Big Sur

We've had a very busy day today. There are so many things to see in the short drive up the coast to Mitre. We started by checking out Morro Rock, a huge volcanic rock which in the end was nothing compared to the rest of the coast up North.

We then stopped at Nitt Wit Ridge, a house built out of rubbish by an eccentric town garbage collector called Arthur Harold Beal who, instead of taking the garbage to the dump, built a house with it over the course of 50 years. Some residents see it as an eyesore, others (and us) as a great piece of urban folk-art. Arthur was eventually evicted and put in a home against his will. After his death his creation was ransacked slightly, but not damaged too much. Eventually it was bought by a couple who repaired some of the worse parts and cleaned up the gardens and who now show you round on a short half-hour tour.

Nitt Wit Ridge is the antithesis to Hearst Castle, the huge mansion built by William Randolph Hearst (the newspaper magnate). Forever the champions of the common people, and to avoid spending nearly 2 hours (with kids) tramping around all that opulence, we gave it a miss. We'd rather see a humble pile of junk house than a "monument to wealth and ambition".

A bit further down the road is California's biggest elephant seal colony. Even though the sun was shining there was a nasty cold wind so we only saw them briefly, but they were a magnificent sight. There must have been a few hundred of the beasts down on the beach. Not good lookers at the best of times, as they were moulting they weren't going to win any pretty animal awards.

Now we were really in Deep Sur territory. The whole coast down here is pretty spectacular, and we stopped at quite a few of the carparks along the way for a quick photo (and back to the nice warm car). As a future famous photographer I must say the light here is pretty bad - it always seems to be pretty hazy. I have no idea why they chose this area to make movies, maybe it isn't always like this, maybe near Hollywood it isn't hazy, or maybe this makes good light for film shooting, I don't know.

Another remarkable stop was to see the McWay Falls, California's only coastal waterfall. The falls themselves are nothing special, but the beach and the sea and the rocks make for an amazing setting. By now Aisha had fallen asleep so we took turns to do the short walk by the cliff. Lucas went both times as he liked scrambling down the dirt track to the main path.

From here we drove straight on to Monterey. We had wanted to stop at Pfeiffer Beach but missed the signpost. Drove through Carmel without stopping as it was getting late but we will retrace our steps tomorrow to visit the mission and, if we have time, some sea lions. We are meeting up with friends on Sunday so we probably won't have time to visit the Steinbeck Centre in Salinas. Though, much as we both love Steinbeck (I'm reading The Winter of Our Discontent at the moment), there probably isn't much in it for the kids.

Beckmen Vineyards Estate Syrah 2011

Not tasted in a proper wine glass.

Dark fruits, blackcurrant, earth, a touch of sweet spices. Strong tannins, plenty of body, fruity, decent acidity and aftertaste. 92/100. 23 USD.

Solvang and San Luis Obispo

Yesterday we didn't have enough time, so this morning we visited Mission Santa Barbara, one of the many Franciscan missions in California, built to convert the local Chumash Indians. It's had a colourful history, suffering various earthquakes as well as the secularisation act by the Mexican government shortly after independence from Spain. It has some lovely courtyard gardens and a few rooms with period artifacts, including some old Chumash stone weapons and day-to-day objects.

Drove on to Solvang, a town started in 1911 by some Danish immigrants which has turned into a Disney-like collection of Hansel and Gretel type buildings housing viking restaurants, Danish bakeries and shops filled with all sorts of highly useful Scandinavian-themed souvenirs.

Back on the coast we paid a quick visit to the Guadalupe dunes. I wish we could have seen more, but it is mostly cordoned off. There are some hiking trails, but they are a bit too hard for the kids.

We had planned a stop at San Luis Obispo to coincide with the farmers market. Had a great time there listening to the music, eating from the barbecue stalls, and (kids only) jumping on the bouncy castle, doing a bit of rock climbing, and getting faces painted. One of the highlights was chatting to to firemen (and hugging Sparky the "dog"). The evening was rounded off with free balloons from the balloon guy shutting shop.

Hola California!

Adios Nueva Zelanda, hola California!

Ya estamos aquí. Otra vez a conducir en la derecha, a ver mas de dos personas al dia y a dejar a un lado paisajes de película. Pero bienvenidos los largos dias de luz, el buen tiempo, los moteles de carretera y el American life!

Llegamos a L.A. al mediodia con la cabeza más o menos en su sitio, después de 11 hoiras de vuelo, como para conducir hasta Ventura y empezar nuestro road trip hasta Seattle y vuelta. No prometo que lleguemos tan lejos pero vamos a intentarlo.

En Ventura no hay mucho que hacer y con el jet lag nos acostamos tarde y nos levantamos más tarde todavia, después de cenar en Pollo Loco, aquí todo tiene nombre espanol, y dar vueltas por el centro comercial buscando una sim card para la tablet. Así que dedicamos el segundo dia a vaguear en la playa y quemarnos como principiantes.

