The finishing touches are being completed on the leut, including her name been painted on the stern. As mentioned previously her name, Labud – which means ‘swan’ in Croatian – is a reference to the river which runs through Perth. From my parents’ house on the river the Swan Yacht Club can be seen. Its [...]

Several years ago, for our Jewish friends in Perth, we prepared an article on Split’s Synagogue, which is the world’s second oldest Sephardic synagogue still operational. The world’s oldest Sephardic synagogue (and Europe’s second oldest synagogue after Prague’s) is just down the road in Dubrovnik. How did Dubrovnik end up with this monument? In 1492, [...]

Back in high school literature class we were introduced to Shakespeare (April 1564 – April 1616). While reading his work the word argosy appeared several times, in works such as The Merchant of Venice, Henry VI Part III and The Taming of the Shrew, in reference to a merchant ship, or a fleet of merchant [...]

Our crazy picigin (a type of Dalmatian water-based handball)-playing friend Julio Žuvela (pictured above playing the sport) was mentioned in the Daily Telegraph for a bicycle tour through the Croatian Islands that he leads. The article can be found here. Maybe ‘sport’ is the wrong term for picigin. It is not a competition – more [...]

We are often told we must finally decide where we want to settle and raise the kids. Yet we can’t. Our confusion was made manifest this week by two issues – one public and the other private. The cheerful smile above belongs to Britt Lapthorne – a young Australian girl who disappeared in Dubrovnik last [...]

Miquel Hudin, an American with Croatian heritage, and his wife have completed a handy guide to the wines of Dalmatia and Herzegovina. Hopefully this will lead to a greater appreciation for them, and the local producers will enjoy a little healthy criticism. You can find out how to purchase it here. They also publish an [...]

While I was chatting with some of the researchers at the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle, they mentioned the wreck of the Stefano – an interesting case in the long history of Australian-Croatian relations. The Stefano was an 875-ton barque built in Fiume (the Italian name for Rijeka) on the northern Croatian coast, in [...]

An old friend from New York City, the Gregster, dropped in to visit us this weekend. We hadn’t seen him in 7 years – it was great to catchup and talk about the days in NYC – the bars, restaurants and clubs, and playing for the NY Magpies. It was also an excellent opportunity to [...]

Tonight our friends Jane Cody and John Nash had the official Croatian launch of their book, Croatia Cruising Companion. Jane also did some writing for the new Timeout Croatia magazine, and she presented it as well to the audience of marina representatives and tourism agencies. The Cruising Companion took Jane and John several years to [...]

Some of our pictures.