Leaving on a Jet Plane

All my bags are packed/ I'm ready to go / ...

If only it were that easy to pack the bags, We were definitely ready to go, all that stood between us and leaving was packing.

Leaving Carlsbad early in the morning we headed back to LA to empty out the RV and hand it over the the new owners.

We had done a bit of preparation for the  the week before when we stayed at Octavio's. Octavio has a lovely big double garage but we don't think he would mind us saying that it was just a little bit cluttered. With over 150 kgs of luggage to sort out  + the extra that we were going to ship back we needed a bit of room to sort ourselves out. Before we left for Carlsbad Rob and Fiona spent a day as de-clutterers assisting Octavio to discover the floor of his garage. We sold things on the front lawn, sent things to the second hand shop and filled the amazing number of bins residents of Anaheim are issued with. At the end of this we were able to fit a car in the garage.

Coming back to Octavio's we were very grateful we had done this as we were able to quickly transfer all our things out of Marvey the RV and into the garage. We did one final clean and check before handing her over to the new owners with very mixed feelings. This had been our home for a year and it was not an easy goodbye. 

Last photo

Bye bye Marvey

Then it was onto the packing. We had bikes to clean, shoes to clean, boxes for bikes, boxes for shipping and more stuff than we thought possible. It was a lot of work and reminded us exactly how much work it had been getting over to the US in the first place. 

The day before we flew out Symi and Rob went to Knott's Berry Farm for a day of roller coastering. Fiona, having terrible motion sickness, wisely decided to give it a miss. The pace was frantic, Symi has a knack of getting out of a ride first. In the first hour we rode six roller coasters! The most frightening (read best) was the Xcelerator that went 0-132kph in 2.3 seconds! Then went completely vertical up, then down. Amazing and addictive. All the roller coasters in the park were sampled multiple times with short queues helping to totally wear Symi and Rob out by late afternoon. On the last roller coaster Symi was trying to close her eyes and rest her head against Rob, time to head off! Arriving back at Octavio's Fiona wanted a full report of the day, what she got was a adrenaline depleted and exhausted husband and daughter.

Fairy floss in front of the Xcelertor

Our last day in LA we delivered our shipping to the depot and went out to lunch with Octavio. With an 11pm flight we had a long day to fill. We had an uneventful trip to the airport having allowed lots of time to get there with all our luggage. Fiona had found a way to buy a reasonably priced 30 day pass to the Qantas Club so we made our way there and sat and toasted a successful trip. Only the eight hour wait in Brisbane airport to look forward to!    

The flight was uneventful until Symi woke up and decided she didn't feel well. Fiona found her a sick bag which was not needed and she fell asleep. Hours later after one mouthful of breakfast we were very glad we had found the sick bag! Very glad indeed as a search of all the surrounding seats did not reveal a second one which at one stage we were thinking we would need. Apart from not wanting any more breakfast Symi recovered well from this episode and we were soon on the ground in Brisbane 30' early.

Our charmed trip continued with an uneventful progression through customs (not a given when you have three mountain bikes with you). That achieved we were out ready for our next flight - in 8.5 hours. Rob decided to go and see if we could swap onto the 11am flight that we had been too scared to book on our frequent flyer points in case we missed it. No problems they said. Just pay us $2100 and the seats are yours. Suddenly a long wait in the Qantas Club looked financially appealing.

We went over to the domestic check in desk that was located in the international airport to book in the 2 of our 6 check in pieces of luggage that were not over-sized. There we met the lovely Marji who told us that if we took all our luggage over to the domestic airport on  the bus we might be able to find Garry who might be able to put us on the earlier flight. She could not book in our luggage as it would be for the wrong plane. We were just about to leave her desk when Fiona checked with Symi that she was feeling alright after the trip. As soon as Marji heard that Symi had been sick she was straight on the phone to Garry telling him all about the 'really sick young girl who had been vomiting all the way from LA'! Anyway the phone call worked and we were on the plane for the princely price of $0.00 a great improvement on the previous price.

Check-in was quick and after a quick shower and some breakfast we were on the plane and winging our way towards our final destination of Home Sweet Home.

