USA : Gravity Will Get You : Yosemite to Big Sur.

On the morning of our departure from Jimmy's in San Francisco we noticed an ominous knocking from the front of the Chevvy. After a few panicky phone calls and a haphazard exchange we breezed off to Yosemite in our new (and decidedly less economical) Crysler 200 bad ass upgrade.

Arriving late in to Yosemite we were totally exhausted from the endless winding roads we headed straight for the enormous stainless steel hot tub at the Bug Hostel and sweated out some toxins in the sauna before tucking in to a big juicy pulled pork delight.
The social area at the hostel was based in a big log cabin with an open fire, mountains of board games and comfy sofas. The evenings at Yosemite were spent curled up here chatting, practicing our skills in Henna design and reading. It was here at the hostel that we met Aussie Dan who was to make the duo a trio for the next couple of days and fill the role of protector and adventuror.
Dan came from Brisbane and like us had left his job in search of greener pastures on the other side of the world. He was a good member of the team and spent a good part of the time cutting us down with his dry sense of humour.

We took a big hike to the upper yosmite falls and saw the views of this awesome natonional park from all of the best vantage points. There was still snow on the ground but the sun was shining brightly, perfect weather for a hard uphill walk. By the end of the day we had done in our quads, glutes and we sporting some very sore feet.

The trio departed after gorging on big greasy breakfast burritos and made for Monterey Bay where we managed to catch a beatiful coastal walk and a sunset over the tide pools.

Along Big Sur the scenery became more lush and the craggy cliffs aside the highway led to seeminly infinite blue seas and mellow waves. The coastline along California is so different to that in Oregon where the sneaker waves, huge breakers and tsunami warning signs made a swim much less appealing.

At Pfeiffer national park we walked the trail to the waterfall and also to the valley view point, basking in the sun and enjoying our last jaunt with Dan before he headed North.

We continued on to our next couch surfing host in Ventura, 5 hours drive away, now we were truly heading down in to the heart of California.