31st July - The Big Easy
Trip Start
Jul 14, 2008
1
20
38
Trip End
Aug 17, 2008
New Orleans, Louisiana
Thursday, July 31, 2008
It was a pretty late start for everyone today as we shook off the effects of a very rough night. We met up with the Forbe's girls and Damo and Tom before they headed off to catch their plane and I managed to force down a burger and chips.
We spent the afternoon relaxing. Kelsie got on the phone to the Australia Consulate in New York to sort out a replacement passport while Fiona and I passed out on the bed.
At 5 p.m. we were picked up by a bus to take us to the Mississippi river where we embarked on an airboat swamp tour. In true Confreaky style, we boarded the airboats with an esky full of beers and prepared for some gator-watching. The gators in the privately-owned swamps of the Mississippi river are relatively tame, especially when you are attracting them with marshmallows!! We got some photos of the gators jumping out of the water before our guide pulled a baby gator out of an esky beneath his seat for everyone to hold. It could well have been a lizard and we wouldn't have known any better. A couple of the boys from another boat (Adrian, Randy and Tyson) decided to go for a dip in the gator-infested waters before we headed back to shore.
After arriving back at the hotel we changed out of our swamp-soaked clothes and went out for a group dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co (from Forest Gump) before heading out to a Jazz club for the night. As we listened to the awesome band that was playing in the club, the night seemed to fly by. It was suddenly 2 a.m. and everyone but Todd, Fiona and myself had disappeared. Grabbed a taxi back to the hotel and called it a night.