It was so lovely to see everyone and get back into our house which was in great shape. Symi was beside herself with excitement at seeing all her friends

What a year! It all worked out even better that we hoped. We saw and did amazing things and met wonderful people. 

At the end of such a fantastic year you know you are really lucky when it is so easy to come home to family, friends and a great Perth lifestyle. 

That's it from the Wandering Waller's for now. It may be a bit of a wait until we accrue some holidays and can wander some more.

Thank for reading our blog.

Carlsbad and San Diego

We left Sedona very early on Boxing Day morning after a quick farewell to the understandably sleepy Washingtons next door. 

We headed south skirting around the west side of Phoenix and settled in for the long drive to LA. On the way we had our last crossing of the Colorado River and glimpsed the southern end of Joshua Tree National Park which was the first National Park we visited.

We also got our first sighting of the iconic Saguaro Cactus that you see in the all the western movies. The journey was long and Rob did a great job driving. 

We got to LA late in the day with a bit of time to start cleaning up the RV in preparation for the people who were coming to view it the next day. We had spent quite a lot of time over the previous week cleaning so mostly we just had to get all our junk out of the way. An easy task as we just put it all into Octavio's garage. Remember Octavio? He was our charming Air BnB host at the beginning of the year when we arrived in LA. We had arranged to stay with him again and enjoy eating his delicious food.

The next day we had a number of people organised to come and look at the RV. We decided Rob would do the selling and Symi and Fiona would stay out the way. The first family were keen to buy at $1000 below the asking price. We were relieved to know someone was prepared to pay this price but felt we needed to let the other people who were already on the way a chance to look at the RV. The first people were not prepared to offer any more and finally left with an offer of $1500 below the asking price at the end of the day. Hurried conversations between Fiona and Rob resulted in the decision to risk it and wait. Had we done the right thing?

The next man arrived but was not in a position to buy on the day and wanted to come back the next day with his Dad. Then another couple arrived who had traveled up from just north of San Diego and had arranged to bring a mechanic with them. The mechanic spent a long time under the RV and then advised the couple to offer the asking price, which they did. One RV sold for the asking price in a morning. What a relief! Even better they did not want it until the next weekend so we could head out for a few more days in Marvey. The buyers suggested we might like to try the beach at Carlsbad north of San Diego so we made a booking and headed off the next day.

The Carlsbad campsite was right on the ocean. We had a site one row back from the front. The first day we were there was one of the coldest they had ever had with locals commenting they were seeing snow on the mountains for the first time in many years. Needless to say it was pretty chilly especially down on the beach.

After a day or so it warmed up and we spent time walking and playing Frisbee on the beach. It was never that warm for swimming though and we once again realised what great beaches we have in Perth and Western Australia.

Carlsbad was just north of San Diego and we were right next to the train line. So we thought "Lets get the train to San Diego". Well there's an out there idea. We asked multiple members of the park staff where we could walk and catch the train. It was a bit like asking where the bus stop for the moon was. Finally we looked it up on google maps, found a station and decided to try and walk. Not an easy task as there did not seem to be a road that went through from the beach side and it was too far to walk around over the nearest bridge. After some trial and error we found our way - once you knew the way to go it was about a 10' walk!

Autumn Still happening.

San Diego was really interesting. We visited the State Park - Old Town San Diego and heard all about the history of the area. It was fascinating to hear that one lady who lived in the same house all her life had three nationalities without moving - Spanish, Mexican and USA. We spent a couple of hours on a great tour and then had a look around the old shops before walking to the Mission Hills area where after a bit of searching we had a great lunch. Fortified with food we then headed off again to walk to Balboa Park which was full of great buildings with a very Spanish feel.

Our legs were extremely tired by then and the rain that had been threatening was beginning to fall. We decided it was time to find a bus back to the center of town and then hop a train back to Carlsbad. As on the way the train ride was a scenic one with the track hugging the coast for much of the way.


