I might be sounding like a broken record here, but another glorious day in L.A! Today we are going to head down to Malibu as we had only driven through it the last time we were here. I wanted to see if I could find the Malibu Beach Houses that feature in the shots on "Two and a Half Men" and I also wanted to see why Charlie feels that Malibu is a bit of a chick magnet. We could have gone a couple of ways to Malibu however had decided to go via the Malibu Canyon. It is a little bit longer as it goes off the freeways and is no doubt steep and/or winding if it goes through a canyon however we have heard that it is worth the drive. Thank God for a GPS though!
Malibu Canyon also seems to be a suburb as well as an actual canyon, at the gateway to the Santa Monica Mountains National Park. The Santa Monica Mountains are big and baron and I found it hard to believe that they would make their way to the Pacific Ocean. That being said, my level of being geographically challenged is such that one would question how I manage to find my way to the bathroom every morning let alone have an opinion on how close a large rock would seem to the sea.
A the entrance of the Santa Monica Mountains National Park there was a large sign attached to a corner fence - "Rattlesnake Avoidance Training for Dogs". WTF????
Then the Bear reminded me of what my Schultz would do if he ever came across a rattlesnake; a brown snake; a boa constrictor; or even a lolly snake. Yep....avoidance training would definitely be something that I would fork out for. Of course, if there was even the most remote of possibilities that I would a) be living in a place where there would be rattlesnakes; b) be putting my dogs at even the thought of being in harms way; or c) have found that it was cold enough in southern California for hell to have frozen over....I would still move to the opposite ends of the earth to get away from the said snake. I do realise the irony in what I have just stated given that I most certainly DO live at the opposite end of the earth and also DO live somewhere where snakes run rife. Perhaps we should be moving across to the USA to lessen our risk....especially given that there are classes here to train dogs on how to avoid rattlesnakes! Any excuse will do I say!
Despite the terrain being extraordinarily harsh, the drive through the canyon was definitely worth it. Mother Nature does her best work showing the undulation along the San Andreas fault line. What I wasn't prepared for was the view of the Pacific Ocean breaking through the gaps in the mountains. On one hand you have the harsh, rocky terrain that is dry and without greenery. On the other is the brilliant blue of the ocean in contrast. It truly is spectacular.
We turned back onto the Pacific Coast Highway to drive through Malibu and I was amazed to see how many Corvettes, Lamborghinis and Ferraris were being driven.....and more importantly HOW they were being driven. They seem to be as common in Malibu as Commodores are in Australia. Just un-freaking-believable. And may I just point out that all of those vehicles must be a chiropractors heaven given the angle in which you would need to sit in the said vehicle; how you have to be a contortionist to drive the said vehicle; and how you have told hold your tongue right in order to get in and out of the said vehicle. The main reason that I do not drive one of these cars, is because I will damage my back and I would be unable to afford the chiropractors fees after the $200,000 it would set us back. Second to this....it would be the fact that I do not have $200,000.
Given that it is summer we found that we could not just park the car along the side of the road. This place was absolutely chockers with sun bathers and surfers. Every car park along the street was taken up for a good 10 miles. I suggested to the Bear that we grab a bite to eat at a place that would already have the ocean view and that way I could take some photos from there. We figured that it may be a costly exercise however we would only ever do it once and that might be worth it. We found a restaurant named "Dukes" that looked expensive yet was perfectly positioned on the ocean. When we entered the place we found it was too perfectly positioned on the ocean because it actually hung out over it! We could not see the beach or beach houses from there to take photos of. However it was stunningly beautiful and the place looked so nice. It reminded me of a place that you would expect to see in Hawaii....just gorgeous. And as it turned out, it was as cheap as chips! I ordered fish taco's given that I loved the ones that we ate before and the Bear had a burger and fries. It was just awesome! My only issue with the place, was that they don't speak "Australian". How the hell does "coke" sound like "water"?
After lunch we went in search of the beach houses, and I do believe we found the ones used in the screen shots on "Two and a Half Men". I took photos of them as best as I could from the road and was happy with our find. We watched for a while whilst a fellow played fetch with his staffy cross - with the dog running into the water to fetch a piece of timber that was thrown to him. There were a number of dogs on the beach and I could have cheerfully stopped and watched them for hours.
We drove back via the same road through the Malibu Canyon and were surprised to see a snow plough chugging along the road. A snow plough? Even in winter L.A is warmer than Toowoomba! I'll be damned if I know why we saw one of those in Los Angeles!
Woot! Only one more sleep until we see the Doobie Brothers at The Greek Theatre. I am SO EXCITED!!!
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