I created the 64 bit meneutOS iso image and tried to run it in virtualbox but it said something like
long mode is unavailable
I'm wondering if this might be because I am using a 32 bit pc? or is there some problem with using virtualbox to run it?

Exactly.
Do not really know, but I think virtualbox can simulate 64 bit machine on 32 bit host machine.

QEMU works. I have not tested VirtualBox with a 32-bit CPU, but as I understand it uses hardware virtualization and thus you must have a supported CPU.

You don't have to make an ISO image. You can run the IMG image (the floppy image) just fine in emulators.

How would I run it in QEMU I have no experience what so ever in in other vm software other than virtaulbox

VirtualBox uses hardware virtualisation and so can only run 64bit guests on a 64bit host. QEMU is two 32 and 64 bit emulators that run on 32 or 64 bit hosts. To boot from an ISO in QEMU create a batch/shell script containing: (or use the command line)
There are a number of other options for debugging, multi-core and other disks.

If you have at least 2GB on memory on your machine you can easily run MenuetOS with -m 512 (which gives it 512MB on RAM) and watch the transparency and all the visual goodies in action. Depending on your CPU, visuals can be slow.

My command-line is:
qemu-system-x86_64.exe -L . -m 1024 -fda M64-093X.IMG

You can download the current *.IMG from menuetos.net and replace the las part of the line. Notice the -fda parameter, it is a floppy image.

EDIT:
There is MenuetOS-relevant info @ http://menuet.2.forumer.com which you can search for more instructions on USB-booting etc.

Could I use bochs. i cant get Qemu to work.

Yes, you can use Bochs, I think Ville uses it to test MenuetOS when he's developing.
I don't like Bochs very much, but it really depends on your taste
Bochs needs a lot of setup before you can run it and I recommend saving your configuration file if you're ready because its a pain to do it again - I know...

How to would I boot with bochs though?