Classey Chickeeees Climbin' in Croatia

...The next thing that I know is Im in Croatia with Emi getting stoked about our next mission... to hitch hike through, camp in and climb up the most spectucular rock faces and places that Croatia has to offer over... and we were not dissapointed by Croatia and everything that it had to offer!!!... Heres the low down...

Stoked on life and being in Hvar Island - Day 1 of our mish

The locals are so friendly that hitch hiking was a BREEEEEEEEEEZE!!!!!!! With 15 hitches and an average of 12 minute waiting times... we were stoked!!!! Putting our thumbs out and bumming rides got us across Hvar Island 3x, with so many hours worth of driving on the mainland and even into 3 different countries!!!! We were picked up on deserted roads, dodgy tunnel entrances, motor ways and even in campgrounds by nationalities as varied as Italians, Austrians, Croatians, Germans, English and even Bosnians. Our gratitude is unlimited to these people who truely hooked us up and made our trip even more of a crack up than usual.

Classic moments hitch hiking.. and yes the yellow dress literally stopped traffic... best hitch hiking tool ever!!!

Stunning place #1: Cliffbase on Hvar Island:

A climbers paradise; with over 100 bolted routes, a 200m long Deep water Soloing Traverse, crystal clear ocean lapping just metres from your belayers feet and the best part is that the crag is only accessible to climbers and to those who have prebooked, so that way there are never too many people at the crag... plus the weather is so nice, the price is right and the living is just too easy!!!! Nude sunbathing, Deep water soloing and drinking the local wine (which is the most presigious in all of Croatia) is a must.

Cliff base... where we stayed right beside the climbing and the beach!

Due to the heat and the relaxed attitude of all the people climbing at cliffbase, it became natural to climb in our bikini tops rather than covering up... something I had never comtemplated in NZ or anywhere else actually. We were initially inspired by a 50 year old mother of two climbing in just her bikini and harness. What a legend... it is such a liberating feeling to climb in minimal clothes and know that noone around you cares because they are all doing the same thing.

The beautiful private beach and DWS boulders at Cliffbase, Hvar Island

Then there was the climbing... from slabby faces to steep juggy climbs to 2oom of Deep Water Soloing, any climber could be satisfied with the amount of climbing available to be tackled!!!! And if your extremely keen, then climbing in the midday heat can still be braved if a swim is enjoyed between each climb!!! However if your there for over a week then the intense Croatian sun can be enjoyed while sunbathing or swimming in many of the beautiful beaches that Cliffbase has sole and private access too.

Top of a climb... in my bikini... loving the vibe and the view

The mighty tombstone 

Emi and a new English mate having way too much fun belaying

Yeap... thats how close the beach is to the climbing... so nice!!!!

Im belaying Emi while she charges up a mean 6A+ on Tombstone

Stunning place #2 - Paklenica National Park:
Then after sunny days climbing by the beach, Me and Emi starting dreaming of multi pitches... so we got a our thumb-out and our hitch-on and headed off for Paklenica National Park - a mecca for easy-medium mutli pitch routes in a super chilled village a few hours North of Zadar. When we arrived we found a sleepy town, a good wine bar and a mint place to stay called Camping Marco. We were naturally pretty stoked as we were based at the entrance of the road that accessed the park.. so we could even hitch home after a big day on the rock!!!

Emi's turn to be stoked on life due to being at Paklenica National Park - Day 1

We were so stoked with the climbing there... so many mutli pitch routes plus hundreds of single pitch classic climbs that made us sweat, smile, laugh, swear and cry all within the same day!!!

Emi took this photo from the top of the 2nd pitch at me on the top of the 1st.  This was a classic 5 pitch climb with the last 2 pitches being MEGA RUN OUT!!!!!

This place was so amazing and the people were extra friendly. An Austrian couple even offered us a road from Paklenica right up into Slovenia to were we wanted to go next. This was such a sweet ride to score and so we cruised in style in a wickedly old BMW that was still sporting a tape deck all the way into beautiful Slovenia.

