Key West

Well, we've had a bit of a hiccup with our plans and are staying on in Key West a bit longer.

You've seen the photos and how lovely it is.

Now the blog is taking a break for a few days.

Key West

A laid back day.

Had a wander, brunch and then took a 90 minute tram tour around Key West.

Beautiful brunch

Not sure what this tree is but it's lovely.

In the cemetery the graves are above ground beause in the old days they couldn't drill into the coral rock as it is very hard.

Beautiful palms everywhere.

Choose a boat...haha

O dear...here we go again...another lovely meal

On to Key West

Left the hotel with Navman or I should say lady programmed.

Going good and oops that road is closed. Try the next one....mmmm closed o dam.

Would you believe they had the audacity to close the roads we wanted to go on because of a run.

Well, 1 hour later we finally left Miami after a few...once more round the blocks.....

So on way again to Key West.

Peter is a very good driver and Janet is magic at navigating.

Some of the views on the way down.

Then the boys spotted the Bass Pro shop...o dear.

A little while later and a lite less money later we were off.

Inside the shop this guy was actually feeding this huge fish.

Now, I did not zoom in on this bird. He/she just stood there posing.

This was in the water outside the shop. I presume it is a type of jellyfish. 

Seven Mile Bridge.....and yes that is how long it is.

Very hot here and humidity would have to be close to 100% .

Off out for dinner now....so more tomorrow.

Miami .....take 2

A few more photos

Our Capt Chad has picked something that I would probably call cutty grass.

After scraping it ( it wasn't unlike our flax) this is the result. 

A sort of fluffy stuff that was used as a compression pad and then the flax was wrapped around to hold it on.

We saw these houses which are actually privately owned. It's sort of like the "section" has been 

handed down through the generations as you can no longer buy any "land" there.

Certainly be interesting living there , however imagine the amazing sunrises and sunsets.

Now, back at South Beach.

This is our hotel taken from the beach.

The hotel has it's own little piece of beach for it's clients.

After our tour we needed to eat as breakfast was only coffee.

A Cuban sandwich and a burger but what a cool way to serve them.

Now, you have to have a  cocktail....for  those that know about these things we went for the smaller version....that's because it was buy 1 get 1 free !!!

Noel, love your pink straw

A couple of shots of what we saw and I'm sure  Janet and I would turn heads in this wee vehicle in Pauanui.

Miami is just like you see on TV.

Some of the sights we saw  when we were eating lunch were ....ummm not sure how to put it...however I wasn't quick enough with camera to capture them.

Miami

This morning we called up a Uber ( getting real clever at that).

Doris arrived and o no she only speaks Spanish...that's okay we'll get by.

Headed out to the Everglades where we were met by Chad from Everglades Nature Tours and his lovely assistant whose name escapes me at present. She was a bit of a character. Took a photo of us on the airboat holding a paper with our surnames on it. Then told us it was so she could identify our bodies later....great!

And we're off

So what did we learn?

The Everglades are actually a moving river not a swamp.

The river runs from east to west and then into the Gulf of Mexico

The Everglades cover 1.8 million acres.

There are lots of fish in there particularly the Loudmouth Bass. 

5 species of turtle.......mmmm they are alligator food.

Apparently the alligators can go a whole year without eating.

The alligators in there can live up to 75 years.

There are 64 different types of frogs....The bullfrog is sort after as it's their legs you will eat  in a restaurant. Every 50 days they produce 40 - 60 babies so it's open season on them.

This year is the most water that have been in the Everglades for 15 years. All the water in there comes from above.

The start

The brown stuff you can see is like an algae which actually filters out the impurities in the water. Apparently the water is drinkable....mmmm not sure if I'd want to be the tester.

Purple flowers...my favourite...they were used by the Indians. Crushed up and sugar added and you a sort of peanut butter.

This Cyprus tree is around 200 years old. The Indians also used these trees to make their canoes.

Just to the right of the photo is a Cyprus tree that was damaged in the 1992 cyclone Andrew. It has just started reproducing foliage this year.

There were heaps of these Lotus flowers, however they are called Bankers. Now, you know that would appeal to me !!!

The reason..... They are only open the same hours as bankers !!!......love it 

Now, Peter, what are you eating?

Well, it was a grass that kinda tasted like maybe a bland celery.

This is where we saw the alligator, however I think he saw 4 kiwis and hid.

Peter said the devil was peeping out of the water as the boat took off. 

More photos on the next post

New Orleans to Miami

So an early start this morning.

First flight was back to Houston.

Going through security I advised them of the rather large amount of metal I have in both legs.

I particularly wore shorts so they could see there was nothing hidden up my trouser leg......o no I still had my bottom patted down and then would you believe my hands were swabbed for explosives....good start.
Arrived in Houston and high tailed it over to the next terminal in time to get some breakfast before our flight to Miami.
Thanks Deb Knox ( travel agent in Pauanui) everything fell into place and our bags arrived in Miami with us.

Did all the paperwork, loaded the bags into the car, Nav man all sussed and oops 

Houston we have a problem!!

Would you believe......a flat battery.

Take 2.

Bags all reloaded and we're away.

Nav man wasn't bad although Janet did revert to her phone at one stage.

Our biggest problem was road works and closed streets.

Peter did a great job of "tight right" and "loose left"

That's all folks for today as it's now time for a wee refreshment.

Last dinner in New Orleans

Tonight after a drink in the house bar we headed off to Cafe Soule.

I have wanted to try Jambalaya ever since I came to New Orleans.

Imagine my disappointment when the waitress said they had run out....mmmm well I actually lost the the plot a little and said that was the reason we had come to this restaurant.

Lo and behold she came back and said I could have it.

So there we go Jambalaya.

All I've wanted to do is say

Jambalaya,goldfish pie and billi gumbo

cause tonight I'm going to meet.....etc etc....so sorry if you're too young to know the rest of the words to that song.

Left the restaurant and decided it was too early for bed even thought we have an early start.

As Peter said, we have to have a Bourbon IN Bourbon Street so we did.

So there it is the 4 bourbons in Bourbon Street.

There was an amazing band playing so it was a bit hard to leave.

More tomorrow hopefully from Miami.