And on south

To country number 5 proper - TJ is surreal so doesn't really count Got our vehicle import documentation this morning we we left Tijuana - you have to leave a deposit when you bring a vehicle in to Mexico to make sure you don't sell it without paying the import taxes - and headed a little way down the Pacific coast to Ensenada. So of course Maria got to photograph yet another sunset....

We are here for a couple of nights then I think civilisation ends for the next 1500km until we got Cabo San Lucas right down at the bottom of the Baja peninsular. Figure it will take us about 5 days with a couple of nights camping in there, to give us time to enjoy the beaches and the space. Then we will have to decide whether to do it all the way back up the gulf of California and sea of Cortez, or get the ferry across an save about 4000km....but you don't see all the fishing towns that way....we shall see how the journey down goes.

Urologist dentist clinic

Exactly what symptoms requires this particular combination of treatments , Tijuana only knows....

Standards are slipping everywhere, pt 2

Yes, this is me eating salad. In my defence it is Caesar salad in the restaurant of the Caesar hotel where it was invented in 1927, so it's kind of a big deal. And as Cory, Mark and Frank at the next table - they come every Thursday from San Diego to smoke Cuban cigars and enjoy some good food and local wine - pointed out, it's less about the salad and more a "dressing delivery system" - egg yolk, oil, mustard, garlic, anchovy, Lea & Perrins and lots of parmesan all mixed at the table....note they don't bother making it with mexican cheese.

Add a bottle of local cabernet-tempranillo, which is one of the few places I've seen it outside Spain, and one of the nicest Flans I've ever had. And it's not a bad lunch at all. And I've never seen an egg cracked and separated with silver service spoons and a fork....must have taken a lot of practice and omelettes /scrambled eggs along the way.

Bienvenido a mexico

Time to start building up my tequila tolerance...

Standards are slipping everywhere...

....but I never thought it would come to this. A tent. I miss badger already, and we've only just set it up....

As we have been researching and planning to head on down into Mexico and beyond, we've read a few horror stories about not being able to find hotels or motels, or they are so flea bitten that you don't want to stay in them, and that camping on the beach or parks is preferable. So , as an insurance policy we decided to invest in a basic camping kit, with the benefit that if we want to stop somewhere for lunch or hang out at the beach in the evenings we can do some basic cooking and have chairs etc with us. So the next couple of nights are the dry run to see how everything works and if we have forgotten or missed anything...and of course we are doing it just as southern California is experiencing a cold snap......

Ok, let the mocking begin.... 

Oahu and Kauai

After the hustle and bustle of Waikiki (Honolulu) on Oahu, we ditched our 100,000's new friends and mayhem of this:

and headed up to the North Shore and tranquillity of this:

We hired a car for a few days (see Mark's post on the Camaro) and did a bit more exploring.

Banzai Pipeline (notorious for huge waves and surfing competitions)

Ka'ena Point

Sunset Beach (Kawela Bay), north of Banzai pipeline

giant waves got in the way of my sunset

We said our farewells to Oahu and headed on to Kauai where we only had a couple of days to explore. Known as the Garden Island, the scenery did not disappoint.

Wailua Falls

Opaeka Falls

Wailua Valley

Kilauea Lighthouse

Waimea Canyon is also known as the 'Grand Canyon of the Pacific', a name given to it by Mark Twain. At 3,600 feet deep and 14 miles long, the photos don't really do it justice as the colours were amazing.

Na Pali Coast

Spouting Horn

Next stop Maui and our last Hawaiian island adventure

Excuse me, I ordered the Camry....

Sorry Sir, Camrys are off.....we're on the Camaros.

Having owned soft top sports cars and 4x4s and motorcycles that are faster and can go places that neither of them can, i'm really not bothered as  to what i drive for a rental car, so usually just go for the cheapest option. As public transport here does not allow luggage, we needed to get from Waikiki to the north shore, and then back to the airport by some other means, and renting a car, even at the ridiculous prices they were charging over xmas and new year (almost as much as the accommodation we are staying in) was as cheap as paying for a shuttle transfer, and it gave us a chance to see more of the island.

After being messed around by one local company who went bust the week before xmas, i had to get a Jeep to come up here for a day, and Johnmill is right - they are even heavier and slower and nastier to drive than Land Rovers. Then I booked the cheapest car from the airport rentals for the 2 days before we fly on to Kauai. It was supposed to be a Toyota Corolla or Camry or similar. Got to the airport yesterday to pick it up, and they were waiting for cars coming back to be processed. After about 30 minutes waiting at the desk quite patiently (honest) the woman suddenly came back and said "are you OK driving a convertible?"... "As long as it has 2 seats, a motor and enough space for 2 suitcases I don't care"...."OK, here you go - stall D-2, have a nice day...". Charged me what i had expected to pay for 2 days in a basic crapbox, so off we go.  I was a bit shocked but quite happy with what I found there.

Given that it is 5+ years since I sold the Porsche it is nice to be in a rag top again, with a 3.6 litre engine it does have a bit of pickup, and Hawaiian coast roads are a lot more interesting than most of the US highway network. Playtime....

Of course, the luggage situation is a bit of an issue - I have been telling Maria she needs to reduce her bag size....

I guess we will just have to put the bags in the back seats to go to the airport....there has to be a joke about dropping the kids off at the pool somewhere in there..

And yes, the top photo really is one of ours - Keawaula Beach park on the west coast where we watched (yet another) sunset last night