Thursday 9th January
Padre Trail Inn, San Diego to South Carlsbad Beach State
Park. 55kms
Packed up after breakfast and left about 9.30am through the
city to Mission Bay, La Jolla where we had a nice break with coffee and then
rode up a big hill to Torrey Pines and north to Del Mar where we had lunch
sitting in a coastguard platform at the beach. Amazing to be back at the beach
again. Made good progress through Solana Beach, Ecinitas and Leucadia. Grabbed
some food at Wholefoods at Ecinitas. Arrived at South Carlsbad at 3.30pm and it
was great. Had a campfire and there was a gorgeous sunset and we had a nice
relaxing time. In the morning we saw dolphins and met a really nice woman
called Fran and her dogs. She is a photographer and we had a great chat.
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| Coffee co-op at La Jolla |
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| Back on the 101 north of San Diego |
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| Lunch on the Surf Lifesaving tower |
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| Coast to South Carlsbad |
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| Sunset at South Carlsbad Beach State Park |
Friday 10th January
South Carlsbad Beach to Doheny State Park. 65kms
Got away about 9.30am and made great progress to Oceanside where we stopped and had a bit of breakfast outside at a café which was great. Carried on to Camp Pendelton – and it was as wellwe had stopped earlier as it was a long and quite stressful ride. Had to show ID going in there and then got a bit lost as now following the guidebook backwards! Made our way out eventually with the help of the tablet and stopped for a break on the cycleway before getting back on the Coast Highway. Glad to get to San Onofre with its huge nuclear power plant and equally huge closed campground before winding our way through the very up and down San Clemente. Finally found a 7 Eleven to scrape some groceries together at and arrived at our campsite at Doheny Beach about 4pm. Watched the sunset at the beach with Lucy and then settled in with our Hiker Biker friend Ed who kept us entertained with stories of the Navy and with his animations of his two stuffed toys, Crackers the racoon and Oscar the sea otter. We shared our pasta with him and retreated when it got cold and a bit damp.
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| Biking to Oceanside |
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| Biking through Camp Pendelton Marine Base |
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| Biking past San Onofre Nuclear Plant |
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| Lucy at sunset at Doheny Beach State Park |
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| Sunset |
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| Doheny Baech - our last campsite |
Saturday 11th January
Doheny State Park to Camelot Inn and Suites, Anaheim. 60kms
Our last day biking. A very weird feeling. Got away at 9am as that was the Hiker Biker rules. Farewelled Ed who set off also, but heading south. Made great progress to Laguna Beach where we had brunch in a low-key café and had a breather from the quite full-on traffic. Biked on to Corona Del Mar and Newport Beach which became more built up and was lined with expensive car shops. Finally arrived to the Huntington Beach City Limits and turned inland, making us really feel we had arrived in Los Angeles.
The Santa Ana Cycleway was a welcome relief from any congestion. Amazing network of trails though the river turned out to be a concreted canal-way with – would you believe it – a golf course at the far end. Under each bridge were the signature supermarket trolleys and tarpaulins of the homeless – masses of them – organised into rooms under the bridge in some cases.
Stopped for a break at a park before exiting the cycleway and met a really nice cyclist who really congratulated us on our ride and made a fitting end to feeling like finally we were there. Found our route along many blocks of Orangewood Road and then onto Harbor Boulevard and many blocks more to our hotel at the Camelot Inn. Arrived about 3.45pm and were delighted to get there.
Wasted little time before finding a bike shop, found out it was open till 6pm and John went down there on my bike, returning about 6.30pm on the bus. Hugh, Lucy and I went over to Disneyland – which was super-exciting with the music playing and the ticket office open. Again, the lady behind the counter was super congratulatory when she asked about our holiday and made a big fuss of the kids and gave them special badges. Walked back in the dusk with gorgeous lights everywhere.
Met John and decided to go to a Pirate Buffet place for tea which was pretty cheap and cheerful but we were so hungry that we didn’t care. Had a glass of wine in a plastic glass and celebrated our arrival at the end point of Anaheim. All very tired but excited to be there. When we got home we watched the Disneyland fireworks from the hotel verandah which was amazing.
