From Townsville to Titusville

Now that we’ve left Florida and a new month has dawned I thought I would take the time for a quick summary of our journey so far.  I’ll add the hot link wherever I can so that if you missed a post or just want to read it again it will only be 1 click away.

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In a quirk of nature we time travelled on the 2^nd of May to Los Angeles.  We left Townsville at 0650 on the Wednesday and arrived at LAX at 0655 on the same day.  5 minutes?  Yep time travel.  Anyway, we claimed our hire car, bought a GPS and found our way to our lovely AirBnb which would be our new home for 11 days. We had a few things to do in LA before our cruise was to begin.

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A couple of days later we headed to a place we’d visited 13 years earlier, Santa Monica.  The pier was good but you go to SM for the people watching.  We even saw a sea lion frolicking off the pier end bludging food (bait) off fishermen.  After a bite to eat we turned the car north and drove to the  town of choice for many celeb’s, Malibu.  Great real estate if you can afford it!  This was a good day out.

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A few days later (Sunday) we headed west a few miles to Pasadena and the Norton Simon Art Gallery where they have a fantastic display of original masterpieces.  Well worth the visit.  On the Monday we chose to check out the southern beaches of LA and so headed for the former home of one of our best friends, Huntington Beach.  From HB we drove northward to head back home when we discovered the US Navy Museum ship the USS Iowa.  Absolutely massive and very much worth our time.  Shane & I loved it.  We finished the day by having tea on top of “Tony’s” restaurant on Redondo pier as the sun set into the Pacific Ocean.

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Another day, another bucket list check off.  This time we went to Universal Studios and WOW, what a great day it was.  From Harry Potter to Jaws to Fast and Furious to the Simpsons it was all a great big laugh.  We were totally knackered at day’s end but it was totally worth it.  If you ever go to LA DO NOT MISS THIS.

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Following Universal Shane and I got up early to go to Disneyland.  Now who of my generation (of ANY generation) doesn’t want to go to Disneyland?  It’s been a dream of both Shane and I since we were kids.  I remember the words clearly “Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me?  M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E” and so it goes on.  Sadly it was not the “happiest place on earth” for us.  From the time we (eventually) parked to the time we left we were disappointed.  We agree that Walt Disney would be rolling in his grave these days.  With only 11 hours there we couldn’t find a ride with under a 45 minute wait and many had queues of over 90 minutes!  Do the Maths.  If you did ten rides in a day you’d spend 10 of your 11 hours waiting in queues seeing nothing.  Food was just as hard to get to. Add to that we encountered 3 breakdowns that cancelled or seriously delayed rides/events. It’s another bucket list item down but not one I’d do a repeat visit to.

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2 days before our cruise was to depart Shane and I returned to another favourite place from our last visit and that’s Olvera St Markets.  These markets are a must see and I am sorry I didn’t lash out and buy some of the unique souvenirs available but space in our many bags is a luxury.  Olvera St and nearby Grand Central Station are terrific places and even Shane enjoyed her Authentic Mexican lunch.  The last item in this post was our sailing out of LA Harbour on our Panama Canal cruise.

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Our cruise started with Shane and I attending the wedding of a couple we met the night before at our dinner table.  They were eloping and had no one to join their celebration so Shane and I crashed their party and became solid friends with them.  The next story in this post was on Cabot San Lucas.  Cabot San Fantastic I say.  What a beautiful place and with a great touristy party flavour.  The scenery was spectacular and the few hours we had there was too short of a time.

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Our next port of call was scheduled to be Nicaragua but civil unrest caused a change to our itinerary.  Instead we diverted to Puerto Chiapas, a sleepy dirty town but within this region there is plenty to see.  We were mightily impressed by the Jaguar Warrior Dance.  This unscheduled stop allowed us to tick another item off our bucket list and that was visiting Mayan ruins.  In the end it turned out to be a surprisingly good port of call.

