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Rhonda Kraak
Rhonda Kraak

Rhonda Kraak

📍 Croatia Read more
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  • Rhonda KraakFinding MiloTraveler

    Ferry Crash and Filthy Football

    May 9 in Croatia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Rhonda slept in so it was a rushed pack and fry up of our daily eggs and toast. We clambered down the many steps and saw our ferry rushing in at a great speed of knots and hurried our stride, in our mind’s eye thinking the vessel’s speed rathan unwarranted… nek minut… CRASH, SCRAPE and CRUNCH !! 👀 👀 👀 🫣😳 the ferry had crashed partly onto the solid stone pier!! Then to our amazement it back pedaled at just the same speed, then came in a slightly different angle, and at the expected speed. Our own disbelief mirrored in our fellow passenger’s faces.

    The crew disembarked, came and had a look. I think one older fella took a photo and then they proceeded to collect tickets as though nothing happened. I wasn’t the only one taking photos amongst the passengers. Maybe it’s not so bad living in a nanny country. Obviously it had been decided that we wouldn’t sync as the scrape may have only been superficial. I think the shock caused me to forget that I had already purchased tickets, when we handed the wrong tickets and then I purchased another €125 worth of tickets, and then handed the Steward the original tickets. 🤪 (TP Line assured me of a refund).

    Moving along, we arrived at the ferry Inlet of Korcula. I thought would take some beating but the truly beautiful tree-lined path, dotted by gorgeous stone washed Michelin restaurants and cafes, looked so much like a scene from my favourite “Durrells” the azure green and blue sparking oceans gently lapping the limestones rock walls.

    There was nothing for it but to don our togs and dive into such crystal clear beauty. My first dip was was quite toe-numbing but I could not resist and plunged in. Okay it was Antartically cold but very refreshing, and I managed to convince a few of our tribe to join me.

    Our Tribe leader venturing in sandal-less and may have caressed the urchin with his big clod hoppers but this was nothing compared to the refreshing experience. It did however unfortunately prevent some of the rest of the party from joining us as they had shipped out their handheld encyclopedias to check out first aid for sea urchin caresses. It was as I suspected and Croatian sea urchins don’t hurt. Actually, I think it’s just the Australian creatures that are dangerous in pretty much dangerous in every department 🇦🇺 🐙

    I reckon I lasted about 20 minutes and then the cold had become too much for even me. I did manage to talk an uninhibited American tourist into joining me but she also did not last long.

    I was later approached by some Australian tourists asking if it was me swimming in the ocean and how cold it was. Of course I told them it wasn’t cold 😁

    Eric and I found a lovely lunch restaurant and gorged on basil risotto at truffle handmade fettuccine. Not exactly Croatian but very delicious.

    With an explored the exceptionally ancient city, climbed the largest bell tower. It managed to ring without me pulling on the wires, which was exciting. I’m not sure how Eric meant to squeeze up the tiny staircases, very impressive!

    It was then time to find a bar to watch Manchester city meet some other English soccer team. Took me awhile to realise I was using the wrong term asking for directions and changed my wording to ‘football’. We had previously found a nice establishment but guarantee Wi-Fi, so we found our way to a very dodgy smelly looking room and coerced the bored and surly looking barman into turning on the soccer and then later turning off his loud 80s rock and letting us hear the commentary (which turned out to be Croatian but we couldn’t bring ourselves to get him turn it off) Being loyal fans we understood Mannie’s need to support his team so we enjoyed it even though I kept cheering for the incorrect team. In protest at having had his favourite tunes turned off the barman crashed and banged in the kitchen drowning out the
    commentary that we couldn’t understand. Half time couldn’t come quick enough.

    Raquel and I escaped to watch the sunset and escape the smelly friends of the barman, the tribe boys sought out the original badly-receptioned bar.

    The sunset photograph and our eyes still full of its glow. we headed to find the boys. The hilarity could be heard a few steps away from the bar and the friendly Croatian barman appeared to be joining in the fun of the win 🏆. Pizza for dinner included a slightly eccentric Croatian barman with a fetish for Bob Marley, which he proudly boasted they played all day. He even turned the volume up for us and put on my request of ‘no woman no cry’ which he sang loudly after the song had finished. The pizzas were delicious and we followed it up with some delicious mascarpone and fig gelati!! A great day in all!!    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakFinding MiloTraveler

    Pharos and the empty taste

    May 8 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    With momentum rolling we
    made a plan to locally bus it to Stari Grad, Hvar but not before a quick discovery tour of more of my golden city albeit a bit fatter today with its swelled ranks of cruise shippers.

    The local Franciscan monastery with dates in the 1500’s was reconnoitred and an angelic flamenco-style chorus could be heard harmonising which drew us further in. The full performance treat appeared to be only for cruise paying passengers, who champagne in hand gathered to enjoy.

    Stari Grad: Very rocky countryside could be seen from the bus window: white limestone outcrops and ‘Van Gogh’ veridian green with the olive trees, dark cypress and pine.

    Not much was stirring in Stari but a general feeling of ennui. A quiet but slightly run down collection of stone houses and fairly desperate looking shop entries. Locals, few in number, sporting the Croatian uniform of matching top and bottom side-striped trackie and closely shaved -headed en masse milled in bars and cafes. In our strolling and slight limping (in Rhonda’s case) we discovered a secret gem in the original and a-typically large block foundation of a 4th century site. In 384BC the Greeks from the island of Paros came, conquered and founded a town they named Pharos.