Por la tarde seguimos la ruta hasta Santa Barbara, una bonita ciudad donde se respira el dinero, con una misión franciscana y unos antiguos juzgados de finales del 1800, todavia operativos, que merecen la pena visitar. En los juzgados vimos a "un malote" y Lucas se quedó impresionado.

El dia dio de mucho de si y tuvimos tiempo para ir al paseo marítimo con los patinetes, bajar a la playa y ver el famoso embarcadero de madera, aunque no lo recorrimos entero.

Santa Barbara

Ventured down to the Ventura Port for a wander round. This is where boats depart to Channel Islands National Park, which we had already decided not to visit as some Islands are closed due to recent storms. Seeing how cheap prices were for a day tour we might have gone if it weren't so hazy (plus it would have mucked up our schedule, already pretty mangled now we had decided to go up the coast much more slowly than originally planned). We played around on the beach for a good couple of hours and then jumped into the car to Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara is a lovely historic town. So much for the myth that the USA has no history. OK, there are no medieval castles, but there are plenty of 18th-century colonial Spanish and Mexican buildings. One example is the magnificent courthouse. Possibly the prettiest place to get tried (in fact Lucas was really excited to see a real criminal - a "malote", being escorted by two policemen), you can climb up to the clock tower to see good views of the town. Down below they has a graduation ceremony for kids who had got scholarships for college and were saying thanks to their benefactors. Lucas and Aisha found it most entertaining, especially after getting a couple of free balloons each.

Visited the beach at Stearns Wharf which was quite nice. Didn't really make in onto the pier as we were very busy throwing stones and running around. Found a skater park on the way back but they aren't like in NZ - much more crowded with serious skaters and little kids not welcome.

After two days of paranoia making sure we didn't go over the speed limit (something Californians don't seem to worry about too much, though I'm sure they know when to do it and when not) we discovered a parking ticket on our wiper. By the time on the ticket we must have been badly parked outside the courthouse (ironic, huh?). Turns out the white line in the road is to trick you - you have to make sure you avoid the red line on the pavement.

Lesson learnt today: even in May the California sun will burn you.

Time travel

Left Auckland 27th of May 2014 at 21:30. Arrived at Los Angeles 27th of May 2014 at 14:45. How cool is that!? I hadn't ever given it much thought, but always assumed the date changed simply wherever it happened to be midnight. Of course if you do that then if you go round the world again and again you end up a few days out of synch compared to those who stay put. Since that can't happen you need another place where you change the date in the opposite direction, and that is the international date line. The fact that it didn't officially exist until the 20th century enabled Jules Verne to create the plot twist in Around the World in 80 Days.

Picked up our car from the rental offices and drove off into the sunset. It's nice being in a car-sized vehicle gain after 7 weeks of cmpervan. We drove up to Ventura, about an hour North of LA (LA wasn't really on the itinerary, just a convenient airport).

New country, even if it is English-speaking, means new problems, until you get to work things out. So far we can't really work out the rules for cars at a junction - they seem to take turns or something. Getting a SIM card to have internet on the tablet is also a mission, especially if you are half asleep from jetlag. And long-life milk doesn't seem to exist, at least not with that name.

Last day in New Zealand

Last day in NZ,. Today was just packing, cleaning and driving. Dropped off the camper as late as possible (4pm) as our flight doesn't leave until 9:30pm. Spent hours and hours in the airport. Finally we got called to board.

Matua Merlot 2012

Blackberry, plum, flowers, spices. Nice acidity, light but tannic. 87/100. 13 NZD.

Square Kauri

We wanted to stretch out legs a bit today, but all we could find nearby was a 20-minute walk to see the Square Kauri (a tree). So we took a 40-minute detour up to what, in the end, was really a 10-minute walk. Still, it was a big and nice and pretty tree.

In town (Thames) the boys had a haircut while the girls went shopping for party stuff - we are having a party tonight to say goodbye to the camper. Saw the brightest rainbow I have ever seen in the carpark.

The party was a great success. Music, olives, balloons and sweeties. And wine for the adults.

Coromandel Town

Not much to report today. Just lazed about walking round Coromandel Town and down to the stony beach. Tried some local delicacies: smoked mussels, very nice. After a fish and chips lunch we just hung out at the playground and after that in the campsite TV room.

Last days down under. We have everything pretty tied up for the US now: route (though no plan survives contact with reality), flights, car rental, first night's accommodation, and subscription to online wine review site that covers California.

Te Mata Sauvignon Blanc 2013

Passionfruit, pineapple, white flowers, a touch of honey. Very crisp, acidy, citric, wakes you up. 92/100. 21 NZD.

