Leo had received an SMS from Owen West on Matilda and they were in a safe harbour on the island of Island of Vis.  Ida and Leo wanted to catch up with the Wests before they headed back to Italy and then to Germany to go hiking with their son Mathew and his German wife Nicol so even though the wind was right on our nose we decided to do a short trip to the small bay of Tri Luke on the Island of Korcula and spend the day and night there making an early start to Vis the next day.

It turned out to be a beautiful little bay wonderful for a swim and quiet night, however the added attraction was that it was "no textile" bay and there they all were draped over the rocks in all their glory.  We did not join in feeling quite happy with our "textiles" and enjoyed our swim just the same.

Owen and Judy West were pleased to see us all and over coffee on board Affinity we swopped travel tales.  They had been to Vis for a few days and knew all the things to see especially the little winery they had found on one of their bike rides up the high hills surrounding the old town.  The owner Roki was born in Melbourne but when his grand parents died the vineyard and the old house all came to him, he was 29yo  so he uped his family and moved back to take over the property and has been there ever since and his wine is well known in Croatia and his cheese has won international prizes and Owen told him we were coming and he arranged a cook up for us and of course a wine tastine.

One of his sons came down in their little van and took us up the high hill just as the sun was setting over the beautiful bay of Vis.  The vineyard is nestled in behind the hills in a valley and the tasting room was our first stop.  We sampled all the very nice wines and chose our wine for dinner.  There were photos of the island cricket team of which Rokis son Nick is the captan.  The tradition of cricket on Vis was started by a young English naval officer who was stationed on the island during a time when the English occupied it.  The Yugslav navy took over a large part of the island for a long time but the cricket team still played regularly and they go to Zagreb and Zadar for competitions, Vis is the present premiers.

We had a lovely meal of roast lamb under the bell, salted potatoes and lovely salads followed by the best creme caramel I have tasted for a long time.  Roki came and sat with us after the meal and said he loved being back with Aussies and we told him some good jokes.  He said Aussies are always joking!  He should hear us on Tosca on a Wednesday afternoon!

We sang Walzing Matilda and many others on the way home and really amused our driver.  The Wests came for morning coffee and said farewell as they were sailing back to Pescara to leave their boat as they were off hiking in Swizerland with their son and German daughter in law.  They absolutely love Croatia and say they will probably do it again as they missed a lot of the small tucked away places.