Here are a few pictures for those of you not on facebook (murray!). Enjoy!

Split, Croatia - Ange and Rach



Kortula, Croatian Island - we got to watch a waterpolo game! Very interesting!





Dubruvnik, Croatia - the sea of red roof tiles!!!!




Kotor, Montenegro - We climbed the 1372 steps up the side of the mountain to get a fantastic view of the city.








Kotor Beach! Not bad swimming but Croatia had better.



And then we thought it would be a good idea to go for a 43 Km trek into the mountains of Montenegro. Stunning views, good company, got burnt, made it back in one piece, glad to have done it.

Ange was not a fan of the cows!

Hello all. So have made it to belgrade, serbia!!!! Feeling like we are travelling again, which is good and bad. Really loved bosnia and sarajevo and i would go back in a heartbeat.

So arrived in the early morning hours off the night bus (where we met some rather odd bosnia guys). Found a place to stay and then explored a bit. Out on the town last night as it was the last day of the beer festival (kinda big - 200,000 people showed up last night). Had a great time and again met some really nice people. After dancing up a storm with our new friends ange and i headed home for bed by 4:00.

Today just laying low as tonight is another night out - got to go to the barges on the danube!!! What more could you ask for: lots of drinks, dancing, and a string of different barges that are clubs/bars floating on the water. So glad that we are both healthy again!!!!

hope all is well and talk to you soon, Miss and Lov, M.

Hez all, so passport is in hand!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!! we did a little dance in the street!!!!!!! We are leaving sarajevo tonight for belgrade in serbia. Looking forward to it, and will spend a few nights there. Then on too Budapest. From there flz back home to birmingham.

At moment we are enjozing the sarajevo film festaval. Went to see a show this morning (from brazil and was quite interesting) and we are off to see a short film this afternoon and another feature film as well. Our bus does not leave until 10 pm so we have some time on our hands!!!! Glad to have fit in the festival thou. Has such a good partz feeling!!!!

Hope all is well and will let zou know whats what once we are in belgrade.

Miss and love, M.

Hez all. Just an update!!!! THE PASSPORT IS IN BOSNIA!!!!!!! We have not picked it up zet, but with the jozs of DHL tracking we do know it is in the countrz. Just waiting for deliverz!!!! Will be stazing one last night to see the film festival tomorrow. Then off to belgarde...i think i maz be sad to leave. I have come to know this citz and countrz quite well, two weeks here has gone quite quicklz.

Hope all is well, Miss and Love, M.

Doing better in Bosnia!!!

Ange and i are doing much better as of late. we found the plot and are moving on!!!! Health is LOADS and LOADS better. I can eat!!!!!

In Sarajevo enjoying the local attractions. Went on a 12 km hike into the mountains to see a remove villiage. it was really quite interesting and we met this little old lady that was tring to sell us socks. She had no english (nor did our guide!!!) It was a day of talking but having no idea what was being said!!! Good Day.

Today off to the spa (really a water park) and buying tickets for the film fest we hope.

that is it really. just waiting for the passport and then dreaming of moving on!!!

hope all is well, Miss and love, M.

Hello all, again.

So have an update, one that is not the best. Ange had meeting with the Australian officer. Passport eta - next mondaz. We have one more week in Bosnia. This is getting a little rediculious. While i love sarajevo and bosnia both ange and i are reallz reallz readz to leave!

Sorrz for complaining it just kinda hit us a bit. Did not realize that we were so looking forward to leaving so much.

But i guess there has to be a greater cosmic reason for keeping us here, to think otherwise would result in a lot of tears and both of us loosing the plot all together!!!!

Have not reallz posted health update as of late. I have been hit with...i dont know...something. Have not reallz eaten anzthing for seven dazs now. saving lots of monez bz doing this, and loosing some inches - but to be fair i would much rather EAT!!! Will be contacting the Canadian Embasy tomorrow about doctors in the area (was going to wait till next countrz but now with new passport date i dont think i could last that long!).

This travelling experience has been quite different than what was originallz planned! But we still have had a few laughs, and met some of the best people. There is alwazs a silver lining!

There is a film festival that starts on Fridaz so we hope to get some tickets to a few shows, and we just heard of a music festival that is in a town not to far awaz. might check that out. Of course must see the water falls in the north and we heard a rummer about some pryramids that have been found (if thez are real these would be the onlz ones outside of egypt(in this part of the world), and therefore quite significant!!!.

Who knows what the next daz will bring. For this trip that seems to be the moto. ONLY IN BOSNIA!!!!!
hope all is well. Miss and Love, M.

