Hello. I'm in sunny (well - sunny-ish!) New Zealand now. My flight over from LA wasn't too bad. We left soon after 21.30pm on 13th and arrived 12 hours later at 7am on 15th Feb having crossed the International Date Line somewhere over the Pacific during the early hours! I slept for about 3 hours I suppose and watched 3 movies. Atonement (which was really very good. Worty of its Oscar nominations), High School Musical 2 (because I love it!) and Top Gun (because I've never seen it and I got very excited when they were in the bar in San Diego where I've been!)

Well, before leaving LA I spent Tuesday in Santa Monica on the beach and strolling along by the sea and along the shopping promenade. I then caught the bus back to Hollywood (haveing got the shuttle down) and it took two hours to get home! I went to the beach in shorts and tshirt and when I got back it was dark and much colder than it was when I left! Wednesday I had hours to kill so I went downtown and really just wondered about. I got lunch in Little Tokyo - sushi of course! I then headed back ti the hostel and waited it out until 4pm when I went to the airport by public transport. It was fun walking 15 mins down Hollywood Blvd with my huge backpack and 2 others! By the time I got to the Metro station my shoulders were killing me! I got the Metro train and then the FlyAway Bus to the airport which all in all was a STEAL! I paid $5.25! Bargain! I got to the airport far too early but was allowed to check in after a big faff with my e-ticket/itinerary from STA Travel. Not sure what was up as the woman never said and I didn't ask but she tapped away on the computer, phoned someone and then disappeared to the office before finally printing my boarding pass! Bet it's like that for every flight! Just my luck! I waited at the airport for 3 1/4 hours before my flight boarded. I got an aisle seat without asking for one which was cool as I could get up as much as I wanted to go to the loo. Lucky since the 2 women sitting inside of me slept the whole time! Lucky things!

So I'm really tired now but I had a little nap on the sofa in the hostel while I was waiting to be allowed to check in after having been up the Sky Tower to have a bird's eye view of the city. Need to stay awake now until at least 9pm so that I don't wake up really early! Not really too much of a time difference here from LA apart from it being a day ahead. Just a few hours out so shouldn't really feel any jet-lag. Just lack of sleep!

Have picked up a few free city guides so need to decide what I'm going to do with myself here! All depends on the weather really but it's very changeable!

Hope everyone is doing okay. Mum and Dad - enjoy France. Hope there aren't too many spiders in the house!

Happy Birthday to Nanna (15th) and Auntie Alison (19th)!!!

Rach xxx