We missed our bus to Vegas and had to get a later one, oops! Too busy shopping and watching muscle women on Venice beach! As our taxi drove up to the hotel, we felt like small children again as a magical Rapunzel-style castle towered above us and we drove inside it. Walking inside, we found the 100m reception desk and were bombarded by the noise and flashing lights of the absolutely massive collection of gaming machines located next to us. To get to our room, you...

We arrived in LA after a 9 hour flight without individual TVs to keep us entertained. Aaaaaaargh. To get to our accommodation, we got a shuttle bus, an 8 seater vehicle with only 2 other people in it. Our driver drove around the airport for another circuit and we joked that he was going to drive around until the van was full! Anyway, 10 minutes and another 2 circuits later, the van was full and we finally left the airport grounds for a long drive to Hollywood! Ou...

Rarotonga, in the middle of the Pacific is called Paradise by the locals and with our accommodation right on the beachfront it certainly had a nearly-Paradise feel to it. Our welcome to the island by the transfer staff "Big bus at the end" (no 'Welcome to Rarotonga' or anything and certainly no smile) was pretty typical of shop service. The previous day had been Lindsay's birthday. The flight had taken us over the International date line and so when we ...

It seemed that every country we had travelled through had an allergy to baths, with showers being prominent in all the bathrooms. So it was with much anticipation that we headed to hot water beach, where natural underground hot water springs come to the surface in a small area of rocks. With the help of a locally hired spade, we started digging ; unfortunately, just digging below the surface exposed water so hot it could burn your feet and leave you dancing the m...

We are envious of the warm people in Britain. Tonight we have been given hot water bottles by the hostel - this does not suggest it will be a warm night! We began our road trip of New Zealand's North island in Wellington the capital city. It has life and culture and more than one supermarket - a big city by NZ standards! We joined a tour around parliament building (really good) and rode the tram (cheap and easy) which seems to be of use only to students at the hi...