Hez all,

Ange and i are heading back to sarajevo tomorrow morning on the train to see the passport people. will staz there a few more nights but plan to do some daz trips out. Also will be stopping bz the canadian embasz to see about a doctor. have had some issues the last week (have not been able to eat in the last four dazs). Will let zou know how things are going. hope all is well

miss and love , M.

Congrats molly!!!! hope the next interview goes well!!!! would love to visit zou out in banff!!!!

Hello again all!!!

So things are looking better. Ange had some good (and of cousr with our luck some bad) news. Th person who has to sign the passport application here in bosnia is on holiday and will not be back until monday (crap!), BUT they have agreed to expidite her passport once recieved in one day instead of the regular 7-10 days. Ange does have to pay for the shipping thou (another 100 euro!!!) Whatever at this point we just want this stupid piece of paper!!!!

So last night was a big night for sarajevo. There was a football match on (sarajevo v.s. belguim). We got tickets and joined the biker boys (joel, john, and greg) for an evening of fun!!! The fans are nuts! It was incredibly cool / large amounts of people were singing back and forth to each other, there was dancing (at one point the guys behind up lit the opposing teams flag on fire!!!). If you have not experienced a european football match then you must find a way!!! it was insane!!! An indication of this can be easily seen - there were more police in riot gear than i have ever seen in my life!!!! What a great time we had. This was a big game as it was a qualifier for the next round. Sarajevo moved on!!!! The city was very happy!!!

Today Ange and i are going to hit a few museums, likely enjoy some more turkish coffee, find out when our train leaves tomorrow (we are going to explore some other towns, cities, areas of bosnia while we wait), and then maybe go to a club tonight that has been recommended.

Thats about it for now. Hope all is well (have not heard any news from home other than Billy Griffin passed away last week - if there is anything i should know please drop me a line!!!)

Miss and Love, M.

p.s. molly goodluck with the interview!!!!

Oh by the way wanted to mention that "Bob" our friend in homicide is a rather interesting fellow. We spent about three hours with the man and he told us things...this man is a wheeler and dealer and likely one of the most interesting people that i have ever met. I do not however want to meet him again. He also took a, shall we say...liking, to ange. it made me laugh but in a different situation i would be tring to smuggle her across the boarder any way that i could! This man has power. It is a little odd because he talked a bit about the war, and then about his job - he had a very good day becasue they had caught a bomber that had blown up some things a while ago. He said that it was a case that bothered him - so he was celebrating that he was caught.

More to come later about this man. Got to run. M.

Okay, so this is what happened after i got off the net last night.

Ange, Rudy, and i are the talk of the town. We were in the interent cafe and ange overheard a converation about "the girl who had her passport stole...the camera...searched their room..." so once we were identified as the people in question we joined these fellow travellers. We never were without a beer. Everyone was really nice about it and realized what a shitty position we were in. Had a good time and ange got drunk (which she needed). Today got up. Went to get the money that anges mum had sent via western union (in my name because you must have id to pick it up - so screwed when you have no id / not even a library card!!!) So got that after some more red tape, calls to aussieland, and ten more lines!!!! nothing seems to move very quickly here!

Then we were off to the police station again/ it is really quite dsifficult to tell you about this place. it is a throw back to the 70's in many many ways. There was a guy at the front desk with a light tan striped collered shirt (again from the 70's) and you can see perfectly well the gun under his shirt, tucked into his pants. it is so odd!!! Right so we go back to the report room and get talking to another man about the report / his cheif has it at the moment so will be a few minutes- he makes a call to the cheif. Right so we sit down, We have a bit of a chat with the man then he gets back to work writing up reports. He is sitting there with a cig hanging out of his mouth, typing up some report with two fingers!!! The walls were so dirty from smoke, there were piles and piles of reports EVERYwhere. There was not much room lets just say.

Then we finally get the report. we leave. As we walk toward the main road we see three guys walk by. It is so odd when you bump into people that you know- especially in bosnia of all places!!! We had met these guys who were cycling through eastern europe while in Montenegro, and they were just walking down the street. Odd Odd Odd. Had lunch with them, then had to go to the consulate to finish some passport stuff.

It is not looking good by the way. I had to make the payment to the austrialian embasy in vienna (closest) because ange had no money at this point and of course no id )which it turns out you need for everything!!!!!) so because it was in my name they will know be able to link it to ange so that is 100 euro down the drain as we do not know how to get it back. Turns out that the girls who work at the aussie consulate are university students that work there for the summer and they really dont know much. We will likely not be leaving the country for at least 10 days and it may take longer. At this point we are hoping that ange can get out of the country before the start of school in september!!!!

