After we said goodbye to the people who were leaving and hello to the five newbies (Peggy and Gwen, friends from Canada, David from Canada, Ina my lovely Aussie roommate, and Fenella from the UK), we headed down to the port and caught the ship out to Korcula Island. Peggy, Gwen, and Fenella were only with us for our week in Croatia (on the Jewels of Croatia tour), but Ina and David joined for four weeks, and are still on tour with Sara now (on the Balkans Encompassed tour). The first thing that happened when we got on the ship was that everyone dumped their bags and walked off to get coffee or have a look around the ship, and I suddenly found myself alone. That was the first time that’d happened to me over the whole three weeks, and it was not a welcome feeling. So I wandered around and had a look and then came back to where our bags were, and sat down with Kim and Sara.
The next thing that happened was that Kim told Sara (our tour leader) that her roommate Fenella was a snorer. I said Ina did as well, meaning that won’t work so you might as well leave the roommates how they are, but Sara took it the other way and said “right, you two are rooming together now”. So there it was, I had a new roommate for the second time in two days.
It was only a few hours to Korcula, so we got there, went to our hotel, and walked back into town in time for a late lunch. There’s not a lot there, it’s just a nice island with a nice but small town, so we didn’t even have our usual orientation tour. I had lunch with Kim and Ina, and then they wandered off in two different directions, and again I was by myself. I went and found an ice cream, then sat at the water’s edge, right by the town, to eat it. Then I went for a walk through the town, which took all of five minutes, and on the way I ran into Sue and Vince, an Aussie couple who were on our tour, who I really like. The first thing Vince said to me was “we’ve just been talking about you”. I said oh yeah, why’s that? And he said “We were thinking you must be really lonely, now that your friends are gone”. Far too close to the mark. I was doing my unsuccessful best not to cry. They told me that anytime I wanted to I could go and hang out with them or go with them for a meal, which was incredibly kind and just what I needed to hear at that stage. When I left them, I went to see if I could find Marsha and Cameron at the beach, but by the time I got there Cameron was in town looking for lunch, and Marsha was leaving to head home.
This is my own record of my trip, as much as for everyone else’s information, so I am going to be quite honest here. I was very alone at this stage, and for the first time on this trip I had to deal with myself, if you know what I mean. Normally I’m quite happy in my own company, I lived by myself for over a year and I loved it, but a few months before I left home the guy that I was seeing ended things with me. It wasn’t unexpected, and it was on good terms, but it was very painful. Until Croatia, I’d managed to bury myself with work, getting organised to leave the country, seeing all my friends, and when I came overseas I was rushing around trying to do everything and having a good time with the friends I made on the tour. So when I suddenly started spending a lot of time on my own, trust me, it really wasn’t pretty.
Anyhow. Enough of that.
That night was the first night on the trip that we’d had a full kitchen at our disposal, so most of us took the opportunity. I had ham, cheese and tomato toasties; others cooked full meals. We were only there for the one night, so everybody was home by 9pm and we were all in bed by 10pm.
We caught the catamaran to Hvar Island the next morning, which was much faster than the ship that had taken us to Korcula. We were there in a couple of hours, if that. I think we had to be on the boat at about 6am, so I don’t know about anybody else but I slept most of the way.
Hvar Island and Hvar town, where we stayed, were very, very touristy but very picturesque. We were there at the tail end of the tourist season, so it was much quieter than it might have been, and very enjoyable. We had two full days there, because we were there at about 8am the first day, so I spent most of my time sitting in the best café in the town with Sara the tour leader and sometimes Cameron and Marsha, and walking around the coastline, and sitting on the rocks or swimming. There aren’t any sand beaches, only big sheets of rock. Everything you hear about Croatia’s islands is true – it’s so beautiful, and the water is incredibly clear. However deep it is, you can still see right to the bottom. It gets deep fast too, it drops right away from the shore.
Vince and Sue really came through for me in Hvar, they took me for a swim and an ice cream when I’d been feeling really down. You can’t be sad around Vince, he’s always noisy and laughing and joking, and is one of the most Australian Australians I’ve ever met, if you know what I mean. Sue’s very softly spoken but loves to chat once she gets going. The three of us talked for hours and hours over the time we were together, on buses and at beaches. After our swim, I went for a run, which helped a lot as well. Then the nice man who was staying at the next accommodation over slipped me the password to the wireless internet, which I wasn’t meant to have. He wrote it on a bit of scrap paper and threw it over the fence to me. So it turned out to be a good afternoon.
