It's day three in paradise, alias, Rarotonga, the capital of the Cook Islands in the Pacific ... and it's HOT 'n HUMID - a far cry from the weather back home which judging by the message board postings is very cold and snowy. This morning we managed a 4-hour cross-island trek through pretty thick jungle, rising to a height of 400 metres. The views were amazing and the cooling wind at the top was very welcome. Yesterday we went 20 miles around the island on a sco...

Our exploration of downtown LA has been limited as both of us have spent time here previously; the Getty Centre was a highlight though. The building itself and the gardens surrounding it were fascinating. It's perched on top of a couple of hills overlooking Santa Monica Bay, and because the weather has been so wonderful (70-80 degrees) and the air clear, we could see over 20 miles. Red Rock Canyon 100 miles north of LA, was another highlight. It's out in the Moj...

We're now in Los Angeles having spent the previous 4 days pottering down the Pacific coastal highway in a hire car. The coastline here is spectacular, especially once the blue skies and sun returned. En route we camped in some beautiful State Park 'primitive' campsites. The primitive bit was fine (Fran's brother didn't complain about the after affects of no showers when we arrived in LA yesterday), but the morning temperatures required us to don hats and gloves ...

Arrived safe and well in San Francisco to blue skies and warm weather - makes a change from the wet and cold conditions we left the UK in. At the moment it seems more like a holiday than an adventure as San Francisco is very easy-going - especially given the rather swanky hotel that Andy got a bargain price on. Haven't quite managed to adjust our body clocks yet to the time changes, so are waking up very early and getting tired at 7pm. We didn't manage to get a...