{"id":4772,"date":"2014-05-25T07:00:24","date_gmt":"2014-05-25T06:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=4772"},"modified":"2014-05-25T07:00:24","modified_gmt":"2014-05-25T06:00:24","slug":"swamp-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/my-travels\/swamp-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Swamp thing\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The boardwalk was just a few inches above the water – taking me right into the heart of the swamp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While in New Orleans for the Romantic Times Convention last week, I was able to take a side trip into one of the places I have always wanted to go \u2013 deep into the Louisiana swamps.<\/p>\n

South of the city, there\u2019s a national park with a boardwalk built out into the swamp.<\/p>\n

It was a really really hot day \u2013 the swamp was steamy \u2013 in other words \u2013 absolutely perfect.<\/p>\n

Except for the mosquitos, of course. They were the size and ferocity of a pterodactyl, but I guess that is just the price I had to pay for this amazing walk down by the bayou.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The vegetation is incredibly lush and green. Bits of higher, dry ground do emerge from the water in places, but mostly there\u2019s a few inches of water across the whole of the land. This water is often dark red brick colour \u2013 and it\u2019s home for no end of creatures.<\/p>\n

\"It<\/a>
It took me a while to spot my first frog – but after I had seen this chap – I saw them everywhere.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"As<\/a>
As for the snakes – they were everywhere – on land and on water… even on the boardwalk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was not sure which of the snakes are poisonous, but coming from Australia, I long ago decided it was easier to assume everything wanted to kill me \u2013 than I was not likely to make a mistake.<\/p>\n

I have been looking for a word to describe to feeling of the place \u2013 fecund comes close. There is so much life happening \u2013 things living, breeding, dying and rotting \u2013 all so quickly. I was left with the feeling that the place was just teeming with\u2026 life happening.<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/a>
Some trees grew to great heights – but a large number fell – presumably in hurricanes – before they could dig their roots deep enough to find solid ground.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the midst of all this, there were still things of delicate beauty…<\/p>\n

\"There<\/a>
There were dragonflies of the most lovely colours…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"...and<\/a>
…and flowers that seemed far too delicate to survive in such a place.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I managed to walk about four miles across the swamp on the boardwalk in the heat. Even in that short period, the changing light gave me some idea why people have always found such places mysterious\u2026 haunted even.<\/p>\n

\"Even<\/a>
Even the haunted parts of the swamp were quite lovely,<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I felt like I was dead of heat exhaustion by the time I got out of there –\u00a0 but it was worth it\u2026<\/p>\n

Next week \u2013 I\u2019ll take you in a trip to another haunted place in New Orleans \u2013 one of the city\u2019s famous graveyards.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While in New Orleans for the Romantic Times Convention last week, I was able to take a side trip into one of the places I have always wanted to go \u2013 deep…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-travels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}