It's been a good week, i've seen lots of fantastic wildlife and a completely different part of California.

Last week, on Wednesday, I went on a whale watching trip with Jackie, Scott & Scott's girlfriend Natalie. The boat set off from Long Beach, right outside the Aquarium. At this time of the year there are Blue Whales that swim past Long Beach and that was what the boat was hoping to find. It isn't a guarantee that you see them but I was so hopeful because it's one of my life's ambitions to see them. It didn't take long before we were amongst a school of dolphins. There were loads of them and they were swimming with the boat. I stood at the railings and could see them very clearly because they were so up close. They were jumping out of the water and entertaining us very well. One of them was particularly horny and kept mating with the others! We then continued to search for some whales and everyone was very quiet, concentrating on the sea. We seemed to be bouncing along the ocean for quite a while and it got to a point where I wondered if we'd be unlucky because it just looked so vast and empty in front off us. Just as my concentration drifted away this woman behind me was figuring out if the spurt of water she'd seen in the distance was a whale and then this developed into her shouting 'It is! WOOHOOO!' We had to follow them when they were showing themselves because they were doing deep dives for approximately 7 minutes and they'd pop up in a different place. But we managed to get as close as is allowed and got to watch them, it was fantastic! You only get to see a small part of them because they're so huge but you can see them under the water - they come through as a large bright teal shape through the water's surface. To really take in their size you'd have to be either under the water with them, or in the air directly above. But who cares - I saw them in front of me with my owwwwn eyyyes! :-) One to tick off the list. Now i'd like to see Humpbacks! Whales RULE.

Thursday was a quiet day that ended with me on the sofa watching telly, slowly dozing off, with Wendal doing the same thing on the floor in front of me. Jackie got back from work and decided to take me to some shops to get me out! Well i'm glad she did because I practically changed my wardrobe for this trip. I'm going to have to send a load of stuff home by air mail. We got so into the shopping that we had to be asked to leave one of the shop's changing rooms because they were about to close. We were fuelled by Starbucks Frappucinos!

On Friday, Perry returned from Portland where he'd been at a conference for the week and we set off for Central California. We were very fortunate to be able to stay in the house of a friend of Jackie & Perry's in a town called Los Osos. The house was really nice. Very light and airy on the inside, I had a nice bedroom with tv. When we arrived I was amazed at how different the temperature was compared to LA. We didn't realise that the average is in the 50's & 60's F. It was also very dark because there was so much fog. Therefore, when we headed out to get some food, it felt quite adventurous due to the eerie atmosphere the fog created, as well as the fact that there were no street lights at all, even though it was a residential area, so you could hardly see where you were driving. Two words for you: Sat Nav.

On Saturday the fog was still there. With layers on we drove out to Hearst Castle, out near San Simeon. It didn't take long to drive away from the fog into bright sunshine. Hearst Castle was thought up by William Randolph Hearst, a well known publishing mogul in the early 20th Century. The architect was a woman called Julia Morgan who was rather extraordinary. The 'castle' is based on all different styles of architecture from Europe, so it's a complete mixture of themes and consists of alot of antiques that include parts of the buildings themselves, like 14th century ceilings. It was very plush. Alot of famous film stars would get invited to stay and we got to see a some footage in the castle's cinema of people like Clark Gable & Charlie Chaplin, (a regular there, who looked so blond! Didn't realise), generally prancing around having a good time. The indoor swimming pool had actual gold inlaid on the floor, which we were walking on.

We had lunch in a small town nearby called Cambria and then went to some coastal area where we got to observe some adolescent Elephant Seals. I absolutely LOVED them. Even though they just lay about, occasionally some would do things that made me laugh, like scratch themselves with their stubby fins, shovel their faces in the sand or shuffle over a pile of friends in order to huddle up. One was obviously developing into a loud dominant male. He kept practising his sparring with slightly reluctant neighbours. I could watch them for hours on end. I'd really like to see them as fully grown adults. They grow to be massive and the males are very aggressive. They can beat each other to a bloody mess whilst their big ugly dangling noses flap about vigorously. Elephant Seals rule too.

That evening we were in Morro Bay, a seaside town that has a famous rock protruding out of the water. Unfortunately the fog was so thick, I was unable to see it, even though it's very near the land and the size of a small mountain.