Super rad place!!!

Stunning place #3 - Bled, Slovenia
So we arrived in Bled and were immediately blow away by the pure natural beauty of this place. With stunning lakes, beautiful mountians, crystal clear rivers and not a whiff of polution in the air... both me and Emi felt at home in this place immediately.

Dinner on the lake... gerk's, cheese, crackers and tuna anyone???

We ate lunch by the lake and then decided that this was a place that we HAD TO VISIT AGAIN!!!!!!! We are definitely coming back with boats and a crew of paddlers because the rivers here are reputed to be the most stunning white water in all of Europe. Some people call Slovenia the NZ of Europe... that just made us feel even more at home here. 

This place has it all... climbing, biking, kayaking, rafting, skiing and mountaineering... plus a small population and the price is relatively cheaper than its neighbouring countries to the West.

For one day on this trip we traded in being team extreme and turned into team chilled and tanned, as we laxed out on this beach for the arvo before hitching to Austria

We planned to go climbing in Slovenia but it just didn't work out, so instead we vowed to come back on another trip and climb then, and then went walking around some beautiful areas to check out the local natural areas.
One morning we started walking by a beauty lake and just kept on walking for a couple hours, we got to an area where a beautiful waterfall was being advertised so we went to check it out... but then we found out that we had that we had to pay... as tight-as kiwis we couldnt imagine having to pay to see a natural resource like a waterfall... so I got my barganing skills rocking and scored us entry to the park on childrens tickets.  This was hilarious and it made me realise what a cheap-skate I am. (Emi still hassles me about this over 6 months later)

We regretably left Slovenia after a very short 2 days but for the country that both Emi and I had spent winter seasons in... the European country that we both probably love the most... AUSTRIA!!!! We went and hung out with Marco (dude who came on the Morocco mish with us in April) at his dads house which we dubbed 'the hotel' as it was soooo nice in comparision to the mighty tent decked out with one sleeping bag and no sleeping mat that me and Emi had been sharing.  Plus we were treated like VIPs with a non stop flow of coffee and special bakery runs being made for us every morning by Marco's parents.

The exquisite Austrian meal that the boys cooked for us using the wild mushrooms we had picked that day

In the one weekend that we were there we squeezed in a HUGE night out on the booze, went bouldering, climbing, slack lining at the lake, wild mushroom picking, rode the Alpine-Coaster that Marco helped build that summer, and also did a 9 pitch climb on the mighty Dachstein.  WHAT A SUPREME WEEKEND!!!!

This is one awesome climb at the boys local crag in Austria - I absolutely loved the first part but then went way too far left by mistake and had to come down, so it was Seb to the rescue!!! TOFT!!!

One our way up the Darchstein to our 9 pitch climb.  Bluebird day.  Great crew.  Fun times ahead.

Not all Austrians are hard core!!!!! 

Mickey showing us how to enjoy your day at the crag after a massive bender 2 nights before!

Team cool-kiwi trying to prove our extremeness to the hardcore Austrians... they didn't take us very seriously though

Me and Emi with our stash of mushrooms that we picked... pity they were all poisonous and we couldn't use them!

Marco and Huffy watching Emi rip it up

And then unfortunately my time was up and I had a flight scheduled from Munich to China that I had to catch.  Which meant that I had to say goodbye to Emi and the lendary Austrian crew... and also Europe.  It was such a great 1 1/2 years that I spent in Europe - I loved its diversity... from coming from such an isolated place like NZ I was truly blown away by the ease at which one could travel throughout multiple countries with totally different cultures, lifestyles and languages in a single day. 

My trip to this continent is one that I will never forget... especially the amazing people that I met along the way.  I don't know if you all know how positively you changed my life.  Without Diego and Angi I would have been in NZ in August 2007-over a year ago.  So thank you very much.

