PHOTOS+AND+BLOG

FLAGLER BEACH, FLORIDA - (see more at ....• St Augustine • New Orleans) We finally arrived here about 6pm Tuesday evening (10am Wednesday back home) - we hit the sack pretty early but were both wide awake and having a cup of tea at 5am this morning. That's what almost 2 days flying will do to you!

We're settling in now and had a stroll on the beach early this morning (well, we were already up). The beach is really very long and quite straight for miles and miles - doesn't exactly look like a very safe beach for surfing. "Our" house is set back one row from the beach itself, close enough to see and hear the breakers. There are some public walkways providing access to the beach but there are also numerous "private" access footbridges with "No Trespassing" and "Private Property" signs to deter the riff raff. Quite strange to us. Today we plan to explore the neighbourhood, find the shops and renew my "driving on the right hand side of the road" skills. On right: some of the "private" accesses Below: a little sandpiper searching for food on the surf edge || ||
 * [[image:IMG_6985.jpg caption="Beach showing proximity of houses"]]
 * [[image:IMG_6983.jpg]] || OK, we survived driving around the local neighbourhood, bought all our supplies and settled in.

Today, Thursday, we had to drive to Orlando to pick up Van Hiep who was flying down from Montreal (although he decided it would be easier and cheaper to fly fro Vermont USA - a couple of hours drive across the border) No worries, we drove up towards Orlando on a 3 lane highway doing 70mph (about 115kms?) pulling off to see a few "highlights". Just as we were having coffee and tea in a place just short of Orlando Van Hiep phoned to say he was fogged in at Vermont and unsure of arrival time - could be midnight might be later .... eventually he decided that whatever (assuming he left Vermont) he would overnight in New York and catch the first flight in the morning arriving around 9:30am. So back to Flagler Beach we went and tomorrow at the crack of dawn (well almost) we will head off again. It should be a breeze now as we know the way AND that we will need $2 at one tollgate and 75c (has to be exact) at another - there could be more as we didn't go all the way today.

We're sort of getting the hang of the way things work here (OK to be fair we'll never fully understand it all) - I especially like having to show my driver's license when I purchased alcohol at the supermarket (maybe I don't look 18? 21?) but of course my NSW one wouldn't scan so it caused all sorts of problems. I guess they sorted them as we were allowed to leave with the booze! || We were fascinated by the Spanish Moss hanging from the trees - quite eerie and especially so when the wind made a whistling noise as it whipped though the trees. || || a weird array of thorns on a tree. The thorns basically stopped where the first branch emerged. The tree was quite big - probably around 4 metres tall. Obviously these thorns had evolved to deter whatever predators would like to climb the tree for ???? || No, we didn't seen any! or crocs or alligators either but we did get cheap drinks at Hurricane Patty's the other night. We stumbled onto this little bar beside the waterway whilst trying for some good sunset shots (no good on that front) so we dropped in for a drink. From 3-7pm is "Happy Hour" - schooner of beer $1 - Gail got a schooner of white wine (with ice of course) for $4.80 (good wine too!) It was pretty popular - I wonder why?
 * A few photos taken on our "trip" to Orlando - mostly in a little park next to a lake beside the highway.
 * [[image:IMG_6997.jpg caption="a Turkey Vulture - quite big like an eagle"]] || [[image:IMG_7018.jpg caption="Water lilies on lake edge"]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_7019.jpg align="center"]] || left:
 * [[image:IMG_7402.jpg caption="The Intracoastal Waterway is a 3,000-mile (4,800-km) waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. Some lengths consist of natural inlets, salt-water rivers, bays, and sounds; others are artificial canals. It provides a navigable route along its length without many of the hazards of travel on the open sea."]] || [[image:IMG_7393.jpg caption="Part of the Intra Coastal Waterway at Flagler - most of the towns and beaches along the coast are basically on a thin strip of sand with the waterway on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other"]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_7392.jpg caption="No prizes for guessing where this is taken"]] || [[image:IMG_7411.jpg caption="Flagler Beach pier - only $1.50 each to promenade, $3 to fish! We chose to promenade at sunset."]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_7425.jpg caption="We strolled to the end of the pier, chatting to several fisherfolks (esp the lady in green here, who is from Maryland - thought you'd like to know)"]] || [[image:IMG_7422.jpg caption="Yep, there's seagulls everywhere there is water anywhere in the world it seems."]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_7442.jpg]] || [[image:IMG_7447.jpg]] ||
 * [[image:me.jpg caption="Some old pirate hanging about on the pier ... but ready to rescue someone (anyone?) He even has a spare floatation device stuffed down his shirt!"]] || [[image:IMG_7456.jpg caption="Heading towards Flagler Beach from the bridge crossing the Waterway"]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_7469.jpg]]

A few of the local water birds seen everywhere in the swamps and creeks. The pelicans are mostly a grey colour and .... whilst we watched they were **//diving//** - straight down into the water to, I guess catch fish. Never seen a pelican dive before. || ||
 * [[image:IMG_7497.jpg]] || [[image:IMG_7479.jpg]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_7488.jpg]] || [[image:watery.jpg caption="Roadside Watery "swamp" "]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_7821.jpg caption="Flagler Beach 6:45am"]] || [[image:IMG_7808.jpg caption="an early morning rainbow at sunrise"]] ||