14 Wednesday

Today was the start of our two planned trips, but before we set out we spent the morning shopping with Raewyn and Brendan at the San Antonio Centre. After we had some lunch we set off on the 101 freeway heading south to Monterey. The drive was uneventful, but stress levels rose a bit when we had a bit of difficulty in locating the motel we were after Eventually we located it an we booked into the same Super 8 Motel we were in when we were there in 2002. I was not very impressed with the glum and unfriendly face of the woman who was presumably in charge of the complex, but we managed to get into two adjacent units for two nights. With breakfast included the tariff was $69 US plus tax per night an we also were able to purchase Aquarium tickets there as well, so it turned out to be quite convenient.

At the entrance to OldFishermans Wharf. The rocks are artificial !

Many shops, restaraunts, souveneer places line the wharf.

Clam Chowder, tourists and Old Fishermans Wharf are bound together.

We had a look around the old Monterey Town and walked down OldFishermans Wharf looking for a suitable place to have our dinner. Lots of smelly fish and many restaurants wanting us to sample their clam chowder which we took advantage of. Heaps of souvenir shops. We settled on a restaurant right at the end of the wharf. We had a table overlooking the Bay and saw a few otters paddling along on their backs. Apparently they use their tummies as plates while they devour their food. Tipping was a problem at the beginning of our travels as we were unsure of how much, when and where to leave a tip. By the end of our trip we had it all sussed out thanks to some helpful hints from Russell. You double the tax and round it off. This is the tip. Anyway we considered as we would never ever be in that restaurant again it didn't really matter. But we did tip for good food and service.