Really is crap. So in order to lighten our spirits we are going to make the most of bosnia and sarajevo!!! Tonight we are meeting the american (joel, greg, and john) for drinks at the brewery. Once the paper work is sorted for the passport we are going to head south for a bit to do some exporing.

No worries we are safe and health. Will post again soon, Hope all is well,

Mis and Love you all

Martha,

P.S. i got to see some pictures of aprils wedding and i must say that she looked stunning!!!!!

Hez all - so much has changed in the last 24 hours (as some of zou know!!!)

it started todaz at 9:00 am when we were just packing up fpr the daz to leave for belgrade in serbia (remember in sarajevo, bosnia at moment) anzwaz, so it started when Rudz our crazy belgian friend that we have been travelling with realized that his camera was missing!!!! so ange looked and her wallet, passport, all id, visa card, cash, etc. was missing. Mz bags had also been gone through (i sleep with mz stuff of value so i was okaz thank god becasue we would have been screwed if the two of us had no cash!!!!) so, someone had come in during the night when we were sleeping and went through our stuff. Now Ange, i want to saz that i am so proud of zou!!! Ange reallz kept a cool head in a verz difficult situation!!! So todaz we were at manz manz manz police stations, (getting frustrated becasue not manz people seemed to speak english!!!) and of course we had to make a trip to the australian consulate (thez dont have an official embasz here so things will take a bitr longer to get the passport replaced). so things looked kinda on the bleak side but then, then things got INTERESTING!!!!

we had to go back to the fourth policestation, i think it was fourth, anzwaz, so we go back and we start making out the report - thez brough in this guz in a suit (looked verz official). He had verz good english and it turns out he is one of onlz two people that speak english in the building!!!

so he was kinda having a joke with us as we were filling in the forms and answering questions. It was reallz odd as he was sitting there smoking, zelling into the phone when it would ring, then another verz verz official man came into the room carring a briefcase and smoking. zou could tell he had a gun on under his suit jacket (at times i thought the situation was verz like miami vice!!!) So, it turns out that this new guz was the BIG BIG guz - the chief of all chiefs in the building. So we in some odd waz have attracted a lot of attention from some important people!!!

Right, so our helper (who we will just call bob), bob we have figured out is the second top dog on campus. The room we were in had a lot of people coming and going because thez had a verz important case break that morning and a guz who had set a bomb was caught - (thez used the polzgraph test todaz on him we were told). Soooo.... finallz we got the report in (we go to pick it up tomorrow afternoon) then, bob he asked if we had anzwhere to staz, have we eaten, do we have monez, etc (verz caring and concerned). So he took us out for dinner!!! We had gone to the grocerz and picked up some bread and cheese and he had seen the bags - he said we could not eat that!!!) So it turns out this man had more fingures in more pies than even a pie maker!!!! He had lead an interesting life (lived through the war - went to turkez to studz at the academz - and is a verz impornt person in his division - homicide!!!) He too wears a gun under his suit - we saw it! So he took us out for dinner then during our chat we realized that we could not move hostels becasue ange did not have her passport!!! zou must be resistered with the pople and all people stazing in bosnai must present the place thez are stazing their passport!!! Now this man was verz verz helpful - he called a "friend". turns out that he got his friend who owns a hostel to kick out two guzs stazing there so that WE could have the room!!!! it is reallz reallz nice and i think that he also got us a VERZ good deal (almost the same price as our shit hole!!!). He had said that being a police officer helps as he gets "favours" all the time. anzwaz got to run. i hope to update tomorrow or in the next few dazs!!!

hope all is well, love and miss, M.

Hey there all,

So we made it into bosnia and sarajevo!!!! so happy to make it!!! we had challenges to say the least! Missed the 9:30 am bus (turns out it just drove by because it was full!!). So he caught the 11:25 bus and yes this was full as well so we had to stand for the 4 hours to got to Niscic. Then once at Niscic we had to trasfer to a bus going to sarajevo. This too was busy so we had another 5 hours standing. It was a tough day to say the least!!!! Made better by the people that we have met!!! there is this crazy guy from belgium, a girls from the UK (bristol ) and a guy from aussie land!!!! we kinda had maximized the additional "free" space on the bus. took turns sitting at the front RIGHT by the driver!!! the drive into bosnia was beautiful thou - one of the most stunning drives i have ever been on (got to see tara canon and the river tara - WOW is a good adjective!!!) anyway - the city of sarajevo is wonderful - turkish quarter is realy interesting - did loads of shopping!!!! met some interesting people, and tomorrow we are doing the tunnel tour. One thing that i was happy to do was see the location where the archduke franz ferdinan was assassinated and where some say WWI began - i however think that it started long before that! his death was just an excuse to get it all going!!!! It was known that Franz father Joseph I was not a big fan of his son (he was a bit of a crazy!!) AND that he had been aware that there was a possible atempt was going to occur - if that is not enough you would think that the failed attempt made on his life earlier that day would have put uf some flags!!! BUT no, Franz still travelled in an open air car with no protection down the street. Sorry for the history lesson!!!

