Howdy!! We've almost shrugged off the g'days now!

Hopefully we didn't confuse you too much by our change of plan. We decided back in New Zealand that South America was going to be too much, both in cost and in the sheer size of it, so we opted for it's northern partner instead. We had a flight out of LA organised so we've saved ourselves the cost of an extra flight by going directly to LA from NZ, so the money we have left is for enjoying!

Enough of all that boring stuff, i bet some of you didn't have a clue where we were going anyway!

So here we are in sunny California!! Wow, what a place!! It's like being in a filmset continually, things here are unreal, literally!

Took absolutely ages to get through immigration, they must have thought we were two tramps and couldn't possibly have enough money to come here, they weren't far wrong there then! But they took our photo and our fingerprints, first time for me but not for James! Ha! Oops!

We were soon introduced to the American lingo sitting on the bus from the airport. We were sitting next to a LA couple playing the well-known game of 'Guess where we're going for lunch'. The wife was obviously wearing the trousers there saying not at all loudly, hmm "You are sooooo not in this game, honey!" and on leaving the bus shrieking "Sweetheart, i just caaaaan't lift those bags!" which were two little holdalls, obviously full of lead weights, and two kids in their designer gear! James first impression: 'she needs a good slapping!' But that was just an introduction to what LA had in store for us! Arrived at Alamo, the car rental company to pick up our economy rental, equivalent in England to a Honda Accord, bit posher than smoking campervans huh! We resisted a pushy salesman for convertibles and SUVs and stuck with our budget car, yeah right! We got directed out to car lot and told to find a car in the economy section, but we had no keys or no reg plate to go on. After wandering around the car park in a daze after the 12 hour long flight we realised that here in America you just 'pick a car...any car!' So after loading and unloading our bags in and out of 4 cars, James finally decides on a Spurs blue Saturn. Good choice, its got all the gadgets, even talks to you! Only trouble is, it's a bit small in legroom and James hasn't quite worked out the best way of getting in and out yet. Ok for Loz, too young to drive so gets chauffered around by James all day, probably a good thing what with being on the other side of the road though!

This won't come as a surprise to you but we headed straight out to the coast of Santa Monica. It's not far from Baywatch and on the same strip as Venice Beach. It's famous bit is it's pier, complete with a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant and bench from the movie, got picture of James sitting on it with his feet in Forrests running shoes. Talking of running, James is on a strict exercise regime, 100 sit-ups a day and a change of diet. Doesn't help with the complimentary breakfasts though, doughnuts, waffles, cakes, his eyes are bulging as you can imagine! But seeing his face when he chooses an apple and a banana is quite amusing! That'll teach him for over-indulging in Anzac biscuits and BBQs.

Feeling more than a bit scruffy in our travellers gear of Loz's green shorts and Jim's Billabong vests we decided to hit the shops in Downtown LA (believe me its all you wanna do there, it's not a nice place!) to tart ourselves up a bit and hopefully blend in with the rest! Had a bit of a spend up in Macys, a big outlet shopping mall and got transformed into Californians, well almost! After 2 months of cooler weather and a serious lack of sunbathing we thought we'd dose up on some rays for a day, we must be the only people here who can as all the rest would melt, due to too much cosmetic surgery! Everywhere you look there's huge balloons attached to womens chests, huge lips, eyes that look like the ponytail is too tight and scars from too many lipo tubes! We headed up to the Rose Bowl out at Pasadena, where we stayed for a few days while we explored the sights. Considering it holds 100,000 people it seemed pretty small from the outside but sure it would be impressive full of yelling Yanks!

Since booking the flight here, all Loz has been going on about is going to Hollywooood! So it was time to shut her up... 'Pretty woman walking down the street....Pretty woman walking down the street...