    On return back to Hvar, a roof top pizza cafe was espied and warm sunshine accompanied our delicious pizza and ale, a cheeky young waiter adding to the enjoyment.

    The Spanish Fortress: this inelegant landmark dominates the Hvar skyline with its long fortressy tentacles reaching down into the town. Previous research has left me less than impressed with Spanish occupation’s ‘pirate-like’ standard of taking what you can and giving nothing back. But still the limestone colours and test of time engineering were passably tolerable and we added more steps to our fit bit tallies. William was also successfully coerced into taunting the English from a parapet!

    After a very cold swim on the roof top, we accepted an invitation to join the local high school’s home economics presentation of food and wine in the town square with ‘free’ being the draw card. We first queued to sample Milky Cocktails containing a strong mint/almond concoction which was enjoyed the most surprisingly by Eric. We then watched teams of slightly awkward school boys battle for a win in a gnocchi and sauce competition. The promise of free tasting was marred by the inability of the competitors to keep their spoons and hands out of the pots which resulted in only meagre scrapings on offer for the expectant bowl raised crowd.

    The organiser’s microphone call for an English speaking volunteer was answered by our Rach by pushing Manan forward and a familiar voice could be heard over the square’s sound system giving praise and very sensible commentary on the event. This unfortunately did not result in any food and we left to find succour slightly shameful with our unfruitful ‘scabbing’ attempts 😏.

    A local bus driver and her daughter run an excellent cheap pizza and homemade wine bistro but with the servings sizes not satisfactory for the boys, it was another trip to a family-run burger and chip shop closer to home. Our foreign-ness must be of some amusement to the staff who all crowded to listen to our orders with slight smiles in play.

    We enjoyed a second dinner on our roof top cafe/pool/viewpoint followed by a nostalgic viewing of Narnia movie. It is very pleasing to this mum to see my young enjoying such an innocent diversion 😍

    Tomorrow we ferry out to Korcula !    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakFinding MiloTraveler

    Hvar and the Eye of the Needle

    May 8 in Croatia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    I really pushed the optimism with this one! Our train Ljubljana to Zagreb showed 22 minutes running late at one stage, and we had 1.5 hour bag drop before flight from Zagreb to Split. Abject TERROR!! With growing tension and a few splits of opinion there were splits in camaraderie but the eye of the needle was eyed, square on and faced, and we made it with -1 minute to spare. The 20 kg bag limit seemed fairly flexible thankfully or maybe the check-in clerk wasn’t so interested? Weird mob these Croats. I haven’t quite worked them out. Landing in Split to store our luggage we followed very vague map directions to a pizza restaurant where we could, for the price of €180, store our big suitcases for six days. The owner led us down a garden path to a concrete shed… hopefully they won’t sell our belongings 😏 but if it works why worry? We actually had arrived two hours early for our ferry but enjoyed not rushing and found yummy grub and tried our first native Croatian ale. Everything moved like clockwork and we arrived in Hvar, the most glorious, ancient, golden city. Such a feast for the eyes but not exactly snorkelling weather in 17° with a light spit and gusts. More hiking up steps to our stone villa which afforded us superb views of the Spanish fortress and the town.

    Off and exploring we found the prices weren’t exactly Slovenian and opted to buy ingredients to cook in our modern, sparkly kitchen after a quick aperitif at a lovely cafe. Very much enjoying the late dinners and Eric is doing his best to cope with dinner not being at 6 pm. (Old codger!) The night was mild and the heavy scent of climbing jasmine wafted on our private deck.

    Two bedroom, 3 bathroom was very welcome to Bill who was on the couch, but very clean 🧽!    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakFinding MiloTraveler

    Emona and the Excellent Pad Thai

    May 6 in Slovenia ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Emona (Ljubljana): A Roman walled city, later destroyed in the 5th century by Attila the Hun.

    Well Attila, you were obviously a twit ! We loved Ljubljana!! Another 1.5 hour drive and despite numerous requests from the tribe for the address of our abode, gravity had taken hold of my eyelids. Eventually the address was discovered when the cold air and city noises revived my mien.

    We’ve been in the country so long it was revitalising to feel the energy of the city, enough for me to obtain the keys and walk to my bed and crash 🛌. Meanwhile Tribesmen Eric and Bill took it upon themselves to climb a small mountain, despite the offer of a cable car, and visit Ljubljana Castle.

    Still tired and becoming grumpy we searched out the train station. Major renovations happening we circled what look like a station a few times, found an also grumpy ticket sales booth and purchased tickets for Zagreb - platform unknown and we’d have to check in the morning.

    An aperitif spot was cleverly snapped and we watched the late sun’s golden hour glow on the river and architecture. I managed to get a great shot across the river (which will be a future painting) and my heart felt lighter. I took a picture of a statue that I really felt reflected the pain this resilient country had endured and it is a relief to see the unaffected smiles and soft faces of the youth having lived in the new era, as we passed them by.

    Osha - a veritable gold mine of fresh salads and lime juice, we simpered and slurped our way through 3 x excellent dishes and made friends with the Bangladeshi owner !!

    Our next stop the Dalmatian Coast to be transversed by ferries and swimming (hopefully). We distributed our necessary belongings into backpacks and prepared our suitcases for storage. An experiment I hope pays off.

