Marin Bay(San Fran) to Monterey- Sep 11-13

Where to start when so much to tell!! Firstly some points I have noticed since arriving in the U.S:

1. Sarcasm is lost on them all!

2. Tipping provides great service and should be promoted in certain parts of Australia!( no names mentioned..)

3. Australia is far ahead in terms of services- Ambos,police, post..

4. Food is so cheap!! In fact Australia is SO expensive

5. Laundromats rock!($1-2) per load.

Seriously, we are having such a great time and our trip to Monterey, about 130 miles south of SF was well worth the journey. What a gorgeous place. Our RV park was located behind the Marina dunes and such a great spot to to sit and roast marshmallows by the fire. A really top RV site, exy but had a pool room with unlimited hot chocolates that the kids took great advantage of. We toured around Monterey and could not get over the sea lions everywhere. In fact ou could hear and smell them first!! 

Hundreds of them were around, under on the pier and all sleeping, fighting, scratching or barking! Very smelly and so many flies.. We then head thru the old Cannery Row, which is full of quaint shops, beautiful hotels and ice cream stores. Lots of boating merchandise. Home of the author, John Steineck and lots of old relics of the cannery days.

We reached the Aquarium and spent a wonderful 4 hours exploring this incredible facility. Not sure what was my favorite exhibit, but I think the Jellyfish exhibit was out of this world.

Kids loved all the touch pols, sea otters, penguins, live shows, giant kelp, and interactive research centre. Well well worth the trip. 

Headed back to the RV site and had early dinner and marshmallows my the fire. Decided to head off down the coast, so spent today driving thru the incredible towns of Carmel, Salinas and then the amazing Big Sur. was not prepared for the drive that awaited us. The scenery was reminiscent of Te Great Ocean Road, but I think more spectacular. The ocean fog surrounding the area, created an almost unreal feeling. Stu did a great job manoevouring the RV around the winding and steep roads and for 5 hours we stopped and started our ways down the coast.

Unfortunately both camer and video camera ran out of batteries, so photos are on iPhone!! The elephant seal colony that we came across just before Morro Bay were so beautiful and you can read Nichos blog for more details. 

So here we are at Morrow Bay for two nights, before heading inland to Arizona and the south rim of the Grand Canyon!! Xxxx