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Another day, another port.  This time Puntarenas in Costa Rica.  In this port we had an afternoon tour so in the morning we stepped ashore and walked around the port township.  It ain’t a pretty town but that was a minor hiccough. After melting in the searing tropical heat and humidity we found a pub right at the end of our wharf and the host was gracious and the beer cold (and cheap).  After cooling down we hauled ourselves back to the ship for lunch before hopping on a tour bus for a tour involving alligators and trains.  This was another well planned trip and it was quite a novelty.  We enjoyed it immensely.

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On the 24^th of May we finally did what we set out to do and that was to cruise through the Panama Canal.  What an exciting day.  This is a blog post worth looking at again.  We arrived at the Pacific Ocean end of the Canal right on sunrise and we got through the Atlantic Ocean end at sunset.  What we saw in the way of transiting and the scenery along the way was everything we’d dreamed it would be.  I remember my grandmother telling me her stories as she sailed through the Canal back in the ‘60’s and we loved every bit of our trip.

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Santa Marta is a town with a split personality.  The port and township itself was nothing special but at the other end of town were rows of expensive high rise condominiums.  It led me to wonder how much drug money went into these units.  In the meantime We did a “Jungle walk tour” to a trickle they called a waterfall.  Good news was that we didn’t get shot while trekking the Colombian jungle.

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The island of Aruba is one I knew nothing about prior to this visit.  Now I want to go back.  What a fantastic holiday place.  This nation of Dutch providence has some of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen.  There is much to do there. We had a dive in a semi-submersible over a ship wreck and toured some unique locations.  This island, known as “the Happy Island” certainly is a great place.  It may be costly to get there from Australia but I promise you it is worth every cent.

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Two days later we hit Florida.  Wonderful Florida.  No wonder so many Americans want to move here.  Despite the short, torrential downpours you could never run out of things to do in Florida.

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We were shocked at the opulence of Palm Beach and the Celebrity Set.

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Then we had a day tour to Key West.  This was so good we went back once we had our van for a shakedown tour to test the van for problems.  But back to the bus tour.  Have a read and believe me when I say Key West is one of a kind and a must-do.

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While awaiting our van we also checked out the Everglades and di one of those air boat rides.  Lots of alligators and some lovely scenery.

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By the 24^th we’d finally had the van handed to us and we were in a fantastic urban park on the edge of the Glades yet still within civilization.  Markham Park was a good initial testing ground for the van before heading on to the road for some real trials.

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As I mentioned above we returned to Key West for a real shakedown tour in the bus to rattle out any problems.  The only problem we encountered was not enough time in the ‘Keys’.  This place is unique and wonderful. One highlight of this stop was our sunset snorkel on a reef complete with a decent shark checking us out as we swam.

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At the end of our Key West visit we headed north again but this time to the west coast of Florida on the Gulf of Mexico.  Naples was our home for a few days and it is a beautiful city.  It doesn’t hurt that Naples is one of the most affluent cities in the entire USA.

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Running a close second to Key West the town of Cortez would be my next favourite stop.  It was very reminiscent of Ettalong 50 years ago.  Just over the bridge a mile away is the gorgeous Anne Marie Island another affluent island where money is rarely a problem.  That said there are some very good bargains for someone looking for a beach house of almost incomparable scenery.  Just loved this place.  Ybor, in Tampa City was also a highlight.

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From Cortez and Tampa we crossed the peninsula to the Atlantic side and “The Space Coast” where we hoped to catch a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral.  We missed it by 2 days.  In the meantime we joined the locals at a town park venue for 4^th of July celebrations and fireworks.  Good Party.

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Then came the big one.  Kennedy Space Centre was indescribable fun and a definite bucket list item for us both.  You really must read this blog post as they have so much to fire the imagination.  We really should have gotten a 2 day pass.

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Our last post to now was this trip to the famous Daytona International Speedway.  Every bloke in the world wants to come here and so do a lot of the ladies.  Despite more tropical rain destroying the program we still experienced a NASCAR race and had a good day.

Whew!  This is a big post.  Since starting this we have finally crossed the state border from Florida to Georgia.  That post will be coming soon.  Tomorrow we leave Georgia for South Carolina and the city of Charleston, followed by Charlotte in North Carolina then Blue Ridge mountain country.

Until then watch out for more.

Cheers

Garry & Shane

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