Back in Carlsbad the next day it was time for New Year celebrations.Nature came to the party with a very nice sunset. The site in front of us was conveniently empty so we sat and enjoyed watching the sunset on a highly enjoyable 2014 - a year of travel and adventure for the Wandering Wallers.

New Years Day was spent hanging around the beach. We went for a ride north along the coast and found a nice place to drink a coffee in the sun. Rob promptly stuck up a conversion with a local who after 15 minutes invited us around to dinner. He even picked us up so we didn't have to drive the RV. When we jumped in his car we commented how fast it felt after so long in the sluggish RV. It was a great evening and our thoughts were well and truly turning to the pack up to get home.

The handover of Marvie

Three days before we flew out we drove the 90 minutes back to Octavio's house in Anaheim. We worked out in Australian dollars (the AUD had fallen significantly late in the year) that we had lost $100 on the RV over the year, something that we would have thought was a dream at the beginning of the year.

Watching the sun go down and about to spend the last night in Marvey

The Cubbyhouse Tree

Symi wrote this a long time ago - just found it in draft - not sure why but better post late than never!

This week my family and I went for a walk to Fern Canyon, through the redwoods in the Redwoods National Park. The coastal redwoods can grow up to 350ft or more. On the walk I found a cubbyhouse tree.

Mum and me climbing into the cubby house tree

Me inside the cubby house tree

Northern California Redwoods

Replicas of Indian houses at Patrick's Point

The redwoods on the California coast are taller than their inland cousins but with a smaller diameter. The northern Californian coast is a confusion of National and State Parks that contain 45% of the remaining coastal redwoods, 39 000 acres compared with the more than 2 million that existed in 1850. Summer brings the fog which supplies half the water supply that allows the coastal redwoods to survive, a tall redwood requires 500 gallons of water per day!

King Range: The lost coast

We heard about the King Range National Conservation Area and Tolken Bike Park from Canadian friends. It's on the Lost Coast near Shelter Cove. The coast here is the most isolated in mainland USA. Tolken sits 2000ft above the ocean and only 2 miles away, the hills are steep. We drove up the US101 from San Francisco and at Garberville turned towards the coast for the 26 miles to the campground. This was one slow road in an RV, near the turn into Tolken the road was so steep we wondered if the RV would make it up. At one point the speed was below 10mph. We finally turned into King Peak Rd which was dirt, narrow and again very steep in sections. Tolken campground only has limited spaces available, the thought of there not being a spare camp space was not a happy one at this time. Luckily the campground had cleared out after the Memorial Day long weekend, relief!

San Francisco

After spending a good deal of the day driving across California from Yosemite we reached San Francisco Bay. Crossing the San Francisco-San Rafael Bridge into Marin County (where mountain biking began) we passed the San Quentin prison. We had booked a place in an RV Park in Greenbrae as it evidently had easy access to a ferry to San Francisco.

Golden Gate Bridge with just a touch of fog.

Once we had booked in our minds turned to the necessary tasks to complete before beginning exploring the city. For Fiona this was the washing, for Rob (who admittedly had been driving all day) it was mountain biking. For those of you who notice details the last time Rob did any “proper” mountain biking was back in Colorado and withdrawal symptoms were well and truly set in.

Riding the ferry to the big smoke

Next morning we were up and on the ferry to San Francisco (our first city in three months). The ferry ride was great with views of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge and the city itself. Arriving at the ferry terminal we were greeted with a huge farmers market. 

Lots of lovely food.

We spent a lovely time wandering around tasting amazing stone fruit, cheeses, bread etc. One man was giving out samples of sun dried fruit. It tasted so much better than any dried fruit we have tasted before. Luckily we had a backpack with us so were able to stock up on goodies. We had allocated 2 days to the city so decided to spend our first day on foot.

We had a great time touring around the harbor area with the highlight for Symi being the sea lions which lounge around on the jetties. We did take the opportunity of a quick coffee in the sunshine as well.

Sea Lions at pier 39

Not RV friendly

Then it was on to tackle climbing some of the city’s steep hills. We of course visited the most crooked street in the world. Glad we did not bring the RV as it would have found the corners challenging.

