fayetteville AR- Monday27th October. University of Arkansas campus. The mission- to get a photo of Danny's name engraved in the side walk. The obstacle-police and heaps of security. We suspected the worst when we arrived for a day trip to the university. Police lines everywhere, Cops on every corner and roof top. And it turns out James' dad's name was right in the middle of it all. Upon querying one of the policeman it turns out Billy Bob Clinton was in town dedicating a statue. The worst part was he had parked his car over where we wanted to to go!!!!! Oh well. we got to see him anyways and got the photo we wanted.

Memphis TN- Home of the blues, Birthplace of Rock 'n'Roll... This is a music lovers mecca. Forget Seattle and Grunge. This is where it all started. with the blues originating in the nearby cotton fields and brought to the world by local musos such as Carl Perkins (he of the original Blue Suede Shoes )Johnny Cash and of course Elvis Presley. We started the tour by visiting nearby Beale St where WC Handy penned one of the first blues songs. This place buzzes. It has a seedy atmosphere but is rich in history. (Music and Civil Rights). Then on to Graceland-home of Elvis. Considering the decor was late 70's it was a very impressive museum and tribute to his achievements. Hey we even startred humming his music after we left. Then to Memphis Zoo, which was awesome. Checked out the memorial to Jeff Buckley (Sumatran Tigers exhibit). Apparently he spent hours in the butterfly exhibit (psycho) but this was closed for the season. We also found out where he died at the Wolf River.
We then toured Sun studio. This is where Elvis recorded his first song (My Happiness) and first hit- Its All Right. Although its only a two room museum, the studio is still as it was in the 1950's and has an eerie quality to it. U2 and REM have all recorded here as well. We were impressed.

Memphis is a must for anyone travelling to the south of the US. We had a ball. then back to Arkansas where we blew a tyre out in a construction zone. We got back on the road asap.

For the latter part of the trip we hung out with family. Had a Halloween in Fayetteville and left on the 1st November. Had a great time.Back in Vancouver which felt like going back home and left there on te 3rd November for Sydney .

Au Revoir le Canada de serons de retour.

Howdy y'all from North West Arkansas. Well it took 26 hours on a few Greyhound buses but we finally got here on Wednesday.From Grand Rapids we took the bus to Chicago. Greyhound bus stops are not glamourous and we witnessed a guy getting beaten up by security guards and then the cops came in for the final blows! Then we took a scenic cornfield tour through Iowa landing in Des Moines. Then southbound to Kansas City, Missouri. This place is huge. I was shocked at how big some of the regional town centres were. I was expecting little hick towns... We hit Kansas City at Midnight surrounded by crack heads, drunks and an Amish Family. They (the amish)were incredibly interesting. I felt almost rude staring at them but they wore hats inside...The children were patient (and unnaturally quiet) and everyone in the family bore a striking resemblance to each other (eg husband and wife)...nOt looking into that anymore.
Then an ungodly awakening at 4:30am in Joplin MO and finally a onto Fayetteville AR. Our final destination.We have checked out the local lakes (Fayetteville and Seqouia). We have hit the local pubs at Dickson Street(Ozark Brewing Pub) and Brewski's (78 types of beer on draft). I was pleased with the latter. Finally found Heineken Dark after 6 years of searching!! Being looked after really well by James' family.

Heading off to Memphis on Tuesday- home of Elvis, Beale Street and the Memphis Zoo (to check out the butterfly exhibit dedicated to Jeff Buckley).

Animal update- finally saw a skunk!

Will keep you posted. I love the accent here so I get distracted listening to people speak.
Lots of Love Michelle+James

Hi all from Grand Rapids, Michigan USA. Have been having a great time catching up with Jacqui and Pearce here in beautiful Western MIchigan. Last week went to the very picturesque Mackinac Island for the weekend. We are now certified "fudgies" ,the term given to tourists to the area due to the large amount of fudge purchased by such visitors. We are still trying to work our way through 1lb of fudge but can't make it past the sickly sweet pistachio fudge.

Have been having a relaxing week at Chateau Vander Meeden- 5 star accomodation and highly recommended to relatives who have yet to visiti Jacqui and Pearce. Their home is set in peaceful woods with regular animal visitors being deer, groundhogs, woodpeckers and squirrels. (new animals spotted).Last night we had a gourmet meal with a nice bottle of local St Julian's wine at the Chateau . We are being spoilt!

