Hey all! I'm writing to you from my hostel in Auckland. I hope you're all well and England isn't treating you too badly:D This is my first blog entry so I'm going to bring you all up to speed with what I've been up to so far!

We started off in Los Angeles last week after a 14 hour flight (needless to say we were all exhausted by the time we got to Hollywood). Our hostel was right on the Walk of Fame so the next day we did a short tour of it, taking loads of photos and having a quick look round the Kodak theatre. (Small point of interest - Johnny Depp has huge feet and small hands). We then took various buses down Santa Monica Blvd to Santa Monica beach. Unfortunately it was overcast but Matt and I still got some excellent O.C photo poses on the lifeguard stands. The main observations I made during my time in L.A was that every car has rims and if you don't drive an SUV or a Mustang, you jog.

The next day we embarked on our bus tour. Apart from the tour guide with verbal diarrhoea, it was absolutely amazing! We stayed in the Plaza hotel in Vegas which is a short distance away from the main apart of the strip. On our night toure, we visited the Venetian with its indoor canals, gondolas, man-made sky and venetian square. The Bellagio fountain show was absolutely outstanding:D I'm sure i'll get some pictures up at some point.

The main attraction of the tour was the Grand Canyon and it was well worth it. If you ever get a chance to go there, particularly the West Rim, i would seriously recommend it. We went on the Skywalk (big glass bridge over the canyon - really freaks you out) and had a walk around the park. We all took loads of photos which i'm sure i'll show all of you when i get back and you WILL enjoy it:) The photos really speak for themselves as there isn't really much i can write about the canyon except that we walked round the west rim, it was extremely hot and it was the most amazing thing i've ever seen!

Nothing much happened that would interest you between then and Fiji. Fiji is absolutely beautiful although our first impression wasnt the greatest. Our first night was spent in the Travellers Beach Resort in Nadi. The people were extremely accomodating and more than friendly (something we found constant throughout our time in Fiji) although one gentleman at the resort seemed set on selling us some weed! It was perhaps the first thing the bar man and then the coconut-tree climber said to us.

The bulk of our stay in Fiji was spent at the Mango Bay Resort on the Coral Coast and it was here that we really experienced Fiji. White sands, clear ocean with a coral reef a 100m out, surrounded by rainforest. I could go on but if you're interested, just type it into google. Generally, we just stayed on the beach and relaxed as our time in America was extremely hectic. We did however, go kayaking over the reef where we saw loads of tiny blue, luminous fish and obviously the coral reef. We took part in a native Kava ceremony where we drank water that had been flavoured with dried Kava bark (i am now a local chief of Mango Bay, Fiji). Spent loads of time in the pool and a bit in the sea (managed to get my Daniel Craig pose photo sorted, hell yes), the sun really takes it out of you. The only complaint i have of the place is the amount of mosquitoes. I must be half covered in bites:( On the last night we spent there, we took part in a trivia night, drank LOADS of Fiji Gold beer (which is stunning), sat around a midnight bonfire, played a little bit of guitar, went skinny dipping in the ocean (it was still like a bath, even at midnight) and then had a drunken swim in the pool!

We met some amazing people in the resort who gave us some information on what to do in New Zealand and we've both decided that we're going to do our scuba-diving open water course (PADI) so that we can go diving in New Zealand and off the Great Barrier Reef in Oz.

If i remember anything else from this part of the trip, i'll update you but for now, i believe thats a fairly good summary of our adventures so far:) I'll get some pictures up as soon as I can.