By this time it was late in the afternoon and well past lunch time. China town was just around the corner. It is huge. We found a dim sum place and settled in for lunch. We spent a bit more time wandering around looking at houses, cable cars and trams and then decided to call it a day and take the ferry back.

Later in the evening we decided on a picnic dinner of local buys (evidently this makes us locivores!). Fortunately we had bought some local county wine so we were able to accompany our picnic with a glass of red.

Next day we decided to bus in over the Golden Gate Bridge. We were lucky with the weather on our stay as there was only fog over the bridge in the afternoon of our second day. That said, the temperatures in the city were decidedly cooler than if you went inland a little. Today was to be the day of the cable car. We purchased our day passes and were confronted with an hour long line to board a cable car.

We waited about 10 mins and decided that there must be shorter cues elsewhere. We hopped on a bus and rode around for a bit then found a queue of only a few people on the cable car that crosses the financial district. We waited about 10 minutes and then got an outside seat where Symi and Rob were able to stand out on the step. Symi was well pleased about this. Hitting the bottom of the financial district we decided to try out the rail system and head over to Castro district for lunch. We got off the train and saw a retro looking diner which looked good.

Lunch was good and made more enjoyable by the very gay owner who went out of his way to look after and entertain us.

Staying on theme we then headed up for a walk through Haight-Ashbury and down to the golden gate park.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on public transport. We rode on a great retro tram - San Francisco seems to obtain from other cities – the one we were on was from Chicago. We followed this up with more cable car rides and then a ferry ride back home. 

The verdict? We loved San Francisco our first city in over three months but don’t think we could spend long periods of time doing city tourism on this trip. Strangely a day walking around a city is more tiring in many ways than a 20k walk. The other reason would be that we could never afford it. We still have a few cities on our to do list but will definitely be spending the majority of our time exploring the natural wonders of this country (+ the man made single track). 

Yosemite National Park SAR Presentation

When we were at Yosemite National Park we went to a SAR presentation at the Yosemite Theatre. SAR means Search and Rescue. The talk was very interesting with a few scary stories.

The man talked about swift water and how dangerous it is. People drown every year and it is the most common cause of death. Stay out of swift water.

The scariest thing he talked about is how they have to rescue rock climbers off the cliffs from their injuries. They got them out with stretchers and lifted them in to helicopters. It was scary.

When I got back I made a Lego stretcher for all my toys. Now I play rescue games with all my toys. Some of the stories scared me but I learnt lots.

Rattle Snake in Kings Canyon

Yesterday my family went on a long hike on the Hotel Lewis Trails. It was eight miles in the Kings Canyon.

Lookout at the top.

We all walked up to the trail head. From there the trail was very steep and hard. I felt very puffed, hot and tired. We could see snow on the other side of the valley and thought it would be nice to roll around in it. When we started there was a nice soft flowing creek. Daddy almost stepped on a Rattle Snake. Every twenty minutes I got some cold Gatorade.

After a long uphill we got to the lookout and it was a stunning view. We could see the roaring river. We got up to a really high elevation and we could see the camp.

Coming down was the easy bit. We walked through a meadow which was lovely. We got tot he end of the walk and we were all glad.

Back at the campsite

Yosemite: Why would you welcome bad weather?

The biggest issue with one of America's most popular National Parks is the crowds and reservation only campground. You have to book five months in advance and when released campsites sell out in minutes. Having missed that boat it was plan B, turn up early to the campground reservation office and hope for a cancellation. The first attempt started just south of Yosemite, up at 6am (definitely this is not typical!) and we drove 1 hour to Wawona in time for the 7.30am opening of the office. Yes

Grizzly Giant

there was one night only available the Ranger apologised, we were very thankful. It was then a couple of hours of school work before going to Mariposa Grove on the shuttle bus to visit more Giant Sequoia's. We did a small walk as legs were still recovering from Kings Canyon but managed to take in some more giant Sequoia's including the Bachelor and Three Graves and the Grizzly Giant. Grizzly Giant is more than 1800 years old and stands only 209ft but has a base of 96ft circumference and 29ft diameter. In the photo the branch on the right that bends up has a diameter of 6ft!
 That afternoon we relaxed at another stunning campsite next to a river. However we were in the trees and there was none of the stunning granite dominated scenery that makes Yosemite famous. Our aim the next day was wake and be at the valley reservation office very early. There was rain forecast that night and the next two days, in our thinking improving the odds of fair weather campers cancelling. That night was wet with a large thunderstorm coming over us during the night!