We are about to head off to Chicago to see a Black Hawks Ice Hockey game and also to check out the Caberet Metro (where I am told the Smashing Pumpkins played their first and last gigs).

After this we are heading to Arkansas to meet up with James' family. Looking forward to this as well.

Lots of Love

Michelle+ James

Howdy all, i'll try and keep this quick cause i dont have much time.

New wildlife sightings:
ORCA, also called the Killer Whale. We went on a Whale Watching tour last week and saw these (www.vancouverwhalewatch.com), they were awesome, although they didn't maul any seals unfortunately :( Our camera decided to die on us, so we bought some really nice postcards for our collection.
MINKE WHALE, also on the whale watching trip.
Lots of porpise up here too....

Took a trip to Vancouver Island for a few days. The $9 ferry (1 1/2 hours, worth it!!!!) was really nice through the Gulf Islands, Nanaimo was a lazy seaside town, and Victoria has a wierd obsession with the UK, but very photogenic!! Another must for visitors to Vancouver.

We are leaving Vancouver on Monday to do a tour of the relo's, and we'll also be cancelling our phone, soooooooooooo do NOT send us anything in the mail or try to call us. We can be contacted by email still (obviously), but that's it. We're moving out of Vancouver, i'll keep you all guessing where :)

Have a nice day!

James Nolon McCamey

and

Michelle Suzanne Masefield

Are pleased to announce the engagement of...

Themselves...

To each other.

The event happened on the 30th August 2002 at 4:00pm Canadian Pacific Time on the Terra Nova Banks, Lulu Island.

The happy couple are overjoyed!

Lots of Love Mich and James

Last Monday, 5th August (also known as BC Day), James and Michelle's adventure took a Lord of the Rings turn (for a change). The local Future Shop had a free DVD release party with a huge 500 person tent, screening of the film, free food, Xbox stuff and pictures with some real LOTR characters. A nice time was had by all (both of us), the film was great as per usual (yes, it does get better after seeing it 5 times), but the highlight must have been meeting Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom. They were so down to earth and friendly, you could feel the love flowing from them. Never again will i diss a movie star, they have proved to me that you can be on the cover of Teen Party magazine and still have a brain. Anyway, we were lucky enough to get a photo with the guys, this one will be enlarged and put on the wall forever.

In other news, we are both now fruitpicking and loving it.

Michelle is selling homewares.

James is blueberry picking.

Hope to visit Grand Rapids MI, Fayetteville AR and Omaha NE in October.

There is no special significance of the ham.

Have a nice day.

James, a man of many words.

good afternoon all, We now have a combined age of 53 and hence moving into old age!! we have a new game called rocks and rats. at dusk near our home, there are train lines which transport grain, an absolute feast for the vermin, so we have become vicious and throw rocks at the them.Thinking about getting a BB gun (or potato gun). Please no emails about cruelty to animals and stuff. Its 100 points for a direct hit, plus it is in self defence! Don't worry, we have none of the pests in our farmhouse.

Have been exploring the numerous trails around Lulu Island and spotted a beaver near home in the the north arm of the Fraser. We are of to an over 40's International Cricket Tournament at Stanley Park today. Hoping to see Carl Rackemann hehehe. Maybe get a chance to have a hit if possible.

Thanks to all for the birthday wishes.
Love Michelle and james

Morning everyone. Since the last post, we have had a few interesting things happen to us. But before i get to that, we have something much more interesting to tell you. We saw a SEAL. It was just swimming through the harbour, does anyone know what sort of bait you need to catch a seal?? i reckon it'd look cool back in the pool at home.

Ok, we both have jobs now. We are working for Princess Cruises (the ones that go to Alaska). It was a 3 minute interview, then we were sent out back to get fitted for our uniforms. Weird. It was 2 days a week, but after one day, we dropped Mondays. Basically, we get people on and off the oversized tug boats, be polite to them, convince them that they are special, help with immigration, security, crowd control .. the whole lot. Sounds good eh? then comes the downside. $8 an hour. That is no typo, Apparently it's legal to hire someone over here for that much money. Oh yeah, and it's 11 hour days .... with ONE 15 minute break. Again .. this is apparently legal. So after our first day at work, we both nearly quit in digust, but will still work till we find other jobs.

On our way back from the interview, we nearly DIED!!!! well, we were in a bus crash. actually, the bus was ok, but i think some kid is going to be killed by his parents when they find out he wrote off their brand new BMW. So that was interesting. Lucky for us it crashed at our stop, so we just walked off the bus and home.

