First of all was a lovely sunny walk around the block with Sarah’s best friend Madison her beautiful golden retriever. This was followed by an hour and a half class with Erich Schiffmann whom Helen and Sarah had both trained with in August. It was good for Helen to be back at Exhale, although the $22 class fees are pretty high, luckily we had a free pass between us too. The class was full, although it wasn’t to Dave’s tastes, Helen was definitely in her comfort zone and enjoyed some un-interrupted yogi time, feeling much more confident with Erich’s free-form approach.

Yoga was followed with an appointed with a chiropractor to help sort out Helen’s neck problems and then lunch at Wholefoods on the edge of Venice. The healing part of the day was over, next we were ready for some less-charming enthused Hollywood action. Sarah very kindly played host and drove us around some of the famous landmarks and areas we have so far purposely missed off our list! We drove around Rodeo Drive, Sunset Boulevard and Moholland Avenue taking in some of the mansions and the Hollywood sign.

Moving onto Hollywood itself where a film premier was taking place for Leonardo DiCaprio’s new “J Edgar” film, although we were around 2 hours early for this so could only take in the hype and crowds of fans starting to form. So it’s nothing really to shout about but now we can say we went to Hollywood. We would have liked to enjoy a drink at the roof bar on top of the W Hotel, but it was closed so we had a sneak peak and then enjoyed a beer in the lobby bar.

We ate at a really good Thai restaurant down on Hollywood Boulevard called Jitlada Thai, recommended as THE best Thai in LA!! What a statement! We love our Thai food, and yes it was pretty good especially the green curry and a fish dish. But THE best?? Hmm! It has a good authenticity about the place, family run, not too fancy but the service was slow at the end.

The next day we didn’t really do much but we did get to spend a few hours working with Sarah for her yoga portfolio. Helen shot some images for Sarah’s profile on the Santa Monica beach and grassy sidewalk, involving a mixture of portrait and sequence poses with some lovely natural one’s thrown in too. Dave had already snapped Madison the day before and so we could leave Sarah with a nice series for images for her to treasure (we hope!).

It was a rainy day after a hint of sunshine and later on it cleared up. The perfect day for a film so we watched Martha Marcy May Marlene. A little of a suspense thriller, something we think takes on a Charles Manson inspired story. Then we ate at Fresh ‘n’ Easy over the road from the cinema which has recently opened and offers good salads, sandwiches, soups and so on.

On our last day in LA and after a quick Skype call home to the Roscoe’s we went to another yoga class. This time we were back at Yoga Glo, a studio that offers free yoga to people with an array of top class teachers in LA. It makes its money from the subscribers who follow the yoga classes online, so each class is filmed. We were back with Jo Tastula and she co-taught with meditation teacher Harshada Wagner. Another lovely class which was perhaps more up Dave’s path; more physical basically with guided meditation.

We then made our way to the Getty Centre, which Helen has visited before and remembers the photos she took there. It was a saturday so it was busy, the bonus is free entry but you have a $15 parking fee. It really is a must-see for visitors going to LA. The building sits on a hill overlooking downtown LA and the coast-line. It was a really clear day too so we had great views. The exhibitions were pretty good, the Bauhaus photography exhibit was not really all that good but the one exhibit that stood out for us was Crosscurrents in LA Painting and Sculpture featuring LA artists from the 50′s, 60′s and 70′s including David Hockney’s Splash. This exhibition is part of Pacific Standard Time, art taking place around central LA.

The buildings, architecture and the gardens are perhaps the best thing about the Getty, plus the views. It’s modern, tasteful and very white. Perfect against a blue sky. Lunch there is over-rated and over-priced, we saw a few people taking in a picnic and this seemed the more enjoyable option.

We didn’t have long left so we packed our bags, and after saying goodbye to Madison we went to the Bergamot Station Arts Centre to stop at an exhibition opening. One of Sarah’s colleagues was involved in the opening fettering layered photo montages and photography, this was at the Tag gallery. There is a great hub of art galleries at this location. We then enjoyed perhaps our best sushi yet, one of Sarah’s all time favourites in La. It was excellent and a steal at only $20 each! Again authentic to Japanese culture and their sashimi was fantastic we could have easily been back in Japan! After a filling of sushi Sarah dropped us off at LAX, this was our final goodbye and a little tearful. 3 months in North America, it was strange to be moving on but it also felt good. Thanks to Sarah for being the perfect host and making fantastic home-made granola! Go into business with that Sarah! ha! Oh and her aunty’s pumpkin loaf was amazing, another best seller surely!

