Day 27 - Cocoa Beach to St. Augustine

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Cocoa Beach to St. Augustine - 42°c

I woke up slightly earlier than I needed to this morning since I wanted to take some photos of the early morning sun over the beach and pier from my room’s balcony. The sky was still a lovely pink colour and it was well worth the early start to the day to capture the moment as the sun came up over the horizon.

We left the hotel around 8am so as to head to St Augustine, our last stop in Florida. Just under an hour later we arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral where we had trip-included admission. As one of the first ones at the center, we were amongst the first through security and able to get a head start on some of the space exhibits. First was a walk around the ‘Shuttle Garden’, an outside exhibit that was full of extremely large shuttles that had been used over the course of time. It was interesting to see how they had developed over the course of time into bigger, better, faster and safer models. With the already hot sun beating down on us, the only respite was in the shade of the rockets, which since they stood so high, managed to provide a good level of shade.

Afterwards we headed over to where the bus tours of the space center left. Although the center opened at 9am, the first bus leaving for the tour wasn’t until 10am, so for a while we stood in the shade in a queue for the bus. The first stop of the tour was to a short video presentation and then into an area where there were small scale replica models of some of the buildings at the space center, including the main building where the launches are controlled from, and the launch sites themselves. After we left there we headed up an observation deck where we were able to see the shuttle launch sites in the distance, one of which had a shuttle already there, having it’s final preparations made on it and waiting for it’s launch in about a fortnights time. Because of the sheer power and extremely hot fumes coming from the shuttle upon launch, the launch pads are some miles away from the viewing areas and main control buildings, and each shuttle takes up to eight hours to be moved slowly from the preparation building over to the launch pad on a transporter vehicle.

The next stop on the tour was to another part of the center where many years ago one of the first successful shuttle launches was controlled and had now been converted into an accurate replica of the control tower, complete with simulation of the event. It was quite interesting to see all of the control boards light up as the ‘shuttle launch’ got closer and closer, and the windows of the building start rattling as the shuttle ‘took off in the background’. As the simulation ended, the doors opened into a massive hanger-style building, complete with an enormous rocket on display. It reached from one end of the building to the other a good 15-foot in the air, which enabled us to walk all the way underneath it and get a real perspective on how truly big these machines really are.

After a while of wandering around, taking photos and reading the signs dotted around the hanger explaining what we were looking at, we picked up the tour bus onto the third and final stop of the tour, the International Space Station Preparation building, where each of the components needed for the I.S.S are put together and readied to be taken up into space and attached onto the ever expanding station. Through giant glass windows, we were able to see the entire laboratory, as a tour guide with us gave a brief summary of how the process takes place, how long it takes, the difficulties and challenges faced, and also the eventual aim of the Space Program.

Through another door was a replica of a lay out of what the facilities aboard the station are like, with glass door-ed air tight wardrobe style containers containing everything from toilet and washing facilities, cooking and refrigeration devices right down to the technical machinery needed for the scientific experiments continually taking place and being monitored.

As the tour finished we headed back to the main visitors center. I bought the group photo that had been taken of Lauren, Michelle, Marnee and myself earlier on in the day, and then headed over to where the space shuttle ‘Explorer’ was located. Although much of the interior had been stripped bare of it’s components and actual facilities, it was still interesting to have a look around inside of it and see what the astronauts would see, including the very small and cramped navigation and cockpit area.

After that I quickly visited a gallery of images that had been taken by the Hubble telescope over the course of time. Large stunning images of deep space adorned the walls, including photos of galaxies colliding, far off planets, the sun and the moon, and of course Earth too. As I finished wandering around it was time to head back to the bus, having been at Kennedy Space Center for 5 hours already. I picked up a few more souvenirs as I left and caught up with everyone back at the coach.

From there we had a 2-hour journey to St. Augustine and our hotel for the night. After dropping off my things in my room, I headed out for a short walk with Nathan and Tim before coming back to the hotel and straight into the pool where we met a load of the others. It was so great to be in the pool, and despite the fact that the sun was still beating straight down on us, the pool itself providing a great relief after walking around in the Florida humidity all day.

We stayed in there for a good hour or so, before it was time to head back to our rooms and get ready for dinner at ‘Howies’, a pizza buffet just over the road from the hotel. Having had pizza last night, and the leftovers of it for both breakfast and lunch earlier on, I wasn’t too appreciative of having more pizza and didn’t do great justice to the buffet, but it was good all the same.

Afterwards Kristina walked us down into the centre of St. Augustine where the majority of the group headed onto a walkabout ghost tour of St. Augustine with a tour guide. Nathan, Caddie and I decided to have a wander around together and saw some of the sights of St. Augustine, Nathan knowing a surprising amount about the castle, the history of how it came to be there and how it was once operated and used in defence against the British. Caddie and I joked that he made for quite a good tour guide and wannabe historian, and ribbed him slightly about it, which he took in good humour!

From there we walked along by the river and down some of the streets, each beautifully decorated with ornate streetlamps and buildings. We eventually came to Flagster College, not only a very beautiful building, but also one that had been there some many years. We had a look around inside at some of the paintings and architecture, and then the outside fountains all of which were stunning.

The three of us then left the college and headed back to the hotel via a grocery store to pick up a few things. Once back at the hotel the three of us went to Nathan’s room and played some card games, chatted and had a few drinks. It was cool to be able to walk in between Nathan’s room and mine, since our rooms were next to one another and had an adjoining internal door.

Later on, those that had been on the ghost tour arrived back at the hotel, and Nathan’s room soon filled up with Lauren, Marnee, Brooke, Annie, Joey, Tim and the two Michelle’s joining us, where we stayed up, chatted and giggled until 1am which was a lot of fun.

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