    We slept well, most likely assisted by bumping both our heads repeatedly on the attic 45 degree angled roof of our accom.

    A bit of a scramble will be required for our 6:50am train (from platform unknown) uber, then a flight, uber, then a ferry to Hvar Island.

    I have loved this majestical contrasting county of towering karsts, green streams, trouts, donuts and spiky piercings and we depart with great memories, tighter pants and a few kgs extra 🍩 🩷 ⛰️ 🌲    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakFinding MiloTraveler

    Wet Cave Abandonmemt

    May 6 in Slovenia ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    A three hour drive on an empty stomach, squished between two others with a heavy suitcase on your lap was a great preparation for the rigours ahead. There is sizest descrimination happening in our tribe.

    Raincoats, beanies and merinos donned, our self-declared vampire 🧛 “Natasha’ led us dripping wet to a large metal dungeon door and the low stone walls swallowed us as we began our descent into the bowels of southern Slovenia.

    The cream, waxy walls and ‘tites’ looked like fake 50’s props but there was no faking the cavernous entire Grand Canyon that opened before our guide’s torch. Yes there was the river that sometimes floods and you could hear roaring and you spared a thought for the insanity of the explorers that floated in pitch darkness and carbide, evidence of their historic efforts apparent in tiny iron bridges and cut stairs at heights belying belief. As no photos were allowed i kept it just to 3 or 4 sneaky ones.

    So we came to daylight but, no, the engineers, the 4 of them, clamoured for more!!! (Sections 2 and 3) So I bravely offered to find the exit alone feigned enjoyment of the solitude and silence in the multitude of steps as I puffed my way up to some apparent cable lift.. The cable lift being discovered all I had to do was work out what exactly I was supposed to scan on the door scanner to initiate the 5 minute wait for the cable lift to arrive. I guess the entry ticket would suffice if it wasn’t in Manny’s engineering pocket up with the engineering cave conference not meant for typists.

    I rang all four engineers but not a chance of being answered. I rang the group messenger chat and ‘lo and behold the angelic musical dolcet tones of Bek the Violinist in Brisbane calmed my panicked typists heart and the machinations of the cable lift began lowering into the depths to save me.

    Nothing for it but a homemade beer as I waited for the nerds to come out of the depths.

    Onto Ljubljana…    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakFinding MiloTraveler

    Slapping Brda

    May 5 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Slow start to the day and to cut costs Mum is now frying eggs for breakfast. As we hadn’t seen anything remotely green or red for days frozen spinach smushed its way into the mix 🌱

    After much deliberation and pulling over, reversing for cranky tractors we decided to brave the 3 hour trip south to the “must try” Brda wine region at the recommendation of our rafting guide, despite the inclement weather.

    A quick slap to the face from Slap Vjdre’s waterfall spray was needed to wake us up from our morning stupor and a steep gradient hike reminded us of every muscle used the day before. Our reward: a very deep green waterhole caused by obviously lots of slaps.

    Crossing the border to Italy seemed the quicker route and the border guards appeared more interested in their mobiles as we drove slowly though the border crossing. Eric got to show off his newfound Italian proficiency and ordered us burger+beer+coffee and I think made a friend. The rain was turning a bit slappish as we drove on.

    The winery turned out to be a large round concrete Cold War-style concrete structure in a hive of activity and vehicles. Our fast talking broken English guide led us through giant concrete and steel vessels with proud stories of the local nobility’s invention of trellised grape growing 🤔 The cellar was very large, dark and mouldy and like a kidnapping scene from a James Bond movie. A round-spectacled, one glass-eyed, heavy set scientist with clipboard was expected at every dank turn. On we went through the underground tunnels until finally we were led into a bright, modern tasting room with lovely views and shining crystal glassware. Fresh breadsticks and olives and an encyclopedia info kit and note paper had been prepared and we were given an €18 euro credit card that slotted into machines in a self sip setup. The Rubela was very nice and light with steel, enamel and brick (?) not oak being the preferred method of winemaking.

    A small Krosnian baker girl had been discovered by tribesman Manny and we shared and scoffed more pastries and an amazing kebab. Eric had to be returned to squish us in the backseat for the return trip home due to Rach’s ‘apparent’ carsick.

    In the cold rain a call for soup was overruled by the hungry meat eating Neanderthals of our tribe so I sipped my soup alone, at my table for one at the Stiff Trout Cafe and grumpily tried not to overhear the Americans at adjoining tables loud and proud recantations. Youngest tribesman Bill lent some comfort and escort 🩷

    Tomorrow it’s the very large caves and late afternoon exploration of Lujbljana our capital on offer.    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakFinding MiloTraveler

    Alps, Paddles and Stiff Trouts

    May 4 in Slovenia ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    I’ve been uneasy ever since I made the entry in the itinerary for Slemenova špica 😭🫣😳 Elevation Gain: Approx. 350–400
    meters. I had planned on becoming so very fit like the rest of the tribe but best laid plans and motivation all mysteriously went astray.

    Still, I strapped on my $20 secondhand boots (planning to donate tomorrow to the town) prepared our packs and our nerve and Passated through the hairpinned Vrsic pass to the feet of the giant mountain ⛰️

    Info: from Kranjska Gora to Boveç: The Vršič Pass (1,611m) is Slovenia's highest road pass, renowned for its 50 hairpin turns and deep connections to WWI rather than WWII, having been built by Russian POWs between 1915–1917.

