We disembarked from our lovely ship & left our lovely cabin with much reluctance on the Friday. Nicki & Richard made the hair raising trip from their house to the port to meet us which was great. It's always lovely to see a familiar face on the other side of customs, even better when you haven't seen them for almost 3 years. They took Mum & Shirene back to the house we had hired while Jon, Malcolm & myself went to pick up our rental car.
Ft Lauderdale is very flat so it's difficult to get your bearings as there are no landmarks. Lucky the streets are in a grid pattern but even so it's confusing in which direction we are heading and with everything back to front it took a long time to get the hang of it. It's also very expansive. The roads are long so if you go anywhere it's like "travel 5 miles north then turn right and travel 10 miles east then turn left.....' There seems to be no heart to the city with shopping malls scattered all over the place. Most houses must have been designed by the same architect who also happened to like semi circular driveways. I had the immpression it would be like the Gold Coast. There were parts that were similar like the canals and some of the beautiful houses on some of the canals and a few high rises but that was where the similarity ended.
The first day was spent doing some basic shopping then we went to a BBQ that night to where Nicki was staying which was a half hour drive that turned into an hour with the heavy rush hour traffic. Thank god for GPS is all I can say. We met the brides family there and a couple of the guests as well as having a wonderful BBQ, first normal meal we had had for a long time.
Next day we meet up with Nicki, Richard & Rose down on Fort Lauderdale beach just to say we had been to the beach. Had a looooong lunch, which was very nice once it arrived and headed back after them to go to Williams house where he was staying. On the way we got distracted by a market that was being held that weekend down Las Olas Blvd so we had a stroll through that instead. By the time we had seen all that it was time to go home.
Sunday was the bucks party. This is the day Shirene, Nicki & I had been looking forward to as it meant the boys would be away so the girls could play. We all meet at Williams place where, by this time Tom, Kate & Emma had all arrived. Poor Emma had only just arrived at 5.30 that morning after a very long flight from NZ but she still got dragged away for the hens do, what a trooper. The boys were picked up by a black beast, a big black party vehicle is all it can be descibed as with a pole in the middle. Not sure what that was for. Tom organised for all the blokes to go to a football game down in Miami so they were carted away in this bus, not to be seen again until early evening and all the worst for wear.
The girls took the bride away to a flash hotel where they swum and lay in the sun all day. That left the 4 Reid girls to hit the streets of Las Olas Blvd for some serious shopping. We inspected the inside of each shop thoroughly and in one I finally found the dress of my dreams and one suitable for the wedding. I thought to soften the blow for Jon, I had better buy him something too so he couldn't growl at me so I picked him up something he had seen the day before & really wanted.
That night Steve & Mary arrived in the middle of a big thunderstorm but fortunatly for them, just in time for dinner!
Monday was the air boat adventure on the Florida Everglades Something I had always wanted to do ever since watching Gentle Ben. Unfortunately, there was a nasty 24hr bug going around & I got it that morning so I couldn't enjoy it to the fullest. At one point I thought I would be feeding the local alligators a bit of burley but I managed to hold out until the carpark, where it just couldn't be helped. As the week went on I think just about everyone got this bug, not many were spared so at least I wasn't alone.
That night we went to the brides parents place for a lovely soirée by the pool to meet all the guests coming to the wedding and dine on little delightful nibbles that must have taken Catherine, mother of the bride, days to prepare.
Tuesday was the big day and full of mystery. We had only been told the night before the address we were all to meet up at but we suspected it was not the end venue. Luckly it was not until 5pm which gave us all day to go and have our hair & nails done and relax a little bit by the pool before jumping into the taxi at 4 for our mystery date.
The address was at the Hllton Hotel which is on the riverbank. Moored on this river was a enormous boat looking like it was all decked out for a wedding. Here was the surprise. It was all aboard by 5.45pm and we were ushered to the top of the boat which was open but did have a roof over 3/4s of the deck. A bar was one end and all the seats were lined up facing the back and a large white horseshoe shaped alter. The sides were decked in white netting with little fairy lights entwined around the rails.
The bride arrived up the stairs looking absolutely gorgeous in her over one shoulder white slimline dress, roached to the side, hair tied up and a glow that lite up her face. The service was short but they both looked so happy and in love it almost bought a tear to my eye! We were then lead down the stairs , passed the middle deck to a lower deck that we hadn't seen but it almost took our breath away. It was decorated like a fairy wonderland, the tables decked in red, softly lite by flower lights, our names were on little white boxes with a flower on top and sugared almonds inside with a fan to one side for the women in a white net bag. The attention to detail was amazing and made the whole experience quite exceptional. Food was plentiful and extermely filling then there was time for a quick dance before docking again after 5 hours of cruising the canal, seeing the sun go down and the bridges go up to allow us under, drinking, eating, dancing and seeing my baby nephew get married.
When we were on the cruise we wondered how William was going to be able to top that, but somehow he managed to do it!!
The next day we all met up again for the last time for a white BBQ where we all had to wear white. On the way we stopped at a swap meet that Jon had eyed up the day before. It didn't look much at first glance but once we found the building and went inside it was enourmous. It just seemed to go on and on. It was like a Paddys market and even tho most of it seemed like junk there was the odd little treasure stashed around that needed to be hunted out.
The day started good but about an hour before the end of the BBQ the heavens opened up and down came torrential rain which sent everyone flying. A shame to bring the party to a close but most of the guests including my sister & all nephews & nieces were off to Orlando that afternoon so after a sad goodbye we all packed up and left. Our reunion was all too quick and over before we knew it.
Our final day we thought we had better go and see Miami after coming all this way we had to at least say we went to Miami beach. The weather wasn't great, very overcast and sporadic rain but off we headed. I say again, thank god for the GPS even tho we made a couple of turns that took us on the scenic route we finally managed to find Miami beach and walk the walk where all the beatuiful people go. We actually made it to South Beach which is the Art Deco district, most of the buildings and hotels where lovely Art Deco and very reminiscent of Napier. Apparently it looks even better at night.
After a quick romp on the beach and a slower walk around the shops and an even slower lunch we made it back to the car just before the rain started in earnest & drove back along the beachside all the way until almost home. Then it was the scary task of packing all we had bought back into our tiny cases and eat & drink everything we had left before packing up in the morning and making the first leg of our sad journey back home.
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