Reluctantly we left Venice Beach to start our coastal route journey back to up San Francisco. Our hire car this time was a rather swanky white Toyota Rav4 (4 wheel drive). Niiiiice! We made a short stop in Ventura , a quintessential local beach town which is apparently used as a stand-in for Main Street, Small Town America in several films. Hanging around the car park were two drunks sucking each other toes. We had a small stroll along the beach but concerns regarding our exposed luggage in the boot of the car made us want to continue our journey...after-all Dom didn't want his luggage stolen twice in one year.

Driving along the scenic shorelines we discussed the possibility of living in Los Angeles. We were surprised that people had warned us "you won't want long in LA", why the hell not? We could have easily spent a few weeks there. We reached the conclusion that living in LA would probably be totally different to what we had already experienced, most probably due to the sort of accommodation that we would be able to afford. I think we mostly enjoy the laid back vibe of LA and the entertainment that's available. Also, right on your doorstep is a whole array of gorgeous beaches and good year round climate, wow.

Seeing the beautiful Californian coastline made us both crave the sounds of The Beach Boys. Unfortunately neither of us had any of their music so we resorted to singing. In a sort of Step Brothers 'sweet child of mine' sty-lee we created our own rendition of Good Vibrations; me on lead vocals with Dom beautifully harmonising. It was pretty impressive.....No, honestly it was.

We stopped in Santa Barbara; a pleasant town full of Spanish architecture and palm trees. It was a little bit 'Housewifes of Orange County', the sort of place where they have a McDonalds but it's in a real fancy, classy building which makes you forget about the s***e they're actually trying to sell you. Dom ate fish and chips on the pier. I say fish and chips but really it was fish and french fries AND they didn't even have mushy peas! Nothing like the tasty fish and chips I have at my nan's house in Sleaford. We could hear sea lions but couldn't quite make out where they were hanging out.

After getting back in the car to drive our final stretch to San Luis Obispo I spotted a Pinkberry on State Street. Overly excited as I had been searching for one of these for almost three weeks now we rapidly found a carpark and headed straight there. For those of you who don't know what Pinkberry is think of Subway sandwich and then think of the sweet version..... frozen yoghurt, fruit, sweets etc. Ever since watching series 8 of Curb Your Enthusiasm I have been craving one of these and I wasn't disappointed. I opted for pomegranate frozen yoghurt topped off with heaps of fresh fruit whilst Dom went chocolatey, I had to take a double glance at Dom as at one point I though he was wearing my brown lipgloss.... sign of a good snack if you ask me.

We arrived at our accommodation, Peach Tree Inn, in San Luis Obispo at around 6:15pm. In less than 45mins we had checked in, freshened up, driven to a restaurant, ordered take out food and were sat in front of the screen at the Sunset Drive-In Cinema. We sure can move when we need too. Surrounded by more food than we could ever possibly eat, including mountains of nachos smothered with salsa, guacamole and rib meat we enjoyed two films; Puss In Boots and In Time. Not our first choice of films but we were mainly there for the experience of going to the drive in movies. We had bought along lots of layers as we guessed that you had to wind your windows down to hear the sound. We were pleasantly surprised when we were informed you just tune into the given radio station. Puss in Boots was alright but less funny than we had anticipated whilst In Time was unintentionally humorous. Between the two films was a retro five minute intermission film advertising the snacks/drinks on offer. This, although amusing, reiterated to me that i'm sick of American food. I think it's a mixture of travelling around, constantly having to choose what you want (usually from a menu of burgers) and the massive portion sizes. Even the salads are usually swamped with full fat ranch dressings. I'm looking forward to the home cooking and meat/two veg in New Zealand (no pun intended).

We awoke in the morning with the sun blazing through the bathroom window and onto our faces (we were not sleeping in the bath but the door to our bedroom was open) We enjoyed a delicious and nutritious (thank God) breakfast on the sun-soaked veranda whilst watching birds gather nuts and sneak off into the distance. Continuing our coastal journey back to San Francisco, we stopped off at a rather secluded beach at The Big Sur to catch some rays and enjoy the tranquillity of California. I will not subject you to the horror stories of the public toilets at this beach. Blergh. In the evening we headed to an American 40's diner which made sandwiches on whole wheat bread * hallelujah *. Dominic ordered their signature burger, thoroughly enjoyed this anddecided to order another (bear in mind the burger was approximately the size of two fists, none of the crappy flat McDonalds style burgers). I think he is developing an American appetite, but fortunately not the waistline.

On our last stretch back to San Fran we chilled with Alanis Morrisette and her jagged little pills. What an album. Although he won't admit it I think Dominic secretly enjoyed me singing full pelt in my best Canadian accent, particularly for the rendition of' 'Ironic'. Looking back I think we have driven over 1,300 miles around America. Well done Dominic. I feel I cannot take much credit for this as for possibly 40% of the journey I was most likely asleep.

Before returning the hire car we made a frantic detour to the Californian Academy of Science museum to take advantage of the free entry open day. It's the only place on the planet with an aquarium, a planetarium, a natural history museum and a 4-story rainforest all under one 'living' roof.

On our last day in San Francisco (and our American journey) we treated ourselves to a slice of cheesecake from the World famous Cheesecake Factory. Check out the menu I guarantee it will make your mouth water http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/menu/Cheesecake/. After much deliberation I opted for the lemon raspberry and Dom the key lime. The restaurant is located on the top floor of Macy's with great views over Union Square and it's newly erected Christmas tree and ice skating rink. Absolutely beautiful. We explored Haight Ashbury, a retro/hippy district which in the 1960's people flocked to for the 'Summer of Love'. Amongst the flower-power, incense-burning, acid-dropping, tie-dye-wearing, peace-and-loving are many boutiques and vintage-clothing shops. It reminded me a lot of Brighton. We kindly refused the offer of "good weed" from a local as we idled our way down the street. We managed to enjoy fried chicken on the beach even though this did attract a disturbing amount of attention from the local avian population!

We spent the evening at Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon cabaret show (http://www.beachblanketbabylon.com/). There was a mixture of b****y celebrity digs, comically satirical political songs and zany music all topped off with outrageously extravagant hats. Worth every penny.

We're currently awaiting our twelve(ish) hour flight to New Zealand. America has been fast paced, jam packed with activity and a whole loada' fun. And to think this was just a 'quick stopover' before our main adventure begins....Can. Not. Wait!