San Diego

The trip from Ojai, south to San Diego would take a little over 3 hours we were told by Tomtom. With a stop for lunch it took just over 4 hours. Not bad! How pleased I was to be heading south, as most of the multiple lanes for most of the northern trip were almost at a standstill. No wonder we were warned to allow 6 hours!

The beaches were packed (it was a Sunday) and really did not look so inviting to us spoilt (in this regard) Queenslanders. The perpetual daytime fogs probably did nothing to enhance this, so we opted instead for a swim in the pool/spa at the hotel.

Unlike last time we visited San Diego, there appears to be little Naval activity, though the civilian planes still fly with an alarmingly low appearance over the city.

A full day at San Diego Zoo was pleasant enough and kept us well entertained until shortly before closing at 9pm last night. The now mandatory open top double decker bus took us on a tour of 80% of the park to start a tour. This proved an excellent way to begin to understand the layout of the extremely hilly location - not unlike, or perhaps even worse than Taronga.

The giraffes do not have the view of their Sydney cousins. We apologised to the lone kookaburra in one enclosure for his loneliness, although there were others throughout the zoo. Many Australian animals were included and were obviously very popular, with each bus guide explaining that the koalas are not actually bears (though I note most clients were overheard to call them bears). The zoo appears to have a successful koala breeding program happening, which is nice to know should some catastrophe eliminate them from Aussie shores.