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