LA

As we had both stayed in Hollywood during separate visits in the past, we thought it would be good to stay in an area we hadn't been to, and so settled for Hermosa Beach. And because it was also very cheap compared to some other hostels closer to downtown LA.
After returning Seamus the Chevrolet to thrifty we caught numerous buses to get back to Hermosa. During the journey we thought we had missed our stop, so got off at the next one and walked back up to where we thought we were staying, only to realise we had actually got off too early and were in Manhattan Beach. So after a 45 minute walk along the beach we eventually got back to our hostel. That evening we went for a walk into town and came across a nice little vegan restaurant where we had dinner before returning to the hostel.

The next day wasn't very extravagant. We went for a walk along Hermosa Pier and also the beach. The houses on the sea front are ridiculously nice. Some would put sandbanks to shame. As our hostel was in the centre of Hermosa, which was just off the pier, there were plenty of rowdy bars and restaurants, so we decided to go for nice drink in the sun before returning to the hostel to cook dinner and chill out.

As our hostel provided cheap bike hire we decided to spend our last full day in America cycling up the coast to Santa Monica. This was to be a 30 mile round trip, so quite a mission for us. After getting used to our bikes we set off. The cycle path runs along the sea front and is relatively flat so was very pleasant for the first half of the journey. It wasn't until we had to navigate round a harbour when it got a little interesting as we had to use a combination of cycle paths and the roads. It wasn't long until we got to Venice Beach on the other side of the harbour. It was very busy here, with lots going on along the front and cyclists, pedestrians and skaters everywhere. Some people being quite rude, although we happily carried on our way another 15 minutes to Santa Monica. We left our bikes just off the pier and walked to the main street as we were starving. After a good burger, we did a little shopping before going back to the pier to have a look around at the theme park and stuff. We then started our long journey back, both already tired from the way there. We stopped in Venice Beach and went for a walk to find the flagship Toms shop before returning to our bikes and cycling back. We were both pretty dead after the journey so the evening was spent doing very little.

Our last day involved a lot of sitting around watching TV as we had checked out and were waiting for a suitable time to go to the airport. The afternoon was also spent in the company of an annoying 40 something guy who worked in the hostel, who not only interrupted the film we were watching by putting ice hockey on, but couldn't get it into his head that we weren't that interested in hockey in the uk and he wouldn't shut up about it, and was constantly chanting for the NY Rangers. Thankfully they lost.
So after getting to the airport and, after a bit of a mix up which meant we needed to buy our plane tickets from Auckland to Melbourne otherwise we wouldn't have been allowed to fly, we boarded our flight leaving America, and what has been the best part of our trip so far, heading for Fiji.