Hi, yes back again for another long-overdue journal update.

Firstly, truly great news; my partner and I are now married and had an absolutely perfect wedding in British Columbia and honeymooned in BC and Hawai'i. My wife and I are very happy and are looking forward to our life together back home now.

Secondly, there are a lot of nice things to take photos of in BC and Hawai'i, and this trip has clocked my personal record for number of images shot over a 5 week period at just shy of 11 000. Even more exciting it was the inaugural big trip of my new EOS 550D, so the resolution and general quality of my photos has improved considerably from the flagging 400D I used to use.

Obviously, this volume of photos is going to take some time to go through but I am steadily picking my way through the produce; at the moment going for the shots I remember taking, and looking forward to those delightful hours, days and months spent trawling through the neglected ones only to find something nice you missed. Some of you may have noticed a couple of these photos starting to appear in my gallery.

Of particular note, of course, is the transient pod of killer whales we accidentally discovered off the coast of the small First Nation's village of Maaqtusiis north of Tofino in British Columbia. Killers are somewhat less common up here than in the south and north-east of Vancouver Island so it was an extremely treasured moment, not least because (pictures coming) at the same time we were watching a black bear picking through crabs on a nearby beach. Talk about photographic dilemma!

Hawai'i was a blast as well; we have both really wanted to go there for a long time now - me mainly for the sealife and my wife for the volcanos; we saw both in abundance and scoured the island looking for the 'real' Hawai'i as we tried so desperately to escape the hordes of astonishingly dim cruise ship passengers and resort-bound divas. I feel we succeeded, though it was quite difficult. Almost devoid of European tourists, and most definitely not American in any way shape or form, Hawai'i - and especially the island of Maui - definitely struggles with the rampant quick-buck fakism that the US-tourist board is so fond of (and which is thankfully almost totally absent in Canada); this said exploring the more out-back, Polynesian side to the islands was a joy, reminiscent of some of our almost disturbing experiences in the Bahamas and no less entertaining.

As I said, stay tuned. An abundance of photos is imminent, with tales of woe and mystery to accompany. I do hope you enjoy them!