Tunnel View, fresh snow on the hills

Setting off before 6am the next morning we drove the one hour to the valley. The roads were quiet and wet, from Wawona it climbed steadily to over 6500ft. We noticed what we thought was hail on the ground that gradually become more dense, yes that would be fresh snow! It did feel cold the evening before. The road enters the valley through a tunnel. We stopped for a quick view and photo of the cloud choked Yosemite Valley, it was bitterly cold. Then it was straight to the reservation office where we arrived first in line, just. Could we have three nights? We were in luck, no problem :). Not staying in the valley would have involved an hour drive to get to the nearest accommodation. Celebrating we caught the shuttle bus to the Yosemite Lodge for unfortunately an ordinary breakfast before walking to explore the village via the lower Yosemite falls. That afternoon Fiona and Symi attended a monotone bear talk while Rob explored the valley's 12 mile bike network. That night we went to a Search and Rescue talk at the village. We learnt of some careless ways to die at Yosemite, saw some great rescues of climbers via helicopter and came away with a new respect of white water, drowning being the most common way to die here. Basically falling into the white water is equivalent to falling off a cliff! Because we are here in spring the rivers are moving awesome amounts of water from the snow melt.

Yep it's busy, the 'death' stairs

The next day the weather improved but the cloud was still obscuring the higher granite and the famous Half Dome remained hidden. We set off on the parks most popular walks, the mist trail. It was a slow walk up to Vernal Falls and after the SAR talk the previous night we had a new respect

Vernal Falls

for some of the trail dangers. There is one point (see photo) were three people have died, they get bumped off the trail, from there is a very steep slope to the white water river. Knowing this makes some people's actions seem very casual! After Vernal Falls the crowd thinned by 95% and it was upward to the top of Nevada Fall completing a 1900ft climb (and 8.5miles round trip), the biggest climb yet this year. We descended the quieter John Muir trail. Of course the trail is popular for a reason. The waterfalls and views were stunning. Rob and Symi finished the day with a bike ride around the valley hoping to spot a bear. Just before sunset is a great time of day, the crowds have gone home or are back in camp.

Nevada Falls

Yosemite Falls

Our last day in Yosemite was clear and sunny, finally giving us the full view of the valley! It was another walk and the only way is up here. 1000ft and 58 switchbacks later we all arrived at the base

Yosemite Point, Half Dome top left

of the upper Yosemite Falls. Rob continued up another 2000ft to the top of the falls and then Yosemite point. It was of course another amazing walk, this time with the complete view of the valley. The view of Half Dome highlighted a very successful Yosemite trip. That evening we found the energy for another valley bike ride, again enjoying the solitude that evening brings.

Yosemite Point, observing climbers on top of Stolen Arrow

Meadow late in the day

Kings Canyon National Park

Following Zion we stopped in Las Vegas to have a quick look. The first night we went to the ‘strip’ for a look. If Singapore has shops, Vegas has slot machines. It’s hard to walk far without seeing the things. Fiona and Rob can think of nothing more pointless than gambling and did a tour that included the water fountains and wonderland at Bellegio, birds at Flamingo and French themed hotel, Paris. symi liked the fountains and animals but was generally not a fan of Vegas either. Unfortunately due to a high wind forecast (winds to 60mph) we stayed another night - high winds and RVs don't mix. We took the opportunity to do a buffet ($11 each) at the Sam’s town Casino that we were staying at. It was very meat orientated and Rob tried to taste as many ribs as possible. During the night the wind howled confirming the decision not to drive.

