2004-05-04 - 6:29 p.m.

(Written 03/04/04)

The last time I wrote I was in the Bahamas. That was (*does a quick mental

calculation*) a bit over a week ago. The day we left the Bahamas we swam

with Dolphins which was an amazing experience. They swim up to you (you are

in a group of six and spread out and there are two dolphins who spread their

time amongst you) and follow you, if you dive down or swim or whatever. And

we all got Dolphin hugs and kisses and photos to prove it.

The boat trip back was so much better than the way over. Calm seas, I didn't

even feel slightly sick and I managed a few little naps (given that they

don't give you rooms for such a small cruise unless you pay extra- Meaghan

got one as she wasn't feeling well).

The next day was a bit of a nightmare- we had to pick up the car we'd be

driving around for a week from Fort Lauderdale, but when he went to take the

$500 deposit off my credit card we discovered that all access to anything to

do with the stupid Commonwealth Bank (credit card, keycard, netbank, etc)

was down. It was about 5am on a Sunday morning in Australia, and the Car

company wouldn't take cash or travellers cheques so all we could do was wait

until the problem sorted itself out. More than two hours in a cafe, but at

least they had "Karate Kid" on the TV.

We finally got to Miami (a 45 minute drive which took us the best part of a

day) and discovered we'd scored a really nice hotel, and immediately decided

we should stay two nights there, and turn up a day late in Orlando.

So the next day Cristan and I checked out Miami Beach- it was a sunny day

and I am a few shades darker- and even ended up walking by a scary nude

bathing area where I resisted the temptation to be an exhibitionist.

I'm up to Tuesday now I think (it's Friday afternoon here). We drove the 3

or so hours from Miami to Orlando only to discover our hotel was not in

Orlando but in Kissimmee, a tourist haven close to Disneyworld. I had

visions of going to New York a couple of days early but there's still heaps

to do, even if it's Tacky tourist stuff, and one needs some time to write

group emails and do laundry.

Since we've been here we saw Cirque du Soliel at Downtown Disney (which is

essentially a big version of Fox Studios but Cirque Du Soliel was an awesome

display of acrobatics and gymnastics), seen Epcot (part of Disneyworld), the

Kennedy Space Centre, and gone to a gun range which was cool in a way but

more disturbing than anything else (all they needed was one persons ID and

we were shooting a Smith and Wesson 9mm at a target). Today we went to an

extremely lame water park that Meaghan had free entry to, and tomorrow we're

deciding between Magic Kingdom (the classic Disney Stuff), MGM and Universal

Studios. And hopefully tomorrow night I can drag Cristan out to an Indie

Club in Orlando and dance to good music.

We fly to New York on Sunday and from Wednesday I'm going solo.

Hope all is well down under.

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