Beautiful Beaches!!!

Last night we ventured out into the night. Temps were quite cool so for the first time we had to put on our sweatshirts. We walked to the end of Santa Monica pier and found a Mexican restaurant. It was very adventurous of Vaughan to eat here. I loved it and enjoyed the Fajitas. Was a perfect place to watch the carnival in action and all the busy markets that line the pier. We went to book a shuttle to Universal studios today and found it was going to cost over $200 to get there return so thought bugger it.....we would rather spend the day here. So after a rather late sleep in to about 10am we hit the pavement and down onto the boardwalks. We found a cafe and had some brunch and coffee. Then we hired a bike each and explored the surrounding beaches. It has been afew years since we had rode a bike but as they say, you never forget. It took a short time to sort out the wobbles and also to get used to riding on the opposite side to what comes naturally to us. They had bike lanes set up which were a challenge at times as they were so busy.....but it was fun. We had the best time....we covered over 50 miles (not sure what that is in Kms} We would park up when ever we saw a place of interest. There were markets at Venice Beach, personal trainers with their clients, cafes, artists, entertainers, drunks, drug addicts, school camps, tattoo artists, dog walkers and of course bodies of all shapes and sizes. Muscle Beach is exactly as it sounds with volleyball nets set up and exercise stuff and the best bodies to perv at!!!! As you can see in one of the photos I was as patriotic as they are and flew my flag!!! I am a very proud kiwi!!! We really enjoyed today but have come home sunburnt, with rubber legs and numb bums. No doubt tomorrow we will have a few other sore muscles. The photo of the beach wheelchair was of great interest to Vaughan....hmmm he thought that would be handy at Porangahau maybe in years to come..We are going in a different direction tonight for dinner and see what we come across. Tonight is our last night here. We have really enjoyed our 3 days here and could easily come back. But tomorrow is going to be exciting as we board our ship. Have decided to take our time leaving here as will make use of the laundry and will arrive onboard with all clean clothes. We have a taxi booked for 11am tomorrow to take us to San Pedro Wharf. I will try and grab at least 5 to 6 bottles of water to take on with us.....from memory the bottled water onboard is expensive and I still cant drink the stuff that comes out of their taps as I have visions of it coming from a big tank somewhere!!! So that should keep me going till we reach Hawaii.