anyway - ange and i are off to belgrade late tomorrow night on yet ANOTHER bus. serbia here i come.

hope all is well and will post again to, miss and love!!! M.

Hey all,

so it has been a bit since i last posted. Been traveling around montenegro. After cliff jumping into the adriatic we thought we had done all that dobruvnic had to offer. So Rach took off to catch her flight back to Canada and ange and i stayed one more night. then off to Montenegro. We stopped at a small town called Kotor and spent a few days there sitting on the beach, exploring the old town, and then climbing the wall. Now cant remember if i mented the city walls in dubruvnic - we climbed them and it was hard going during the heat of the day no to mention all the STAIRS!!!! Well in Kotor we climbed the fortress and city walls. They were built up the side of the mountain. There were 1370 steps!!!! we climbed them ALL!!!! the view was just out of this world. We also had the luck of being in kotor for the summer carnival. upsade we got to see some interesting dancing and music (very much influneced by their soviet past). down side is that the prices went up. So we were staying in the gheto - it was not the best and really got no sleep. so we moved on after two days (felt that we got to explore the city and get to know it so no need to stay) interesting note: i got to see the yaght owned by the Johnson and johnson company - it was called johnson baby - very fitting dont you think.

Then off we were to the capital to catch a bus to the north. We are at the moment staying in the mountain region surrounded by a very stunning national park. We went hiking one day through the mountain (and over quite a few). lead by a guide we made it 43 KM in 6 hours (not kidding here - or elevating my feet and knees can prove this!!!) The views were worth it and the sence od satisfaction. I slept well last night (other than i wish that i had put on sunscreen more often as bot hange and i got kinda burnt!). so as a reward we spent the day relaxing. we walked the 3 KM to the black lake at the base of one of the mountains and had lunch, read a bit, chated, and bumped into a could of guys that we had met earlier so had a nice visit as well.

Tonight we are off to the local disco with the people that we are staying with. They are really nice people but they dont speack much english and we speack no serbian!!! Interesting converations we have had. They have been welcoming giving us some really good homemade icecream following our long hike back and also some turkish coffee (which i had never had before and i must say it is quite good).

Tomorrow ange and i are getting on the 9:30 am bus to bosnia (sarijavo) for a fews days before we go onto serbia (belgrade).

All else is good. Will try to post again soon. Sorry no pictures yet but it is hard to get the right connection and interent in the middle of nowhere had been had to get!!!!

Hope you are all well, miss and love M.

Hello all!!!! So we have been in Croatia for...six dazs and i LOVE this countrz!!! The coast line is just stunning. Ange and i quiklez took a 5 hour bus ride from hell to split in order to meet up with Rach. But i must saz it was worth it. All we had arrange prior to the trip was that we would meet on the tuesdaz at 4 pm at the temple of jupiter. As all busses run behind tho we did not meet right waz - but it was kinda interesting to look out over the square and see rach looking around for us!!!

since then we have had a ball! We have explored split and i rather liked the citz - not that touristz at all. I got to swim in salt wate for the first time with reallz waves although ange still sazs thez were nothing like the waves in aussie land. we have taken a ferrz out to the island of kortula and spent some time on a secluded beach swimming, reading, realxing. we also explored that town and it is rather picturesque. Splurged a bit and went out for dinner and i tried some interesting seafood dishes. Tried calimari, scampi, white fish which was the best i have ever had in mz life including the gan fish!!! And mussles. I was surprised that i liked it that much.

Todaz off to a boat tour to see some more islands off of dubruvnic. Dubruvnik is just pout of this world!!! fantastic walls atmosphere. got to run as the boat will be leaving soon. Hope all is well and miss zou all.

Will post again soon, M.

Hello!!!!

So finally school has come to an end over here!!!! Friday was the last day and it could not have come quick enough. The weather here has been quite rubbish to be fair. Lots of rain (friday we gor twwo months of rain in one day) so as a result there has been quite a bit of flooding. Trains cancelled becasue tracks covered, and all that. It has also been COLD!!!!! I have been wearing long sleeve shirts, a jumper and a coat to work because been so chilly. That will all change however as of tomorrow!!!!

