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Published: December 29th 2010
An armidillo...
...alive as opposed to road kill. This fella sitting beside the track as we entered the park. Kids fascinated..Started out as another chilly one but then the sun gained some strength and became a brilliant day. Standard blue cloudless skies but just a lot warmer...not tropical but very pleasant. For what we ended up doing - the weather was perfect!!
Reubs has got a bit of a cold so has been hacking like a 40 a day man for the last two days...been told to harden up and he has...he's a good lad. So late morning, as we waited to see whether to don the arctic wardrobe or just one for winter in Otago, packed a lunch (cos we're cheap!) and then headed off for the Blue Springs National Park. Nope, never heard of it either but from one of Sandy's gazillion (that is actually a word she uses) guide books and bookmarked web sites she had seen some vague recollection of this place having something there in winter. Manatees she thought, but might have been maneaters, and this web site / book actually listed this in the Top Ten things to do in Florida. One minor proviso here is that this book lists the Top Ten things for all demographics, family group, young married, teenagers, physically handicapped,
First Manatee
..and it just got better. vegetarian, gay, blonde, baptist etc and she had no recollection at all of which category this place fitted so it was a bit of a punt. Could have ended up in Vegan nudist colony.
Being so new millenium minded and not owning a map, other than the Walt Disney style ones, for Orlando (still haven't worked out if Mickey is an off ramp or a public convenience!) we did what all our generation does and google mapped it. Looked straight forward enough...head north - I mean how big can Florida really be? Could'nt print it as don;t have a printer (make note to self - carry printer on next trip) so wrote directions in fine detail so as to assist Sandy in the navigating. For some reason she holds me responsible for the minor delays in getting to our destination...go figure!! Yes, took us about 15 minutes longer than anticipated and we found where Cletus's Uncle Buck and Aunt Essimay live on their raccoon ranch!
But we got their in the end or at least we got close...ish!!
Made the final left turn into West French Road, a mere 2 or so miles to the park when
Head shot..
..just coming up for its breath...do this every 5 to 8 minutes or something.. we hit a traffic jam. Backed up does not describe it...
Anyway, being patient we joined the queue...this country needs to make queueing an olympic event...they'd clean up Gold, Silver and Bronze everytime...and crawled forward. Finally reaching a sign that read "You are now 1000 feet from the National Park Gates". Imagine our excitement!! At this point Sandy made the somewhat prophetic observation, "this must be why they recommend you come early". That was helpful. But like all queues here this one did move well and a mere 15 minutes later we were able to read the sign, "You are now 500 feet from the National Park gates." Fantastic. It is now 12.30...so the picnic we had prepared (rather Sandy had) to have in the peaceful surrounds of the national park - we instead consumed in a queue of traffic.
Finally, reached the gates to the national park and met Ranger Ron on the roadway outside the gateway directing traffic. Here is a man who lives to direct traffic...his excitement at this mantle of authority had rushed straight to his head and he was devising new ways of his own to maintain traffic flow...needless to say a couple
Clear water..
..crystal clear as feeds out of underground spring.. of extra years at school would have been advantageous to Ron as his grasp of logic was just not what it needed to be for his curent tasking. Instead of directing the traffic in with a casual left turn as they approached the gate, RR sent you past the gate and half a mile up a dirt road to then do a U turn in a narrow roadway and join another, the extension no less, of the first queue so as to then approach the gates to the park and be able turn right into the gates...I longed to take a moment with RR and just ask why...I so wanted to know what the rationale was and I suspected it was going to start with a Forrest Gumpism along the lines of "My mama always told me..."...but Sandy wouldn't let me.
Anyway we got into the carpark just on 1pm after having paid $6 (the cheek of it) to enter the park. The sign at the Ranger Station (the rest of them seemed so normal and I suspect RR was always sent out to do traffic) read Manatees in attendance today - 273. Sounded kinda like they had to
Manatee pair..
..heading down stream towards the boom which leads out into open water.. sign in somewhere. I asked the ranger if the Manatees would be clearly visible today...and she gave me one of those smiles..the ones that look alright but the eyes read 'you moron' and said it should be okay.
So we drove an extra half a mile to the half empty car park...which just got me wondering all the more what the hell RR was playing at.
By now it was simply put a beautiful day. It was fresh but fairly warm in the sun and the wind was a very slight breeze.
Wandered across to the start of the walkway and their we saw our first wildlife...an armidillo no less. We had never seen one before up close (seen a couple at the side of the road driving around - us driving not the Armidillo, that would be silly) so stopped to take a couple of pictures and both the kids wanted to get up close and personal...these two would cuddle an alligator, actually they already have!. Some Floridovians looked at us with sympathy, clearly seeing us as simple folk being so intrigued with their local rodents.
Walked another 200 metres to the boardwalk and the
..more air moss..
..just cos I like them.. first landing platform and looked out over this crystal clear, pristine natural fresh water emanating from an underground spring around 300 metres upstream. This water was perfection...there was a myriad (always a word I've liked) of fish life swimming and schooling around, just hundreds and hundreds of them, in this river around 20 metres wide. And amongst these fish were the Manatees!! Not just one or two, but as you moved up and down the river, dozens of them, swimming and lying right alongside the viewing platforms, surfacing a few feet from where we stood, mothers with pups, old bulls, family groups...just simply amazing to see and the timing was perfect. The sun was straight above so they were sunning themselves in brilliant sunlight just below the surface. Immediately understood the 'you moron' look from the Ranger now.
