Day 11: (24 August) Luckily we had a dry night and all seemed well in the morning and we hoped to have a quick breakfast and set off on the road. However, this plan had to change when a Croatian wasp found itself trapped between Camilla's miniskirt and juicy thigh - it seemed to have no option other than to plant a very painful sting into the back of her leg! Rich got the first aid kit out and treated it with antihistamine but it kept on swelling and was much worse than any UK wasp sting.

We drove down the Istrian coast and stopped for lunch at Rovinj - a lovely fishing port which is a bit too nice for it's own good as it is rather over run with tourists. Had a look around the Cathedral and walked through the Venitian-like cobbled streets along with lots of stray cats under lines of washing hanging out to dry. Succumbed to another pizza (we won't be getting any of those in Africa!) then hit the road to Rijeka on the north of the Dalmatian coast.

Day 12: (25 August) After the morning in Rijeka we drove south down the beautiful Dalmatian coastline. As the sun was setting casting beautiful pink shades on the craggy, rocky coast - the water was deep turquoise with sailing boats bobbing on the surface - we met up with a couple of Australians on motorbikes and went in convoy to find a campsite north of Zadar. We found a lovely spot camping a few feet from the waters edge - the weather seemed to be better down here so we felt in a great holiday mood.

Days 13 - 16 (26th - 29th August) After pancakes for breakfast we moved on to Split to catch the ferry to Hvar Island. We loved Hvar town - a beautiful small port with plush yachts in the marina, cafe-lined promenades and a lovely marble square surrounded by churches. It was very much a place to be and be seen if you had a wacking great yacht - a Croatian Monaco perhaps. Spent a night at a campsite near Hvar Town and had a fun night over a campfire with some English and Irish lads. The campsite, however, was rather scruffy and we felt we wanted to stay on the island for a few days so we set off to explore other camping options. To great amusement we followed signs to what looked like a lovely secluded site only to find it was a nudist campsite! Curiousity got the better of Camilla and she went to pretend to be interested in camping there - it was hilarious - there were people shopping in the supermarket completely starkers - flopping around in nothing but flip flops! Needless to say we moved on!

We found a lovely site near Jelsa where we stayed for a few days of R&R. We camped on the cliff edge with the most beautiful view of the Dalmatian Coast from our Pent Tent. We have driven nearly 2000 miles so Rich did the first in depth vehicle check - this was a good time to do it as we were actually camping next to a lovely couple from Manchester, Peter and Jill, and Peter used to be a mechanic! We also attached a padlock and hasp to the back door in preparation for Albania - where apparently car jacking is a national sport!

While we were staying at Jelsa we stumbled across the Annual Wine Festival (good timing!) where we ate lovely fresh fish washed down with some great local wines.

Day 17 - 18 (29th - 30th August) On the way to Dubrovnik we annoyingly got stopped by the local police who unfairly (we thought) fined us 40 Euros for not having our headlights on in the middle of the day...apparently a new law which came in a few months ago. From now on we'll be more aware of driving laws in each country. We drove along the coast, through a bit of Bosnia and arrived in Dubrovnik late in time to set up camp on the edge of the city. We loved Dubrovnik - caught a bus into the city and walked through the magnificent marble streets and up the steep paths leading from the main squares. In the heat of the day we walked around the city walls - considering the bomb damage in the early 90's they have done a great job of rebuilding the city to it's former glory.