    Adding to the drama was the very narrowness of the pass but our fearless driver Mannie handled it with ease, despite my squawks and gasps from the backseat! Mind you I did have 101 kg and a fat suitcase pressing on me squeezed next to Eric in the middle of the backseat.

    The time came to see if I was made of more than Irish bluff and Dutch courage and we tentatively approached the start, where a large group of very fit looking young hikers were jostling to be the first to show off their fitness and prowess.

    The dyspnea started much earlier than anticipated and the terror of being the weakest link forced me to puff and pant and gasp through the 200m climb on crumbly limestone. To the relief of my fellow scramblers I did not have air enough to complain. But reach the summit we did and our reward was to photograph (at long length) the very fit and young bunch of Latvian hikers!

    I had achieved the summit, and not embarrassed myself, in spite of the ill-fitting, cheap boots and lack of oxygen and fitness.

    But what we faced… a towering cathedral ring of mountains, soft patches of white snow clinging to ledges and ridges and an icy beenie-defying wind whispering tales of long forgotten bravery and solitude.

    But then there was the ice. Foot deep, slushy and very slippery! Our sneakers improvising into skates, we hesitantly slid further down the track, our sandle-clad tribe member dancing with the cold toes.

    An impromptu health and safety meeting ensued and with changed the conditions the only risk left to eliminate was going forward. Ha! My relief was immediate and total. We retraced steps and began the knee jolting, toe changing slide down the scree, still hailing the majesty of the blue church of stone.

    As if we hadn’t used enough adrenaline already, the tribe were mad keen for an afternoon of being tossed in a storm of raging white water. Lunch was quickly inhaled and we were picked up in a flashy van and taken to not the newest shed, where a young assistant scrolled and tapped my phone, nodding and then we parted with €275 🤑. A wetsuited ‘guru’ threw overall-shaped wetsuits, helmets and boots at us and after pinning our countries on a world map we careened in our green van to the rapids.

    After the briefest of briefings and raft seating allocation we were floating on calm green swirls and educated on “forward” “back” and “stop” with the volume issuing determining how hard and urgent we needed to row.

    The Dachstein limestone rocks beneath and above us artfully created a striking emerald-green and turquoise color, driven by limestone particles (rock flour) reflecting light in the water: I was in colour heaven!

    About halfway we pulled up at a big rock, flipped the raft on top and proceeded to slippery slide down the raft to crash into the icy verdant swirl (Eric the grey included) The group already occupying the large rock failed to follow instructions and four giggling helmets could be seen floating away down the stream, and had to be rescued. Needless to say after the shock of ice hitting the face it was a big priority to surface and madly flail to grab the rope and haul your wet rubber weight out of the freeze.

    We then progressed to the more dangerous rapid levels 3 and 4 which resulted in louder yelling, frantic paddling and much bouncing into boulders. One more violent bounce proved too much for my small feet purchased in the footstraps and airborne I became.

    Thankfully I recalled the previous instruction to hurl yourself in the boat and landed on the bottom, still with paddle in hand. Our authoritative local guide gave praise but I really think it was more that he had given good instructions.

    With no further close calls we safely arrived in calmer waters, with the tribe celebrating with a wrestle and dunking match in the still freezing aqua playpark.

    Trout being the celebrated local fare we ordered differing styles of serving from the menu, the local creation consisting of a long, stiff, salt crusted, unappealing looking offering but looks aren’t everything and we thoroughly enjoyed our postrv!!    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakFinding MiloTraveler

    Donuts and Trout

    May 3 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Slovenian breads and pastries bread 🍞 Being Sunday we had to travel a bit further for our carb-fuelled fast break. Pistachio donuts yes please !!!! Soft folds of filo encasing fresh cheese, Milka filled croissants. We were in pastry heaven and weren’t even allowed to buy the bananas, no they were whisked away as we didn’t write the price on them. Would just have to be donut manna for today 🥳

    Feeling guilty we planned a trek after finally waking sleeping beauty as 10am. Bill suggested we check Eric was breathing. Nice 9k hike, dodging cyclists and some hearty beef goulash and sausage for lunch after visiting the ‘springs’.

    Intrigued by the apparent wildness of your Slovenian 🇸🇮 Unusual tattoos and piercings, to say nothing of crazy undercuts. Note to self to check previous Eurovision entries 😝 There is also very little eye contact which is a direct contrast to the ‘baleful’. But they have been friendly and helpful and we loved them, antics and all ! After more pasta and mushroom soup we gladly crashed after successfully staying up late enough to beat the jet lag. Managed to catch the culprit of the poo smells! A late afternoon walk to the church in the cemetery resulted in strange looks from the locals who had not seen people sitting in the paddock before 🫣    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakFinding MiloTraveler

    The Podkoren Princess and the peas

    May 3 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    With the sun setting we passated up the altitudes to our alpine accommodation, marvelling at the Julian alps and crisscrossing slip streams through our sun roof. Podkoren, with roots potentially dating back to Roman times, with many homes in the village retaining late Gothic structural elements and a distinct bovine manure smell of barn housing. As we had been travelling for almost 48 hours pasta is some sort of faint memory and clambering up the most uneven, giant size steps of our 500-year-old hotel.

