Nova Scotia and NZ

Nova Scotia was very wet and cold. Summer has not arrived. We drove into the Capitol city Halifax and toured the very interesting Maritime Museum of the Atlantic which has a marvelous Titanic Exhibit.




We looked around Halifax in the drizzle and admired what is said to be the second largest natural Harbour in the world. We drove around the huge citadel that has successfully defended the city for centuries.

Next day was a lot warmer and finer so we drove to the Unesco World Heritage town of Lunenberg which has quaint and very typical Nova Scotian buildings along its Harbour front.




The town is a gem with it's brightly colored houses and lovely churches.








That night we had a Lobster Supper in the Shore Club next door to the camping ground. A whole lobster each with unlimited mussels and salad. Very tasty.





But alas all good things must come to an end and I was called back to NZ to help my sick father leaving Wendy to cope by herself for three weeks. When I return the blog will continue.

A Boring Time in the Bay of Fundy

We were based in Shediac on the Northumberland Strait which separates Prinbce Edward Island from the mainland. To our South West was the big town of Moncton famous for two things. We visited both on Monday . The first was Magnetic Hill.
Supposedly the the third biggest tourist attraction in Canada (which I doubt) the hill there supposedly has a magnetic attraction that makes cars roll up hill. So we paid our five bucks and gave it a go.

Rolling Uphill without Power at Magnetic Hill

Its hard to see the phenomenon as it is a gentle hill but when you are there you can see that it is a real slope. The engine was going in the video but the car was in neutral.  Convinced?
Nah.  Apparently the whole of the countryside is tilted in that region and whilst locally it looks like a gentle hill when viewed from a greater distance, the wider tilt kicks in and you can see it is a downhill slope. Well that was one attraction to score a 2/5. What about the famous tidal bore on the Petitcodiac River in downtown Moncton. It is caused by the shape of the Bay of Fundy into which it flows. The world’s biggest tides occur in the bay, and have reached 18 metres when the wind is assisting the tide as it flows up the ever narrowing Bay of Fundy and into the rivers that empty into the Bay. At times the bore can be a metre high but when we videoed it was about a foot but still very impressive.

Tidal Bore at Moncton

What is equally impressive is that the tide goes from low to high in the space of one hour and in Moncton that is about 7.5 metres. And it happens twice a day every day with the biggest bores dependent on the phase of the moon and the perigee of the moon’s orbit.
The next day we left New Brunswick and drove to Nova Scotia and stayed the night at Truro where we could see another tidal bore on the Salmon River. But while it was a bore it was only a few inches high as we were around the Neap Tide phase of the month.
Then we drove south along the Bay of Fundy to Annapolis Royal near to the bottom of Nova Scotia. It has a lot of history in the area. It is the site of the second oldest settlement in the Americas (St Augustine founded by the Spanish in Florida was the first). It was built in 1605 by the explorer Samuel de Champlain who also founded Quebec City. In the shape of a square with an enclosed courtyard it yielded a very interesting perspective on early life in Canada.

We were experiencing the longest run of fine weather since NZ, with 2.5 lovely days of sunshine. (As I write this we are in a storm at present!)
We also visited the British Fort at Annapolis Royal as the area changed hands several times between the English and the French. There is no much left of the fort except the officer’s quarters and the defence works.

We called in at the tidal power station that is the only place in North America to use tidal power to generate electricity. We had a long char with Bruce who had visited NZ 5 times in the past 20 years and had relatives in Waipu Cove where Nova Scotians had come in 1850 for a warmer climate.
Then it was a drive down the coast to Digby which boats the biggest scallop fleet in the world and has what are reputed to be the biggest, the juiciest and the tastiest scallops in the world.

They Bay of Fundy with its surging tides whips up all the plankton which the scallops feed on making them big and succulent. We had lunch at the Fish Market and the scallops were sensational. We bought some home for a scallop salad that evening.
Then the fine weather stopped and the rain returned as we drove across the island to just outside Halifax, the capitol. In a gap in the weather we drove to the picturesque village of Peggy’s Cove set in a narrow inlet on the granite coast that covers the northern part of Nova Scotia.