And some background news on our shack in richmond. The Trailer trash moved out into a trailer, so it's alot quieter now. The bad thing is that the landlord appears to have moved in downstairs. Now i'm not sure what the laws are here, but in australia a landlord has to give 2 days notice that they're coming over ... this woman just turns up and knocks on the door and yells at you. It's quite funny actually. She also has had a truckful of garbage in her car for the last week, i think she may also be of the trailer clan. Our little house used to be a ... how would you say ... pot house. The reason why downstairs was so damp, is because hydroponics ned alot of moisture (funny that). We thought it was funny, but our flatmate Wally gets annoyed cause the cops seem to think he was involved and follow him around.

I think that's all the news for now. Keep on emailing us, we really appreciate it. Apparently there is a phone card out there that lets you call canada for 8c a minute, even to mobiles with no connection fee. all aussies ... go get one and give us a call!

Take care now eh?

James - using michelle's login.

Hello everyone,

Yesterday was Canada Day and joined in the local festivities. We are blending in well with the natives eh! Felt sooo patriotic and glad to be part of this great nation ! The maple leaf is really a good icon. You can wear it and not look like a fool. Imagine wearing the Aussie flag.. I think not.
Also just a quick Happy Birthday and Congratulations to the following people for the folowing week(apologies if I have missed anyone-going of my memory here).
29th HB Jasper -the kelpie
29th HB Laraine - don't have your email address so if anyone does...
29th Radji and Tamara- hope your big day went really well. we had a moments silence to commemorate your wedding.
1st Happy birthday Canada
3rd HB Cameron- hope Manchester is treating you well.
4th HB Aunt Sherine -Have a good day
4th HB Andrew C when is Harry Potter coming out (I want to meet Kenneth Branagh -I think he's in it...)
6th HB Aunty Joyce- 79 and still spritely.
7th HB RYan - get that grant so you can come visit

other news.We walked 16kms yesterday to an intertidal region called Iona beach. James thinks he's hot because two girls pinched his butt last night. Never seen him grin so much.

Lots of Love
M + J

Hello everyone, Just an update on the situation in downtown Richmond. This place is awesome for food. We found an asian shop that stocks all the Sri lankan curry powders, godamba rotis etc. I have an interview with a home ware shop called Pier One Imports next Wednesday. Fingers crossed as it is only a 10 minute walk from home.. Also signed up as a volunteer for a theatre group called The Fringe. They run a huge Fringe Festival every year in Vancouver with about 700 performers in September. I will be working with a girl called Corinne (quebec chick-going to get her to teach me French) doing Volunteer Recruitment..( I had a full job interview just to volunteer). Will also be assisting Marketing and the Publicity areas on Mondays and Fridays 10-3pm. Should be very cool. The place is based in the arts area of Vancouver - Granville Island. I'm excited. We have been planespotting just near the run way at Sea Island and have discovered a beach near our home. Bit dubious about fishing in the Fraser but have found a fishing village on the south part of Lulu Island called Steveston. Really nice place. We are surviving the ghetto and making it more homely. We don't see out flatmate much so we pretty much do our own thing. The trailer trash are moving out this week -to the trailers. but will miss their dog called Rosco who is like Jasper (hello Jasper pooty). Oh well. We are both busy job hunting and discovering new parts of the neighbourhood. Our arses look really good( i have calf muscles -not seen them before) with all the walking we are doing and are considering trying Trailwalker next year...Love to you all.M + J

Another day, another change of plans.

We move back into wally's place in richmond in a few days. it's the cheapest, and there's a bus line direct to the city from there. Don't be decieved if you're coming to Vancouver. Vancouver DOWNTOWN is quite small, the suburb called VANCOUVER is as big as sydney city to HOMEBUSH, so dont think you can just walk downtown from the hotel. We have knocked richmond in the past, but it's quite practical, we;re going to take a different room though, one without birds in the window, maybe earplugs. This time we wont be jetlagged, so who knows? We might enjoy this place. Wally likes games workshop, so we should get on fine :)

Animals we forgot to mention or need updating.

SKUNK, again, roadkill, we didn't stop to give it a good smell.
BEAR, this was a baby one on the side of the road at whistler. again, we didn;t stop because there are warnings everywhere saying beware the bear.

Have a nice day. Give us a call if you want to. We're 7 hours ahead of sydney, less a day.

