After exploring Dubrovnik we took a 4 1/2 hour bus ride north to Split. The bus wound around the coast, one of the best bus rides we”ve been on, despite a local lady falling out of the moving bus and requiring an ambulance (!), and it reminded me of the Marlborough Sounds as the Bay was filled with green islands and mountains coming out of the misty haze. We had one border crossing in and out of the tiny coastal tip of Bosnia and Herzegovina where we had our passports checked. We passed many more olive groves and small churches set into the hills.

We arrived in Split tired and hungry and walked along the glamorous waterfront and up into the old town to find the Aussie-Croat hostel called Booze and Snooze. It was really central but full of rowdy Aussies drinking in the sun. We dropped our bags and went to explore Split (or Spalato in Italian) and ate more bread and cheese for dinner, as well as Burek which are cheese filled pastries that can be found everywhere in this part of the world.

Palm trees and yachts line Split's main boulevard

We left the Aussies to the beers and had an early night with a plan to get a catamaran to Hvar, one of Croatia’s most beautiful islands. We first walked up to the lookout above Croatia’s second biggest city and reminisced about the Mt Vic lookout in Wellington.  Before leaving Split we scouted for a travel agency to help us book accommodation on the Island as the main Information centres are not like the NZ I-sites we know and love. We found Daluma travel by the port and he set us up with two nights on the island in private accommodation, and the hosts would meet us at the port. It sounded all good until the wind was too strong for the catamaran and we had to catch the car ferry, and then a bus to get to Hvar Town.

We didn’t realise that Daluma travel was running around trying to find us because apparently the bus from the car ferry to Hvar Town only goes in Summer, and we are travelling at the very start of the season. It’s perfect for us though as the temperature is in the low 20s, we keep missing the rain and it’s still warm enough for us Kiwis to swim, and there are very few tourists around. There were a few bus loads of Octogenarians in Dubrovnik but there aren’t throngs of other visitors getting in our way!!!

On the bus from the ferry port to Hvar we found a two other kiwi couples who had just got to London and decided to come over to Croatia for a trip around as well. We were to bump into them often on the little island of Hvar.