The next day (not much of a Mother's day for Fiona) we braved the subsiding wind and drove to Bakersfield. From Vegas there’s not much but dessert. A few points of interest being the solar energy generation just across the California border. It’s the largest solar thermal power plant in the world. At Mojave we drove past the aircraft boneyard, where planes go to die. We were intrigued about all the planes in the middle of nowhere and ‘googled’. Also Spaceship One was developed here. After Mojave the road climbs over a pass and finally we left the dessert into some green hills with trees.

Grant Grove, fallen Sequoia

After a stop for the night at Bakersfield we continued north on the Interstate 99 through the ‘Valley’ region of California. It’s basically flat and very agricultural. It’s also very populated with endless small towns and moderate sized farms that appear all a bit run down. Leaving the flat (at 500 ft elevation) at Orange Grove begins the surprisingly large climb to 6500ft at Kings Canyon NP. This would be a great driving road, just not in an RV! Kings Canyon has the advantage of campground availability, its neighbour Sequoia NP is reservation only at this time of year and full. The first two nights we camped at Grant Grove. On arrival we did the short walk to the visitors centre and had some bear education. The main thing we learnt was the local Black Bear is not aggressive and their scat is big compared to the other

Dead Giant

animals like Mule Deer. We started to see plenty of bear scat, some very fresh, over the next few days. Some were keen to see a bear, others maybe not so keen! We also learnt that Kings Canyon at Cedar Grove looked very impressive. One of the frustrations in planning the NP trips is getting good information, there is always plenty more information on the ground. We followed the trip to the visitors centre with a short walk to the General Grant tree, the second largest (by volume) tree in the world. We pondered the 2 000 year age of the tree and how much history the tree had lived through.



Birthday Champagne and cake

The following day was Fiona’s birthday. Following the typical morning of school work we went for a great walk through more giant Sequoia trees, ending at the Dead Giant. We then enjoyed a great birthday celebration with a bottle of Champagne, Salmon and a dessert of red velvet cake cooked by Symi.

Overlooking Kings Canyon, the valley right is toward Cedar Grove

Next day, Wednesday, we moved to Cedar Grove campground, another with no reservations and plenty of availability. The drive there was spectacular with some views of the North and South Fork of the Kings River. The road in dropped back to 3 500ft before following the South Fork

Zumwalt Meadow

Kings River through a very tight and tall canyon. The campground was one of the best yet and we scored a great campsite via the river. That afternoon we rode the six miles to the road end taking in a walk to River Road falls and around the beautiful Zumwalt meadow. We met a couple who had just seen a bear, but we only saw some very fresh scat.

Cedar Grove Lookout, campground directly below

Thursday we went up the Hotel Creek trail ascending 1400 ft to the Cedar Grove Overlook for a grand view of Kings Canyon. The ascent was steep and strenuous involving many switchbacks. At one point we stopped for a photo, Rob failing to notice the rattle snake sunbaking on the trail a few feet away! After the overlook was the scenic walk through an open yellow pine forest meadow before descending the Lewis Creek Trail. We were all tired on return having completed about 15km.

Above Mist Fall

After a rest day we drove to road end and walked up to Mist Falls. The canyon here is narrow and steep and the Kings River falls rapidly producing an endless roar from the constant white water. After the falls we became ambitious and continued higher towards Paradise Valley. Turning around eventually and descending produced amazing views down the valley. However attention was frequently at our feet with three snake sightings on the descent, two Californian King Snakes and another Rattle Snake (we were thinking of how much Barbs would love this walk!!).  We decided to make the walk even longer by going back by the Kanawyer loop trail. This involved crossing a few creeks with only small logs to balance on. There was some great open meadow, great for bear spotting and one mile from the end we saw our first Black Bear about 30m away. The bear was totally unbothered by us and very casually walked up the hill. We watched the bear as long as we could, initially too mesmerised to grab the camera. All up this walk was 20km, Symi’s biggest yet!

Black Bear!

Kings Canyon was fantastic, the scenery is rated as comparable to Yosemite without the crowds. We met some locals who had been coming here for years, we were able to pick their brains on their favourite locations further north where we are heading, including for Yosemite our next stop.