Yes, we drove down the famous Wilshire Boulevard where Richard Gere spent those famous days and nights in the penthouse with Miss Roberts. Got loads of pictures of the hotel, Rodeo Drive, Beverley Drive, etc. Jim the photographer wants a picture of me walking out of the Wilshire Hotel but the concierge took one look and wouldn't budge from the doorway so had to make do with a 'standing outside the front door of the hotel' picture instead, damn! Wandered about trying to take it all in, but felt really out of place there! You could tell who was local and who were tourists, it was fun to see the famous road and the shops, cars, posers, etc but we'd had our fill after about an hour. Drove around Bel Air and Beverly Hills admiring the huge estates taking note of which one we want! Didn't have a clue who lived in which ones, only the organised tours have that exclusive information. Tried to suss out where Posh n Becks are moving to but ("at the end of the day") didn't see anywhere big enough! What a perfect place for Posh, she'll fit right in with Paris, Britney and Lindsay! Got some great pics of the famous Hollywood sign in the hills before strolling along Hollywood Boulevard and the Walk of Fame. To be honest there were more names that we didn't recognise than those we did! But we did find a particularly special one for James' old mate - Paul West. Not sure what he's done to deserve it but he's up there with the big ones! Stopped outside Manns Chinese Theatre and tested our hands and feet in the prints of the stars. James was pleased to find out that he is an exact match to Mr Sean Connery, the ex-Bond, how appropriate!! The closest i got to anyone was the same length thumbs as Fred Astaire, an old tap dancer, great! But, listen to this girls, got to stand in Mr Pitt and Mr Damons footprints, not a bad threesome huh! I could almost smell them! Jim found Britneys star and wanted to leave a little memento, a line of charlie and a bottle of booze!

Since then we've settled ourselves in the Californian desert, an oasis called Palm Springs. Previously home to Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, it's absolutely awesome! We had a bit of luck when we arrived as the Internet company we booked it with hadn't forwarded our reservation in time so we got an upgrade to a kitchen suite which is like the penthouse! Two queen sized beds, huge lounge, kitchen, balcony, all for $25 a night, bargain! The average temperature is around 108 degrees and clouds are almost non-existant. Even overnight it's around 90 degrees, thank god we decided against camping, we thought Australia was bad with snakes and dingos, here you get coyotes, rattlesnakes and bears, and with James snack selection that's not a good combination! Palm Springs sits right on top of the San Andreas Fault line, which is the most active fault line in the world with an average of 100 earthquakes a week. We've felt a couple of rumbles but nothing of any magnitude, lets hope it stays that way! We visited Joshua Tree National Park and spent the day walking around the Hidden Valley, Barker Dam, Cholla Cactus garden. Reminded us very much of the outback of Australia but still different in many ways, the colour and recent rock formations due to earth movements are completely different. It was a great day and saw landscape so different to what you would expect from America. It's another one of these countries you don't realise what's there until you start to explore it. We even saw a Creosote Bush that the native Americans reckon is older than the burning bush in Egypt. Looked in pretty good shape considering! Saw plenty of Joshua Trees, obviously, and two long-horned sheep which were the size of a cow. Saw quite a few chipmunks scurrying out from under bushes and a few lizards, all of which kept us on our toes. They have a problem here with rattlesnakes as they can be pretty aggressive but luckily enough we didn't meet any.

Then for a day of fun in the sun we went to Knotts Soak City Water Park. And we thought that last trip to Wet n Wild in Oz was our last! Not as big and much fewer rides but still great fun. James highlight was the Soak City Playhouse, a huge climbing frame of steps, slides, rope bridges and huge buckets constantly filling with cold water. He had great fun waiting for unsuspecting passers-by before drenching them with his bucketful! About 60ft up was an enormous tub holding 2000litres of water and every minute it emptied itself over the whole area. Sounds silly but great fun! Certainly two big kids!

Loz had a much needed hair cut today and what an experience! If you've seen Mrs. Doubtfire just think of the scenes when they're making Robin Williams mask and doing his wig and make-up and you're half way there! Four gay male hairdressers, the youngest being 40, so funny! The conversations were hysterical and the clothes even more so! If getting your hair done is always that funny i'd go every week!

Heading to Arizona tomorrow, now that we've had 10 days to acclimatise ourselves to the weather and the sunbeds! This is where the real travelling will begin again. Looking forward to visiting Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, etc over the next couple of weeks, before we hit a few more states.

You must be wondering when we are coming back to sunny England? Well, when the money runs out after Vegas we'll let you know and you can all buy us a stubbie! But when life is like this even James can do without a stubbie! Put it this way, our flight ticket expires on 15th November so we'll be home before then.

Have a nice day!

The Travellers xxx