Howdy partners,

Yes we are in the US of A. It's not as cold as i'm sure you'd all like (after our constant boasting about the heat) we're in t-shirts and sometimes jumpers but it's just right. I can't believe we're saying this but the heat actually got too much for us and by the time we left the Cook Islands we'd had enough so this temperature is a relief. The suncream, constant sweating, sand and salt get to you after a while.

After a long flight from The Cook Islands, with a two hour stop in Tahiti at midnight we arrived safely in LA. Unfortunately we couldn't get seats next to each other on the plane which sucked but we both managed to sleep and have got away with feeling no jet lag which is great. Our hotel is better than expected and only a two minute walk around to the Hollywood and Highland Mall and Hollywood Boulevard. Both are currently a hive of activity and smothered with security and road blocks in preperation for The Academy Awards (Oscars) on Sunday (can't believe we miss it by a few days). We went and saw some of the actual awards and there are giant replica's all over it's crazy. As for celebrities, none in LA yet, they all wear big hats and glasses here anyway so we probably wouldn't know if we did see any. Oh we did see Martin Clunes at Auckland airport when we left NZ if that counts!

We went to Universal Studios yesterday which we loved, it was so over the top and grand it was great. All of the rides and attractions were so much fun, we felt like proper tourists. We are off to Venice and Santa Monica beaches tomorrow for the day and then fly out to Vegas the following day so it's all go from now on. With under two weeks to go now there's lots to get in. We hope to get our Fiji and Cook island pictures uploaded today but there having some problems with the servers in our internet cafe so have a check hopefully they'll be on here.

Miss you all as much as always
Can't wait to see you all soon
Not many sleeps to go now
All our love
Z & P
xxxx