La Paz is the main city in Baja California Sur and we find it has a rehab institution, but not of the sort you might expect. It’s a reptile park that takes in sick and injured reptiles and then works to release them back into the wild. The park is on the outskirts of the city and we feel we can walk there (and catch a local bus back) even though it’s reasonably hot here in the middle of the day. The park, though small, is very good and though an online comment, suggests that it’s expensive at 150 pesos ($11usd) but that isn’t too bad compared to many other wildlife parks. Inside there are plenty of snakes, a few spiders and quite a number of iguanas. There are also a few birds; parrots you can ... read more

At Ensenada we have a think about our next destination. The LP has little (read no) information about places down the coast south of Ensenada until Guerrero Negro which is about 10 hours by bus. It seems to be mainly a destination for whale watching so St Ignacio a couple of hours further on seems like a better destination and there is an overnight ABC bus at 6pm which should give us a good arrival time. St Ignacio is a small oasis town set close to some stunning country close to the Sierra de San Francisco. It doubles as a centre for whale watching and as a trailhead for trips to see the Baja cave painting and petroglyphs. We get off the bus at 7am after a moderately comfortable ride, only to find the town itself ... read more

In the 70’s one of my favourite TV shows was The Rockford Files. As we are driving along Highway 1 through Malibu I think it would be good to visit the location used for Jim Rockford’s trailer home. To be honest when we get there I’m a little disappointed as the parking lot at Paradise Cove looks nothing like it did in the 70’s and you can’t even park there without paying 12 dollars. They let me do a U-turn and I grab a quick picture. The Malibu beachfront also isn’t that special, considering it is some of the most expensive real estate in the world, but as Aussies perhaps we are conditioned to having such great beaches and maybe we didn't find the best of Malibu. Last night we were staying near San Ynez a ... read more

If someone asked me this before we began this trip the answer would have been "yes" though I must confess I haven't worn flowers in my hair. I haven't been to San Francisco before and have been keen to visit for a long time. It's one of those places - like New York- that I’ve grown up seeing in countless TV episodes and films (Bullett and the Dirty Harry movies spring to mind) so it all somehow seems quite familiar even though I've never been here. What I hadn't realised is that there say a dozen distinct city areas that are each quite different. The iconic film-scapes with cable cars and steep hills is really just a small area of North Shore. Like any large city it’s not RV friendly but J finds a state campground ... read more

On this trip I’d wanted to see the giant Redwood trees of California, but had thought this would be the Sequoia National park that is between Yosemite and LA. When a little internet research reveals that we’re about to drive though the coastal Redwood parks I’m quite excited. The Redwoods in this area are Coastal – or Californian - Redwoods and different to the trees in Sequoia which are Sequoia’s or Giant Redwoods. They aren’t as wide as the Sequoias but are actually significantly taller. The tallest tree in the world is somewhere here (the location is kept secret) but there are plenty of very tall (250ft +) trees you can walk to see and a few that are wide enough to drive a car through, though an RV would be a challenge! The other factoid ... read more