Hot water beach and Cathedral Cove

Weather held out today. We left the campsite earlier than usual so as not to miss the low tide. The kids were still asleep and slowly woke up on the 10 minute journey. The reason the tide was important was because we had to dig a hole at a specific place on Hot Water Beach. If you get it right you can enjoy a nice hot pool right next to the sea. Get it wrong and you either get scalded or frozen.

Finding the middle ground is hard. We got there about an hour after low tide and there were quite a few people already. Started digging on the edge of all the other pools - pretty cold. Then dug in the middle. There is a reason nobody was there - burned my toes. Man, that water is hot! In the end there were so many people you really didn't need to dig, you just jumped into an abandoned pool, or got invited to join others in theirs. Great fun.

From there we continued up the road a bit to Cathedral Cove. It's 45 minute walk from the car park but both kids made it without being carried and with only minor moaning. Once there we explored the beach (carefully, as there are warnings of rockfall all over the place) and rock arch and played about in he sand a bit. We were pretty lucky as it was nearly empty, until a busload of 20-somethings invaded the place just before we were getting ready to leave. Kids walked all the way back as well.

Gorges, valleys and gold

Drove through Karangahake Gorge, though the overcast weather spoiled the views a bit. Passed the walk through the tunnels of the old gold mine train near Waihi before we realised it but, instead of turning back, we saw some ruins that looked interesting. Turned out they were from some gold processing plant - there was a bit of a gold rush in Coromandel and a few other places round New Zealand in the 19th century. The ruins were pretty cool, especially the cyanide-making facilities (presumably cleaned up by now, I hope).

Did a bit more driving round the countryside, but the supposedly great views of the Pinnacles and Kaueranga Valley were a washout in the low cloud. Looks like more rain tomorrow.

Villa Maria Privare Bin Merlot 2012

Rapberry, peach, vanilla, a touch of chocolate. Young, smooth, decent acidity but medium aftertaste. 90/100. 14 NZD.

Second Luge

Rotorua also has a Luge (gravity assisted go-carts), and since we had such a fun time at Queenstown we decided to do it again here. We all thought the Rotorua Luge was better (longer and faster), though the views from Queenstown are much more amazing. Had great fun down the Luge and then headed off towards our last stop in NZ: the Coromandel Peninsula.

Lesson learnt today: don't buy any Merino wool mountain gear in NZ, even local brands like Icebreaker are cheaper in the US (and probably Europe).

Maori show

There is a giant Californian redwood forest on the outskirts of Rotorua called Whakarewarewa Forest. It is ideal for biking, horse riding and, our favourite activity, hiking. We took the short 1-hour route but even there you get to see the forest good and proper. The redwoods are massive, Lucas was dwarfed by them when he took to hugging them. Had a great morning amble, just long enough to tire the kids out but not too long so they managed to do it all themselves without any carrying (except Aisha for a bit after a nasty trip over a root).

Headed back to the campground for another dip in the pools, waiting around for our 5pm pickup; after yesterday we had decided the family should see a Maori show - we thought it would be good for the kids to see the Maori culture up close. We are not fans of ethnotourism but here they are billed as "shows", which is OK by us. It's the "come visit a real tribe" type of tours we don't like because of the sensation of human zoo.

Apart from the group size, much larger than expected, the show was really good. After an introduction in the main dining area were we chose our "chief" and singers (or rather, had them chosen for us by our host) we headed off to see how dinner was being cooked in the traditional manner (4 hours in a big hole in the ground). Then we continued down to the river to catch a glimpse of some warriors in a canoe (waka). From there we were taken to where the main show takes place.

The "stage" was a recreation of a typical Maori village. The show started off with the traditional greeting (hongi) between the local tribe and our chief (the visiting tribe). We came in peace so we exchanged speeches, leaves and songs (our chosen singers must have sung in a choir or something) and then came the dances. Some were pretty violent and warlike, others (much preferred by Aisha) were more melodic, slightly reminiscent of Hawaiian music. We had examples of warrior training, weapon demonstrations, and the facial tattoos explained to us. The grand finale was, of course, the haka. This terrified Aisha, and Lucas wasn't too chirpy either, but when it was over they were clapping as enthusiastically as everybody else. Lucas even went up to shake the chief's hand.

Dinner (hangi, not to be confused with hongi) was plentiful and delicious. Slow cooked chicken and lamb with kumara and potatoes, with less traditional fare like stuffing and mint sauce. Lucas stuffed himself with chocolate log. Then one last bit, a visit to see glowworms at the sacred stream. We have seen quite a few glowworms so that wasn't so exotic, but I was amazed with the stream's pool: the water was so clear it looked like it was 50cm deep when in fact it was 2m.

On the way back our bus driver sung us a few Maori songs and explained his role (as an old 'un) in passing on the Maori traditions and songs to the young 'uns. A great ending.