WEEK 8 - CROATIA - korcula - saturday 12 june 2010 - thursday 17 june 2010

we headed to korcula [say cortula] today, via the bus and car ferry. the trip took about 4 hours, and the bus swayed a bit, so i felt a bit car sick by the end of it! highlight was eating a bounty ice cream bar on the car ferry YUM!

we arrived at Nada’s house in the little village of Pupnat [say Putna] and got settled. the water pump had just been replaced, but wasnt working when we got here, so we got water out of the well [so cool!] and just washed the old way with a bucket! we went next door to the only cafe in Pupnat for dinner and had a lovely dinner, i had the meat and macaroni, sooo good! and we had this gorgeous starter platter with beautiful proscuitto and this amazing eggplant dip, i tried to acquire the recipe, but to no avail!

we had dinner there again the next night after spending the day in the town of korcula looking around the shops. fiona and i tried to find some cross stitch to do, but there are no craft shops here :( just lots of paintings and jewellery to buy.
we went for a walk around pupnat, and looked at all of nada's olf family homes, and her friends home, many of which have been abandoned with people heading to australia or nz for more opportunites.

i also met a really cute cat, that swirled around my legs, she was sooo skinny and i felt sad for her, so i named her Swirley [dumb i know] and gave her some food. then she brought her cute wee kittens over! so i fed them too, and then they were at the bottom of the kitchen window every day, playing and waiting for fodd. they are so cute. i named the kittens Ginga and Scat [scat is a bit scared and scattery, hence his name]

on monday we went back into korcula again for a look around and a swim which was nice, the water is so clear and blue.
on tuesday ash and joseph stayed at home, and fiona, nada and i caught the bus into korcula to try and get our nails done, but the place was booked up until the following week,  so we headed to the cafe and sat and had lunch and watched the all whites play and kind of win YAY! then chilled by the ocean and sunbathed and swam, very relaxing! :)

on wednesday we headed down to vela luka which is on the other side of the island to korcula town, and its a pretty village town thing, and we peeked in a few shops, stopped at a bar and had a lunchtime wine, and met a lovely couple who were travelling from holland for two weeks around croatia. we then walked around the waterfront and had a lovely lunch at this neat restaurant that was covered in vines overlooking the water.

we then carried on walking around the water front to the other side to the tiny beach for a swim. it was definately my favourite swim so far! the bar next to the beach was playing relaxing music, and it was the perfect music to set the lazy relaxing mood for a refreshing swim in the 33 degree weather!

we didnt fancy the 45min walk back around the bay to the bus, so fiona organised the local dive club to drive us over on a boat for 50 kuna! [$12.50]
the one thing that really boggles my mind is they dont serve iced coffees, iced chocolates or hot chocolates or mochaccinos over here! so unusual! oh well.
thursday today and we headed back into korcula to use the internet and sort out our accommodation and buses to get back to dubrovnik next friday. we rang a few people on skype which was fun too :)
its josephs birthday tomorrow, so ill try and find a cake mix and bake something :)