We then crossed the state line and stopped at the Black Bayou National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana.

The park was amazing with a long boardwalk stretching out in to the bayou so you could walk across the swamp while looking for alligators and other wildlife.

It was easy to see how the bayou had got it's name from the still black water, dark lilypads and bald cypress trees.

There were no gators to be seen but we did spy a crane on the riverbank and some other little birds in the trees.

Further inland, the park was more of an overgrown forest with Spanish moss dangling from the trees.

On closer inspection we started spotting spiders in giant webs stretching between the trees and to our terror, each spider we spotted seemed to get larger and larger than the last.

Tom risked life and limb to take this photo for me.