Sunday we stopped off somewhere and went into a Wood Show. Perry turns wood and makes excellent bowls and pots with lids. I didn't really know what to expect and was really pleasantly surprised. Some of the craftsmanship was excellent. I particularly liked these carvings of trees with houses in them and an old man's face carved into the tree - like an Ent. Sounds weird but it was really good. We then drove out of the fog once again to the Paso Robles area, which is wine country. Mmmmmmmmm wine. We started off at an Olive Oil tasting place where we dipped bits of bread in different kinds of olive oil. It was a very meditteranean setting and the perfect temperature. We then went wine tasting at a very lively place. You get people who do wine tasting tours where they go from venue to venue tasting wine all day. There were a bunch of people who'd obviously been doing it for hours because they were more than well oiled! I learnt that it was best for me to start reaching for my Passport before they even asked for my ID. It's quicker that way! We were ultimately trying to find a vineyard where they offered tours and talks on the wine tasting process but didn't have any luck with this that day.

On Monday we set off determined to find somewhere that did wine making tours, however the fog had gone (!) so we went to see the Morro Bay rock. We drove right up to it and were lucky enough to see some Sea Otters floating around. They were wrapped up in kelp in order to keep them floating in the same place and were on their backs just bobbing around. There were loads of interesting birds including Pelicans and a Peregrin Falcon nesting in the rock. The hunt for the wine tour then ensued and it took alot of effort, which surprised us. There are hundreds of vineyards and wine tasting places in the Paso Robles area and they either didn't do tours, or only did them by appointment. One place however was very friendly and even though they didn't do tours, they let us taste some wine and found out where we could go to find one. The girl behind the counter obviously loved her job. Her eyes were a bit loose and she said 'mind if I join tastin' with ya?'. Bet she says that all the time! Chuckle. So we found somewhere, where we tasted wine again and then got taken around being shown the big tanks where the wine is made and then underground into these caves where they store the wine in barrels. The barrells are worths $1000 each and there were hundreds and hundreds of them. The caves provided the right cool temperature whilst saving loads of energy and therefore cost. It was very good.

My relaxed state of mind was soon shaken by an experience involving a toilet. We spent a while trying to find a mission in a town called San Luis Obispo. (There are lots of missions in California and they are part of the Spanish history) When we found it I really needed the loo (wine) and we went into these toilets that were rather questionable. However I really needed to go, so did so. When I pressed the flush the toilet started gushing out water (thankfully nothing else) but it was like a tidal wave and I had to pull the cubicle door inwards to get out. So my legs got drenched. After a bit of exclaiming, we found a water pump at a nearby petrol station to wash my legs and then just went straight back to the house! Jackie decided she doesn't like that town because once before, their car got towed! Scott arrived to stay with us that night because he is returning to College this week and Los Osos is half way up to Santa Cruz, where his College is. We ended up eating in a restaurant back at the scene of the plumbing debacle in San Luis Obispo! But it was very nice.

Tuesday we drove back to Long Beach. We stopped off at a place called Pismo Beach for lunch and then Santa Barbara, where we spent a bit of time on the pier. Alot of famous people like to live in Santa Barbara, it's a very exclusive place. Micheal Jackson's Neverland Ranch is there, somewhere in the hills. We also drove through Malibu and Jackie pointed out the bar Mel Gibson got drunk and then arrested nearby when driving (when he displayed his anti-semitic and sexist views to the police officers) bet you could see a few mad things in Malibu! Britney Spears lives there too.

We didn't really take in any news when we were away but I found out about the freak dust storms in Sydney when we got back. I'm really hoping things are a bit more back to normal when I fly there this weekend. There's also been earthquakes and dangerous hail storms in Oz, sooo.... we'll see how it pans out!

I really loved Central California, it's such a diverse place. Amazing wildlife and a wonderful rural landscape. I managed to use up the last of my battery power on my ipod listening to Harvest whilst we drove through it. Very apt considering i'm also nearing the end of the Neil Young Biography i'm reading. That's been a mission in itself! Talk about in depth! Good though.

Signing off now. Will do one more blog for California before I start the second leg of my travels in Sydney (if I can get there!). I think I might be going to Venice Beach in the next couple of days and Jackie told me Viggo Mortensen lives there and is regularly seen in the supermarket. I'll be looking out for him!

Take care, bye! x