Our journey begins

For those who are keeping track of this blog I apologise for the delay in getting something written. The last couple of days have been very hectic. We managed to get away successfully on Sunday. Unlike most times that we have booked a taxi to the airport it arrived on time and we were there just after 7. We then had the long checking process, security and immigration.

The plane trip went well - except for the annoying role sitting behind us who spent the bulk of the trip either coughing, getting up to go to the toilet (which involved pulling on our seats to stand up), and complaining to the stewards.

Having arrived we headed off to collect the car, spent 5 mins working out how to drive it and then we were off. Ian is coping brilliantly with driving on the other side of the road. Venice beach was our first stop - and I can cheerfully say it was just weird. The people who go there are an odd group - from people playing handball, racket ball and basketball, to skateboarders and hippies galore. It also included some korean born australian doing some fancy tricks on the beach (earning him cheers and claps from the crowd) The boys were querying the idea of medical marijuana which is available at any number of "doctors" on the boardwalk.

After Venice beach we headed off to do our hike into the MASH site. Now Ian had decided we should do the scenic hike which involved a bit of a climb. The temperature in Malibu Creek State Park was meant to be about 26 degrees but by the time we got there it was just shy of 40. Suffice to say the hike in was hard work but the hike out nearly killed me! It was the hardest thing I have done for a while but it was worth it. We loved standing at the base of the helicopter landing pad looking over the site - getting to work out where the hospital, the swamp and the officers mess had all been. They had an old ambulance and jeep there as well as the signpost. If you are not a MASH fan - I apologise, but we loved it. We took in our Australian and Korean flags.