    I awoke at 5.30am in my 500 year old pea-filled mattress and marveled at my ability to first, sleep and second, to not be covered in bruises. Surprisingly my husband was still asleep blissfully unaware of the rock on which he slept, but as usual in his typical angel-touched snoreless repose with hands clasped under his square jawline and cheek. Such perfection 😏 and never in contention for the Kearney Fishing Trip Snoring Trophy - that would be me.

    The morning sun fulfilled the previous night’s promise of stunning scenery and I marvelled at the jagged peaked alpine scenery and tip toed out, camera in hand.

    I’ve decided that a horse is responsible for the malodorous assault on my nostrils, not that any could be seen, but I did hear a few stomps as I passed many a shingled ancient barn. Makes you feel sorry for the Australian beast of burden that will never feel the comfort of a barn and straw but is left to brave the elements and eat prickly pear.

    I was alone in my uncoordinated ramblings and very much enjoyed sharing the crisp start to the day with the purple mountaintops, resisting the strong urge to break into a Julie Andrew’s sonorous praise of their beauty. My hands numb I headed back to my water heated castle in anticipation of the bakery delights these alpine country produce!!    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakFinding MiloTraveler

    Lake Custard Slice

    May 2 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    It wasn’t really a layover in Istanbul, but a cheaper way to obtain our final destination of Ljubljana with hours to kill and Istanbul to cross.

    ‘Baleful’ a new word I’m applying to the Turkish personnel when I ask for help, followed by a vague gesture to some far unachievable destination as we manoeuvred the labyrinth of large airports, fast moving buggies and dodgy lounge buffets.

    Lounge we did, dining on mainly mashed potatoes and 5 types of cheese, one turning out to be butter but still quite as tasty!

    Pretty sure we slept the entire last leg but were jolted into consciousness with some strong Slavic tail winds and turbulence and a bumpy landing, awarded with lots of claps and cheering from our youthful co-passengers.

    Optimistic estimating being my superpower 💪 I estimated a VW Golf would be the ticket for 5x🧍‍♀️and 5x🧳 and also estimated that 4 engineers would mecano them all in but it was retraced steps back to the rental office with the keys for a bigger car being my fate. Then a good 30 mins of futuristic high tech interpretation ensued to decipher the mystical workings of a sun roofed, back massaging Passat, with seats that slide you around at will.

    Manan was given the task of flicking and adjusting to right-hand-side driving and we wound our way through postcard villages to the picture postcard perfection of Lake Bled.

    A quintessential fairytale-like scene shimmered before us as the full expanse of Lake Bled lazily unfolded into view. The ‘must-try’ wobbly custard slice and cold pints of Radler were our prize as we managed to a bags an instagram-worthy lakeside umbrellard table in an old-worldly haze of jazz and historic nostalgia.    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakFinding MiloTraveler

    Flying in the zone

    May 2 in Turkey ⋅ 🌧 4 °C

    Departing Brisbane our Uber XL not being so XL some new yoga positions were discovered!

    A jolly flight was had by all thanks to the size of the unmeasured slugs of aperitif administered by the stewardess’ 😉 21 hours of eating, movies and snoozing very easy way to spend a day 🙂‍↔️

    Flying into Istanbul and interpreting the map through bleary eyes I think we were flew over Pakistan, Turkmenistan, all the stans and then the southern part of Türkiye and finally over the Black Sea into Istanbul. I was devo, one again, to cancel Mesopotamia from our trip - next time!

    Istanbul Airport: Early morning pistachio lattes in 10°C waiting for our airport shuttle. Crossed the Bosphorus!! 🌉 (see pic
    )

    Our itinerary is Slovenia (with lunch in Italy) Croatia: Hvar-Split-Dubrovnik, Italy: Sicily, Greece: Corfu-Athens then a final two days in Istanbul!!

    So hang on to the braided tassels of our Turkish silk magic carpet ride and hopefully some funny, not too scary, anecdotes ensue!!    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakIndonesia 🙆Traveler

    Mossy Ubud

    July 28, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Like a scene from a Laura Croft adventure Ubud rises out of the jungle, elephant-grey in colour with delicate arches, temple walls and fluroscent flowers. The main street heaves with humanity and every form of diesely contraption. Surprisingly so many Tattoo shops as doesn't appear to be Hindu traditions but like Kuta everything seems to focus on the tourists.

    Dumped the boys at our accommodation: Nick's Hidden (in a rice padi) Cottages and a minibus pulled up for our cooking class in the hills. 'Rubber time' (like island time but more flexible) in full swing our 1.5 hour class went for 4 hours but notice we did not as we were busy with the freshest galangal, garlic and kaffir limes on chopping blocks of tamarind wood and pestleing and frying up a feast. The chef was amazing and we learnt heaps but not sure the 3 hours preparation will translate to my kitchen after work day or should I say the couch?

    Van driver chickened out and dropped us at first opportunity with 20 mins still to walk. Slacker but walking was much faster than peak hour Ubud traffic. The boys messaged they had found a Mexican cantina which meant theyd found some cold ones and snacks. Being a bali belly day I went back to our temple-like digs to rest. Can't remember anymore about that day...

    Massage Day 😄
    Bill and Eric, excited maybe by the Laura Croft ideal, ventured out early and found some monkey friends and a not so friendly stray dog. Eric being the only one conned into rabies vax ($700 worth) they retreated.

    How to choose the right massage from 297 listed establishments and to avoid criticism from those naughty travellers that don't contribute to research 🤔 but complain.

