Today is the start of our 3,700 miles of driving over the next 3 and abit weeks and at one point we thought we’d never get out of LA but instead spend the 3 and abit weeks stuck in sat-nav-meets-freeway hell. Fortunately it was only 30mins of going round in circles and 20mins of post-argument silence and we were on our way. Most of the first 180 miles (or 280 kms) was mostly motorway with one slight deviation when we realised we were heading inland instead of along the coast. Bonus though - we got to drive through the Malibu Canyon which was a spectacular drive through a narrow valley with sheer 300ft cliffs on either side.

We had a planned stop in Pismo to visit the Monarch Butterfly Grove which is where thousands of Monarch butterflies spend the winter after a 2000 mile migration south. The butterflies where initially hard to spot however once we figured out the darker blob patches in the trees were actually clusters of butterflies then you realised that they were everywhere!

From there we ventured onto the “real” part of the road trip up the Pacific Coast Highway which is incredibly scenic. For Kiwis, it’s like driving up the east side of the Coromandel peninsula: for Aussies, it’s like driving the Alpine Way to Mt Kosciuszko except on a coast line. After about an hour of winding around the coastline, we hit upon a snag: the road was closed! This was a real pickle as we were just over an hour from sunset, just over an hour from our booked accommodation and the only alternative was a 3 and a half hour drive back inland and around. Just before the barriers was a small road house and petrol station where we enquired about why the road was closed. A small amount of American English to Antipodean English translation later and a viewing of numerous cars coming through from the closed direction yielded some intel that the road was passable but caution was needed to avoid recent rockfalls. A small roadside meeting and we decided that we would try our luck at driving through. An hour and a half later of very careful driving, lots of corners and some very steep hills* and we arrived safely at Big Sur lodge which was nestled in the redwoods of Pfeiffer State Park.

A successful driving day with some unexpected adventure!!