Highway 1. Departing LA. Only 5 days.
 

We are a married couple from Australia, spending two weeks in a small part of California, without the kids.

We have one week in LA which is all organised (wedding) and then have 5 days, a Monday morning through to a Friday night, when we depart LA for Sydney.

We thought we would like to spend maybe the Monday and Tuesday night in Santa Barbara and then are a bit lost as to where to go next.
We don't want to retrace our steps along the Highway if we can avoid it.
Any route suggestions would be much appreciated.
Many thanks.

This is what I would do:

Monday--drive to Carmel via 101 and stay the night.

Tuesday--drive through Big Sur to Cambria. Spend the night. Check out Hearst Castle.

Wednesday--San Luis Obispo, Solang and spend the night in Santa Barbara.

Thursday--Santa Barbara

Friday--Drive to Santa Monica via Oxnard and Malibu, which includes a beautiful stretch of Highway 1.

happytrailstoyou has given you a really good itinerary. The loop could be done in either direction but the way it was laid out is probably the best - go up to your most northern point (Monterey/Carmel) on 101 and then work your way south on hwy 1.

That is a very good itinerary happytrailstoyou has laid out. I especially like day 2, since it takes about 3 hours or so from Carmel to Cambria. This gives you plenty of time to drive through Big Sur and stop wherever strikes your fancy. You could have breakfast at Katy's in Carmel to start the day or a later morning brunch at Deetjen's in Big Sur.

You could also take a quick flight from LAX to San Francisco and spend a couple of nights. Maybe fly up Sunday night instead of Monday morning? Then Mon Tues San Fran, get a car and drive down to Carmel Wed/ Santa Barbara thurs.
One way flights up to San Fran run $60 or so if you book in advance, three day car rental from downtown San Francisco to LAX would be about $200 with the insurances that Australians need to purchase.
A little hectic I suppose, but if you only have 5 days, go for it.

Many thanks for all your replies.
"Happytrailstoyou" sounds like a great itinerary. So I think we will stick pretty close to those ideas. Now the fun part of finding great places to stay and dine along the way.