Final European Shananogins

Ready for the fastest ever break down of 4 months tripping around Europe??? Well here it is... my best attempt to summerise my experience in Europe after my Morocco trip... without losing the true essence of what it was really like... (and that was absolutely amazing)...

My Home in Haiming (Austria) at the Fankhauser Rafting Alm

Straight after leaving Morocco I went to meet my friend Angi in Tirol, Austria but I arrived at 10pm that night to find out that she was 300km away and I had nowhere to stay that night... so I plucked up the courage and randomly called up the father of another Austrian girl that I'd met twice last summer in Italy and Austria to ask if I could stay there the night... one month later I left Han's house with a heart filled with love for Austrians, a strong connection with the rivers, mountains and land in that beautiful province Tirol, a pocket full of cash and a months experience working for his rafting company. WHAT A DUDE!!!!!!! He had totally hooked me up when I needed it the most and I will forever be in his debt... he is without a doubt the biggest yarner I've ever met and I think he just liked me because I was the only person who would listen to his MASSIVE rants.

Another day at the office... the Inn River in beautiful high water



...then I went back to Assisi, Italy were I worked last sumer for a kiwi company called 'Full On' and so for 2 months I got paid to provide American students with opportunites to improve the quality of their lives. Very cool work. Very rad people. Excellent weather. Amazing coffee, pizza and gelato... And did I mention amazing people???? Some of the best crew I've ever met, let along worked with, and I truely hope that my path crosses over and over and over again with these great peeps!!!!!!!!


Again hard at work... Our very serious mentor meeting...



It is honeslty really hard to be negative when your constantly around such positive and inspiring people. It makes work so much fun as well... I can't even begin to describe how great work was with this group of incredible awesome and positive people!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Medievel dressup night which was so crazy!!! We even ate dinner in Rocca Maggiore... a 900 year old castle

The parties were hilarious and we dressed up alot... we weren't even drinking in half of these crazy photos... just having a great time with great people and enjoying the great situation that we were all lucky enough to be part of. GREAT!!!

Maxx, Mary, Dano, me and Bobby doing our best to keep Sara awake

Cheers to everyone who was part of that crew... especially my flatties the B7 Bellas... love you all so much.

Sara, Mary the Maori, me and Paularenee... the B7 bellas for 2008

And then worked finished!!!! So naturally I moved into a trailor with slashed tyres in a camping ground. It was all class!!!!! Me, Sutto, Sara, Dicko, T-bone, Sandy, Jono and Emily all stayed there and had so much fun!!!! Mafia games night, sleeping under the stars together and pool missions by day... we loved our final week in Assisi, and I stayed there until every single Full On employee had left...that was the hard part.

Trailor trash forever!!!!

But then it was off to the Dolomites for Via Ferrata with Sutto, Paulo and Martino. With Paulo's car stacked to the brim, we set off for a night at the 'sea-side', fun time's in Arco and then straight on to Cortina for the via ferrata and the real adventures to begin. What a great trip. Paulo used to own a restaurant and Martin is an ex-chef so we ate the best food that I'd ever eaten constantly for a week straight. It was amazing. oh yeah and the via ferrata was pretty dam cool too!!!!!!

We became big fans of jump shots and heads up/heads down games

Creeping over the edge of one of Cortina's/Italian Dolomites finest via ferrata

Laura Sutto perfecting 'the stork' on the summit of a 1000m via ferrata peak

Vino Rosso placed strategically at the bottom of a Via Ferrata always ensures happy Laura's

And that was the end of my Italian and Austrian shananogins... well for 2008 anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Off to Croatia and Eastern Europe next...

Morocco Madness

After living in Austrian knee deep powder for a few months, I figured it was time to go an explore another part of Africa away from the snow... Morocco was the destination and it did not dissapoint. I absolutely loved it!!!! Probably my favourite country to date as I had such amazing time with Emi (legend that I went to Polytech with) and Marco (Emis mate from Austria), plus the landscape is so incredible there, the rock climbing is unbelievably good, the surf is premo, the Sahara is the friggin SAHARA so that was naturally pretty awesome, climbing Mt Toubkal was a mission that I will never forget and Marrakesh city was just crazy!!!!!!!!!

