After a relaxed start, we headed into the township for swims (three people – not me!) and caches for us. We stopped in a hotel area and looked at the features of the grounds. The first we saw was a large model of the Acropolis, which did seem out of place, although it is in the right country and was amazing. As we moved along there were models of the Arkadi Monastery (which we had no problems recognising), the Chania harbour, a castle which is on the island and a palace also in Crete.

We walked with Jules to their ‘The Secret War Tunnel’ cache. I had read the listing that said “it's dark, it's dangerous, and it's a bit dirty! Are you brave enough? You will need good shoes, a torch and a brave heart......(and I prefer long trousers!)”, but we were not well organised. We had shorts and no torches so we were grateful that Jules bought a couple, and my phone worked well.  I was scratched and a bit bloody but less than in some NZ caches. The cave was used as an ammunition store during WWII and the war tunnel was used to move ammunition between strategic gun positions high up in the hill.  In April 1941 these posts were occupied by the 21st Australian Machine Gun Battalion. I then walked along the river to look for a 2^nd cache. The route was a track but a rough one. I got to the right area and was looking. I had just decided it would be at a different level when John arrived and he found it where I was about to head to. I was in NZ-cache-mode and thought of where I would have left it. The river will not rise like a NZ one so the cache had been safely near the waters edge for many years. We had already been looking with no real success for turtles in the river, but saw 2 on our return. They were too far away for photos but neat to see in the wild.

The river runs into the sea at the beach area where we were. Sue and Jules had told us that the top centimetres are just fresh river water and under is mixed with the warmer sea water. It was a little later they said the river was mountain fed and cold. We had found that with our feet. My plans to paddle disappeared with a 12C temperature, but the others all went in far enough to benefit from the lower warmer temperature, although not without a number of comments from John about never flying his flag again that had the others laughing so loudly that we could all hear on the beach.

We then had freshly squeezed orange juice at the tavern before having a last glimpse of the Acropolis and heading back up the hill.

John and I then drove back into the town to get bread rolls for lunch, and made a mess of it. We first didn’t find the right supermarket… I knew it was the wrong one and the right one was near the Bank of Chania but when I tried to ask google maps for the bank it had us in Chania itself. We then bought bread from the wrong supermarket, crossed the square and saw a map and found where the right shop was. I was keen to get the proper items so we went back over the square and just a bit further to find familiar territory. Back at the car, we went back over the bridge and followed the road back up until we were close to home – but on the wrong level. Sue and Jules watched us drive around the wrong roads, but we did eventually get back safely. I had the GPS coordinates for the house on the GPS but it was not being helpful. I later found I could have used google maps, if I had known the address, which I didn’t, because Crete doesn’t have addresses.

After our filled bread rolls on the balcony we headed to the German War Cemetery overlooking the runway in Maleme. Neither John nor I can say much about the journey as we snoozed in the back.

The entrance area at the cemetery had signs in Greek, German and English, some of which were relatively new. We are appreciating the number of signs in English. The message was that war graves are now more important for the collective memory as individual grief is less painful with the passage of time. The cemeteries offer young people lessons in tolerance and cooperation and that war and violence are not legitimate ways to settle disputes.

We saw similarities with the German cemetery in France, with the bodies buried in pairs and some stone crosses in the grounds. What we all loved here were the ice plants which almost looked like a field of tiny poppies with the red colour of the flowers. Jules and Sue told us they don’t need much water. More of the plaques here seemed to have the actual names on them but there were still some with just 2 unknown German soldiers on the plaques.

There was a large iron cross to mark the cemetery and at the back a recent memorial to some German soldiers who were representing NATO and died in a plane crash in the White Mountains. There were a number of wreaths on the site including 1 from Australia , 3 from New Zealand representing the Battle of Crete Association and Veterans. There were lovely yellow butterflies flitting from plant to plant in the peaceful surrounds.

We then went further up the hill to Hill 107 to the west of the town of Maleme overlooking the military airfield where the key battle was fought, to find a cache placed there. On the way John picked up an old small-calibre cartridge. We went past a large iron cross, then went through olive trees and past the remains of bunkers. We all went into one that Sue and Jules had been reluctant to enter in the past being unsure of its stability. It was fine, with very solid walls and ceiling and enough natural light to not need torches. The cache was placed at a defensive position occupied by the New Zealanders during the Battle of Crete, so was a must for us.