    Bill and I did well and we had 3 x blissful massages. Eric didn't fare as well as he was left with the 'vely special' male masseur who was apparently mute and didn't hear Eric's groans of pain.

    After a very strong pain killing lunch (margaritas to blame) we joined the western throng in shopping pilgrimage. So many shops !!

    Sun came out in the arvo bringing with it memories of FNQ and Kuranda and the heat that matches with it. We were refreshed in our beautiful deep blue pool before heading out for our last night in this diversely beautiful country.

    Mexican cantina for dinner and all that comes with it when it's $8 a cocktail. After dinner, dream-like we followed the vibes to find the source of familiar guitar tunes that were floating on the balmy mist. A 4 piece boy band was in full swing and playing everyones personal favourites. We settled in with a couple from Manchester and sang our nostalgic hearts out even getting up for a boogie.

    Early start and sad thoughts of the wonderful and cultural interlude coming to an end. Without my glasses I mistook Kwells for nurofen and snored the 2 hour drive to the airport 'apparently'. No proof was given tho.

    As we say goodbye and thank you (Terima Kasih - “it is accepted with love we to” to this warm friendly tropical island group we wish you all the best with so many tourists and that you will keep your good will and tolerance candles burning bright 🙏 Jakarta with 32 million inhabitants and only 1/4 of the DV rates in Australia.

    An inspiration for us living with plenty to take some rubber time out, to improve our manners when behind the wheel, and to decorate our steps with flowers 🌺    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakIndonesia 🙆Traveler

    INXS in Bali

    July 25, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Sorry did I say INXS? I meant EXCESS.

    We have arrived in the land of excess but they were playing INXS.

    Not an easy juggle of conscience but we fell into the familiar ways of resort, food, cocktails, Bintang and lots of resting/lying about. A lot more attentive and inventive employment methods here but the majority of Bules have come to spend.

    Watched a beautiful sunset on a rooftop, serenaded by an amazing girl singing. Bought her a Bintang and we had a chat. We were feeling slightly shameful tipping equivalent of $1 AUD for the band to play our requests. I asked and she confirmed she is sick of tourists. Poor pet. Originally from Bandung she came to find employment. I have seen staff being treated pretty rudely by tourists sadly quite regularly.

    Conscience aside we have had a very relaxing time and Ramayana Resort has been beautiful with the most stunning orchids displays and attentive service. They miss nothing and are so obliging to help.

    No funny stories this time due to the reverse fleecing feelings.

    Hopefully Ubud will restore our equilibriums and peace ✌️ 🕊️ and I will feel free to join Eric in his Bintang 🩰    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakIndonesia 🙆Traveler

    Temples and tantrums

    July 24, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Too many episodes of Netflix made for a bleary start for a 9 hour day of temple visits.

    Once again fragile male egos have been the cause of the erection of sizeable temples or maybe just healthy family rivalry, but as a result of temper tantrums Borobudur (Buddhist) and Pranbanam (Hindu) still both stand really tall and have been carved from black basalt and look quite charcoal coloured. Lots of massive steps, shod in provided grass woven shoes and much needed water bottle swigs. Both temples have been razed to the ground multiple times by the earthquake thrown tantrums.

    I really liked the bells with the Buddha's inside at the top of Boro.

    Dinner is best not spoken of again with even Eric having something to say about the strange food, cutlery being held for ransom and the biggest crime against Australian humanity: luke warm beer. The tiredness also caused some tantrums of our own.

    Tomorrow we fly to the Isle of the Gods 💃    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakIndonesia 🙆Traveler

    Merapi Golf & ancient craft

    July 23, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    No championship results to record for our golf experience and no lava or explosions seen from Merapi hulking the sky behind us. Slightly confused by the extra four players hanging off the carts, we just rolled with it. Our un-speed-limited carts sped across the grass.

    Begging is illegal in Indonesia and there is much unemployment so the Javanese must deploy their inventiveness (hence the ghosts - performance busking and we have seen a collection can taped to the end of an active ukulele).

    The golf ⛳
    My first hit of many into the palms was rewarded by a visit from a ball gatherer (would be begger) who offered me a pack of balls and my caddy told me I had to pay $100,000 for the offering which gave much incentive to hit the ball straight. Much to my embarrassment this little grandma had singled me out as the weakest link 😭 and headed for the trees on the left again as that was obviously where my ball would go.

    Thankfully Eric wasn't having the best day either but his shots went further at least. Rachel and Bill powered ahead, the young caddy's all oohing and ahhring over Rachel's prowess 😬.

    My caddy 'Noodle' was fantastic at finding my balls even with the tropical flowers being the same colour as most of the balls. It was a beautiful course and very enjoyable except for Bills caddy who received the tackle of the week when Bill attempted to catch my wayward, high shot on the green and bowled her clean over. It took her a while to move but up she did get, her little mates no help as they were rolling around on the ground laughing.

    We decided to give our caddy's the 9th hole to play. After much consternation and reassurance they took the clubs and6t5 had a mad time running, hitting and giggling - they were hopeless which was surprising but had lots of fun just the same, with the role reversal of us polishing and proffering the desired club. International relations was the eventual winner.

    I managed to talk Rach and our guide, Dhedy, into driving to a regional area to buy handmade traditional batik, on a tip from Julia, the wise.

