26 June 2004

It was a long drive today - but we didn't get lost once!! The highways are like ours except everyone drives on the wrong side (funny people hey) so we have to keep an eye out for Dad just to make sure we don't go down the up roads. Seems like every man & his dog from Miami comes to the Florida Keys on the weekend - we stopped off at hundreds of places - but they were all full. We finally came to a stop at Key Largo Resort & Dive Centre - the last room ! We went straight down to the beach for a dip (rather warm dip) and Dad took us all for a paddle in the canoe - even Jade - she could only just see over the top of the canoe! After a Taco Bell burrito for supper we went down to the sea shore to see the sunset - but after 45 minutes the mozzies were biting Mom, and I needed another  shower after building sand castles so we didn't stay to see the sunset (8.15 pm). Jade nodded off after we returned and we thought she had fallen asleep for the night - we hadn't made her bed on the floor yet so we put her on the double bed and packed the suitcases around her - an hour later Dad heard a little noise and went through to the bedroom only to find Jade inspecting the suitcases!! (see picture)-  now she's not allowed on the bed at all - anyway it's 10.00pm and we are all off to bed - we are going to find a new house tomorrow.

27 June 2004

We have moved on to a stunning location at a resort called the Kon-Tiki Resort located in Islamorada (south of Key Largo and just north of Marathon). There is a tropical beach with coconut palms (with hammocks strung between the palm trees), and a pond with really big fish (Dad says that the fish are bigger than Uncle Garth has ever caught). There are funny fish with long snouts, and coloured stripy fish.

After a great breakfast (11.00am) - we spent the day lazing around, watching the fish, and swimming. (I'll come back to the American food thing just now).

There are quite a lot of Harleys cruising up and down the "strip" which Dad says look really cool.

In the evening, after supper we went off the largest fishing shop (called the World Wide Sportsman)  Dad has ever seen. They even had a large fishing boat inside the shop (it belonged to some chap called Ernest Hemmingway - whoever he was - but they had some of his books  - he lived around these parts and liked fishing as well as writing). They had all sorts of fishing gear, and pictures of all the fish that have been caught off the coast. Some of the fish are bigger than Uncle Garth's boat. After that we went off to a beach bar where there was a band playing. Whilst Mom and Dad had some wine listening to the music, me and Jade played on the white white beach. I collected a whole lot of shells for Nicola and Carly (at 9 o'clock in the evening!).

We finally got home (we walked - everyone else had cars!)  at 10.00pm last night, but before we went to bed I made Mom give us a piece of the famous Key Lime Pie - mmm it was good.

This brings me to the food in this place - Mom and I have generally struggled to find decent food here - what we realised early on is that French fries are the staple diet and coke is the national drink. In Orlando we had a couple of 'successful' meals! The first was at Animal Kingdom where Dad ordered a chicken stir fry and we managed to eat everything else but the chicken - then at Typhoon Lagoon Dad got us a Caesar salad - we opened the box in great anticipation of our first salad to find lettuce, more lettuce and even more lettuce - the dressing which comes in a little sachet makes it a Caesar salad so at least the lettuce had a bit more flavour.

28 June 2004

Today we took a drive to Key West (about 140kms further south) - we had to go over 43 bridges!! The coast is stunning, with turquoise seas and small little islands just off the coast. There are lots of large fishing boats all over the place. The weather was really hot, but fortunately the car has air conditioning so it was not too bad whilst we were travelling. Key West is a vibrant anything goes little town, with all sorts of little shops and stalls. We went to the southern most point on continental United States. After taking a photo to prove that we had been there we returned home. We headed straight to the pool - but hadn't been there long when a big storm blew in with lots of wind, but it didn't rain too much. The people here aren't as tough as us - they have air conditioning everywhere and it's set to freezing - so one minute we are in the stinking hot sun and the next we are shivering in a shop. But they are all real friendly here and they all have a little chat and then say - have a good day - I am starting to pick up the lingo. 

29 June 2004

Today we went off to the John Pennekamp Coral Reserve which was just down the road. We wanted to go snorkelling but the boats did not have a lot of shade (for Jade) and were pretty crowded so instead we went in a glass bottom boat. To get to the sea we had to go through a massive mangrove forest. On the way we saw three nurse sharks in the water (I didn't actually get to see them because they were on the other side of the boat). The water was crystal clear, and the coral reef was amazing, we saw lots of fish (parrot fish, a barracuda, yellow tailed somethings). We saw brain coral, antler coral and all sorts of other coral.

When we got back Dad and I went swimming just off the beach. I saw lots of fish, and some big fish as well. I kept diving down to the bottom. Jade and Mom even came out for a little while.

We were all exhausted at the end of the day and so we all went off to bed early, after watching Rocky II on TV.

30 June 2004

We were meant to go back to Kissimmee today but we decided to stay an extra day. We spent the day lazing around the pool. I spent most of the day swimming, and playing with my friend Alley.

In the evening we had a barbeque with our friends from next door (a really nice family from Colorado, Tommy (a real cowboy), Suzy, Alley (my friend) and her brother BJ). Dad had some dolphin (a type of fish, not the mammal) while Mom and I had salad and a potatoes. Dad spent a bit of time talking to Tommy's brother-in-law Michael about fishing in the Keys, and learning all about the big fish here and how they catch them. Dad say's he will have to bring Uncle Garth here to see what real fishing is all about. We went swimming again after supper until 9.20 pm !

1 July 2004

Today we travelled back to Kissimmee. There was quite a bit of rain around so it made the travelling a lot cooler. Jade definitely is not a good traveller, she always wants to get out of her chair and when Mom won't let here she just screams, and screams until she exhausts herself and goes of to sleep .She eventually slept for 2 hours.

We are staying in the Quality Inn across the road from the upside down house. There is quite a bit of thunder and lightening around. We went out for a quite bite to eat, and then went and had coffee in a Starbucks because it was raining and we didn't want to get wet.

Tomorrow we are going off to Sea World.

2 July 2004

Sea World was simply amazing. We went to see the Shamu Killer Whale show (twice). The Killer whales were really big, they leapt out of the water, they splashed the crowd (we were fortunately high enough not to get wet), they pushed a man right out of the water (see photos). We then went off to the Artic to see polar bears, walruses and other artic creatures  (we flew there by helicopter - the ride was a little rough). We then went to the shark encounter where we walked through a long underwater tunnel. There were lots of different sharks. We saw sting rays, and really colourful coral fish. We saw a dolphin show (I got splashed by the dolphins) and false killer whales. I even touched a real live dolphin. We also went to the the pirate show with Clyde & Seamore the sealions, but it also had an otter and even a great big walrus- it was a really funny show. We went to a theatre to see a show all about the creatures of the ocean. The actors did some really amazing acrobatic stunts. Mom and Dad went on a big roller coaster ride (Kraken) but I was too little to go on.

We then had to go back to the hotel to pack, tomorrow we fly off to Los Angeles.