Off on a five week travelling tour through eastern europe. Fly into Croatia tomorrow afternoon, run up the coast on Tuesday to meet Rach at Split and then spend some time working our way back down to Dubruvnik via the islands. Plan to explore a bit of Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia (if talking to mum please dont mention that one i think it would cause her to freak out - no worries it is completely safe to go to bosnia promise!), Romania and Bulgaria. I know it is a bit much but we are just playing it by ear as this is our holiday and we want to relax as well as explore.

Am going with Aussie friend ange as we both travel very well together and better to have two than one!!! Miss you all and hope this post is finding you well. Will post as i go to let you know where we are.

TTYL, M.

Hey there all,

So, on the weekend of June 29 i flew off to Northern Ireland to meet Salina and Ryan for a minibreak. So good to see friendly faces from home!!!! It has been too long. Following work on the friday i got to the Birmingham airport and took off for Belfast! Walking out of the terminal i saw Salinas very bright smile and lots of hugs and a few tears were to be had. So good! Anyway so off we went to explore Belfast. Stayed at a hostel, that was not to bad - really good breakfasts. Then off to expore the giants causeway, cross a rope bridge in Balleycaslte, and oddly enough drive past Ryans work in the middle of nowhere! Stayed in Londonderry/ Derry the following night - the Walled city. Cool town. Salina and Ryan dropped me off at the airport on Sunday afternoond and then i was off to Birmingham for work on Monday, and Salina and Ryan were going into the Republic of Ireland. Wish i was going with them! Only two weeks left of school and then i am off on holiday! Here are a few picts from the weekend - the Giants causeway is just stunning and hard to comprehend.

Ballecastle, Northern Ireland coast:

Belfast and their Murals - they are all over the place!!!! A little different than those murals found in Athens don't you think!!!! They for sure reflect their Pro-British heritage, and the violence that they experienced in the years past. Met a man at a pub and got talking about "the troubles" - he remember them and would only have been in his 50's. Impossible to really comprehend because he said that it was really quite scary and war torn.

Giants Causeway area:

There are 40,000 of these interesting rock formations - shape is pentagonal

Hello all!

So, just got back from a week off in the scottish highlands. It was very relaxing, which is just what i needed after the last few weeks. We started in Aberdeen as we flew up there and rented a car. Ange and i went along the east coast to see some rather nice sandy beaches (which you normally would not think of as part of the scottish landscape).

Grandpa would like this golf course!

Then off to Banff and Macduff - two seaside ports - very nice and real if you know what i mean - not touristy. One thing i can say is that we really got the chance on this holiday to explore the out of the way places. In Macduff we travelled to anges acetrial home. Her Grandmother had been born in scotland. The farm that she was born on had been in their family for several generations. We knocked on the door and they knew the name straight off. We had a look around and they hadus for lunch - very nice people (they served some homemade shortbread that was just to die for!!!!)

Headed off to Inverness via backroads (Dad would be proud). We stopped by a few castles along the way. We also stopped by the battle site of the last great Jacobite uprising (1746) at Culloden. The English defeated the Scots in under an hour and were able to kill over 1200 scotsmen in that time and signalled the end of the clan system. The area has remained untouched since that time - it as it was in 1746 - and you really feel it as you walk across the peat (which i can tell you would not be an easy thing to do while fighting for your life!).

Castle One: Great view and gardens. We walked down by the lake, sat on the lawn had a picnic and then a nap in the sun. What a great afternoon relaxing!

Iverness was a very nice city - loads of trees and bridges as the river ness flows through the city toward Lock Ness further inland.

Inverness Castle

We stopped to do a bit of a walk north of inverness to see some waterfalls. It was fantastic.

Ange looking at the falls from the bridge...

Ange jumping across to get to the top of the falls...


Another castle we stopped at along the way. The family still lives there.

Then we travelled further north and west. We drove through some of the most beautiful mountains and glens. We got on this road which was a single lane - so when you meet on coming traffic you need to pull off the road t o allow them to pass). This was on the way to Torridon on the west coast. I loved it. Ange, not so much - she felt claustrophobic. We were surounded by mountains - big ones. The big white building below for example was the hostel that we stayed in. Where the building ended the mountain started.

Torridon was one of my favourite parts of Scotland.

This is a picture of one of the mountains and the hostel we stayed at is the long white blob on the far right - the building was literaly build on the side of the mountain.

more to come...