"Does it involve wearing rubber?" I asked her suspiciously.
"Nope," she replied.
"Wrestling animals?" I shrugged.
"Yep," she answered with authority.
"Cool. When are we going?" I asked.
"You haven't asked where we are going yet," said Clare.
"Where are we going?" I asked like a performing seal.
"Gatorland!" she announced triumphantly.
"What the blazes is Gatorland?" I queried.
"It's a huge park where you can go and see alligators," grinned Clare.
Cool - alligators! Clare had pulled a gem out of the bag.
So my dahlink, here is my photo album of the day ......... enjoy!
Pic.No.1 Even though I wanted to go to Gatorland immediately, Clare said that we had to have breakfast first. So we scoffed hash browns and egg by the pool, washed down with fresh Florida orange juice. Yum
Once breakfast was over, we jumped into Clare's sports car and headed for Gatorland which we knew was roughly situated in down-town Orlando, not far from the Disney theme-parks. At first we couldn't find it, but then I shouted, "Clare! I think I know where it is!"
Clare asked whether I was sure, and I hollered "YES" and pointed out this ................
Pic.No.2 A huge bloody alligator's gob. With Gatorland written on the side. Yep, even though I have a tendency to err on the side of over-confidence, this time I was fairly sure that I was right
We parked the car and headed for the huge alligator's gob, which, as it transpired, was the entrance to the park.
Before I show you some more pictures, let me tell you a little bit about Gatorland, because it wasn't what it first appeared to be. Having opened in 1949 it's one of Florida's oldest attractions (positively ancient dahlink), and it prides itself on being low-tech and natural. In plain English; it is more of a nature reserve rather than a theme-park. Marvellous!
And because most visitors to Orlando are seeking high-octane adrenalin rushes, cheap burgers and plastic souvenirs, Gatorland is often crossed off the itinerary ......... which kind of explains the relatively low entry price of $19.99 per adult.
So we paid our wonga (that's English slang for money), and in we went.
Pic.No.3 Look, it's me in front of a pit of baby alligators. I don't like the way in which that funny shadow makes my nose look false .... like it is a plastic one attached to my glasses
Pic.No.4 Why is it called Gatorland again?
Pic.No.5 The principles of Natural Selection Part 1 ....... Bird: "ooh my, that looks like a nice sunny spot for a rest"
Pic.No.6 The principles of Natural Selection Part 2 ...... Redneck: "I'm just going fo' a swim over to that there island"
Pic.No.7 This is Clare, not one of the alligators. The whole time we were in the park, she was really excited which was endearing
After wondering around the baby alligator pits, we looked at our printed guide and noticed that a 'Gator Jumping Show' was due to start at 1.30pm.
"What the bloody hell is a 'gator jumping show'?" I hear you cry.
Well, according to our guide, it's where the alligators are fed by dangling food above the surface of the water so that they have to jump for it. It sounded good to me, so we made our way over to the 'Gator Jumping Pool'.
Pic.No.8 The first thing we saw when we arrived at the 'Gator Jumping Pool' was a huge (bigger than 9ft long) alligator sunbathing next to a crocodile
The alligators had obviously been trained to have Pavlovian responses because before long, the Handlers appeared on the walkway and rang a bell. As soon as the bell sounded, the pool became a writhing, bubbling pool of reptiles all expecting food.
Pic.No.9 The Handlers dangle food over a writhing pool of alligators and feed the ones who jump for it
Pic.No.10 If you look carefully at the water, you can see at least 10 other adult alligators all thrashing around in the vicinity of the Handler. It was terribly exciting
Once the show was over, we decided to walk deeper into the middle of the park which apparently contained other species of animals. After arriving at a compound, Clare leant against the fence and after scanning the area, shouted; "This is crap, there's nothing in here."
I coughed and pointed at a small gap next to her leg.
She looked down and then screamed her head off with shock. Luckily, I managed to capture the event on camera (unluckily the batteries in my Canon Powershot S95 died at this point, so I had to use my iPhone to get the rest of the day's pics) ..................
Pic.No.11 A big chickeny-type thing was hungrily staring at Clare's leg through a small gap in the fence (it's a shame I couldn't fit a screaming Clare in the shot). It was actually a lot bigger in real-life than it looks in the picture
Pic.No.12 Clare's screaming made the chickeny-type creatures run away ...... slowly. They were the least urgent animals I have ever seen. And in order to try and calm down Clare, I suggested a visit to the Parrot compound ................
Pic.No.13 "Excuse me, Paz. I don't suppose you know where the nearest pub is?"
Pic.No.14 Instead of going to the pub, we got engrossed by Paz number 2, who had evidently been trained in product placement. Whatever you asked him, he said; "coke is it", or "I'm lovin' it". I suggested to Clare that we should train him to say "up the bum, no babies", but she said that it would upset children. So we trotted off to the next exhibit
Pic.No.15 This is an albino alligator. I asked the handler why it was kept apart from the other alligators and she said; "because he can't blend in with the scenery, it makes him vulnerable to predators." I asked her which predators would try and eat an 8ft alligator and she couldn't answer and looked a bit annoyed with me
Pic.No.16 These are giant tortoises. It is hard to represent their scale in a picture, but the top of their shells were the same height as my waist. They were enormous
And then finally, we made our way to the PROPER nature reserve which was situated at the back of Gatorland. It was 110 acres of natural habitat which housed most of the alligators and the biggest collection of wild birds in Florida.
There is a very clever reason why the biggest bird reserve is situated in the biggest alligator park in the US. It is because the alligators kill all the bird's natural predators. So there are no raccoons or other furry mammals to poach the birds and their eggs.
Pic.No.17 We reached the nature reserve part of Gatorland by boarding a small train that travelled at 3mph. This was as big as the adrenalin got
Pic.No.18 This is a picture of the natural habitat that had been preserved for the alligators and birds. It was huge and amazing. The towers were erected to give visitors a place to view the wildlife
Pic.No.19 And wildlife was in abundance ..... take this parroty-type bird with a red head
Pic.No.20 And then as I was walking along some of the tropical walkways, I looked down and saw a bloody huge alligator swim right out from underneath me
Pic.No.21 a Storky-type bird perched on a branch next to a walkway
Pic.No.22 You can't out-stork me, you storky thing
Pic.No.23 An alligator starts swimming towards us as we lean over the walkway. It was amazing!
Pic.No.24 Being the biggest bird sanctuary in Florida, there were plenty of amazing sights to be seen ..... including many different species of baby chicks being fed by their parents. It was Spring after all.
Pic.No.25 At the end of the tour, the only thing left was to sample the gift-shop offerings.........
So all in all, it was my favourite day out in Florida so far. And Clare's too. We had a great day out and it made me happy that not all Americans like wildlife because it can be shot.
P.S. Have you ever seen a real alligator or crocodile?
Tell me what you think by leaving me a comment. But dahlink, don't forget to leave a link to your website (by clicking on the 'optional: link to your website' button') so peeps know who you are
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