Our long-awaited chooks (Aussie slang for chickens) joined us in December of 2018. We needed to drive about 3.5 hours north to pick them up, which meant driving through Bosnia and Herzegovina and then back into Croatia. With 4 border crossings to face and a carload of chickens, we opted for taking the Ferry on our return.
All started well, a little too early in the morning for me but when we left Dubrovnik at 4 am the roads were all clear. By 6 am we had crossed through all the borders and were what we thought about an hours drive away from our destination as we had made good time. Then it seemed virtually over a hill and around a bend, we hit a full-on BLIZZARD. Not just a little flurry, from clear to "can't see through the windscreen" blizzard.
Two hours later we finally arrived at the farm, and into 2 metres of thick snow. Totally unprepared I had to cover my street boots with garbage bags to be able to fetch the chooks.
With 20 chooks packed in carry boxes stacked into the back of our van, we headed back to Dubrovnik. Slowed down dramatically by the unexpected weather we arrived at the ferry port in Ploče only to find the ferry departed 15 minutes before, so we had to wait 3 hours for the next ferry, fortunately NOT in the van. We needed to keep the windows open, give the chooks more food and water and waited it out in a cafe - at least it wasn't snowing on the coast.
We still had a couple of hours drive home after getting off the ferry and even with the windows down the smell was INTENSE. Finally, we arrived home, the sun was shining and the blue sky was cloudless. Unfortunately for the chooks, they needed to stay in their new coop for a couple of days but they were still happy. Their new "Villa Koka" was the Taj Mahal in comparison to their last coop. The weather also meant when they did have the freedom they also had grass, which they previously had never seen.
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