary all at once. We got up to more rain, wet towels on the line but was quickly warmed with a hot cuppa in the annex care of Cath & Si's warm hospitality.

After no shower, a wet towel and cold weather which didn't invite us to venture in that direction we caught a bus right outside the Borek campsite gates in the direction of the old town to see Zadar and to take our minds off the events of the day before. We introduced Burek, the tasty cheese pastry which helps makes one feel happy even if for a short time to the others and wandered the streets of the old town. We found the sea organ on the wharf which was a lovely tranquil welcome with a passing ferry creating more soft blows of varying tones coming from the walkway. Si & Tom decided to brave the water, while Cath & I enjoyed a foot bath on the steps. Sadly reported by the boys there was no more interesting sounds under the water as there was above.

We finished the day with a tasty tuna pasta from La Poo restaurant in the annex and enjoyed a crappy Prince of Persia hollywood blockbuster movie in the Poo cinema. Our second night in the tent was a little drier but had its interesting moments when I nearly tripped on a what we thought was a homeless person laying in a sleeping bag in the shadows of the pine trees on route to the toilets. We later learnt he was one of a few campers with only one campervan - poor chap - now that is real wild camping!

The next morning brought fried eggs on toast care of Cath's great cooking and Tom a speedy little rental hatchback car ready to roll us on out of Croatia to forget our worries for a mini Slovenian break in the wilderness. With a quick pickup of more supplies from the van and a farewell to Cath & Si as they were off south towards warmer amazing waters of the coast of Croatia. We were redirected to Marin's house which was a few crazy little streets over from the garage where we found Smurf in a mini garage waiting to be looked at on Monday morning.

Feeling good speeding along the motorway reaching the 130km/h speed limit with a brief stop to stock up on food from a Spar supermarket! the first we have seen and it wasn't bad! we even managed to find the tuna salad cans which Cath & Si have been living off. We reached Lake Bohinj in 4 hours along a lovely scenic autumn coloured road with steep hills which we thought on many occasion would Smurfy have coped with this? we rolled into the campsite, Cath & Si recommended which was right by the lake front. Just perfect. So we setup our tent within a metre of the lapping lake water, setup our new single gas burner on our coffee table with our camping chairs out to sit back and enjoy being at one with nature.

Night came faster than we expected, but we enjoyed our pasta meal made in one pot by candle light with a sea of darkness and not a sound for miles apart from the odd quack from a friendly duck in the distance. We were easily in bed by 8pm and with no real lights put head to pillow. We did wake up during the night a few times and were surprised to see the lake was covered in mist, which you couldn't see two metres in front of your nose. The second time was a van of some sorts arriving late (probably 9pm) and parked up next to us with their headlights beaming directly into the tent, being run-over did cross our minds, we were so defenseless without the safety of the Smurf.

We got up early as tents don't have dark curtains and got psyched about going hiking in the mountains. It was still misty and I had my doubts about it clearing but Tom stood firm that it would clear and be a bright blue sunny day, which it did. We quickly stopped off at the tourist office to confirm a walk which Cath & Si we think had done and more (and we had their map which was handy). It was meant to be 4 hours. We dropped the car off in a carpark and paid the ranger who pointed us in the right direction and soon came across some daisy looking swiss cows with bells or should I say Slovenian cows! Who happen to point us in the right direction up the old river bed track. It took about an hour to reach where they paraglide off the hill down into the valley below, we even got to watch a pair run for it and take off, just awesome! one day soon I hope!

Along the way we passed a few cute wooden huts with rolling meadows and lovely flowers and mushrooms, we felt like we were on a screen set. The feet started to hurt on the heels as our feet weren't accustomed to shoes from months of jandals why would they be?! so we stopped for an apple and band-aids along a gravel road which it turned out we shouldn't have been on but didn't discover that until later that day. We walked on for another hour and managed to get to another carpark which confused us so we made the decision to find a tiny footpath marked on the map we had (thanking our lucky stars!) we found what we thought was a footpath which passed through a few giant ant hills made up of pine needles - wouldn't want to fall on one of those!

The path eventually led to a red dot trail with no path per say just spot the dot so after an hour or more of only speaking the one word 'red' or 'dot' and losing the red dot a few times and Tom walking circles around me to find it again we came across a valley with a red dot with a white ring around it so we followed this trail up and over a huge peak, at this point I thought I was going to die in the forest but Tom insisted on the map we were meant to walk between two peaks. We reached the top and passed over a pretty meadow which would have been great for camping on and descended down towards a hut! it had only taken us 5 hours! one way!

The funny thing was we had completely bypassed the hut by the lake we were aiming for and had walked on an unmarked trail to the hut which was further on. After a speedy lunch more like afternoon tea! we high tailed it out of there with our hot tea in hand as we were starting to worry about the fading sunshine. A couple with a young baby passed through as we were eating which we had seen on the first part of the track but had disappeared at a cross road which we now realized is where we turned down the wrong way.

We motored it down in 2 hours as if it got dark we had no light (another silly mistake we won't make again!) we passed people which gave us confidence that we would make it out before it got dark, but we were still relieved to see daisy the cow again. It was a hard descend on river stones all the way down, our poor knees and by the end of the walk our heels were a little worst for wear. We definitely punished ourselves on that walk and forgot all about Smurf that day. It was satisfying after we came out alive but it was a hard 7 hour tramp with a little off roading for added adventure. The reheated pasta that night never tasted so good.

The next morning we enjoyed the sun in the campsite while naming and feeding the baby duckies before we packed up camp, dried off in the sun, hobbled to the showers and took the scenic 30 minute drive to Lake Bled. We pulled up to the campsite on the opposite side of the lake from the town and next to about 40 GB campers on some sort of tour camper trip for oldies. We even spotted our first truck style camper with side panels that extended out to create mini rooms, people with too much money!

With no bikes (keeping Smurf company) we walked the 30 minutes into town along the lake front in the sun. Even caught a few glimpses of gondola boats rowing to the island church which was just stunning out in the middle of the lake. We stopped for a spot of goulash soup with dumplings finished with a good news phone call from Marin the Croatian mechanic. Smurfy was ready when we were! Now to withdraw our euros as he didn't want kunas!

We strolled back to camp, feeling positive. We had a clean load of washing on the line - clean undies! and the van was fixed. Our neighbours also turned out to be Aussies with Wickedcampers.co.uk hired van so we joined them for a few drinks and compared van stories.

Before we hightailed it out of Slovenia we picked up some famous Bled cake (custard square meets a lot of cream) and enjoyed it in Ljlubjana where I walked around with a bundle of cash in my leg pocket feeling nervous. We made it back to Zadar for the second time in record time. Marin was waiting with a friend who could speak English and explained what had happened to our engine. It would seem we ran him dry. Bone dry with only half a litre left to drip out. We finally worked out the dipstick to check the oil level (the longest one I have ever seen!) was going in too far so when the oil level was getting low we thought it was still max. It is crazy that such a simple thing can have disastrous results. You live and learn at an expensive cost!

G