USA – Clearwater, Johns Pass and Dunedin 28/12/16 – 2/1/17

We arrived at Fort Lauderdale by 4.30pm thinking we could get a bus through to Tampa, however by the time we got out of the airport, found a taxi to the Greyhound bus station we had missed the last bus. Thankfully a hotel was next door and we were able to get a room and we were able to book bus tickets for tomorrow morning. When booking USA Greyhound tickets it’s advisable to book them online as they are half the price as apposed to booking at the station, we now know. Anyway we paid USA $154 one way for a journey lasting 7 hours with a change of bus enroute. Arriving in Tampa we took a 30 minute cab ride to our motel, the Days Inn in Clearwater. It was quite late so after something to eat at a “diner” a few doors away we retired for the night.
Like most motels around the world, ours had an array of leaflets about things to do in the area. Tina found one for a $5 all day bus pass, the nearest stop being down the street from us at the Clearwater Mall. The following day we headed to the mall and bought hoodies as it was so cold today, only a top temperature of 15’ today with a chilling wind. Bus tickets bought on board the bus and soon we were at Clearwater Beach. This area is absolutely lovely, it’s beach was the whitest sand we’ve seen on our trip, with a cold wind blowing as we walked along the pier, the sand could have easily looked like snow! Local artists were selling their crafts along the pier made from shells, to pictures, to wooden crafts. Everyone wrapped up in coats and scarves, Christmas decorations everywhere, it really did look and feel like the Christmases of Europe. We walked along its promenade, called into the local Starbucks before getting on the bus to St Petersburg. Other tourists were on board and talking about a village before St Petes called Johns Pass Village. So as the bus practically emptied at this stop, we decided to get off also. Johns Pass is a lovely village, oldy worldy, full of character and charm. It has a quaint harbour and is full of great little boutique shops and restaurants, all made of wood and what could have been fishing huts in their heyday. Really gorgous. Then just over an hour back on the bus we arrived at St Petersburg, (it took us 3 hours to get there). Again a really lovely town, this time a very modern area full of skyscrapers and high end restaurants, but still as cute as Johns Pass. Lovely coastal town well worth the time it took to travel there. We spent a couple of hours there just walking around, having lunch and taking in all it had to offer, then back aboard the 3x buses to our accommodation.
Again the next day we spent the USA $5 and got another bus ticket, this time we spent some time in Clearwater beach, and it’s gorgous. Today the sun was out and the temperature had increased a lot. Many people were out in their togs and it was quite difficult to find a space on its beach. There was even a “party atmosphere” on the beach, with music playing loudly, huge bouncy castles of every description scattered everywhere and sun beds, (which looked more like tents), as far as the eye could see. The sand even more white than it appeared yesterday, with the ocean a perfect azure blue/green. After an hour or 2 we took the bus northbound in search of a village called Dunedin. Within half an hour we reached it and again what a lovely surprise. Its an old Scottish town, full of wooden buildings which look like they were built in Victorian times. It has a marina where today some of the largest yachts that we’ve seen on our trip were moored. Beautiful and stunning. Its main high street gorgous in every way complete with a terrace of shops. It even won an award for “best decorated street lamps” and yep we could tell why they won this prestigious award. Each lamp post adorned with the christmas spirit but in such an unusual way, one had its entire length in pink tinsel and when you looked to the top it had a flamingos body and head attached. Another with blue and green tinsel along its length this one had the look of a peacock in all its glory. Wonderful and highly amusing. Would love to have spent a few nights here but tomorrow we head for Orlando to meet up with friends. Back on the bus and back to our digs.
New Years Day
(T) We had an invite from Richard Stocks, who I used to work with 15 years ago in Uxbridge, to spend the day with him and his family. He picked us up and we had a nice drive up to Port Richy. We had such a great afternoon chilling, chatting, eating and drinking with him, his beautiful wife Nancy, his gorgeous son Tucker and his delightful mum Pat. His mum lives in Hamilton NZ so will definitely drop in to say hi when we are next in the north island. Lovely start to the year.