Contactable

We have a temporary mobile number whilst in Australia. 0415 261 765. We are in Canberra until Wednesday, 27 July 2005, after which we will be in Melbourne for a few days.

Land of the Free

The flight from London was, well, fragrant. The previous night, Weisie and I cooked a meal for the kids at Hestercombe Avenue and we reeked of pungent Indian spices. Thank you once more for having us!

On arrival in Miami, we scored an obtuse immigration officer who seemed to send every other person off for further interrogation. On seeing that we had recently toured Syria, I was asked whether I sympathised with recent extremist activity. I pointed out that not everyone in Syria is a terrorist, and in fact almost all are very generous and pleasant. Weisie saved me from detention (and a possible cavity search) by kicking me under the counter and smiling sweetly to shut me up. "Welcome to the Land of the Free".

We stayed at Miami Beach for a few days, where we sweltered in the summer heat and took long walks to gawk a rippling, bronzed bodies and pastel Art Deco fascades. We laughed at the rap-mobiles that boomed their way up Ocean Drive and thought how well Hollywood portrays life in this part of America. Every cliche and stereotype was gloriously represented.




The waters of South Beach were warm and relatively clean, and the imported white sand was quite dazzling in the sun. Having not seen a real beach in nearly a year, it was a real treat. The lifeguards were buff and carried those red buoys you see on Baywatch. But with two savage shark attacks in Florida in the three days prior to our arrival, we swam close to the locals (safety in numbers).




On the 4th of July, we hired a shiny, red Dodge Charger that was all together far too big for our needs (typical of most vehicles in the States) and drove across the endless wetlands that cover much of southern Florida. The marshes were apparently crawling with crocodiles and panthers, none of which we saw unfortunately.

We found our way to Tampa, without a map but in possession of a finely attuned female intuition, stopping at our motel from where we could see eight fast-food restaurants and the boundary wall of Busch Gardens. The motel was like the set from a TV murder show, and I was sure the walls and floors had recently been washed down to hide the blood! But, it did have an ice machine and free newspapers.




Busch Gardens is an African-themed fun park. Our day there was hot and at times queasy. We took all the rides - the Egyptian-styled Khumba rollercoaster pictured above was awesome - drank soda-floats by the gallon and applied sun-screen liberally. The best part of the day, indeed the whole trip, was the hour we spent gazing at a family of mountain gorillas. It was an unsettling experience seeing such beautiful, powerful creatures so resemblant of ourselves. The next time we encounter gorillas (in Uganda) we will not have the benefit of three inches of Perspex!

We drove to Kissimmee near Orlando and stayed at another motel - this one had a kitchen and a pool. We spent a couple of days shopping at designer clothing factory outlets, eating, watching "Beauty & the Geek" and playing adventure golf.




After nearly 10 days, our time in Florida had come to an end. Hurricane Dennis, however, was threatening to keep us in Florida for longer than expected. After causing much devastation, Dennis thankfully only brushed the peninsular.

We had two hours in a bus, a five-hour flight to Los Angeles then an eight-hour wait for our plane to Sydney. We were shattered by the time the plane started boarding. The flight was overbooked and we jumped at the opportunity to stay a night at the Westin and fly business class the following night.

Apart from the gorillas, two other highlights deserve a mention, both of which occurred at Orlando international airport. Firstly, touching a sliver of Martian meteorite at the NASA store (dream come true for one of us), and secondly, a meal of doughnuts fresh off the conveyor belt...

Parks and Pubs

During our first stint in London, we caught up with a number of friends from Aus, some of who were passing through and others who were firmly entrenched in the antipodean ex-pat community. In order: Tim & Mel, Lisa, Leanne and Ness.

Safe and well

Just a quick post to let you all know that we are okay following the tragedy in London last week. We are in LA about to board a flight to Sydney. We spent the last 10 days bumming around Florida...

We will update the blog with our most recent adventures in the next few days.