Miami and Florida Everglades

Jillian's BMW
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We arrived into Fort Lauderdale (near Miami) early in the morning. But it was already hot and sticky. The temp was around 28. Being so far south, the climate in Miami is really warm and tropical. I've never experienced such low latitudes before so it took a bit to get used to.

Jillian, a Cuban-American friend of mine who studied at Monash for a semester drove us to her apartment in her BMW. She lives in a gated estate, which is basically a housing estate where in order to get in you need to live there or be invited. Jillian simply has a proximity card that she swipes at the gate to get in.

DSCF0874
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Miami is quite an interesting city. It is completely flat, with the only hill in sight is one made at the rubbish tip (see photo). It has a large population of Cubans, in some areas it is difficult to get by without knowing Spanish. It is home to some of the worlds biggest cruise lines such as Carnival. The main tourist area is south beach which is a long stretch of beach with a boulevard scattered with restaurants, clubs and hotels. People do lots of laps in their hotted up cars along this strip. Miami is also a retirees mecca due to the favourable climate.

A cuban restaurant
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A short drive west of Miami is the famous Florida Everglades. The everglades are an expansive fresh water wetlands area abundant with wildlife such as alligators, deer, bears and numerous bird and fish species. Most of it is only knee deep although the mud is very soft and you can sink into it like quicksand if you're not careful. On Christmas day we were fortunate enough to join some of Jacobs relatives for an air boat tour on the everglades. The air boat is simply a flat hulled boat with a car engine on the back connected to a plane propeller. On the tour we aw plenty of gators and even afterwards I got to hold one. (see pic). Christmas night we were lucky enough to get tickets to an NFL (grid iron) game (thanks eBay). Football is incredibly popular here with most games selling out. We got to see the Miami Dolphins play the New York Jets at Dolphins Stadium which is where the coming Superbowl (grand final) is being played in February. Unfortunately the stadium is open letting us get soaked from a tropical downpour. The game was pretty fun especially as former AFL player Ben Graham was the main kicker for the Jets. The wet weather did work in our favor as we got to sneak down to the front row and sit there where the seats are $200+ per game.

Hadi, Me, Jacob, Jillian and Milanna at the Cuban Restaurant
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Jillian kindly invited us to her families Christmas dinner which was very different considering her families Cuban. We tried lots of different Cuban dishes then finished with a game of dominoes. Dominoes is apparently a serious sport in Cuba.