    A family home shed situation with very dodgy power extension combinations that melted the bees wax no trouble. With our little chanding tool we traced the pattern with hot oil onto cotton under the young daughters instructions, our guide informing me s Rach's was much better than mine 😒

    After parting with a slightly modest fortune we returned to Yogya to show off our purchases with some curiousity that the patterns and colours appearing not dissimilar to our first nations art and craft back home. 🤔 Further investigation required...

    Lunch was traditional rice and chicken, musically accompanied by 'Blind Boys of Yogyakarta'

    We garnered an 'Aussie' corner of our hotel pool on return for some Bintang time and laughed at The waitresses' reaction to Rach's most indecourous order of Bintang tallie - no glass.

    Tomorrow we head to the temples, stopping briefly for a 12pm video call job interview in the car red faced and messy hair with noisy aircon trying to keep up with 30 degrees humidity. Hopefully seen as tenancity and courage under fire 🤣    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakIndonesia 🙆Traveler

    Movie Stars✨ & Machetes

    July 22, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    With honeyed coaxing the prime, fat bule were herded up the hill, every step and drop of sweat recorded by the faithful camera crew retinue as we entered the forest. Just "one kee-lomita" we were encouraged as the elevation and puffing increased.

    The forest closed in and darkened, the track grew narrow and muddier as we starting passing coffee trees bursting with red beans that would easily sufficed for our slave labour... but still we stomped on, the video cameras and random's mobile phones filming the huffs and puffs. It was starting to feel like a movie but not with a good ending.

    After a lot more steps we paused and Koffee Kamal set the filmset crew and began to soliloquy the plantation's advantages straight down the lens, the green leaves and red beans of the coffee tree all around.

    We were then pushed up through the scrub to the most inaccessible bushel and shown the dexterous speed and efficiency required. Ants ran down our hands, leaves slapped our faces as our clumsy attempts did little to fill our baskets. The cameras eyes then moved to focus on Eric, the fattest one, and he blossomed and shone under the spotlight, posturating and pantomiming as directed.

    Meanwhile my suspicions of being kidnapped and buried grew as did my dire need for white porcelain. Eric finally appeared with his supporting actors and crew with lots of male guffawing and bravado.

    Then the machetes appeared... as did a gang of plantation workers all curious what the fuss was with the bules.

    In panic I determinedly intoned our intentions of wanting to leave but Eric was able to dodge the arrows I stared at him and continued to bask in the adoration. Eventually he picked up on my psycho panic vibe and intimated it was time to go but was still persuaded and press ganged into joining in the coffee washing process and a revelation of a 9th century temples on the return trek.

    The temple was very beautiful even though earthquakes had forced many rebuilds. A dreamlike and tranquil green floating cloud.

    To fast forward, we made it back, after copious coffees, profusions of wanting to leave, promises of fame and most importantly a once white porcelain throne.

    4 hours of traffic later we arrived at our accom, but in my weariness and hunger found I still found enough fault to force me to take action and find accom with less stained sheets.

    Phew 😐

    Dinner consisted of the blackboard special at our digs: 3 margherita pizzas and 3 mojitos for $20. Tomato-less and basil free circles of bread arrived and mojitos that had lost their rum. We had a lot to be thankful for narrowly escaping Eric being made their Jungle King George Clooney.    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakIndonesia 🙆Traveler

    The harvest and the paparazzi

    July 22, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Early start flying to Yogyakarta (Yogy) away from our beloved 'lations. Big kisses to Hoolia (Julia) and Sipupu for your amazingly generous hospitality 😁 Washerwoman Eric spent most of the night in the laundry 🤣 carry on luggage limiting our wardrobe

    Our guide, Dhedy, most punctually arrived and up to the higher plantation elevations we sped.

    The padi fields opened up before us and the road deteriorated as we chugged up to the mountains.

    Our lunch destination seemed a reasonable enough distance up the hill, through the wavering heat haze and doused in DEET and permethrin we trod carefully on a goat track slightly too narrow for Eric and Bill's big cloppers. Huffing, sweating and puffing we paused to chat with wizened putris (grandmothers) with elastic muscular skeletal systems, big smiles and daunting work ethics as they planted the rice in swaying, backwards moving formation.

    I came across the expression: "rukun agawe santosa, crah agawe bubrah" : our strength lies in our ability to work together. Java has amazed us with how all strive for tolerance and forbearance in all things despite there being 160 million people all needing to co-exist.

    Back to our hard slog 😉 we finally reached the, at times, seemingly mythical coffee shop and were treated to lunch in our own pagoda overlooking a vast, expansive view of green rice fields, lush rainforest and shimmering distant purple mountains. Lunch was waiting in neat woven boxes of the freshest and most tantalising treat of rendang, satay, noodles, yellow rice and fresh fruit; we squished our long caucasian legs into some form of cross leggedness - (Eric failed) to eat our Indonesian feast (after we swallowed a good handful of tummy tabs to be safe).

    Being a coffee plantation we were of course treated to a very smooth brew and then the paparazzi closed in...

    Being a new business the 'Bules' in the pagoda were prime fat marketing material. So along came Dodi the smooth, snake charmer and whisperer of coffee beans and with a large retinue of cameraman and curious randoms, our coffee picking apparatus provisioned, up the mountain we were marched to earn our lunch.

    To be continued...    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakIndonesia 🙆Traveler

    Million people view

    July 22, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Found the restaurant's cashier in a iPad size hole in the wall. 😊

    Some pics of our host's beautiful apartments and a view of 32 million people.