So farewell America, for the time being. We’ll do a highlights feature soon and we already have plans of what and where we’d like to visit when we return. New Zealand awaits and we are excited about more new beginnings. We just need to embrace the 13.5 hour flight first.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM processed in Lightroom 3)

We got up early and had the usual breakfast. Every Wednesday in Santa Monica they close off a small section of streets and have a Farmers Market take place. On our way along the beach walk Helen “Hung Tough” and easily beat Dave by going the distance! “Contender READY!” The Farmers Market is great for getting a variety of fresh foods from fish, vegetables, fruits, flowers and breads. It can be a little pricey for the budget traveller but even if you don’t buy anything is a nice little morning stroll. Here is a list for the events…

• Wednesday Downtown. Arizona Avenue (between 4th & Ocean). 8:30am – 1:30pm

• Saturday Downtown. Arizona Avenue (between 4th and 2nd Streets). 8:30am – 1:00pm

• Saturday Pico. 2200 Virginia Avenue (Pico Blvd. @ Cloverfield Blvd). 8:00am – 1:00pm

• Sunday Main St. 2640 Main Street (in Heritage Square). 9:30am-1:00pm.

Helen headed off with Sarah for another dose of yoga teacher training and Dave got on his bike and headed south along the beach. The path does run out shortly after Muscle Beach, but you can head east along the main road for about 0.8 miles and follow the bike path signs (Google map route). These will take you past the Marina and eventually back onto the beach path.

It’s a lovely ride on a concrete path through the sand and along the sea front. Manhattan Beach (10 miles away) has a nice pier with a mini aquarium at the bottom as well as quieter beaches than Venice and Santa Monica. Watch out for the hang gliding crossing and beginner lessons a few miles north from the pier. This looks like a great spot for learning the art of hang gliding, if only we had the time here and the additional funds!

Tonight is our last night with Matt so we took a few photos of our home for the last week and cooked ourselves a great dinner. Packing will commence tomorrow for the move closer to the beach!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM & Olympus PEN EP-1, 17mm f/2.8 & 100mm f/2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

Up at 6am today as we were both feeling jet-lagged, making ourselves stay in bed as long as we could having woken up on the hour since about 3am. The early wake up was good though as it meant we could get to the Venice beach Farmers Market for opening at 7.30am. It’s a small market, much smaller than its neighbouring Santa Monica one but it’s got enough to offer in terms of fresh produce, which for us is ideal as we’re self catering.

So we tentatively spent our first dollars and bought a very delicious assortment of cherry tomatoes, some leafy greens and homemade dill bagels with a lovely whipped cream cheese! That’s lunch sorted for the next few days!

When we got in we enjoyed our first breakfast here which was helped by Matt’s generous offering of endless supplies of mangoes, strawberries and blueberries! This fueled us enough for a walk to the Santa Monica Pier along the beach front. It’s about 2 miles to the pier from Venice beach and there are paths for cyclists and pedestrians all the way along the stretch of the beach and beyond. It’s really set up for the fitness fanatics. Getting closer to the pier we watched surfers, and people setting up their spots on the beach for the day. We explored the pier and then made our way back to Venice.

Later on we explored the Venice Canals, a place we think we will frequent with our cameras, it’s really beautiful and very close to where we’re staying. It’s just good to stroll around and take in the contrast of houses from quaint, old beach style homes to modern grand designs. We ended our afternoon on the beach – we had arrived!

Helen started her course in the evening with Erich Schiffman so no doubt will be very yoga focused in the next 10 days, but Venice does have this boho vibe going on so we don’t think she’ll be too out of place!

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f/2.0, Leica 90mm f/2.8, Zeiss 18mm f/4 ZM & Olympus PEN EP-1, 17mm f/2.8 & 100mm f/2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)