Moncton

After a 5-hour drive, we took in one of the more natural scenic tours along the boardwalk, admiring the bird life (a good chance to stretch the legs too!!!), the heat and the many wonderful creatures that crawled, buzzed and flew around us! Heading back to the hotel (it bucketed down with rain - must have come with us!!!) we chilled for the evening.

The morning soon came, taking us down to Hopewell Rocks, a natural rock formation on the Bay of Fundy, which has been shaped over time from the high tides that flow in (each day the tides are dramatic, heading km's off shore, as well as coming up very quickly - which we experienced first hand!!!) Hopewell rocks was amazing, as was the Fundy National Park (a 45-50 minute coastal drive from the Rocks). Taking in the scenery - we sat on a picnic bench in the middle of the park, surrounded by thick forests (and right near a covered bridge -that we drove across, with noone else in sight - or ear shot!!) Pretty amazing! The day was spectacular (about time!). As we wandered through one of the many trails that the park provides, we found ourselves heading down towards a very cute inlet. We met a couple that had been swimming there and had just returned from Cape Breton. Exchanging stories, we found out that we teach in the same suburb/city (Kanata) and roughly 5 streets away.....very small world. Both Kate and I took many photos around one key rock, but soon found that the rock was disappearing (in a matter of minutes), as the tide came surging in, we thought it was time to head back to the rocks for another view!!! Driving back to Moncton (heavy rain fell.....again), we got a lovely Mongolian meal - deciding it was time to ready ourselves for PEI.......here we come!!!

Cape Breton Island #2

Cape Breton Island is a lovely destination to visit. The wonderful scenery, the beautiful shoreline views and the rolling hills.

Today was the day we were to do the Cabot trail, unfortunately - the weather didn't permit us to go too far into our journey. After an hour of driving north of Sydney, we found that the rain, the low flying cloud and the fog were going to make visibility poor - and for a 350km trail with scenic ocean views blocked, we thought that we'd turn towards Baddeck, home to the Alexander Graham Bell museum.

After a quick snack, we toured through the museum, taking in a lot of history (inventions etc), whilst learning about the family that had resided within the area.....rather interesting.

Since the weather hadn't improved, we made our way back to Sydney, planning our time ahead - as well as taking in a movie, looking at the local craft markets etc (general touristy stuff!)

After checking the forecast, we decided it was best to boycott PEI, at least for a few days, so we made our way back through "New Scotland" (Nova Scotia) towards Moncton, a good sized city about an hour from PEI.

Sydney - the older one!!!

Waving farewell to Halifax, we made our way towards Cape Breton Island - known for the Cabot Trail, famous Louisbourg fortress and breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean and the wildlife that inhabit this wonderful area!

Staying in a cosy B&B, we dumped our stuff and headed out to check out the town. Trying to find the tourist info centre was very easy - as a 40 foot fiddle stood there - in recognition of the Fiddlers association of Nova Scotia, very impressive (and it played a cool little tune as well!)

Next morning we woke early to a wonderful home cooked brekky - waffles, eggs, bacon, cinnamon scrolls - the works!!!! B & B's ROCK!!!
With the weather fairly ordinary (across the East coast - due to a Hurricane that was just offshore - heading north from Bermuda), it rained most of the day - heavily, we decided to give the Cabot Trail a try tomorrow - so we made our way south towards Louisbourg fortress - this one actually played a part in the wars, unlike the previous two - the citadel and the martello tower.

The French and English engaged in major battles for this fortress, due to its position on the coast (and with easy access to the St.Lawrence river), as well as having a nice harbour to fish salmon all year long (didn't freeze over - surprisingly!)
The fortress was destroyed in the late 1800's, but rebuilt in 1925, with Parks Canada overseeing the reconstruction - recruiting French and English historians etc to ensure every detail was correct (only 1/5 of the original city was rebuilt, whilst 1/4 of the wall was reconstructed). A very impressive fort, with magnificent views all around!
Locals portrayed characters from the early 1800's, engaging with tourists as they passed - quite comical. We also tasted some of the bread, that is still baked the same way (in the oven out there, using traditional methods - great to snack on as you toured around the large area!)

After a long time touring around the fortress, and the weather still a bit "wet", we headed north west to the Two Rivers Wildlife Park, which played host to all wildlife that lived on Cape Breton Island (we mainly went to the Park for a giggle - and to try see a moose - we weren't expecting too much, as it was in the middle of nowhere and was $5 entry each.......)

With the rain pouring down and the first 3 enclosures having very wet, sleepy animals, our mood dimmed - especially as the moose exhibit was so large, we would have no chance of seeing it - sticking to its name "ELUSIVE MOOSE!"

Hearing a few giggles of excitement ahead, we made our way past the sleeping skunk, arriving at an enclosure that housed two black bears, a very lagrge male and a smaller female - on heat! The bears enjoyed having people around - we were very lucky, as the female decided to climb the nearest tree to us, giving us a wonderful look at her - and also making us think - "can she fall out of the enclosure?" After watching a young girl hand feed the bears (not game enough, sorry), she told us the moose could be seen not to far from where we were. Rushing forward, we were shocked to see the moose, sitting less than 4 feet from us, allowing us to get very close and take some wonderful photos. Not long after (1-2 minutes), the moose took off, father, mother and baby, into the thickness of the scrub, out of sight for the rest of the time we were at the park (around 3 hours!!! it was fun!!!!)
Lots of other animals were represented - cougar, lynx, bobcat, beaver, porcupine, skunk, bald eagle, red deer, white tailed deer and an emu...........yep, an EMU......what the????

