We had no real plans while in New Orleans, as an after thought we really wondered why we had chosen to come back. We were not impressed with Bourbon Street last visit, so weren't in a rush to head back there - to us it appeared to have lost it's roots. All we experienced were bars competing with each other to see who could play the loudest music (and not jazz or blues either), oh and of course a lot of girly bars. It is very evident that the city hasn't recovered from Katrina and we were cautioned by our friends in Abeville to be careful as just a few weeks earlier there had been a shooting in Bourbon Street.
This fog stayed till midday
The next morning we went for our walk and made a point of heading along the jetty to learn more about the catermeran flying the Aussie flag. With an "Oi is anybody home" a voice prompty replied, 'yes and I know that accent!' Minutes later we were on board having a tour and a cup of tea. Belinda is a retired doctor from Victoria and she and her husband Ken are sailing the high seas with the intention of sailing through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific back to Australia - a period of 6 weeks out at sea! To us land lovers this seems an amazingly brave adventure! They bought their vessel in Grenada, sailed through the Caribbean Islands, up to New York, into the Great Lakes and then down the Mississipi river to New Orleans - wow we were impressed!
Belinda and Ken's 29ft yatch
We discovered that this was their first time sailing a big catamaran - Ken has had some experience with smaller sail boats - Belinda was learning as they went! We thought we were adventurous but this took the cake - we were in awe. This catermaran is only 29ft long and to think they sail it in a massive ocean by themselves is really amazing. Unfortunately we didnt get to meet Ken as he had returned home to Australia to attend family matters. In his absence however Belinda was busily cleaning and making repairs to the boat - an amazing lady!!! During the next week we shared a couple of meals and 'happy hours' with Belinda over a 'couple' of glasses of good old Yellow Tail wine.
A trip to the WW2 museum was on my agenda - needless to say Rose was happy to decline the offer of coming along. Despite all the reviews I have to say that I was a little disappointed but still managed to fill in 4 hours there. The highlight of the visit was the 4D movie experience - you certainly got to feel every explosion through the seats. It was only a short 9 mile drive back to the park however a truck rollover on the interstate extended this to an hour an a half. The radio announement advising drivers to take an alternate route is only beneficial if you know where they are - even with a GPS I was destined to sit and wait it out.
We agreed that we should head into town at least once while we were here so jumped on the shuttle bus, picked a place for lunch, a quick walk around the French Quarter and we were done.
Prior to leaving one destination for another we always ensure we have a full tank of fuel and that the fridge is stocked (nothing worse than after a days driving having to go out for milk). So we punched Walmart in the GPS and off we went. As we drove along we noticed vandalised houses covered in graffiti, lots of people just "hanging" about - the only thing missing was a bouncing cadillac. We have spent a fair bit of time in the US and have a pretty good sense of knowing where we shouldnt be. At every set of traffic lights I was ready to gun it through the red light if necessay. Our feelings were confirmed when we pulled into the Walmart carpark which came complete with a manned Police scissor lift keeping an eye on the carpark! We sat in the truck for a few minutes people watching before we made the decision to head in to the store. Shopping done we pulled into the gas station and I actually locked Rose in the car as I filled up - yes it felt that bad.
As we hooked up and said our farewells to our new friend Belinda we both agreed that we probably wouldn't put New Orleans on our future destination list. Been there, done that!