  • Rhonda KraakIndonesia 🙆Traveler

    Two bites in Bandung

    July 20, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    The second bite of chilli not being very enjoyable, we gave our host's weetbix and exotic fruits a very hearty welcome for breakfast. Fuelled, we procured a gutsy ute and started on our road trip to blessed, green and cool Bandung.

    Traffic expertly manoeuvred through by Sirpupu, we arrived at our luxury mountain chalet. Hot springs gushed through the green Feng Sui and we found ourselves in our private grotto sipping a lovely WA Riesling in tea cups, John Butler organically soothing us all and a knock at the gate brought us delicious spiced banana fritters, and some kind of banana/chocolate quasi soup herbal tea.

    The next morning our sirpupu's fearless little 💪 numbat from WA took the wheel and safaried us to the Tangkuban Perahu (volcano that produces the hot springs)
    It has a distinctive shape; it looks like an “overturned boat”. We watched the hot bubbling pools of liquid hot enough to melt a terminator 😁

    After a quick frollick in the tea bushels, that didn't smell like tea,
    we 4WDrived (with Eric supplying the traction) up a steep road to find the onsite waterfall. Very lovely cool spot, man-made and extremely beautifully cared for gardens and bonsai looking plants.

    The ute only fitting 5 pax, Rhonda and willing William volunteered the 2 hour taxi ride to Bandung to catch the fastest train in the world (338k) back to Jakarta. The fiery Padang was scared out of us by white corpse-costumed characters, moaning and baring teeth through the window in the stopped traffic. William slipping the obliging taxi man a 'tenner' the windows wound up and the aircon came on, forcing the ghouls to resort to pressing their faces against the closed windows and grimacing. See photos.

    Our trip: 30 min speed train, the others 3.5 hours by road. You can imagine how fast was the blur.

    Heading now to Hause Rooftop Bar while we await the others return.
    Mardi 🖐️    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakIndonesia 🙆Traveler

    Above the clouds

    July 19, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    Far too early and far more cold we set off for the airport, not able to sit down, our pockets bulging with phones and chargers nervous like jockeys for the 7k weigh-in.

    Not really surprised to see the Bali-bound newly minted millionaires beer-swillering at 6:30am. Better option than watching the origin replays on the big screen TVs 😵

    Landing in Denpasar we shook off 98% of our fellow travellers as we wound our way through myriads of tiled empty walkways to find our domestic flights.

     We fast became the 'bule' minority but only in looks as the locals seemed surprisingly English fluent. We feasted on our first Nasi Goreng and some strange square meatball soup Rach had to have.

    Timezone miscalculations aside, we arrived at the capital Jakarta, grabbed a 'Grab' driver and strapped ourselves in fully expecting another near death taxi transfer. To our surprise and shock we putt putted through the heaving traffic performing a graceful, but jerky ballet, as every size vehicle weaved and tucked in every which way but loose without incident. Minor miracle we thought 🙏 mind you no-one is driving about 40 clicks 🤣

    Had we found the planet Tolerance???

    After a quick bomb search of the taxi (consulate policy) and security eyeball we rolled into our sepupu's (cousins) flash stone tower digs.

    Dinner was a fiery affair of non stop Padang region dishes appearing. A tussle was made for the cold fruit plate when Bills mango smoothie (with corn kernels for decoration) emptied. Rach won the chilli eating contest, Bills lips swollen and Eric's face red and sweat mopped. Bules we were.

    We slept like the dead... Until a 5am very loud 30min sing sing from the church nextdoor with a pointy roof.

    All part of the cultural experience 😜 if you look hard a line of active volcanoes poking heads out in pics.    Read more

  • Rhonda KraakKraak caravanersaiTraveler

    Caves , Castles and Kasse

    September 30, 2023 in Switzerland ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

    We are staying in a lovely huge apartment in Bern with 5 generous flatmates but it does not seem cramped.

    Away in the big black van for more adventures we went and drove to the border with France to see an engineering milling feat which was well received by my 3. From a warm sunny day outside the temp dropped to maybe 10 degrees: 30 metres into the belly of the earth. We learnt that the medieval Swiss ate 850gms of bread a day and not much else 😵

    Then we peered over the edge of Swiss Grand Canyon - very deep Ruinaulta and marveled at the stone walls.

    Friday night saw us boarding an impossibly cramped train full of Friborg ice hockey fanatics as we sardined to the big stadium for some violence on ice. The drums, dancing and chanting were loud but intoxicating and we joined in as best we could wishing we could transport such a crowd for the upcoming NRL final.

    We begged respite for Sunday and lazily slept in. Then went to view the city of Bern, but didn't get far past an Irish Pub where we sessioned with 3 x Brisbanites and ruminated about where to watch the Broncos win on Sunday, sports bars all with afternoon opens. The publican was approached and said he would open early if we had 20 people. A very lame attempt was made to collar Swiss passes by with no success and we accepted our destiny of watching on Eric's ipad and made our unsteady way home up very steep hills 😅.

    If we didn't think it possible to eat more cheese we were wrong with on our arrival home a 'Raclette' party was in swing. The last round was Schnapps-covered and very nice but I could only watch having pulled out of the serving way earlier and had to lay on the couch to stop the cheese and gherkins coming out my ears.

    In a cheese fog we slept fitfully interrupted by stomach rumblings, visions of running Broncs and thoughts of packing for the long flight home.    Read more

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