More... FLORIDA!!

 Miami Beach!

We left Crystal River and headed further south into Florida, through Tampa and into Naples, on the East Coast. Here we went to the Corkscrew Sanctuary. This is a 3 mile boardwalk style stroll through the swamp lands and prairie's of Southern Florida. Home to Alligators, frogs, bird life, plant life, snakes, insects, butterflies, puma and bear.

Our walk was quite pleasant for the first 2 miles until we heard a deep rhythmic growling off in the distance....OK sounds like a bear, but surely not this far down south, just because the brochure said we may see them in the area. Must be wrong and pushed on. As we got closer on the board walk, viewing beautiful birds and plant life, the noise got louder, deeper and we became more cautious. Has to be a bear we said eating it's prey. It was frightening! I felt so sick and scared. We contemplated walking back along the boardwalk so as the noise did not get closer. We hadn't laid eyes on another soul all morning from that point on. Great.....the bear is eating every person that walks up the last mile. It was the loudest deepest growl sound my ears had ever heard. So much so that I pulled out my mobile phone and was ready to dial 911 for when the bear took David first. The kids and I walked in tow behind him.

We rounded the corner to where the sound was at it's peak and there in the swamp was the biggest alligator and out of it's mouth came that deathly growling sound we had all been so scared of! No one told ME that Alligators make a noise - especially like a bear!

 I flopped to the park bench, (on the safety of our boardwalk) in relief and watched his deathly eye's dip beneath the lilly pads of the swamp.

As my heart rate returned to normal and I put my phone away, a small black snake slithered across my feet! I jumped up on the bench as quick as lightening and was ready to get the hell out of there! The swamps were no place for 'the princess'....the kids and David thought it was now hilarious!

Next day David and the kids wanted to go to the Everglades on our way across to Miami, and ride on an air boat through the swamp in search of Alligators. Yeah right....think I'm gonna' set foot on an Alligator swamp after yesterday......? Well guess what.....I did!

We ended up sighting 3 or 4 more Alligators and met some fairly funny 'swamp people'. At the conclusion of the ride we went to their quaint little Diner and ate 'Gator tail' and 'Frogs legs' - Not too bad actually!

Drove the rest of the way to our next place for the week - Fort Lauderdale (just north of Miami beach).

The beach is the first picture above - the white sand, the clear warm water and the beautiful people. This place is incredible!

Our accommodation had an oven!! Our accommodation had a real full size refrigerator!! Our accommodation had real metal cutlery!! Our accommodation had a couch!! Oh how you miss the simple things in life, when you are travelling.

We went straight to the grocery store to buy food to be able to have home cooked meals every night for the entire week!

At our hotel the 'Driftwood Beach Club' we met the most beautiful people. All guests checked in on around the same day and we were all staying for the week. The resort pool was central to all rooms and the beach was just across the street. Guests from Chicago, Florida itself, England, Italy, and all up the East Coast of America gather here for the same week each year as part of their time share. They welcomed us very quickly as part of their extended family and were very interested to hear of our travels. We were made to feel so welcome and like part of their big family, of which we truly appreciated.

Pictured above is a 'mock wedding' that we held one afternoon at the resort and the lovely couple asked if Jackson and Makalea could be included as their 'ring bearer' and 'flower girl'. Bathing suits and board shorts were acceptable attire of course!

It was a very funny day/night of which we will treasure; along with the entire week of enjoyable and interesting conversations, meals and drinks, with such amazing people in our memories and hearts forever. Looking forward to catching up and/or keeping in touch with you all.

On one of the days, Team Connor took the trip down through Key Largo to Key West (the furthest point of the USA - only 90 miles from Cuba) - take a look at the map and see where it lies off the coast of Florida. We hired a white Mustang convertible for the day, top down and drove for 4 hours to get there across bridges that go for miles across the ocean to link the islands together. Makalea loved that convertible so much, cruising along the Miami and Florida Beaches with the top down, I don't think the smile came off her face the entire day. 

A very cool day out!!

Happy Father's Day Dad's (in Australia)!

Good night all!

Love - Team Connor USA.  XOXOXOX