J: This blog is as much for us to remember things as for you - Off Exploring can make it all including your comments into a book if we want so here goes...

Breakfast in a diner sitting in a booth - reminded me of the Fonz! Fresh orange, 2 eggs over easy, bacon crisp and 2 pancakes with coffee refilled over and over if needed.

Caught the cable car (cables under the raod) up the hills and back down to Fisherman's Wharf. Funny when the cable car stopped on the flat then went steeply up then flat, then up. Huge brake levers dragged on and off, physical job.

Drizzle but clearing. Excuse to buy great soft purple scaf in Urban Clothing store. Wishe we had one - really unusual, probably far too trendy for me - would all look good on Lorna!

Alcatraz striped clothing for sale on the Wharf. Smelly sealions - gret heaps of them preferring to be in piles than singly. Two were funny vying for the same pontoon endlessly pushing one another off. Hot chocolate good then for a rest.

Sky cleared somewhat so walked back up to the windey street. On the way saw some homes with amazing views of the bay....and a humming bird!!! Hovering by a blossom tree. Tiny. Can't believe we saw one. The weather here is 12-16 degrees all year so plenty of tall fat palm trees, rhododendrons and cyclamen.

Very nice homes and condominia up the windey street. Almost constant cars driving quietly down it. Seem to all be automatics. Cable car from the top back to Chinatown. Amazing environment - we were very out of place! Sunday but lots of little Chinese children being collected from a school building.

Big galleries of art up our street, famous modern art to see.

Hooray for Starbucks again for snack incl a banana to take back to the hotel and recuperation.

8.30 meal down our road towards the centre in only restaurant that didn't look like a Diner. Really nice. Clam chowda soup, bread and butter pudding with sweet potato! Yum.

Just got the photos off the camera and phone in time for you getting up! We'll be in the air to NZ for 12 hrs from 11am in MK so next update we'll be ahead of you rather than 8 hrs behind. No Tuesday at all for us!!

Tomorrow morning we've got our tickets for the boat to Alcatraz - no bookings left for today. Better take a cab there - the cable car's so slow, stopping every intersection.

xx