Quaint fishing villages dot the coast and there are myriads of small coves and islands everywhere.
We are here for a few days and if the weather eases will visit the world’s second largest natural harbour at Halifax.

Lobster Heaven

Monday dawned bright and sunny as we drove down to the wharf on the South side of the St Lawrence River to catch a ferry over to Quebec City. It was a short but very scenic trip with lovely views of the walled city perched on the cliffs above the river.

We wandered around the narrow cobbled streets past the fantastic looking (but relatively modern) Chateau Frontenac and slowly made our way up towards the Plains of Abraham where in 1759 General James Wolfe defeated the Marquis of Montcalm head of the defending French forces. Both generals were killed but the English victory opened the way for the English to take over all of Canada.

Quebec is entirely French speaking and all of the signs are only in French unlike Ontario and New Brunswick where care is taken to use bi-lingual signs.

The view of the Gulf of St Lawrence from the Citadel at the top was magnificent.

We went into the Discovery Centre that features sound and light shows to illustrate the famous battle and spent an enjoyable few hours virtually by ourselves in the centre.

Next day we left Quebec City and headed North up the Gulf of St Lawrence. The USA juts right up into Canada at this point and you have to drive some 300km before you can at last head South and East to the Maritime Provinces of Canada.

We stopped for a few days high up in the Appalachian Mountains that start here and run all  the way south to Georgia in Southern USA.

Then we crossed the border into New Brunswick and took the River road along the banks of the enormous Saint John River that drains most of New Brunswick.

We stayed for three days at the very lovely Mactaquac State Park. The Canadians certainly do their State Parks very nicely and we had a lovely grassy lawns to camp on by the Saint John River with plenty of space all around us. One day we drove into Fredericton the Provincial Capitol. A small town but not a lot to see other than the old 1800s army barracks turned into a museum and shops.

In the afternoon we went on a hike around the State Park to see the beaver ponds. The beaver ponds were flooded and the path washed away in many parts so we had to find our way jumping from log to log to stay dry.

The Beavers are amazing creatures. Not only do they dam the rivers and streams to make dams to make ponds. They also make their lodges with an underwater entrance to stay warm in the winter.

They cut down trees with their teeth and pile up the logs with mud into impressive lodges as you can see in the picture. It was a lovely long walk and not another person to be seen.

The next day we went to Kings Landing Historical Settlement. This is a recreation of a settlement in the mid 1800s. There must be over 100 staff all dressed up in authentic costumes and playing the parts of the various inhabitants. There were only 20 or so of us visiting the place so we had the guides and the villagers to ourselves. It is set on 150 acres with authentic buildings illustrating the life of the early New Brunswick Settlers.

We tried eating fiddleheads, the heart of the local fern (which we would call a koru) an it tasted as a cross between asparagus and spinach. A unique Canadian speciality.

In the saw mill we met with the saw millers who demonstrated how timber was cut using a steam engine for power.

Then later in the afternoon a group of fiddlers from East New Brunswick were there to entertain us few. They were very good and we shared a ride in a horse and cart back to the car park with them. Click on the image below for a video of them entertaining us on the cart.

Fiddling on the Move

Today we have driven right across New Brunswick and finally reached the true Atlantic Ocean. From the Pacific in California to Shediac in New Brunswick!. 

Shediac is the self proclaimed lobster capitol of the world and hosts the world’s biggest lobster.

So we have crossed the North American Continent and tonight we celebrate with Lobster Pasta from a lobster we picked up from what are called Lobster Pounds. It was freshly cooked and a large one cost us just $12.50. We will add some garlic and italian parsley and a touch of olive oil for what I am sure will be a feast.

This week we are in for a boring time. But more on that next week.

Remember you can follow our trip clicking on this Google Map link