Hey Y'all! Holly and I arrived in Los Angeles on Saturday and it's been pretty hectic since then hence no journal. Apologies! We're staying in West Hollywood on Melrose Avenue which is the main shopping area we're told (Fred Segal is about two blocks away) with the original Von Dutch store, Mui Mui and loads of other designer stores. Not one celebrity sighting either! We were absolutely wiped out the day we arrived, we landed in LAX three hours before we left Auckland because of the time difference. It was a bit of a bumpy flight too so neither of us slept much. Holly has taught me how to do suduko though so I can amuse myself with that now, have even done about four puzzles by myself now! Our hostel is quite large again but our room mates are friendly and there's this guy called Boogie who knows everything about everything in LA so he's been great help. We've been to Universal Studios which was really good fun. We were going to go with the Orbit people but they cancelled the tour because it was raining! Yanks eh? So we tottered off by ourselves on the bus and then the subway and spent about 7 hours playing on the rides and going to various shows. Our favourite was the Mummy rollercoaster which is all indoor, very very fast and scary. You stop and think it's over and all of a sudden it goes backwards. We saw the picture of us they take half way through, I didn't know my mouth could get so wide! The Shrek show was a 4D thing so they squirt water and stuff at you too, we just laughed the whole way through, our faces ached after that! We also did the studio tour, got to see the set of War of the Worlds (they actually brought a boeing plane specifically to destroy it), Desperate Housewives and the OC's Tijuana!!! I tried to get off the tram but Holly wouldn't let me! I dragged Hol on the Jurassic Park log flume again under protest but she loved it really! We also did the Van Helsing haunted house, T2 3D show, Backdraft, Waterworld, Back to the Future, oh God I can't remember it all! Yesterday we went on a tour of LA with a guy called Mickey Z who's been in the film industry all his life, a little bit extrovert but a good laugh. He's met so many famous people and had some great stories. We went to Hollywood walk of fame, the chinese theatre, kodak theatre, Venice Beach, downtown, lots of studios, he took us to South Central and told us all about the riots and explained the gang situation. Sounded a bit like West Side Story to me, but perhaps with a bit more violence and a few more drugs. We didn't stay there long though as we passed a big group of gang members and they flipped us the finger as we passed! I guess a bus load of white people all holding full wallets and digital cameras is a bit harsh really. Mickey took us through Skid Row which is where all the homeless have been hearded to make the city look clean everywhere else. There were hundreds of people just sitting about, lots doing drugs and we even saw a guy selling drugs on the corner as brazen as anything. Thankfully we weren't there long, and we headed back to reality to see the Hollywood sign! It was much larger than I expected and very clean. You can't go up to it now as it used to get tagged (like graffiti) by gang members. There's always a few that ruin it for the rest of us isn't there! We were also taken all over Beverly Hills (used the toilets in the Regent Beverly Wiltshire Hotel from Pretty Woman!) and saw a few of the stars homes; Jane Mansfield's old house, Madonna's, Steve McQueen's, Nick Cage, Aaron Spelling's (estimated to be worth up to $200 million- crazy or what!!) and loads of others. We've been to the cinema a couple of times to see the Da Vinci Code and Poseiden which were both pretty cool. I only went for the popcorn really. We're sampling a few of the local delicacies, milk duds, goobers, the biggest slices of pizza I've ever seen! There's so much more I could tell you but we'll save it for a few weeks time when we arrive back in the UK. Got to book a flight to Boston now, off there tomorrow so will be in touch again then. Love to all, can't wait to see everyone! Hayley & Holly xxxxxx We