India Overland - Europe, Saltzburg to Karlobag

Europe to Balkans
We depart Salztberg heading to Klagenfurt in Austria, but before we go everyone wants to visit "Eagle Nest" the 2nd world war hide out of Hitler. The climb up is quite steep with great views , the hide out itself is not much but all are happy to have visited. We start to descend and I learn a lesson about heavy buses and steep hills. The brakes on our bus are mechanical with vacuum assistance. Both Geoff. and I had noted that they were not particularly good but the system had a real weakness on long down hill runs. After we had been going down hill for about 5 minutes I noticed the brake pedal getting nearer to the floor probably caused by heat expanding the brake drums, I decided to pull over. I applied a little more pressure to stop the bus but the pedal was by now on the floor and we were not slowing down. I called Geoff. over and whispered to him that I couldn't stop. He just looked blank and I knew I was on my own.	Black Forest Germany
Every corner lead to more road going down hill I prayed that the next corner would have an up hill bit. The speed had not reached a point at which the passengers would realise that something was wrong but the bus was out of control. Finally some road that was level if not up hill, the speed started to drop and there was a layby ahead, I pulled in and headed for a large pile of gravel which pulled me to a stop. "Time for a photo" I called. I got some strange looks that said "why did you run into that gravel" or "what are we supposed to photograph". As I stepped of the bus you could feel the heat coming off the front wheels, they were red hot and the smell of burning brake linings was obvious. From that day on I stopped regularly when going down hill to give the brakes a chance to cool down, on steep hills we'd stop after every mile. When Geoff. was driving I would be apprehensive on down hill runs, Geoff. was a good driver but there no substitute for having your hands on the wheel.	Germany - Austria border
The road to Klagenfurt is mountainous and very slow going, we are now well above the snow line. Geoff. and I fixed the bus heater in Salzberg but it is by no means hot inside, these buses were not built for this kind of weather. I find Austria a bit boring in winter and I'm looking forward to some warmer weather. We overnight at a small camp site on the outskirts of Klagenfurt which has a little restaurant come bar. Tonight everyone opts for a meal in the restaurant followed by drinks and a schnapps sculling contest. That Schnapps is sneaky stuff it creeps up on you then whack your legs give out. It was good for everyone to unwind and it took their minds of the sleeping arrangements for the night. Sleeping in a tent with snow all around is not one of my favorite pastimes, if I was truthfully I'd sooner have my arse rubbed with a brick.	Austria
Today our destination is the Adriatic Coast of Yugoslavia we are trying to get as far as Zadar about 600kms. We are up and away early as everyone is keen to get to the coast. Shortly after leaving Klagenfurt we cross the border into Slovenia ( part of the old Yugoslavia), just over the border is the remains of an old Germany concentration camp. The memorial is an iron skeleton with is hands upheld. These places always leave an intense impression on me as I find it hard to belive how man can be so inhuman to fellow human beings. We stop for morning tea in Ljubljana before heading to Rijeka to pickup supplies for tonight's tea. The first thing everyone notices is the price of things is much cheaper here which always brings a smile to a travellers face. Wine is affordable even if a little rough, we stock up for tonight. The Adriatic coast is truly beautiful, the road follows the coast giving wonderful views over its crystal clear, deep blue water. The coast road is a bit up and down so the photo/brake cooling stop slow us up a bit and we decide to stop just out side Karlobag for the night. We find a spot right beside the beach and soon have a big fire of driftwood lighting up the sky.	Concentration Camp Yugoslavia
After a great night around the fire the group is really getting to know one another. As with all groups there are many different characters. We have a 75 year old American Ted who is happiest with one to one conversation, while John from Cornwall is the life and soul of the party. We sit around the fire drinking local wine and swapping stories. The group is a mix of married couples, defactos and singles. There is a couple of nice single girls but they have several admirers. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Tonight a few people opt to go without a tent and sleep under the stars. I'm one of them and this was to be my prefered sleeping method for the next 4 years, I never slept in a tent again. We were up early, have breakfast and hit the road by 7.30.	Adriatic Coast
The cooking is done on a roster, everyone is paired off and each pair get to cook for two days. Breakfast is usually cereal or porridge followed by bread with some sort of spread washed down with tea or coffee. Each couple have to shop to feed everyone and find something to help stretch out the food we brought with us. Lunch is usually a sandwhich or something similar while Dinner can be a bit of a mixed bag. The lazy ones will serve up dehydrated potatoe & vegitables with a slice of cornbeef straight from our supplies. While others will really get into it and find freash local produce and cook up a great meal. We soon get to know who cooks well and who doesn't. The cooking is done on petrol pressure cookers with are to say the least a bit leathal. As there was three of us we took turns at loading and unloading the roof rack. Each evening we had to get the tents down for those who wanted them, find anything the cooks wanted and every three days or so get everyones luggage down. The most important thing was looking after the drinks store. One passenger was put in charge of the cellar and it was his job to know how much everyone had on the roof and mark it off if you asked for a bottle to be passed down.	Lunch Time
The other job was the fridge. We didn't really have a fridge just a large polystyrine box into which we put a block of ice to keep drinks cold and a bit of food for the cooks. If you were on fridge duty when we stopped for the midmorning break and shopping, you had to find where the local ice store was and purchase about 25kgs of ice. They would either send their delivery boy with his hand cart or you had to get a rickshaw to carry it for you. I always found getting ice interesting as it was always in an obscure part of town in a shop in total darkness that at first glance seemed to be full of wet sawdust. When they scraped back the sawdust there was your gleaming block of ice. You paid for it by weight and it was a step back in time to see the big balance scales that were used to check its value. The counter weights they used were things like pieces of old car engines or blocks of concrete. They had certainly never heard of the "Weights & Measure" man.	Dubrovnik

The trip continued	Map of trip so far