After the epic 9 hour drive to Alabama we stopped for the night at oak Mountain State Park, and after a BBQ of burgers, hotdogs and potatoe salad and a gaze at literally hundreds of fire flys amongst the woodland, we headed to bed.

Another early start this morning as we set off on a five hour drive to Louisiana. There was a lot of tactical positioning of pillows going on in the back to aid maximim comfort, and arguments with seat belts locking and pinning us in to the seats. Other than that, an enjoyable journey of snoozes, chats and reading about Chris McCandless and his journey 'In To The Wild'. (Worth a read).

We arrived at Honey Island Swamp at lunch time and after a picnic, loaded ourselves on to a boat and set off with Capt Charlie who took us on a two hour grand tour of the swamp. We saw a fair few alligators which swam right up to the boat and ate hotdogs fed to them by our guide. Alligators apparently love hotdogs and marshmallows and according to Capt Charlie they're not bad for them. (they're bad for humans, so not sure how they worked this out!) Anyway, we saw one alligator almost 15 feet long and another baby one just two foot long, both surprisingly friendly looking. We saw tweeny turtles too as well as a family of racoons. It was horribly hot and muggy on the boat, however the boat could travel at a decent speed so every now and then Capt Charlie would go full throttel to get a reasonable, yet frustratingly hot breeze going. He described the chaos that hit New Orleans with hurricaine Katrina, and how it took three days for him and the seven people taking shelter at his house to clear his driveway, and a week to get out of his road.

After the swamp tour we drove to New Orleans, to the French Quatre Suits Hotel. We collapsed on our beds thinking how wonderfully comfortable they were after camping in a humid tent for almost a week. When we had finished pampering, (filing and scrubbing our broken muddy nails), we made our way out to Borbourn St where we grabbed a lovely dinner and then hit the party scene. And what a party scene it was. No rules apply to Borbourn St. You can drink on the streets, there are no entry fees to clubs, you can take your drink from bar to bar and smoke in doors. Borbourn St is one long street lined with clubs, bars, voodoo shops, palm readers and street performers. Crowds of people fill the street weaving in and out of the bars having a fabulous time. Everyone is so friendly and wants to be everyones friend, and despite New Orleans' reputation, it felt pretty safe. I guess the place is kind of like Brighton but bigger and better!

We chatted to a group of guys who had travelled to New Orleans from San Diego for a stag do, and who introduced us to to their blow-up doll. (how original). We listened to live bands in the bars who were incredibly good and watched the crowds from the balconies and were introduced to New Orleans' signature cocktails the 'hand grenade' and the 'hurricaine' - yum! After that, everything gets somewhat hazy!