A fantastic time was had - no we pray for better weather for the Carbot trail - keep your fingers crossed for us!!!!

Lighthouse Trail & Lunenberg

Off for a lovely Sunday drive, down the Atlantic coast- we headed towards Peggy's Cove, one of Canada's most photographed spots - with good reason. A lovely lighthouse stood facing the ocean, with people flocking from everywhere to see this beautiful coast line. Luckily we arrived 20 minutes prior to the three-four bus loads of people!
Peggys Cove has a classic red-and-white lighthouse still operated by the Canadian Coast Guard.

Touring along the coastline we took in many great views, finally stopping for lunch at Lunenberg, which is about an hours drive from Halifax. A lovely fishing village, it is home to the blue nose boat (very famous!), lobster fishing, whale watching etc, as well as many natural attractions - the blue rocks etc. There were also many wonderful artists located here, some that we paid more attention to than others (one guy had his art displayed under dimming lights, that could be altered to see the picture in different lighting!)

All the homes within the area were typical "sea homes", with loads of colour and weather board.....the cool thing was that on the drive we noticed one side of the road was ocean, the other was thick forest - quite different to back home!!!

Arriving back late arvo, we took in a dip at the pool, then decided to have a chill night, as we've driving to Cape Breton (Sydney) early tomorrow - and we need the R & R!!!!

Halifax #2

Another bright and beautiful day led us to the farmers market, where hundreds of people gathered for fresh fruit and veg, fine foods and many local craft products (some of which we scored pretty cheap!!!).
Touring around, we soon found ourselves riding on FRED - Free Rides Everywhere Downtown - a bus service that takes you to all the attractions - FREE!!!! We love FRED!!!

We made our way up to the Halifax citadel - an old war barracks / stockade / fort, where Highlanders resided, as well as many other soldiers. Dressing up in full uniform and still occupied by some within the forces, we were toured around the site with a private, who is majoring in peace and conflict resolutions.

At noon, the cannons sounded, setting the time for Eastern Canada - which was pretty cool (and loud!!!)

During the evening we took in a dinner/show at the local theatre. The performers were all our waiters, which was amusing. The play was titled "Cape Breton Idle 3", after the first 2 Idles had been huge successes. Based on American Idol, they poked fun at everything, from the crowd, to the "contestants", to the locals in Cape Breton (4 and a half hours away - the Tasmanian equivalents of Aus!!!)
A great night was had, with many laughs etc. Both Kate and I were in stitches!!!!

Welcome to Halifax

After yet another 4-hour drive - with some beautiful scenery as we entered Nova Scotia, we arrived at Halifax - ready to stay in our 4 1/2 star hotel (gee we love Priceline!!!).

Checking out the local pier / harbour area, we stumbled across the best place in Canada - the Alexander Keith's Brewery (for those of you that don't know, it is the beer that we've fallen in love with since being here and just love to drink it - it's good!!!!). The brewery was one of the first breweries to be run successfully in Nova Scotia, with Alexander Keith creating many fantastic beers. The building that the brewery now stands is on the original site, with most of the brickwork and stone paths maintained from the early 1860's.

All tour guides were dressed in costume and also played the part of someone from the 1800's, which was rather interesting. We were shown how the beer was made, then the best part came - tasting.

Tasting was one part, but we listened to many stories, songs and chants that have taken place and are left in Alexander Keith's honour......a great place (we bought a lot of souvenirs!!!!)

Heading off around mid arvo - we soon stumbled across the jazz festival which is being played over the weekend here. The bands were fantastic, high energy and we may make another return there - after all - free live music rocks!

A very busy weekend ahead of us - going to be soooo much fun! A beautiful city with charm, attractions and so many friendly people - a lovely place to stay!

Saint John

Touring the streets of Saint John, admiring the tall ships arriving, taking in this beautiful city - walking along the harbours edge. History surrounded the city, from the river entrance right through to the bridges - then up onto the hill - where the martello tower stood tall!

This city was one of our highlights in many unusual ways - as it had a bit of everything. The reversing falls was one of natures more interesting sights, having the bay of fundy enter the river, causing the waters to crash into one another, causing a spectacular sight at both high tide and low tide, where the river pushed the bay back out again.

After an awesome sleep in we headed up to check out one of the more historic icons of Saint John. On top of the hill stood the martello tower - one of roughly 100 world wide. Built as a fortification (bomb proof back in the 1800's), this tower was supposed to provide stability and defence for the English, however, it was never used in battle. It was quite a sight, as it had been set up as though it was in use.

The last stop for the day was the local museum, which had many artefacts from the early shipping days (Saint John was a pivotal player in constructing and moving cargo to and from the bay of fundy), as well as seeing a lot of the aqua life and aqua culture that has taken place over time.

We farewell the city, looking forward to continuing on with our "Road Trip!"