Not with me all the time I might add, that would be too easy, no, before leaving a place that has Wifi I use Google map directions to the next place and click on the little bus icon, Google then describes the entire route which I write down in my scrappy notebook, it's marvelous, all I need to do then is follow the instructions I've written down.
First I took a bus, a train and then an express bus to Santa Cruz taking around 3.5 hours. Santa Cruz is a lovely little seaside town with a pier and a boardwalk with a fairground on it next to the beach, it reminded me of Brighton, but with much colder water and surprisingly not as fantastically hot as the TV may have you think about California. Quite mild in fact and chilly in the evening, plus a bit windy, so next time you're complaining about the pathetic summers in Wellington and England, think that it's not that great here. Still Santa Cruz was probably the nicest place I'd visited so far, and a place I could live quite happily, I wanted to book a surf lesson and another myth - there's always surf everywhere in California, well there was no surf till that Friday but which time I would be long gone. Lyall Bay is more reliable.
From Santa Cruz I took 4 buses to Monterey, which is another lovely seaside town. It used to have a big industry for canning sardines until they fished them all out of the water and had to stop and rethink. They still do it but in much reduced quantities. The Aquarium had been recommended to me by Kath and Andrew so I went there first, it was a splendid aquarium, the highlights for me being the big octopus sprawling over the glass and turning from red to white when it was at rest, and the big kelp forests which you could view over 2 stories, plus the sea otters cleaning themselves in buckets and with what looks like soap in the shape of kelp leaves.
Monterey's Cannery row is very quaint and touristy, with lots of nice seafood restaurants and cheesy little souvenir shops. Back at the hostel I asked about good places for dinner nearby and was given a flyer for a nice looking restaurant which $12 three course specials, great, but I'd look a bit of a sad case on my own, hmm, will probably feel more comfortable getting take away or a cafe. Back in the room, I met another girl from England called Hattie and before long I had someone to have dinner with, great. We ordered a bottle of wine to enjoy the restaurant dinning experience with and the seafood was very tasty. Hattie had hired a car from San Francisco and was travelling down towards LA, and the next day would be going through Carmel and Big Sur and asked if I wanted to join her, this was perfect as I had wanted to see Big Sur area and there was a bus that went there but it's a stretch of coast land with lots of interest points along it and having a car meant I could explore more of it. So the next day we went via the 17 mile drive which hugs the coast and past the $500 a day golf course to Carmel, a super quaint village for the rich with a white sandy beach. It was much like a nice little English village but for the lack of cream teas and the abundance of little dogs in pink vests trotted or carried along by their sunglass and 'tennis shoe'* wearing owners.
I was a bit hungry so while Hattie did some souvenir shopping I went to a bakery and stuffed my face with pastries. After Carmel we visited the Carmel Mission, a lovely Spanish church and gardens, a very peaceful place, the gift shop looked like a place Priests buy their supplies from, the was indeed a Priest in there, only I couldn't see any communion wafers, I like those.
Onto Big Sur, I don't know why it's called this, it's actually rather like Cornwall or Devon, both Hattie and myself thought so when we saw it. Everyone raves about Big Sur so I had to see what the big deal was all about. It's very nice, with lots of nice peninsulas was walking about on, with day parking areas that charge $9 to go and park there, we parked on the roadside and walked in and saved ourselves the $9 and the queue. We carried on this way until reaching the end of the line for the bus back to Monterey where I left Hattie, and she continued on her way, but I noticed a bulge in one of the tyres on her hire car, so she went back to the garage and they swapped it for the spare. She got to her destination safely. Luckily I got a lift straight back to Monterey from a lady in an open top sports car who had asked us if we needed directions when we stopped, what luck!
The next day I headed up to Montara which involved an express bus to San Jose, train and another bus to Montara lighthouse where there was a HI hostel. The hostel was picture perfect on an outcrop above a beach, such a lovely location. I wandered around the area and found harbour seals warming themselves on the beach and a rock pool area where I crouched and watched hermit crabs crawl over anenomies for a few hours before seeking some dinner. The only thing here was having to cross the Highway which wasn't nice but I did find a nice low key little place with some friendly cats where I ordered fish and chips.
The next day I planned to camp at the nearby State Beach camp ground at half moon bay, I took the weekend bus service down and walked to the campground and was finally able to take advantage of being a hiker, so saved $20 on the camping fees. The campground was very nice, right next to the beach, albeit a bit windy. That night I heard some fighting between some dogs and local wildlife which I think were racoons or something, I peaked through the tent and saw something the size of a well padded cat run towards the long grasses.
Sunday Service no 17
I had to take the Sunday bus service out of Half Moon Bay to Pacifica, then another bus to Daly City and then a metro service to San Francisco the next day, and the first bus was at 8:45am according to the Schedule I had picked up off the bus previously, I needed to get this bus as I had to be at Pier 33 in San Fran for my Alcatraz tour departure at 2.50pm. I packed up and was out of the campsite by 7.45am, I got to the stop early and waited, the departure time came and went, after 15 mins and a bit of muttered cursing it was apparent no bus was coming so I started to walk, the 12 miles to Pacific with about 12kgs on my back. I went past the next stop and saw the bus going in the other direction so went to ask why no bus had arrived at my stop, it turned out my schedule was 2 years out of date, and the next bus wasn't due for a few hours. Thanks Samtrans service 17, great job.
The chances of getting my Alcatraz tour was dwindling fast, I had to book ahead 2 weeks to get a spot due to popularity, so I walked for 3 miles and was feeling good until I saw a map and found I had far more to go than I thought, at which point all my energy went, and with no other options I made my way back to the Highway and tried my luck hitch hiking. I waited there with my thumb out for 10, 15 minutes or so, until about 100 cars had passed, I sighed I had just started to walk to where ever the nearest stop was, which was somewhere at least a mile away when a smart white SUV came back from the other direction and made a U turn to where I was. The guy had passed me and then thought twice and came back to get me, he took me all the way to San Francisco and dropped me at the bus stop that took me all the rest of the way into town. Thanks fly fishing guy! I was back at the hostel shortly after noon, quicker than I would have on the buses, had Samtrans put the right schedule on board.**
And thats why I always pick up hitchhikers.
*Trainers
**What happens when you don't use Google
Did the open top car you got a lift in have 3 wheels? Good work getting a lift from a sports car rich person - you mustn't be looking too psycho!
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