We’re sort of getting used to the bus. Corrie no longer jumps into my lap when the front of the bus tries to get rid of the back. It’s more a small amount of blood on my hand where she has pressed her finger nails in a little too hard. 

Wandering up the street we were having some trouble with our ‘google gear’, so I asked a bunch of 7 year olds where our home was. One of them was so excited he took off in another direction nearly forgetting how old we were. He kept stopping and pointing like a sheep dog does with its nose as we nod our head like a ‘no’. He finally gave up, which was so unlike a Collie and not far from home. 

Another collection of kids stopped to talk, with the lead one asking me if I was okay. I may have looked a little lost or a little Parkinson’s at the time but it was a really lovely gesture. The kids and I talked about school as Corrie chatted to google about directions.

We’ve returned to Tolmin, where the tar machine was, and now there are two and I have a photo to prove it and I wanted to thank the fabulous five from tourist information who told us to come back any time, but maybe they regretted it, because they can’t get rid of us. It was a bit like having a guide but one that couldn’t come with us.

Firstly we went to the tourist office to find out how to get to another town, not breathtaking stuff for anyone, but she was superb and her enthusiasm was the reason we came back. I love to see where things start and finish. She told us where the Tolmin and Soca rivers met, not their first date but where they’ve been meeting for years and it showed clearly the distinct different colours of these two rivers.

This adventure led us to a giant crane building one section of the bridge. A workman said it was closed to the public because of the danger. As we went to turn back, the supervisor came over to us and said it’ll be okay. Feeling very special we climbed through the hole in the fence and then four short but steep gravelly paths slid us part of the way but that wasn’t the danger part.

There were loose hanging overhead rocks from around 10 grams to a ton hanging above us, a wonder, in that all the sizes that we had seen were roughly moulded into their smooth white shapes as nature intended. It was like, here’s your gravel for your footpaths, and with some sifting here are your decorative stones for your garden, and then here’s your biggies to stop the forest from falling on your new highway.

On our return the second info person was there and he told us about the magnificent gorges where everyone was so respectful, as in a church, hardly a noise except for camera clicking. Once again deep narrow canyons, gushing waters and lots of steps. A superb grassy plain took us back to a grassy track.

The next was a young woman who told us about the waterfall and the cosy track to it. She also told us about other attractions, and invited a local artist to share some paintings with me. I would have bought one but it was painted on wood so too heavy to carry.

Then another young woman who told us about the sunset. The only trouble was that we had to climb a small mountain to see it because this same mountain was also blocking it. Sunset was at 18:38 and I wanted to get there to see the pre-sunset display. She, thinking we were very fit, said it would take us half an hour but my stint in hospital said more, while our waitress thought I was a bit long in the tooth and it would take me an hour. 

I poked my head over the top after 45 minutes, to see a little orange ball resting between two peaks, a stunning sight with golden rivers silhouetted in the skies on what could only give you this magic display – clouds, and here they were whispers of clouds, so fine and so gentle.

It was dark when we were half way down so our mobile torches lit any potential trippers – tree roots, gravel and rocks, as we made our way down a fairly comfortable slope. On the way home we saw a young woman raking her hedge clippings under the street lights as it is that time of the year. Others have been busy and fussy as they carefully and slowly cut their hedges as in a haircut.

On the way to our next adventure I stopped off at the info centre and now the boss was there, so I eventually met the whole family who has really put a whole new perspective on what these centres can be, so she was chuffed after a difficult decision had them winning on points.

We had a slow start to the day because we are a bit over-walked, so we chatted to our landlord, a young man with the usual string of languages that these young folk have. He said that while there has been a written change from Yugoslavia to seprepublics, there is very little difference. These countries are still the same, just packaged differently. People move between countries for higher wages, employers look for those who will work for less and people will cross borders for cheaper purchases. 

We’ve been in a cheap apartment for 5 days which was great. It gave us a chance to be a local for a little and get a better feel for a typical town in Slovenia. The perfect English of the tourist officers also brought this town more alive to us, as we were able to clearly hear the intricacies of the answers to our questions.

I was recently talking to a Slovenian friend who told me that Australia would be under the pump if we were invaded because as a whole we don’t grow our own food. I then reflected on a German book I recently read called ‘The German Boy’ where he and his family nearly starved to death because they had no home in their own country during the war and thus no garden. Well, the Slovenians have gardens in most towns and cities that we saw and they are carefully tended. 

Slovenians seem to love their sugar. It is difficult, even at the bakery, to get an ordinary croissant without some sweet filling. According to our bakery person – Slovenians kids are spoilt and now as they get older there is a right of passage to chocolate, marmalade and pistachio croissants for example. 

We’ve loved it here and we will take fond memories away with us.

Now it’s ‘nasvidenje’ (goodbye)  

And

‘Hvala vam’ (thank you)

We’re now off to Italy where I can do my speech therapy exercises without disturbing anyone!!!