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| Farewelling Ed at the Doheny State Park Hiker-Biker campsite |
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| Riding out of Laguna Beach |
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| Coast near Crystal Cove - getting closer to Los Angeles |
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| Quick lunch stop |
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| Huntington Beach - last mile on the coast |
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| Santa Ana 12 mile cycleway into Anaheim on northern riverbank |
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| Santa Ana cycleway |
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| Santa Ana cycleway |
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| Approaching golf course in Santa Ana riverbed on the cycleway |
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| End Point: Camelot Inn and Suites, Anaheim |
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| Official end of cycle trip at the Camelot Inn |
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| Dinner in Anaheim |
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| Disneyland Fireworks |
Sunday 12th January
Many miles walking around Disneyland! Had breakfast at Denny’s after discovering there was no longer breakfast at the hotel which was a bit annoying as we hadn’t brought any food with us. Went to Disneyland at 9am and had a ball. I did lose the camera halfway through the day at the restrooms when I hung it up on a hook but a lovely lady found it and then looked at the photos and found me! Amazing. I therefore was able to see the others come out of Splash Mountain which was hilarious.
Gorgeous day and we had a few breaks but went on heaps of rides and it was all very exciting. Had a coffee at the Starbucks place in there and watched the parade from there. The children posed with Mickey and Pluto. Went on the Monorail, Matterhorn, Autopia car rides, Alice’s Tea Cups, the Mark Twain River Boat, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Storybook Land Canal Boat, Dumbo the Elephant, the Steam Train and heaps of other rides. We finished the evening at 8pm at ‘It’s a Small World’ which had all the Christmas lights still going and it was really beautiful over there.
Had dinner at a Mexican place which was a complete step up from the buffet the night before. Sat outside with all the lights of the Disney Downtown street. Really nice.
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| Pluto and us! |
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| Lucy, Mickey and Hugh |
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| Alice's Teacups |
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| Gunfight at Disneyland |
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| Hugh and Pooh |
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| Disneyland Parade |
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| Autopia with Lucy at the wheel |
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| At Fantasyland, Disneyland |
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| Teacups at night |
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| It's a Small World |
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| In the Small World boat |
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| Disneyland Castle at night |
Monday 13th January
California Adventureland – more miles of walking…
Adventureland was cool and we got the opening time wrong but they let us in early anyway with the Magic Morning people which was great. I sorted the breakfast thing out with the hotel in the morning which made me feel much better and they gave us vouchers to go to The Pizza Press every morning to have breakfast which was great.
Went on the Cars Raceway first which was so much fun and then made our way through lots of other stuff, including a really horrible swinging ferris wheel from which it took some time to recover. We went to the Planes flight which was fabulous as it flew over California to all the landmarks we had been to – Redwoods, Napa Valley, Monterey Bay, Yosemite, San Francisco, San Diego and LA. It was really cool. In fact we went back again later and to Cars land Raceway as well because they were so good. Also went on the Grizzly River Raft Trip and got soaked which was fun – Lucy particularly as she was at the entrance to the raft. She and Hugh went back for more and Hugh was the one soaked that time.
Went to Goofy’s Flying Lessons which the kids loved and I hated. Also went to a production of Aladdin which was great – though not really John’s thing.
There was an amazing Pixar Parade at about 5.30pm and gorgeous lights in the dark. When Lucy and Hugh queued for the Cars Raceway they were befriended by two college students who played phone charades with them and they had a ball and the queue passed quickly. Went out completely exhausted at 8pm and had nice pizza for dinner with a glass of wine at an Italian place in the Disney Downtown area.
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| Main Street, Adventureland |
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| Hugh in Mater at Cars Land, Adventureland |
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| Cars Land Route 66 |
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| Cars land Raceway pictures |
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| Kids with Jessie |
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| Monsters Inc |
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| Bumper Cars in Bug's Land |
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| John and Lucy at Bug's land |
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| Grizzly River Rafting |
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| Lucy, Hugh and friends at Grizzly River Rafting |
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| Toy Story Soldier Band at Adventureland |
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| Big Wheel Ferris Wheel at Adventureland |
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| Back to Cars Land for one last ride |
Tuesday 14th January
More Disneyland. More breakfast at Pizza palace – though a bit of red light mad business there. More Magic Morning – this time at the right time of 9am. More rides and I indeed went on Splash Mountain this time – shut my eyes. We also went to Star Wars Tours and Space Mountain which we had missed on Sunday – Space Mountain was more terrifying than I had remembered though the kids went back for more. Went to Peter Pan and lots of other cool rides. Had coffee at 11am in the sun at a vintage tearooms in the park and then had a breadstick from the bakery for lunch.
