Strawberry Fields to Elephant Seals

Venice Beach
Not quite what you see on Baywatch!
The top photo is of a Bordello, so it says on the front anyway.

This was our first stop in the Mustang. We found a parking spot, (not easy) and went for breakfast and a stroll. When we got back to the car at ten past eleven, it was alone, with a ticket on the screen. Damn! I looked at the sign, yeah yeah, I know, should have looked at it before, and it said no parking between 11am and 1pm on Tuesdays for street cleaning! Two hours in the whole week and we snag it. 60 buck fine.

Heading out of LA we go through miles and miles of strawberry fields, as far as the eye can see! It must be the season, with pickers all bent over the plants. I noticed them running to get more boxes and work as fast as possible. What a great job............

We stayed in a lovely motel in Cambria, just across from the sea. Breakfast was included in the little dining room, with EVERYTHING sweet and EVERYTHING disposable. Plastic plates, cutlery etc.

I finally plucked up the courage to drive. My head is still in the southern hemisphere and I just can't figure driving on the wrong side of the road. It's a weird feeling. Turning intersections is the worst. Anyway, we went up the coast to an elephant seal colony. Absolutely amazing, dozens of them sleeping on the sand, ocassionally lurching themselves over the top of someone else to get closer to the shore. Apparently they don't eat for the entire time on the beach (months).

As we came into San Francisco it started raining so we had to put the top up to go across the Golden Gate bridge. That thing is huge!! I really think the bridge in Taree should be painted the same colour, would look great. We stayed in a suburb called Sausalito, on the north side. Equivalent of Woollahra, but on the water. Our hotel room was called 'Artist's Loft' and it was great, i'll put a pic in.

We left the motel and went down to the iconic 'Fisherman's Wharf'. They're doing a lot of remodelling there so it was a bit messy, dingy really. But we checked out a WWII submarine at the dock and spoke to Ed, a guide and veteran of the tin can. He was very informative and loved Aussies. Tells us he lost his virginity in Brisbane in 1945, ha ha. I couldn't imagine spending one day in that sub, let alone months, with lots of other people, (shiver). But the engineering was fascinating.

On the pier near the sub is the Musee Mecanique, a museum of penny arcade machines. What a hoot! There was one there called the 'French Execution' Not sure how old, about 50 years. You put the quarter in and the little curtain goes up, a bell rings and the guillotine comes down on the little model's head. That's it. How bizarre. There were lots of really unPC things like that.

Well we are in Hollywood now, will tell you bout that tomorrow. Off to take back the Mustang (awww, I want one) and put Tim's bike on the ship.

Sorry it's messy, haven't worked out the layout of this thing yet.

Love youse all

Headin down the highway

Well, change of plans today. Instead of hiring a Harley to ride up to San Fran, we booked a Mustang convertible. We did this for a number of reasons; amount of luggage, comfort, traffic, but i really know it's because Mumsy talked to the weather gods and ordered rain for the west coast of USA.

No matter, it's almost as good, racing up Highway 1 in a black, brand new Mustang with all the mod cons. Wind in your hair and excellent radio stations make it even better. Having the top down made it better to sing at the top of your lungs to the 'Rock, vinyl hits' station (no ads!). No one can hear you. Also did a bit of air guitar to the likes of Frampton and Clapton, ha, what fun.

Before we did this though, I wanted to check out Venice Beach. This spot is famous for the stereotypical rollerskaters and bodybuilders we've seen on movies. Unfortunately due to the weather and time of day, we missed alot of these 'beautiful people' and only saw the seedy side. Homeless, mad, disabled, this place made the frequenters of Triple C look normal. Tim bought a small carton of beer and we felt lucky the place wasn't too busy as we were pleaded to hand over a beer a couple of times within a block. I could go on but I won't.

I will mention one person we saw though. While we were walking the strip a skateboard flies out of a general store with half a person lying on it!! This man was obviously a thalidamide victim so he had small femurs with stumps (he held onto the skateboard with these). His right arm was a stump and his left had a hand but was severly deformed. He was black and sported dreadlocks, a short beard and a toothless smile. I couldn't keep my eyes off him but also couldn't bring myself to ask to photograph him. He bought a drink in the shop we were in and told me I was beautiful, with the clarification, 'Don't worry, I'm gay!' An interesting image..........

Pics today include 'the Car', my breakfast at Venice Beach (more orange garnish!!!) and American bathroom art.

See ya

Gaa Gaa

Wow, one minute in downtown Taree, the next in downtown Los Angeles! Well, about 1140 minutes to be precise, but who's counting.

The flight from Taree to Sydney is great by the way, worth doing if you haven't, just for the views of the coast and Sydney. Beautiful day when I left. I must have toughened up over the last couple of years, i didn't shed a tear at leaving, as I surely would have once upon a time. Ha! Wuss.

I have always thought about visiting the US. I have been exposed to so much 'culture' from Sesame Street and Richie Rich comics when I was widdle to the plethora of 'merican TV and movies. So being here is a bit surreal, almost disappointing (come on Jane, you've only been here 6 hrs!), it's just like Australia!

I did the overnight flight in the new Qantas A380 Airbus. Some of you have probably been on it already, (I was on the Nancy Bird, god love her) so you know what it's like. It's almost new and very flash. The seats are made of carbon fibre but not overly upholstured so a little hard to sleep in. There's a great touchscreen on the seat in front and you can watch/do anything from look at 'My Family' re-runs to play some inane computer game (I am too impatient to learn them). The touchsreen is a good idea unless you have a guy behind you who is a little rough with it. I suddenly felt I was being teased, til I remembered why I was getting these nudges!
Oh yeah, and you can look at 'Sky-cam', which is a camera on the plane's tail so you can watch take off, landing etc. Cool

It only took 1.5 hours to get through customs!! I HATE waiting in lines so this was an occasion I had to breathe deeply and endure...... They were certainly in no hurry to process us and like the supermarket, of course I picked the wrong lane to get out of the place. They take your fingerprints digitally at customs so the guy was put off when he saw I only had three on the left hand, he had to make notes!!!! Why?? Was good to see his momentary loss of control though, he he.
I haven't worked out how to caption the photos yet. I just wanted to point out the 'Sesame Street' hydrant! And, orange as a garnish for beer???? What the??? Only in AMerica

Well, I've had a sleep in the hotel at LAX but I'm still a bit gaa gaa so I'll log off for now. I'll try to load some photas

Anticipation.......

Wow, i have three followers already! Could start my own cult....easy.
Am getting very excited, will i sleep tonight??
Fly from Taree tomorrow morn at 7.40, hang out at the airport til 1 pm for my flight to LA.

Later, later.........