Camel trekking in the mighty Sahara Desert was pretty cool

And staying right on the beach in Immsoune with my new found buddy Momo was pretty meen too!!!

Not to mention the food!!! So good. This is Tagine - a Berber favourite

The locals were cheeky as but dam funny... I did not want to get henna, but within a second of telling me that I had beautiful eyes and giving me a brochure to look at... I had Henna all over my hand and no idea how she did it that fast!!!

After being invited to dinner with a local carpet maker we were quite surprised to find ourselves wearing traditional Berber outfits within the hour of walking in the door...

The beach side town of Immsoune was so beautiful that I seriously considered buying land there and starting my own Riad. Heres a 6 year old girl collecting seawater to flush the toilet in her home- yes the pink house built into the rock!!!
Emi 'the legend' Earle absolutely knackered half way up Day 1 of our attempt to summit Mt Toubkal; North Africas highest mountain. She came down with a random and violent spat of food poisoning which resulted in Emi not eing able to get past base camp... and therefore get looked after by a overly friendly local dude called Mohammed... he fed her Cumin-broth, rubbed her stomach and face too much, and cried over and over again "oh my mineee, and my mineee"... poor girl had to endure this and be sick at the same time!!!! I dont know which one would be worse!!!

At 4200m I was pretty stoked to be on the summit of Mt Toubkal

Me and Emi so stoked and proving it!!! We loved every moment of this rad trip!!!! well... except for the food poisioning, the robberies and the day long bus rides!!!!

Emi with the Atlas Mountains in the background... on our decent of Mt Toubkal when Emi could walk again! (such a stubbornly awesome, self motivated, strong kiwi girl... tu meki!!!)

Check out the climbers paradise in the background... A wicked as tent filled with African drums, beds, tea pots, and with a mean swimming-hole right infront of it... and the best thing is that its situated right in the middle of various climbing crags... such a cool place to hang out when it got too hot to climb!

Emi and I looking as authentic as possible after being dressed by a local dude who is a carpet maker for half the year then a nomad who lives in the desert for the other half of the year. As well as being able to transform a couple kiwi chicks into Berber woman... he can cook up a mean Chicken Tagine too!!! Cheers Mohammed!

The only way to cool down after climbing in the intense Moroccan sun... Heres Marco freezing in the snowmelt-filled river and Emi melting in the hot Morocco sun trying hard not to fall off!!!

The water's chilly, the sun is burning hot, the rock in the background is all climbable and the chickiebabe blowing the kiss couldn't be happier!!!!

Marrakesh is one out-of-it city!!!! Mule-drawn carts everywhere, salesmen galore, alot of sugar filled green tea, orange stalls for miles, incredible night markets, and heaps of cheap goods to buy everywhere you look!!!

Our awesome climbing guidebook that consisted of very accurate, draw to scale maps of all the climbing routes around Todra Gorge!!! (and the sad thing was that it cost $50 kiwi dollars!!)

Todra Gorge is enormous!!!

The local berber women are absolute legends!!!! We saw them every morning on our walk to the crag

Team Xtreme Morocco styles... Nora, Mohammed and Mineeee

Marco and I starting on the Day 1 flats heading towards Mt Toubkal

This trip was so incredible, I absolutely loved it. Even though Emi had $600 pounds stolen from her bag and was sick as a dog for the last few days in Morocco and then a couple weeks after leaving, and I had $100 Euro stolen, plus my luggage was lost on the flight over there from Spain, and Marco couldn't understand us most of the time as we were speaking "cool kiwi" not English... the trip was amazing. You can surf, climb rocks, endure day long bus rides, summit snow covered mountains, ride camels through the Sahara, be hussled in the Marrakesh markets, eat the most delicious food, sleep on rooftops and be painted in Hennah to your hearts content... and thats what we did, and I recommend it to anyone!!!