We wake up early having had a fun night by the roadside in our shaky RV and drive it into the depot.

We explain about the dodgy brakes and she drives it through to the mechanics - half hour later she advises us that it's got too many problems that won't be a quick fix so they'll give us another unit. It's resolved fairly quickly and the RV we get is much cleaner than ours was plus the all-important brakes are spot on - as a sorry we get a $50 refund on fuel and full tank of propane gas - we're out of there by 10.30am and raring to go.

We stop at Huntington Beach which is where Will Ferrell would have hung out and did his first stand-up show - we walk along the pier and promenade, it's a nice area but mostly restaurants and bars - too many really. We trek on to Newport Beach and sit by the marina it's stunning! Lots of yachts and boats enjoying the sun with a great view of really expensive houses opposite the hill facing the sea. The houses here are made of chipboard even the ones in Malibu - it's shocking how expensive it is for the land and how cheap the materials are for the houses.

We have lunch with a view and decide to have a paddle in the Californian sea before we say goodbye to the coast - we stop near Laguna Beach where there are quiet coves and great views of seals and whale sprays. It's only $4 for two hours parking and we make our way to the beach ready to jump in - sharp realisation of how bloody cold it is comes quite quickly - Matt gets in to his neck Jacq wimps out at the waist - the waves are massive too. Matt basks in the sun on a rock and Jacq gets showered in the RV - we've had a full tank of water today and for some mad reason two showers, two lots of dishes and a few cups of coffee later the tank is empty and the dump is full. We'll have a free night of camping tonight and top up tomorrow.

We head off for the turn towards the desert on route to Vegas - immediately the landscape changes - the most gorgeous rolling hills not as green as NZ but it's drought season here - they are beautiful though, we're driving through steep canyons and big boulders, it's mad!

We find the most stunning view around 6pm of the valley below, huge mountains and a sunset sky - time to stop! Looks like we can park up too it's off the roadish so it's dinner and some plans for tomorrow - Jacq spends the night wondering if a truck smashed into them would they go over the cliff - she asks Matt and he assures her it's ok ... she's on the outside so he'd go first ;)