Sara wasn’t really into letting us sleep in while we were in Croatia. The next morning we had to be at the port ready to leave at 720am! Luckily there was somewhere open to buy coffee…
The next thing that happened was that Kim told Sara (our tour leader) that her roommate Fenella was a snorer. I said Ina did as well, meaning that won’t work so you might as well leave the roommates how they are, but Sara took it the other way and said “right, you two are rooming together now”. So there it was, I had a new roommate for the second time in two days.
It was only a few hours to Korcula, so we got there, went to our hotel, and walked back into town in time for a late lunch. There’s not a lot there, it’s just a nice island with a nice but small town, so we didn’t even have our usual orientation tour. I had lunch with Kim and Ina, and then they wandered off in two different directions, and again I was by myself. I went and found an ice cream, then sat at the water’s edge, right by the town, to eat it. Then I went for a walk through the town, which took all of five minutes, and on the way I ran into Sue and Vince, an Aussie couple who were on our tour, who I really like. The first thing Vince said to me was “we’ve just been talking about you”. I said oh yeah, why’s that? And he said “We were thinking you must be really lonely, now that your friends are gone”. Far too close to the mark. I was doing my unsuccessful best not to cry. They told me that anytime I wanted to I could go and hang out with them or go with them for a meal, which was incredibly kind and just what I needed to hear at that stage. When I left them, I went to see if I could find Marsha and Cameron at the beach, but by the time I got there Cameron was in town looking for lunch, and Marsha was leaving to head home.
This is my own record of my trip, as much as for everyone else’s information, so I am going to be quite honest here. I was very alone at this stage, and for the first time on this trip I had to deal with myself, if you know what I mean. Normally I’m quite happy in my own company, I lived by myself for over a year and I loved it, but a few months before I left home the guy that I was seeing ended things with me. It wasn’t unexpected, and it was on good terms, but it was very painful. Until Croatia, I’d managed to bury myself with work, getting organised to leave the country, seeing all my friends, and when I came overseas I was rushing around trying to do everything and having a good time with the friends I made on the tour. So when I suddenly started spending a lot of time on my own, trust me, it really wasn’t pretty.
Anyhow. Enough of that.
That night was the first night on the trip that we’d had a full kitchen at our disposal, so most of us took the opportunity. I had ham, cheese and tomato toasties; others cooked full meals. We were only there for the one night, so everybody was home by 9pm and we were all in bed by 10pm.
We caught the catamaran to Hvar Island the next morning, which was much faster than the ship that had taken us to Korcula. We were there in a couple of hours, if that. I think we had to be on the boat at about 6am, so I don’t know about anybody else but I slept most of the way.
Hvar Island and Hvar town, where we stayed, were very, very touristy but very picturesque. We were there at the tail end of the tourist season, so it was much quieter than it might have been, and very enjoyable. We had two full days there, because we were there at about 8am the first day, so I spent most of my time sitting in the best café in the town with Sara the tour leader and sometimes Cameron and Marsha, and walking around the coastline, and sitting on the rocks or swimming. There aren’t any sand beaches, only big sheets of rock. Everything you hear about Croatia’s islands is true – it’s so beautiful, and the water is incredibly clear. However deep it is, you can still see right to the bottom. It gets deep fast too, it drops right away from the shore.
Vince and Sue really came through for me in Hvar, they took me for a swim and an ice cream when I’d been feeling really down. You can’t be sad around Vince, he’s always noisy and laughing and joking, and is one of the most Australian Australians I’ve ever met, if you know what I mean. Sue’s very softly spoken but loves to chat once she gets going. The three of us talked for hours and hours over the time we were together, on buses and at beaches. After our swim, I went for a run, which helped a lot as well. Then the nice man who was staying at the next accommodation over slipped me the password to the wireless internet, which I wasn’t meant to have. He wrote it on a bit of scrap paper and threw it over the fence to me. So it turned out to be a good afternoon.
Sara wasn’t really into letting us sleep in while we were in Croatia. The next morning we had to be at the port ready to leave at 720am! Luckily there was somewhere open to buy coffee…
Aww I miss you and love you Laura!
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