Finished the day with a visit to Autopia at Hugh’s request, a monorail ride and a steam train ride in the dark with all the lights, another visit to the Christmas ‘It’s a Small World’ and a ride on the tea cups. Wandered over to Denny’s and had dinner and back to the hotel.
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| River raft to Tom Sawyer's Island at Disneyland |
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| Hugh with Storm Trooper at Disneyland |
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| Toon Town roller coaster |
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| In Mickey's studio |
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| With Minnie at her house |
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| Acting goofy with Goofy |
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| Pluto and kids at Toon Town |
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| Space Mountain |
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| It's a Small World - last lights of Disneyland |
Wednesday 15th January
We were up at 6.30am and pretty motivated to get packed. Went for breakfast about 7.30am and were packed by about 9.30am. We all caught a bus to South Harbor Boulevard and went to a couple of shops and then John continued on to the bike shop to get the bike and Hugh, Lucy and I went shopping. Really successful couple of hours and fun too getting running shoes, soccer boots, Converses, a sports hoodie and some other things for Lucy and shorts and soccer boots for Hugh and two teeshirts for John. Went to Walmart for packing tape and a few messages and then caught the bus home – quite a challenge with carrying all the shoes and parcels.
Back to the hotel and John was packing the bike sat the back of the carpark. Lucy, Hugh and I checked out the airport shuttle and the teeshirt shop at the hotel and then we headed to the shuttle stop just by the hotel at 3.35pm.
Smooth sailing to the airport – scenic ride at sunset. Had to pay an extra $100 each for each bike when we checked in but apart from that, it went smoothly. Boarded the plane at 8.30pm after some Chinese food at the airport.
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| Packing the bikes at Camelot Inn |
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| LA Airport |
Friday 17th January
And so we missed Thursday in the ten hour flight to here and now we are in Fiji, exhausted, enduring crowds and few amenities to wait out four hours (one hour now) till our flight. Hugh is excited for the planes but the rest of us just waiting till it is over and we are relaxing in Auckland for the night as it is … Lucy’s birthday. She wants to celebrate in Auckland rather than here and we are going with that considering that it is very ordinary here. Only a two hour flight which is a blessing.
A bit too tired and planed out to really take in that this is the end of our travels. All desperate to get home now and looking so forward to it.
Had a terrible flight on Air Fiji with no movies, lots of turbulence, motion-sickness and pretty bad food.All a bit ill on arrival in Auckland but exciting to get there and to clear customs. Headed to the haven of Novotel for a welcome shower and relaxation.
Went for pizza at an airport restaurant where we'd eaten on the eve of our adventure. Very overwhelming to contemplate all that had passed in between. In time we will post some reflections once we can absorb it all and sort through the feelings and memories.
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| Auckland Baggage Claim |
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| Hugh at Novotel Hotel, Auckland |
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| Happy 12th Birthday Lucy |
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| Lucy relaxing on herbirthday |
Saturday 18th January
Had a lovely time sitting having breakfast at the airport before returning to the hotel and relaxing before checking out at 11am. A good sleep made all the difference and we re-celebrated Lucy's birthday at breakfast and really realised we were going home. We were very excited. The bike check-in checked us into reality with two kilos excess on each bike - and they were going to charge for it so we removed the wheels and repacked with the help of the check-in lady's luggage tape labels and I went to the international terminal and had the wheels wrapped. The wind blew in the grey sky as I walked there - a strange sensation after months of calm sunshine and deserts.
Air New Zealand was a welcome flight home and thanks so much to Tony and Justine who again trekked to the airport in two vehicles in reverse from the start of the trip when they dropped us off. It was truly great to see you guys.
So now to home and we are home and safe - and a little sad both to be finishing and also not to have Pat to relay our tales to. But we have journeyed far and learned so much and experienced such kindness that we will never forget. Most of all we are glad to have been and to have achieved all and more of what we set out to do. We will never forget this time together.
The tides and green of Purakaunui beckon and we will enjoy for while the quiet and comfortable life - from which time and perspective will distill our memories into something more permanent within us.
I read in a book that "a mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimension" and already that inspires us to plan the next adventure... thanks to everyone for all the encouragement and support in getting through this one!
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| The first mince pie at last! |
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| Bikes being boarded onto Air NZ |
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| Arrival at Dunedin Airport |
