Leaving the coast

We camped 2 nights on a small island at Trogir. The sun came out and we managed a swim in the pretty bay before a brief storm blew in. Probably our last swim for Croatia, if not the entire summer. 

Then we headed inland and had a great drive through rocky terrain, arriving in quite a different landscape at the Pltivicki Lakes National Park. We pulled into a restaurant car park that sported a camper sign to discover we could camp overnight in the car park for free. And better still, they were roasting a whole pig on a spit in the man cave at the front of the property. The temperature had dropped to a chilly 14 deg with a cold wind, and so the spit roasting shed seemed like a popular spot for the blokes of this small town to gather for a yarn, or just sit quietly and watch the traffic and goings on.

Having secured our accommodation we headed down the road to the lakes entrance. This is like a big DOC site, with paid parking, ticket booths, and an info centre that wasn't particularly helpful. There were a lot of large information boards, but none of them very clear or helpful. However Heather worked out the route we would take, got a ferry across the lake and headed off for what was meant to be a 3 hour walk on one of the shorter routes. The first obstacle was to get past two tour parties meandering slowly 3 abreast on a narrow board walk. Heather charged ahead, narrowly avoiding tipping a few old ladies into the lake, but it was worth the effort, because once we were ahead of the groups, we were rewarded with stunning scenery in a much less congested view. 

The area is made up of a series of lakes on varying levels that overflow and cascade into each other. Water is bubbling through everywhere, and the only way to walk the area is by sticking to the boardwalks. We had never seen so many waterfalls. The views were very majestic, and the surrounding virgin forest gorgeous with tall, mature beech and fir trees filtering through dappled light. 

This area is home to a local brown bear, beaver and bats. Of course with so many visitors through the paths each day, we saw none of these, though I did watch a water snake slither through the reeds. 

At the end of our trail, we caught the park bus back to the car park, and headed to our home for the night, eager to enjoy the spit roasted suckling pig. 

Post script ... I had wondered if I should email someone from home my last known location in the event of something untoward happening in our free car park camp, but had a great sleep, lulled by two different church bells that rang last at ?10 pm, and again at 6 am. On the road by 8:50 - unbelievable.