Last leg of trip and final 3 weeks before home and reality, and what better place to avoid reality than Los Angeles. Staying in Santa Monica, one of LA’s 50 or so cities. A good choice! Relatively peaceful and relaxed, easy to get around, excellent beach and waterfront [photo], and close to airport and several famous places. Today drove round Malibu, Hollywood and Beverley Hills, along Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood Boulevard, and Rodeo Drive. Stopped at Hollywood to tread pavement of stars [photo]. Nothing particularly exciting or much worth seeing. In parts sleazy and tacky. Basically a dive! West Hollywood and Beverley Hills much more wow-factor. Oozes money! Saw numerous blacked-out limo’s, wondered who was in them, and every house is a mansion worth millions. Got car for couple of weeks. A big car! Given a free upgrade. Fits three on front seat. Fully automatic. No hand brake. Gear stick on dashboard. Feels strange! Picked it up and went to get in wrong side. Doh! Driving 6-lane freeways increases the adrenaline. Traffic comes at you and past you on all sides. No hiding place. Get into the flow and go with it. Unfortunately already fallen into fast-food culture. It’s everywhere, and it’s so cheap. Pester-power’s led us into McDonald’s everyday. But we’ve said ‘no more’. We’ll see if our resolve holds. Flight from Rarotonga went smoothly. Overnight meant kids slept most of way. Had stopover in Tahiti to refuel, but also thorough pre-US security check. Fortunately we had it easy, others not so. Shoes off and lots of bags opened. Suspect American anti-terrorism pressure applied here.