We arrived in Croatia nice and early on the 12th August probably looking a bit worse for wear after the epic journey from Athens. Some Croatian lady approached us as we got off the boat and offered us a room in an apartment that was uptown a bit. That'll do we thought. On first inspection of the room we were pretty disappointed in our impulse buy. One double bed with no floor space equalled our room. But after realising how good our location was I think we were both very satisfied.

We had 2 days to kill before we departed on our Croatian island hopping tour. There was a lot of downtime / doing nothing. There was a lot of 'Man, I miss contiki I wanna go back.' There was also a lot of pizza slices consumed at the bakery next to the internet cafe down by the port. Lewis has kept them in business for the next few months easy. I actually did a bit of exercise as well, ran down to the beach and back a couple of times, which didn't tickle.

On the eve of our tour, me and Lewis got tickets to go see Carl Cox a big name pommy dj who was pretty much playing at the end of our street in front of a fenced off promenade. It turned out to be a pretty big night. Carl Cox wasn't that good, was expecting better I guess. We ran into a few friends who had just finished their sailing tour, so we mingled on to their boat and caught up with them for most of the night.

The next day we were up (very tentatively) and headed to the port to start our tour. I was incredibly hungover, which is not really what you want when meeting a bunch of new people. Nevertheless, we made it on board, settled into our minuscule room below the deck, and met our new group.

The boat itself was 98 years old, and you could tell. But it had everything we needed really; A deck, which we slept and sunbaked on all day. A bar. And a dining room. Every day on the boat was the same. It was breakfast (if you woke up in time), followed by sleeping in the sun on the deck, followed by a swim stop where lewis had time to perfect his backflip off the deck, followed by lunch and some more sunbaking. We would port mid afternoon, where we would explore the island for a bit, have some dinner (usually with the group) then have a few drinks and suss out the nightlife.

The island of Hvar was our first destination and probably my favourite. The nightlife was really cool. We first went to a pub for far too many drinks then we all went to a club called silent disco where everyone got headphones as they walked in. The headphones had a few channels, so you could switch on whatever music you wanted and dance in your own little world. I had seen them at festivals and stuff before but it was my first experience using them and it was pretty fun. The group had a great first night.

We then went to Mljet, which was pretty quiet, then to Dabrovnik, which was awesome. I took the optional walking tour around its walls that had some pretty amazing views of the little city below and the cliff faces. We had a pretty loose night out that night as well.

After Dubrovnik it was off to (some place) which was again pretty quiet but we went out for dinner and a few cocktails for one of the girls (Beck's) birthdays. Markaska was our next stop which is famous for its cave bar. It was pretty cool I guess, but I decided to ditch it after a few things weren't going my way. I went and caught up with a Croatian born friend I had met on contiki and some of her girlfriends. We went to a few Croatian clubs from what I remember but the night was a bit of a blur. It was almost a replica of the situation in 'the hangover' when I was going through the photos I had taken the next day. Absolutely no recollection, but it looked like good times.

After Markaska we went to Omic, which is known as the pirate town I think. In any case, we all dressed up as pirates that night. Eye-liner was worn in hope to look like captain jack sparrow but no luck to be had. We partied on the boat for most of the night before we eventually went out to the one and only bar on the island, which closed way to early. After smashing the bakery on the way home I rounded up the night by sleeping on the deck on some lilos.

It was Omic back to Split, where the tour began. We had one last night together and for some reason us boys thought we would rock out in togas. Why not? It did attract some attention, some wanted some unwanted but it was fun nonetheless. We went out for a final group dinner which had really good food (gnocchi bolognaise) then we went to a bar, followed by a massive beach party, followed by a club just above the beach. The club was awesome, I would have stayed there till close if I had my time over.

The next morning it was game over, we were off the boat, off the tour and on our own again. Reflecting on the Croatian tour as a whole, I was probably a little too tired and exhausted to make the most of the experience. Planning this tour 4 days after our 34 day-long contiki tour was probably not my wisest decision. I negged out a bit during the week and went through a bit of an irritable phase. Lewis did refer to me as Oscar the grouch at one point. But at the end of the day, I met a bunch of new people, made some new friends, had some great nights out and saw some of the most scenic islands in the world.

Lewis and I checked into another Split hostel yesterday, which is on the other side of the port to where we were before the tour. It's alright. Close enough to everything but were not really doing much anyway.

We have now finished all of our planned tours. For the rest of the trip we will be on our own. The issue of money, or the lack there of, has become a growing concern for both of us. I think were both hoping that the absence of the group-tour situation will allow us to spend less. I guess we'll soon find out.

Another night here in split, then we're off to Valencia tomorrow night. A 5 hour ferry, 2 hour train ride, 2 hour flight, will get us there on the eve of La Tomatina!

To be continued... Lewis adds 'And so it begins'.. 'Hi Mum'