Today we drove to the newly built skywalk. A glass floored walkway which is spectacular and a little frightening. It being new doesn't help - did they test it properly?

To get to the skywalk there is a 12km drive on very narrow roads with quite a lot of oncoming traffic (though I'm sure venturing out early in the morning meant less than normal) and sheer drops which made pulling over to let oncoming traffic through a risky business. All home alive though and no scratches on the van.

Horrid grittybitterfish

Succulent crispity delishfish

Today we took a boat tour out around the islands off the coast of Split. The boat was one of those rubber-sided jobs that held about 10 people but it was pretty quick which was handy as it was a long way. About 180km all up.

Unfortunately the main attraction, the blue cave, was closed due to the choppy conditions but we managed to get a lot of other sights in along the way.

Above is a photo of Stiniva which we swam into. It used to be a cave many thousands of years ago which has collapsed leaving a crater-like beach. Incredibly clear waters.

After Split we drove up the coast a bit to Trogir which is a small island between the mainland and the island of Čiovo. The Greeks founded this in the 3rd century BC and like everything in this part of the world it's changed hands quite a few times.

It's been fascinating to get a tiny glimpse into the history of this area from Greeks to Romans to Venetians to the Habsburg Empire, the Ottomans, the Italian Facists, Yugoslavia and the literal Balkanisation of the area.

After visiting Trogir we carried on to a campsite near the Krka national park where we stayed a couple of nights in order to get a full day in at the park. It's a kind of a canyon of waterfalls with its own microclimate which makes it quite lush compared to the surrounding area.

Crystal clear water

In the middle of one of the lakes there's a tiny tranquil island with a 14th century Franciscan monastery on it.

Not content with one Croatian national park full of waterfalls we've just spent three nights near the Plitvice Lakes with one day catching up on a bit of work and yesterday at the lakes themselves.

They're bigger than Krka with convenient shuttle/tractor/train things that take you to the top where you can then walk down 9km of nicely-maintained boardwalks. More people here than Krka possibly because it was a Saturday but I'd imagine it would have been a lot busier the same time last year.

Today we head back across the Velebit ranges to the coast and cut back in again to head to Karlovac. From there we're heading straight to the Hungarian border. We discovered a few days ago that we can't get into Slovenia from Croatia so plans at this stage are to spend perhaps a week in Hungary, a week in Slovakia, then for our remaining month back into Austria and we should then be able to get into Slovenia before hightailing it to the UK where it will be a mad rush of visiting friends, preparing and shipping the van and flying back to NZ in mid- to late-September for two weeks' quarantine.

We arrived in Hungary on Monday. Took a while at the border control with inspection of vehicle ownership and passports.

We failed to notice a sign on the motorway just before the border that said, simply, "vignette" which means that you MUST have a pre-paid vignette toll sticker and if you enter this road you have 60 minutes in which to pay up or cameras will get your plate number and you will be sent a fine. Quite a bit longer than 60 minutes later on the following day we were looking through our Lonely Planet and saw it mention you needed a vignette. So we'll accept the fine when we get it and only use non-toll roads for the rest of Hungary. Sounds like a similar deal in Slovakia, Austria and Slovenia so we'll be a bit more onto it this time.

We drove to Lake Balaton and stayed the night in a car park close to restaurants and the lake edge. A lot of Hungarian and German tourists in this area.

Pic above: should be enough to pay our managed isolation costs?

On Tuesday we circled around the end of the lake a bit, used a laundromat and found a simple campground near a thermal lake we planned to visit the following morning before it got too hot.

Speaking of hot, above is just before a thunderstorm came through where it was an oppressive 32°. When it started bucketing down I took the opportunity to strip to my surf shorts and wash the dust and bugs off the outside of the van. Eco-warrior.

Sweet peppers are back in season! Sausages were not great; salty and cheap.

Yesterday morning we went to Lake Hévíz which, according to an info board, is the "largest thermal lake in the world that you can swim in". There is a larger one in Rotorua, NZ but I guess your skin will come off in that.

A pleasant 30ish degrees. We paid for three hours but had had enough by two.

Yesterday we drove to Tihany which is on a peninsula poking into Lake Balaton. The town was full of tat and grumpy shopkeepers but we found a green on the outskirts near a pond which was lovely and tranquil.

We did a 10km walk through a shady forest and vineyards. Saw some Hungarian Greys (long horned cows), orange spotty butterflies and lots of lemmings?hamsters? in the grass.

On the 23rd we drove to Visegrád on the Danube just north of Budapest where we spent two nights. The next day we took a barge across the river and cycled up to Szob and back.

The bikes are still doing pretty well considering they spend their whole lives out in the elements on the back of the van. My seat is starting to split, the tires are fraying and they're a bit battered. Before shipping them home in the van we'll strip them down and give them a bit of a makeover once we're back.

Back in France I bought this peanut butter and we only just opened it to find it's not peanut butter at all but some kind of delicious spread made to taste like biscuits. It's got a taste similar to Griffins malt biscuits after you've mooshed them in your mouth. We've been eating it smeared on banana and in homemade birdseed muesli bars. Is it healthy? No. Are we using things up? Yes.

After Visegrád we drove to Eger and stayed in a campground near a wine area with cellars cut into the rock. We visited four of the cellars and had dinner there but were uncomfortable with the lack of masks and social distancing so instead of staying the planned two nights cut it short and made a beeline to Slovakia the next day.

Good food after a couple of wine tastings.