We had been thinking of caching friends (the Schroders) who had visited the same German cemetery as we had in France, and John found a page in the cemetery register to send to them.

 I saw a donkey nearby which seemed to fit the situation. Then we had local sheep milk ice-creams while Sue helped the owner with an English translation of one of the flavours. As we had chocolate and almond, no translation was needed. The oddest moment was being offered a free round of raki even though we only bought an ice-cream each. We declined gracefully.

At the cemetery parking area was a sign that said that 4460 dead are in the war graves, having been transferred here from 62 locations. We also appreciated the words of Albert Schweitzer that were quoted - “The soldiers graves are the greatest preachers of peace”.

We drove past the airfield looking for a memorial that was meant to be there but all we saw was barbed wire, keep out signs and soldiers with machine guns. On our drive past again about 30 minutes later, John is sure he did see it in a security area, so we did not try to stop.

Instead we had stopped for a newish cache that Jules and Sue had not yet found. It seemed rather random as it was at a memorial for road accident visits. The site proved to be a park with a church, fountain, benches and plaques and with safe parking that we were pleased to see. It was near an artificial olive tree which was the only part that seemed out of keeping. In a country with so many olive trees, the point of a fake one escaped us all. The cache luckily didn’t escape ‘the Cretan Runners’ (Sue and Jules) and we could all sign the log.

The next visit was the unexpected highlight of the day. Sue has done heaps of research and planning for us and had found mention of a WW2 museum she had never heard of before. As the opening time was unclear, with mention of 5pm or 7pm or in the morning we went there more in hope than confidence. It was indeed open and the confusion seemed to have been mainly because the hours are now extended, as it only opened in 2013. It is under the church, and the Platanias Church committee and volunteers from the village are running it on a donation entry.

We were greeted with almost embarrassing delight by the man on duty because we came from New Zealand. I left he and John to talk mainly, as they both knew heaps about the New Zealanders role in the Battle of Crete.

During the Battle of Crete, this area had been a site of major battles, because it was a strategic location for control of land and sea. After Crete fell, German forces moved into the village and used it as a local base. The museum was in a series of tunnels and booths built by the Germans under the Church of St Dimitrios, where they felt they would be safe from Allied attack. The walls appeared to be limestone so would have been easy to tunnel in. Local forced workers built the 200m long tunnel, 10 booths, a main shelter entrance and 2 exits. They used the area to store ammunition and military equipment. Post war it was used as a pantry by the village because the temperature was a consistent 20-23C.

The booths had displays of various types, mainly showing items found in the area along with historic photographs. Sue and Jules recognised some of the villages in the photos and were awed by the destruction displayed. There were very sad photos showing the annihilation of whole villages who had either helped Allied soldiers, Cretan rebels or attacked German officers.

There is a special sacred olive tree outside the church. I had missed the details of the story that the custodian had told the others, but picked it up later. During the Battle of Crete a badly wounded German pilot had been nursed by the locals, but then died and was buried in a secret grave near the church. This was the exact spot a German officer chose to start the excavations of the shelter and tunnels. A church commissioner invoked the holiness of the olive tree to persuade them to move the entrance so the body would not be discovered, as this would have meant the probable annihilation of all villagers.

As we were leaving we were delighted to see the extra items that had been found in the area and were being cleaned for later display. It is a wonderful local museum of much more than just local interest.

We were also told the whereabouts of a nearby site where the Maori Battalion had setup a machine gun bunker. We had been hoping to set a cache to celebrate our stay in Crete, and this was ideal. So Sue drove us part way up the road and then we walked to the top of the hill. There we found the bunker, and the others went in while I found an old wall that provided a perfect cache site. I had taken Sue’s bag of caches up so we found a suitably sized one and recorded the coordinates. John decided immediately to call it ‘Kia Kaha’ and we were able to submit the cache the next day.

We were all buzzing as we drove back along through the area that Jules and Sue compared to Blackpool as it is very much a resort area with hotels, amusement areas and blow-up sea things like seals and turtles. We then went through the second largest city of Chania to a carpark near the old Venetian Harbour area. We walked past the old city walls and onto the harbour front. We stopped for a drink but opted to eat away from the front in spite of lots of touts encouraging us into their tavernas. We shared starters then all had our own mains, not all of which were eaten because they were so big. The raki was also not all consumed, because it was probably the most alcoholic and rough that we had had. We then had a lovely drive home and were in bed by 11pm.