Walked upstream to the top of the stream where the spring comes up out of the river bed. The whole bush walk is on a raised walkway (wheelchair and automated buggy access - these folks don't like walking) through something resemblent of our own beech forests but with a secondary canopy of palms similar to Nikau's but much taller. Again earned
The actual spring..
..very neat. Manatees sitting just alongside it. 'poor simple folk' looks from the Orlandites as we stopped to watch squirrels foraging on the forest floor...more than one of the locals had the look of someone to whom picking squirrel meat out of their teeth was not an unusual event. (Note: no squirrels were harmed in the preparation of this blog)
The spring itself is spectacular and even had a couple of what may have been old bull manatees lying in the sun off to one side. The reason the Manatees come into the stream in the winter is because (I don;t know if this is true but Sandy told me) the river temperature stays at a consistent 70 degrees so is much warmer than the open waters they normally inhabit.
Spent the next hour and half walking back down the track all the way to where the stream enters into the open waters. It was spectacular and we just saw more and more Manatees. Cannot describe the abundance of fish in here also, just incredible and not little fish, everything from small 5 cm schooling fish right up to fellas half a metre long...and again, just heaps of them.
At one point we counted
Ohhh, ain't that nice..
..good photos are rare as Reubs tends to be doing bizarre things now. Hes at that age!! more than 30 manatee as well as two alligators and a large turtle, all sitting in the river...a simply awesome thing to see and experience and the kids were completely facsinated (well for the first 2 hours and then dad was just boring..again!!).
Around 4 pm we left and headed back towards Orlando and the apartment. A work associate of Sandy's had told her about a very flash shopping centre called Millenia Mall and we had passed this on the way up and Sandy had just about gone through the Chrysler roof with excitement and so we planned to stop there for dinner and have a casual look around and partake solely of nourishment and the ambience... It was a very plush, flash mall and accordingly did not have the warring hordes of Vandals and Visigoths that do battle at the outlet malls and of course Florida Mall, because this is where the beautiful people come...those with money...we slipped through. Again, ended up in bl**dy Macy's...this is starting to look more and more like Farmers.
Had dinner in the California Pizza Company..a chain we had frequented when last in Hawaii, and had a very average meal but did
Air moss..
..just thought it looked cool. the job and reasonably priced.
Whilst I waited for Caitlin to finish this sickly disgusting ice cream, fudge, M&M sundae...proud to say she hardly scraped the surface of this nutritional crime before saying she didn't really like it...she had finished the M&M's of course to be fair...and pay the bill, Sandy and Reuben went back to Macy's. I was more than happy to sit and watch Caitlin eat dessert than endure that living hell again.
We then joined them in Macy's where Sandy was carrying a new attachment...a hand bag no less and she had saved us money as it was so heavily reduced and you can't get these at home, and it will go with those shoes and this outfit and I havnen't got anything like this and I haven't bought a new handbag in simply ages and you moron (again with the moron!) this is Macy's. Needless to say, Richard, you sent us here, you owe me $49.95 plus tax - I'll email you our account details. Reubs had assisted in the selection of the handbag, dismissing many of the earlier choices as "too much like nana's ones"....don't know what this means but mildly concerned he
Much warmer today..
..there is a raised board walk for around 3/4 of a mile. even knows what his grandmothers handbags look like...probably more a generic reference than one to a particular handbag.
Finally got back to the apartment around 8:15 pm and worryingly had two hyperactive children on board. had been banking on totally exhausted so mildly concerned. But in any event, both sound asleep shortly after 9pm - when I started this tirade!
All in all an absolutely brilliant day...and again a real shame that things like this get over looked by the plastic of Disney... it deserves at least equal billing! A day with the Manatees is one for the bucket list.. especially if the weather and setting was as good as that we were spoilt with today.
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JB/Nana and Poppa!!!
non-member comment
What about that handbag??
Hi Guys,Sounds like a fabulous "wildlife"day. It looks like an amazing place. Michael I really can't believe that you fell for that line with regard to the shopping mall "we could stop there for a meal on the way home and just take in the ambience">Whatever!! It was a mall -it has shops and it is where the beautiful people go to shop. Well done Sandy it worked and you scored a handbag. Michael you were lucky it could have been shoes and outfit to match the bag as well. Seriously,you sound like you are having a ball.Pleased for you. Love to you all!!!! Hi Poppa / Dad adding a bit to Mum's note above. Sounds like a great experience to see thye Manattees so up close. What an amazingly special experience for you and for the kids. You are certainly having a great time and I suspect old NZ will seem a little 'small and uneventful' after these experiences. Still loving the 'word-smithing' Michael (if there is such a word?). This is a great record of a family holiday and the pics are especially great - see Reuben's teeth are starting to come through as he seems to be smiling in most of the pics! I loved your bits about Ranger Ron - these types seem to pop up everywhere - give a man a uniform etc......... Any way keep on enjoying these great days out. The memories will be there for aqll time. Loads of love to you each.