We didn’t do anything very exciting today, we just drove from Key West to Fort Lauderdale where we have booked to take a one-day cruise to the Bahamas, leaving early tomorrow morning and returning at around 10pm.

The weather has been great here, with temperatures ranging from the mid 20s early in the morning to the mid 30s by mid afternoon. I am sure New Zealand temperatures are similarly balmy (Yeah, Right).

We noticed quite a number of these Manatee letterboxes as we drove today. In New Zealand they would look very tacky, but here in Florida they don’t look out of place at all.

We knew that Florida was subject to a lot of severe hurricanes each year (we heard on the radio yesterday that official Hurricane season starts this Sunday) but we were surprised to see thousands of palm trees lining the roads with braces on to hold them up.

I can now see why the palm tree is such a symbol of the Florida lifestyle. There are so many bars here that I am sure a lot of the residents have trouble standing upright at times too.