Arrived in LA after a long flight. Both of the boys did very well on the plane. Zar watched lots of movies and Sol made lots of friends.

When we went to pick up our hire car, we were upgraded to a 'mid size' SUV. It was an 8-seater monster chevy truck! LA lived up to it's expectations, with a cheesy motel and not so cheesy vegan restaurants (M Cafe de Chaya and Real Food Daily and the best organic supermarket chain Wholefoods).

Caught up with the LA locals from Melbourne for brunch and a tour of some classy Hollywood Hotels (Trepper and Dave G).

Venice and Santa Monica Beaches felt like a movie set, but unlike the movies, just out of shot, all of the homeless folk living out of shopping trolleys.

Then we hit the road...

Highway 1, the Californian coastal road.

Breaking up the journey with lunch stops and leg stretches at Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz.

Our first problem was finding accommodation at Big Sur. With the latest heat wave, all of the valley dwellers had headed for the coast for some respite. So the only place we could find was a motor inn in San Simeon.

The following day we were back on track for lunch at the Big Sur Bakery. The day filled with spectacular scenery, unexpected wildlife (molting 2 tonne elephant seals) and car sickness (poor Zar).

On to San Francisco...