End of the Road, Santa Monica CA

San Francisco was just waking up when we departed for our drive to Santa Monica and LAX, it was early but the traffic was not yet heavy and allowed us to pick our way out of the city and find the Bay Bridge. Once on the bridge things really get moving and the speed of the local traffic is daunting when you are trying to find exits etc. Before we knew it we were going through Oakland the second San Francisco whilst staying focussed on remaining on the H 505 and ultimately the I5.
Once on the I 5 the boredom sets in we had a 6 hour drive ahead through pretty uninteresting country. A stop for Fuel and then some breakfast punctuated the trip through fields of crops and orchards with the only change being the distant ranges. There was still a fair amount of traffic and as we approached the outskirts of LA this increased.
We arrived in Santa Monica at about 12.30 so the plan was to explore the area, then have a late final lunch together, and then head to the airport. Carl and Paola set off to find Venice beach whilst Noela and I stayed around the Pier and watched buskers. Santa Monica was bustling with people everywhere a real contrast to the scene 4 years ago. The beach itself was packed with people with many enjoying the freezing cold Pacific Ocean.
We met the guys at 3.15 and enjoyed a light taste of Mexican food at the restaurant on the end of the pier, last photos were taken, last T shirts purchased and we made our way back to the car to do our final pack, fuel the car and do a quick trip through Malibu. As we headed off the pier we notice the traffic coming back down the coast was crawling so we scrapped the Malibu idea, thank goodness we did. As soon as we turned, on to the freeway to LAX the traffic stopped and what should have been a 30 minute drive took 1.5 hours. We finally got to Thrifty to return the car at 6.50 their shuttle had us at the airport 10 minutes later.
We departed late due to some peanut getting lost after he had checked in so they had to offload his luggage. He then showed up so they reloaded his luggage and we were off. With a late departure we arrived late into Sydney thus missing our original connection, Noela and I cleared customs and made our rebooked flight to Brisbane but Carl and Paola were further back in the line and did not get back to Brisbane until about 5.00PM, they were not happy.
So now comes the photo editing and recalling of memories, and I will put together an epilogue of the good the bad and the ugly.
Thanks for being part of the journey.Read more