Evening all. We are back from our rocky escapade, and ALL of you have to see those big rocks sometime. They are quite impressive. Me good wit word, so i stop there. Found the wine growing region of BC, called the Okanagan, but didn't taste any wine. We gave some wierdo a lift from Penticton (the ELVIS capital of Canada, they also had a bridge convention) to Vancouver. Don't thinkwe'll be doing that again ... it's all new age maaaaaaaaaaaaaan, get in touch with your spiritual side ... every animal you see has a meaning. Plus he was stoned. Strange. ALso went up to disney world. ... no ,,, whistler. The views were great (pics coming soon), i'm sure the town is more interesting with snow on the ground. Stayed in an awesome hostel called Altalake, which is chockers with aussies. They are everywhere.

Animals we have seen:

ELK
BEAR
BALD EAGLE
SALMON JUMPING (admittedly in a salmon hatchery)
RACOON (roadkill, no pics)
SQUIRREL
CHIPMUNK, mating last time we looked. Bloody annoying little scavengers, but very cute. I called the big on Alfie.
HUMMINGBIRDS at Beauty Creek. These were awesome, they are tiny, about the size of my thumb, and they are loud (like a really loud bee)_and were attacking us cause we were in their territory.
BLUEJAY
CANADIAN GEESE, these were a little too tame
BEAVER
MUSK RAT
and a lot more birds at a bird sanctuary at Valemont.

Having fun, hopefully we will have a permananet place to live next time we write.

WE HAVE A PHONE NUMBER!! We bought a mobile so we can apply for jobs,., our number is 604 318 8620, plus all the usual jazzbefore that for intl calling.

see ya

Have been having the most amazing few days. traveling extensively through British Columbia. Yesterday we were in Kootenay Country which was spectacular (as is everything that is here). Stayed in a hostel calledth Dancing Bear Inn in Nelson. Great atmosphere and very much like the Blue Mountains scene. now in the pocket desert of canada (yes they have one). place called Penticton in the Okanagan Valley. Hope everyone is well. Love M + J

Escaped the rat race and having a great time travelling the beautiful Rockies. This place is amazing... Also spectacular were the views at Sqamish (we went there yesterday). To the doubters amongst you we are not packing up just yet. We were jetlagged and tired and everything was overwhelming. But fear not we will soldier on and currently in Valemount BC. Met the funny town folk. Yet to see a moose or elk.. Tomorrow we drive to Jasper. love Mich and james

we are now travelling. probably 10 days in a hire car to see the rockies, then get a bus or a driveaway car to our next destination, TBD.

here's a list of what sucked at richmond.

1. planes
2. trucks
3. trains
4. dodgy neighbourhood
5. rats
6. pigeons in the roof
7. small bird nest next to the window
8. chimney next to window
9. insomniac flatmate watching horror movies till 4.30am
10. toothless woman with feral kids downstairs
11. no key
12. creaky floorboards

that is why we are travelling now.

Hi all. We're in canada.

the flight was long. and bumpy. honolulu was damn hot, even at midnight, but it was nice having a break from the flight. We arrived at 9am and was picked up a few hours later by david. We've just been trying to orientate ourselves at the moment, it's a bt hard without a car, and we still haven't had a chance to go 'downtown'. where we live ./.... hmm. michelle keeps singing 'in the ghetto....', which isn't too far off the truth. richmond turns out to be an industrial area, the planes are quiet but the trucks aren;t, nor are the pigeons in the roof. we haven't really met wally singh yet cause he's been out, but he seems nice. we want to come home .. get me out of her e.... no wait. we're having fun. kinda. we have a bank account with bank of montreal, our SIN card applications are in. we are 1/2 hour from downtown, the maps are deceptive here, which is a pain. we;re thinking about ditching work and just travelling around and coming home a little sooner than 12 months. vancouver is like hong kong and new delhi at the same time, t's a 30 minute walk to the shops. we dont really know what to say, we're not having fun yet, but we haven't really had a chance to. we might go to the mountains later this week, we can see snow on the top, there are good views everywhere when it's not raining! dont worry about us, we're looking after each other. we dont have a telephone, and thi internet cafe is 30 minute walk, so this will be the best way to contact us for now. we might get a cellular phone so we can actually be contacted. dont call the number we gave you because that's wall's personal cell phone. so yeah. hope all is gong well down under, we miss it already, speak to you soon!

love james+michelle

This is sort of a travel diary while we are overseas. See you all in Canada!

Welcome to our new blogger page!